Henrik Drescher‘s newest book just landed on my desk. China Days: A Visual Journal From China’s Wild West (Chronicle Books), chronicles his almost two decades of discovery living with this wife, Wu Wing Yee in China, and particularly in the city of Dali in Yunnan province. It is a engaging existential look at the people, places and things that the pair experienced, savored and continue to adore. And it took me back decades ago when the Danish born artist entered my life as an illustrator and mail correspondent.
The booklets below, made while on his many travels and distributed through the mail, are a small sampling of the handmade follies that Henrik was so found of, indeed unable to stop, creating. Bound with string, he’d photocopy, collate and inscribe dozens of these wonderful flights of artistic fancy. Some were chaotically assembled scribbles, while others were thematic diversions in pen and ink (like one on ladders and another on photos of Robert F. Kennedy). There were also little books of etchings, accordion postcards (X-Ray), and many with one-off collages. He loved graph paper and wrote his curious missives on them with a carefree scrawl.
I’ve saved and savored these and more. China Days has all the Drescher artistry, mystery and now, maturity — it is a must have. These objects, however, were Henrik on his journey to becoming a mature artist.
2014 Typography & Lettering Awards
Enter your typography or handlettered work in the 2014 Typography & Lettering Awards. Typographic and typeface will be judged by Paul Shaw and Jessica Hische will judge the handlettered work. Winners will receive several prizes, including a subscription to Print magazine and a year-long membership to HOW U and HOW U Video.