
Tucker Nichols reinvents the art book. But first, you have to figure out how to open it
'Mostly Everything: The Art of Tucker Nichols' has two covers that fold out in opposite directions, plus the book has a second spine, which makes it all the more baffling. It's an experience akin to a Japanese puzzle box — or the first time you tried to find the door handle on a Tesla.
'I still can't open it right, and I've really opened a lot of them at this point,' Nichols, who worked with McSweeney's art director Sunra Thompson on the design, admitted in a recent conversation with the Chronicle. 'When Sunra showed me one of the dummies he made, I said, 'The first thing I feel is confusion.''
It's a wonderfully destabilizing prelude to what's to come.
Nichols, 55, is a longtime Bay Area artist whose work spans drawing, painting, sculpture, public art, editorial illustrations and children's books, among other media. His work often appears deceptively simple in its fascination with everyday objects and use of text, but there's always a wit that inevitably turns them on their heads.
Nichols, who lives in San Rafael, has been published and exhibited internationally. Locally, his work has been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, among other Bay Area institutions.
'This is very much born of a McSweeney's mindset,' Nichols said in reference to the San Francisco publisher. 'They don't make art books, so there isn't some way that they think art books should be. We had an agreement right from the start there that we didn't want something that was talking about how important anything was.'
Nichols' companion exhibition, 'Mostly Everything,' is on view at Gallery 16 through Aug. 29.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Did you set out to create a book that subverts the art book genre?
Q: How did you come up with the final cover concept?
A: When Sunra got the dummy made, it opened the other way, and that was just really too confusing. You'd open the first cover the way you'd normally open the book, but then you'd be reading from the back.
It came from the conversation that we had about: What if the book feels more like an object? What if it's more of a thing? There's no words in this, so what if you're really trying to force people into having a physical experience?
(At McSweeney's) there seems to be an unwritten law that every project should be doing something that hasn't been done before. The hunger for that makes it worth it to go through all the headaches of trying to figure out how to print a double cover.
Q: How did you decide to organize the book?
A: I really wanted this to not be my book of my work. I knew Sunra and his work, and really wanted it to be his take as an outsider to all of this stuff that I've been making for so long that doesn't really belong together, and have him try to solve that problem.
This book doesn't really make sense on the surface, and that's really what started the whole process of what form the book was. Maybe it should have categories? Maybe those categories shouldn't quite work? Maybe part of it is the impossibility of trying to make sense of what one person has been making for 25 years?
Q: Even though this is a book that doesn't use text in the conventional way, you have a very text heavy practice.
A: Text is this weird thing, it has this promise of helping us not be confused anymore. It's mostly telling us what we don't know about what we would need to know in that particular context, and my text typically plays with that without actually delivering on the promise. You're left with maybe more questions than you had in the beginning or a slightly different view that didn't quite tell you what you were hoping for.
Q: What was it like to look back at your work in a different way for the Gallery 16 show?
A: It's really the first time that I felt prompted or even comfortable with the idea of showing things from really different time periods. I'm very happy with how it came out. It makes me always want to be incorporating older work in the shows from now on.
I think there's another piece that really came out of the book, which is really a kind of letting go of a story, letting go of how things are supposed to be, and owning the fact that I make lots of different things in lots of different styles — even while knowing that the art world doesn't really like that because it complicates the story.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Kumail Nanjiani recalls meeting Elon Musk while shooting 'Silicon Valley':' ''He didn't like the show'
Kumail Nanjiani said that Elon Musk was "upset" with the opening scene of Silicon Valley. Nanjiani appeared on an episode of Mike Birbiglia's podcast Working It Out, where he recalled some of the experiences he had with tech giants while on the show. "He didn't like the show," Nanjiani said of Musk. The Eternals actor remembered meeting the Tesla CEO, who said the parties he attended were "much cooler" than those depicted on Silicon Valley. The premiere opens with Kid Rock playing at a tech event to a sparse, dead crowd. "It was like, 'Yeah, man. You're one of the richest people in the world. We're, like, losers on the show. Of course your parties are better than my parties. What are you talking about?'" the Big Sick star said. The comedian also met Mark Zuckerberg while doing the show, but made a bad impression. He and his costar Martin Starr had presented at the Breakthrough Awards, which were co-founded by Zuckerberg, in 2016. During the ceremony, the Silicon Valley actors called back to a joke from the season 1 finale about giving hand jobs to an entire conference room of people. They retooled that bit to accommodate the number of scientists at the Breakthrough Awards and bombed. Nanjiani said he doesn't blame the Facebook founder for disliking him after that moment. "He was like, 'What the f--- was that?'" Nanjiani said. "And truly in that moment he was right." Check out the full episode of Working It Out with Kumail Nanjiani below. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly


Buzz Feed
9 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
