Objet d’Art: Coloring Outside the Lines
Every month, Interview picks an artist or designer created object that straddles the line between aesthetics and function. Subdued tastes need not apply.
Since 2005, RxArt, an arts nonprofit that aids children at healthcare facilities, has biennially published a coloring book featuring designs by dozens of contemporary artists. The fifth volume, which like its predecessors will be distributed amongst children at hospitals this month, includes a cover and stickers by John Baldessari and inside drawings by Ugo Rondinone, Alex Israel, Olaf Breuning, Rashid Johnson, Josh Smith, and over 40 others. Founder and Executive Director Diane Brown asks artists to contribute something “representative of their work—not something they think should necessarily be in a coloring book.” She continues, “I do not have to do much to sell the idea… I just explain that the books are being printed to give to children in hospitals.” At least 75,000 copies of the first four volumes were distributed at hospitals nationwide, with about 10 percent of the copies available for purchase in stores like Colette, as well as museum and gallery shops and bookstores. For self-identifying adults reading this longingly, don’t worry, it’s not just for kids: RxArt states the age range is 0 to 100.
THE FIFTH VOLUME OF THE RxART COLORING BOOK, BETWEEN THE LINES: A COLORING BOOK OF CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS, VOLUME 5, WILL LAUNCH ON OCTOBER 15 AT THE SOHO COACH STORE. IN ADDITION TO IN-STORE LOCATIONS, IT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE THROUGH RxART’S ONLINE STORE.
Objet d’Art runs every month. For more, click here.
