I Wonder

This singular presentation from Marian Bantjes, who has developed a cult following around the world, will appeal to those who already know her and to anyone interested in a new way of thinking about art, design, beauty, and popular culture.

This unique presentation features the highly ornamental, craftsman-like word pictures of Marian Bantjes, the most inventive and creative typographic illustrator of our time. Whether intricately hand-drawn or using precise computer illustration software, Bantjes's work crosses the boundaries of time, style, and technology. There is, however, another side to Bantjes's visual work: her thoughtful treatises on art, design, beauty, and popular culture that belie the decorative nature of her best-known work. These reflections cover the cult of Santa, road-side advertising, photography and memory, the alphabet's letterforms, heraldry, and stars. Bantjes's writing style ranges from the playful to the confrontational, but it is always imbued with perspicacity, insight, and a sense of fun. Intended to inspire creatives of any persuasion, this is more than a collection of ideas: Bantjes has meticulously illustrated every page of the book in her inimitable style to create an accessible work of art that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Quirky, poignant, astute, funny--this beautiful book presents a compelling collection of observations on visual culture and design, written and illuminated by world-renowned typographic illustrator Marian Bantjes. In Stefan Sagmeister's telling words, Bantjes's work is his "favorite example of beauty facilitating the communication of meaning."

MARIAN BANTJES started working as a book typesetter in Canada in the mid-1980s, later opening her own successful firm. In 2003, working in her studio on a small island off the coast of Vancouver, she began to develop her own style of typography. Since then, her work has developed an international following.