53 Facts That Are As Random As They Are Interesting
Talk about good acting — Toni Collette faked her appendicitis so well when she was a teen that doctors ended up removing her appendix. Snakes can help predict earthquakes. They can sense them up to five days before, from up to 75 miles away. In 2002, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first TV show to ever use "google" as a verb. There was a case in the UK of a sexually transmitted allergic reaction. Basically, what happened was a woman who had an undiagnosed allergy to Brazil nuts had unprotected sex with her boyfriend after he had eaten them. She had an allergic reaction to his semen, which led doctors to do some testing on the woman's skin. Sure enough, his semen before eating nuts didn't cause any reaction, but after he ate Brazil nuts again, the semen caused another reaction. The immunologists involved believe it may be the first recorded case of a "sexually transmitted allergic reaction." Modern thong underwear was introduced by Fiorello La Guardia, the 99th mayor of New York City. Yes, the same La Guardia the airport is named after. Thongs as a concept were old hat by the time he got involved in 1939 — they were highly present in ancient Greece, Rome, and other cultures — but the mayor is recognized as the man responsible for bringing them into the mainstream. That year, he ordered all nude dancers in New York City to cover up during the World's Fair to make the city seem a little more classy. Thanks to his demand, G-string thongs were invented, and underwear as we know it has never been the same. There are only two escalators in the entire state of Wyoming. If you consider the up and down escalators separately, then technically it has four. In an attempt to make their menu more nutritious, McDonald's once created broccoli that tasted like bubblegum. Ancient Egyptians would use the paste from dead mice to cure toothaches. Martin Luther King Jr. earned a "C" in his public speaking class during his first two semesters of seminary school. If you're being violent or drunk in Japan the police will get a futon and roll you into a burrito. In fact, Japanese police officers are rarely known to use guns or violence at all. If you're drunk (or acting violent), they'll wrap you up in the futons and carry you over to the station to calm you down instead of potentially instigating more hostilities. David Bowie launched his own internet provider in 1998 called BowieNet. Miss Piggy's original name was Piggy Lee. Cruise ships have their own morgues. Miami is the only major US city founded by a woman. Say hello to Julia Tuttle, the mother of Miami. She bought hundreds of acres of land in southern Florida in 1886, and thanks to her negotiations with railway magnate Henry Flagler to extend his railroads south to her property, her city got put on the map in a big way. There are four buried lakes on Mars. Tropical songbirds reproduce less during droughts. There's a rare neurological condition called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, which causes people to feel larger or smaller than they actually are. Barcode readers only scan the white part and not the black. Shakira's school teacher told her she was bad at singing and banned her from choir. Her classmates stated she sounded like a goat. Humans are born with two innate fears: fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. The rest are learned. Harrison Ford got his ear pierced when he was 55 at a Claire's store. He got the piercing because he "just always wanted a pierced ear," and hopped into a Claire's Accessories because it was nearby. He gave Tavora Escossery, the then–18-year-old employee who did the piercing, a signed note that said, "To Tavora. You made a hole in me. Harrison Ford." Because gelatin is made from animal skin and bones, gummy worms technically have more bones in them than actual worms (which don't have any). Cookie Monster's real name is Sid. Canadians eat more mac 'n' cheese, specifically Kraft macaroni and cheese, than any other nation. On average, lightning strikes Earth 100 times each second. Some hummingbirds use colors we can't see to find food. The urban legend about the ghost of a boy appearing in Three Men and a Baby actually started after the film was released on home video. The story goes that in the background of one of the scenes, you can see the ghost of a 9-year-old boy who killed himself in the apartment where Three Men and a Baby was filmed. But the "ghost" is actually a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson's character (which can be seen earlier in the film). Also, the apartment was a set built on a are a few theories as to how this rumor started — like how it was the studio trying to drive up VHS rentals. It could just be that the low resolution of VHS tapes, and the fact that TVs were smaller in the '80s and '90s, just made it hard to determine what the figure was. Cap'n Crunch's full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch. Jack Nicholson grew up believing his mom, June, was his sister, and that his grandmother, Ethel May, was his mother. June was 18 years old when she gave birth to Jack. In order to avoid gossip of having a baby out of wedlock, Ethel May decided to raise Jack as her son, and pretended June was his much older sister. Jack didn't learn the truth until after both June and Ethel May died, according to InStyle. Ears of corn typically have an even number of rows — most have an average of 16. The first Disney Channel Original Movie was 1997's Northern Lights, starring Diane Keaton. Prior to 1997, Disney Channel TV movies were called Disney Channel Premiere Films, and those date back to 1983 when the channel launched. It's likely that more than 11 species of fish can walk on land. The Yoruba people of Nigeria are known for giving birth to more twins than anywhere else in the world — 50 per 1,000 births. According to Reuters, twins are also believed to be magical in Yoruba culture. It wasn't until the Great Depression that movie theaters began selling popcorn as a snack to eat during movies. Early on, movie theaters were trying to re-create