Holiday Cards

I have always been envious of the people on the Peter Norton Christmas card list who get the annual limited edition multiple made specifically for that Christmas. Kara Walker and Vik Muniz have done editions. I've thought about sending Mr. Norton a card one year to see if, in the spirit of holiday reciprocality, he'd feel obligated to put me on the list. I've also thought about creating my own tradition of sending out Christmas multiples instead of holiday cards. Because I don't have the funds to commission an established artist to create a special edition, here are some possibilities for limted-edition "holiday cards."

Crown Point Press is selling sets of playing cards by Jockum Nordstrum in an edition of 500 for $14.95 (shown here above left). Nordstrum, represented by David Zwirner in NYC, has works in the collection of MOMA, SFMOMA, the Whitney, and the Guggenheim. How about adding him to yours?

For something edgier (and more expensive), there is David Shrigley's small letterpress playing card, "Fucking Ace," in an edition of 250 at $50 at Printer Matter. Shrigley is known for his witty doodle-like drawings, some of which, by the way, are owned by MOMA. He is also represented by Yvon-Lambert in Paris (the same dealer as Jonathan Monk). I had trouble linking the page from Printed Matter to show the image on the blog, so you have to go to their website to see it (search "shrigley").

A final option is Christian Marclay's "Shuffle," a deck of 75 cards that are music-related images. Marclay's work has focused on images of sound and music. His recent large photograms of unravelled audiotape, which were at IFPDA and at the Miami fairs this year, are amazing. Although I haven't been able to confirm that "Shuffle" was printed as a limited edition (some info says yes, some info doesn't say anything), it would still make a great gift. You can check out the press release from Aperture here. Marclay is represented by Paula Cooper in NYC.