SignLanguage

by Viggo Mortensen

Book Overview

This long awaited second publication by the highly recognized film actor and artist/poet, Viggo Mortensen melds his acutely sensitive ability to intertwine words, paintings and photography into one... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1889195499
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Smart Art Pr
• Length: 66 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

This is the one if you're after the Lord of the Rings pix!

I have most of Viggo's books. This is the one you're after if you want the pictures he took while in New Zealand for Lord of the Rings. He has some just beautiful pictures of the cast as well as the country in this one. The ones of Elijah Wood (this is the one where he's in the snow), Karl Urban (I adore this picture. I captures his eyes so well.), & Bernard Hill are the best ones. Having been to NZ, I recognized a lot of the nature shots. They are beautifully done. It also has pictures of Dennis Hopper and several of Viggo's son Henry. It also has quite a bit of his paintings. I recommend this one as well as "Coincidence of Memory". To see what the pictures and paintings look like, I suggest going to viggophile.com and click on "creativity". She has quite a few examples of all his books.

Speaking "SignLanguage"

You know him best for his striding around Middle-Earth in grimy clothes, beheading orcs left and right. But talented actor Viggo Mortensen is a man of many gifts -- poetry, photography, painting and music among them. "SignLanguage" is a unique blend of his art and what he captures on film.In "SignLanguage," he demonstrates his ability to take the ordinary -- bicycles, ferns, flowerpots, a dead fish and a baby's chubby legs -- and give it a mysterious, ethereal spin. Some are more posed, like "Te Anu," a shot of costar Elijah Wood sitting in the snow. Others are more intimate like "Fell," a haunting collage of light, shadow and leaves. You can sit and stare at that one all day.Several photographs are from Mortensen's time in New Zealand shooting the fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings." As a result, there are shots of New Zealand's beautiful scenery, such as a haunting shot of misty forests as pretty and ominous as anything in the films. Additionally, there are some pictures of Mortensen's castmates. These moments are captured with surprising delicacy, as if Mortensen has cropped away the outside world and just left in the images he wants his readers to see.And peppered in with the photos are paintings: The layered, deceptively simple-looking "Sun Losing Its Yellow," the haunting, darker "Element of Surprise." Kevin Power's thought-provoking, intelligent essay on Mortensen's work is, if not a good summary, then a good springboard into the work itself. Certainly reading it puts you in the right frame of mind to fully appreciate Mortensen's work.The meditative, capture-the-moment quality of Mortensen's work is one that is rare to find in any kind of art. And "SignLanguage" proves yet again that when it comes to Viggo Mortensen, still waters run deep.

This book is NOT out of print!

The second edition of Signlanguage (ISBN 1-889195-49-9) is out and is available through the publisher's website: I highly recommend it!

SignLanguage

Waited anxiously to receive this book, and was not disappointed.Viggo is a incredibly talented artist! My only complaint is that photos of his paintings do not do them justice-I hope I can see them in a gallery setting soon! I look forward to the publishing of more of his work, esp. his poetry.

See with Mortensen's eyes for a bit with Signlanguage

Viggo Mortensen, although best known as an actor, has been carrying his camera constantly and taking photographs since he was a teenager. His "eye" is unique, finding tiny moments and details in the midst of the busy world and capturing them, often unusually framed or cropped, in ways that are unconventional. People, color and places are photographed in ways that draw you into the pictures, wishing you could ask Mortensen where he was, or what it was that he saw that made him choose to take the picture he took. Painting is a more recent artistic expression for him, and he has commented that he likes to take works in progress with him on film shoots, working on them in his off-set hours, letting the different colors and places shape what he paints. Images, words and colors are combined in his canvases, often layered, reworked and scratched over.The collection of photos and painting in SIGNLANGUAGE are primarily from 1999-2001, during which time Mortensen was working in New Zealand during the shoots for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Portraits include some of his costars, landscapes are often from locations throughout New Zealand. Some of the most interesting portraits are from Viggo's favorite ongoing subject: his son Henry. The paintings are most abstract, blending written words, color and shapes.The images in this collection are full of wonder and color. If you can't catch one of the gallery shows of Mortensen's work, this is an excellent way to share his travels and vision.