Vladimir Zimakov
Leave a commentApril 24, 2013 by thejourneyual
Vladimir Zimakov
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Page Spread from Nikolai Gogol’s “The Diary of a Madman” 2005
Illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum”, 2010
Bio: Vladimir Zimakov is a Los Angeles based artist, designer and illustrator who works in a variety of techniques including linocut, silkscreen and letterpress among other traditional and digital media. He also teaches art and design and frequently conducts artist talks and workshops. In 2003 Vladimir pursued a Masters degree at the Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London after developing a strong interest in book arts. As a designer and illustrator Vladimir has worked with world’s leading publishing houses such as Penguin, Random House, Faber and Faber, the Folio Society and Vita Nova. He illustrated books and book covers for the works of Gustav Meyrink, Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alexandre Dumas, Herman Melville and A.T.A. Hoffman among others. His work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in America, Europe and Russia. To see Vladimir’s work please visit http://www.vladimirzimakov.com
Statement: In 2003 I decided to pursue a Masters degree at the Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London after developing a strong interest in book arts. One of the pieces presented was done as part of the limited edition artist book that I have completed for my MA Communication Design final project: Excerpts from Nikolai Gogol’s the Diary of a Madman The diary is lead by a man who is slowly loosing his mind and the tone of the diary entries changes drastically over the period of the story. The goal for illustrating this 19th century novel was to visually show the values of words and sentences, their relationship to each other and to the page, their expressiveness and weight within the content of the story, as well as to create the harmony and balance between the text and the images. This project was done using linoleum cut illustrations and letterpress. For the last seven years I have continued to explore the relationship between type and image, as well as various printmaking techniques. The second piece was completed in 2010 as an illustration for Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Pit and the Pendulum.