Galerie Vevais

ALEXANDER SCHOLZ and edition GALERIE VEVAIS

Edition GALERIE VEVAIS is the brainchild of the German architect (and poet) Alexander Scholz. Coming to publishing from the world of architecture allowed Scholz to approach “the book” in fresh, original, and dramatic new ways. His books look like no other publisher’s. He uses Europe’s finest craftsmen to create his visions, which combine glass, wood, aluminum, acrylic glass, and other synthetic materials in conjunction with elements of the classic tradition of fine book making like classical book decoration, letterpress, embossing or cut out. Edition GALERIE VEVAIS books often look like works of sculpture, Reformation bibles, boxes of bonbons, and so forth, They have won major awards and repeatedly been called “the finest books in the world.” As visually compelling as they are, Scholz pays as much attention to how a book will open, how it feels in the hands, and even how it actually smells as he does to the larger matters of design. An edition GALERIE VEVAIS book contains works of art as well as being a work of art in its own right through special printing techniques and high-quality lithography. Scholz has said that he makes the books he cannot find in stores but would want to buy if he could find them. Photographer Jock Sturges called Scholz “an artist’s artist,” and poet John Wood wrote to Scholz speaking of his book saying, “It is more wonderful that I ever even imagined you could make it.” Paul Cava has said, “Alex, you may be a bad business man but you are my hero” and that Scholz was never afraid of “difficult subject matter.” And the distinguished Harvard University author and scholar Dr. John Stauffer, Professor and Chair of the Program in the History of American Civilization, speaking of a program based on an edition GALERIE VEVAIS book said, it “was the highlight of my year, brilliant and passionate.”

Scholz began in 1997 as a classic underground publisher creating magazines (MINOTAURUS) and books (as edition MINOTAURUS) in Copyshops and later ones that combined CDs, DVDs, and art in a creative mixing of media and established a network between artists, designers, writers, musicians, movie makers, and sound technicians as a kind of real family. This is still important today, and Scholz see his artists and designers, printers and bookbinders as partners having equal rights. The awards soon began coming in, Scholz began attracting attention all over Europe, North America, China, and Japan, and soon he was deluged with requests from artists for their own edition GALERIE VEVAIS book.

As Cava suggested, Alexander Scholz is known as one of world’s bravest publishers, a publisher unafraid of taking on subjects such as the most avant-garde contemporary art, cartoon art, the frankest sexuality and eroticism, debilitating illness and disease narratives, as well as classic and contemporary literature. Edition GALERIE VEVAIS books offer penetrating insights into contemporary society sometimes by bravely looking forward and at other times by bravely looking backward. Alexander Scholz’s gaze goes in both directions, goes wherever it is necessary to help us better understand the complex world we live in, and is always directed toward a vision of beauty.