a real "going to the theater" experience by building grand movie palaces with fancy carpets and curtains — of course, like a real theater, you couldn't eat snacks in them either. By the mid-'30s, theater owners realized selling inexpensive popcorn was a way to increase profits as attendance numbers went down. Paul Newman taught Jake Gyllenhaal how to drive. The first text message sent to a cellphone happened almost 33 years ago — in 1992 — and the message sent said "Merry Christmas." The text happened in the UK, where an engineer who worked for the telecommunications company, Vodafone, sent the message from his computer to the cellphone of an executive who worked at Vodafone. At the time, cellphones couldn't respond to texts, though. Jennifer Lawrence learned how to skin a squirrel for her role in Winter's Bone. Ladybugs defend themselves from predators by releasing a foul-smelling chemical from their knees. Long before New York received its iconic nickname "The Big Apple," it was known as New Orange. When the Dutch captured New York from the English in 1673, they renamed the state New Orange to honor William III of Orange. But that didn't last long, because the following year, the English regained control and renamed it New York, according to Dr. Seuss created Green Eggs and Ham because his publisher bet him he couldn't write a book shorter than The Cat in the Hat. He obviously won that bet, because The Cat in the Hat had 236 different words, while Green Eggs and Ham used just 50 words, according to Walt Disney actually hated the character Goofy, calling him a "stupid cartoon." All of Tom Cruise's ex-wives were 33 when they divorced the actor. That's right, Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes were all the same age when their marriages to Tom ended. There are even some conspiracy theories swirling around about it. Before deciding on the name Google, the popular search engine was called BackRub. "They called it this because the program analyzed the web's 'back links' to understand how important a website was, and what other sites it related to," according to Business Insider. The first college football game was played on Nov. 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton (formally known as the College of New Jersey). Rutgers won. Owls don't have eyeballs. Instead they have elongated tubes held by sclerotic rings. Owls can't move their eyes around, which is why they have to move their entire head to look in different areas. DUI offenders in Ohio are issued yellow license plates to help police officers identify them while on the road. Jon Hamm was Ellie Kemper's high school drama teacher. Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton used to be a Parisian pimp. In Singapore, anyone spitting out, importing, or selling chewing gum could face a fine or jail time. Although illegal and dangerous, it's possible to walk from Russia to Alaska via the Bering Strait when it freezes in the winter. Late One Direction member Liam Payne has a severe phobia of dirty spoons. Early in his career, Sylvester Stallone was so low on cash, he was forced to sell his dog, Butkus, for $40. When he landed Rocky, he bought the dog back for $15K and gave him a role in the movie. Lastly, vending machines kill more people per year than sharks.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle fans are not too happy about Channing Tatum being cast in the English-language version of the anime film
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As new anime movie Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle continues to rule over the Japanese box office, Channing Tatum's casting in the upcoming English-language version has left many Demon Slayer fans confused. The Deadpool & Wolverine star has been cast as Keizo in the English dubbed version of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle. However, many anime fans believe that the casting is not fair to other voice actors in the industry, and feel that Taum has only been cast because he is a big Hollywood name. "There are some [English-language voice actors] who are not happy that Channing Tatum was cast in the latest Demon Slayer movie... and the complaints are 100% valid," said one fan on Twitter (X). "Any VA would and should feel slighted when a big-name actor is cast in an anime role, especially in a movie as big as Infinity Castle." It seems like other fans feel the same, as one replied, "Love Channing Tatum... I just feel this is kinda a slap in the face to everyone else." Another added, "This might potentially be the start of US dubbing companies phasing out actual experienced anime dub actors for Hollywood talent. And that would be a very bad thing." However, other Demon Slayer heads feel that Tatum, who is a fan of the series, deserves a chance. After all, the star is only in a minor role. "But what if he does a completely fine and normal job at it?" pointed out one fan. It is important to note that big actors being cast in anime projects is no new thing, with Robert Pattinson starring in The Boy and the Heron, and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill appearing in the anime series Immortal Grand Prix, just to name two examples. Tatum joins the original English dub voice cast from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime series, including Zach Aguilar as Tanjiro Kamado, Abby Trott as Nezuko Kamado, Aleks Le as Zenitsu Agatsuma, Bryce Papenbrook as Inosuke Hashibira, Johnny Yong Bosch as Giyu Tomikoa and Erika Harlacher as Shinobu Kocho. Directed by Haruo Sotozaki, the movie is the first of an upcoming trilogy based on the Infinity Castle arc from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga. The film follows demon slayer Tanjiro Kamado as he faces his biggest challenge yet when he is plunged into a demon's stronghold known as the Infinity Castle in a bid to save the head of the Corps. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle will hit US and UK cinemas on September 12, 2025. For more, check out the best anime you should be watching right now, and keep up to date with new anime heading your way.