Tumultuous Tuesday greetings, collectors! I'm sitting amidst a swirl of activity in JBP HQ, snacking on raspberries that taste like summertime. Autumn is in the air however, as evidenced by the jaunty miniature pumpkin that I brought into the office today. Now that we've finally cleared the queue resulting from a late season pile-up, Team 20x200 is fully future focused. The last of the orders which have been (uncharacteristically) delayed are on their merry way to collectors the world over, and we're stocking the shelves with all kinds of arty goodness for the coming season and beyond.

Today's eclectic editions from Jason Polan have a back-to-school vibe of their very own, in my mind at least. Back to school means field trips, and field trips mean visits to the Museum of Natural History, and regular readers know well how I feel about field trips! Combine my field trip fondness with my abiding affection for Jason and his endlessly inspiring projects, throw in a dash of birdy goodness and we get 132 Birds at The American Museum of Natural History.

As with other offerings from the mind of Mr. Polan, this edition is simultaneously dead simple and a little complicated. It's simple in the sense that he's doing that thing he does so well: cataloging something that captures his interest with his deft and charming drawings. It's complicated in the sense that he always forces us to mess with the 20x200 structure by doing things differently on every level. This particular project breaks down thusly:

The edition of 200 pieces at $20 each are booklets hand made by Jason, entitled 132 Birds at The American Museum of Natural History. Each photocopied booklet is signed in pencil with an original ink drawing of a bird on the cover. They are classic Jason lo-fi high art — humble materials assembled into something that's unique, hand made and individually signed.

The edition of 20 pieces at $200 each are original 16"x12" drawings of a single bird from the museum. (Each drawing will be of a different bird). The work will be hand drawn with a mixture of India ink, acrylic paint and other materials on archival paper. These are two examples of medium bird drawings: Barn Owl and Brandt Cormorant.

The edition of 2 pieces at $2000 each are original 29.5"x39.5" drawings of a bird from the museum. (Each drawing will be of a different bird). The work will be hand drawn with a mixture of India ink, acrylic paint and other materials on archival paper. A copy of the booklet 132 Birds at The American Museum of Natural History will be included with each large drawing.

You'd think that all this booklet making and bird drawing would keep Jason busy enough, but there's even more that he's up to! Kara's been trying to keep pace with his prolificacy, posting about his video projects, group shows and funny money over on the 20x200 blog. But wait, there's more, as detailed in a late night dispatch I received from the fella himself mere hours ago:

here are a couple of things that are
coming up. a solo show [ed. note: !!!] at glenn horowitz bookseller in east hampton. it is november 15. i am also doing the project November 2 with esopus for the editions/artists' book fair [ed note: very much looking forward to this] and the millard fillmore bills are still available too.
thanks jen. i am falling asleep right now.

As if he ever sleeps? I mean really, how could he with all that stuff to do? And speaking of stuff to do, it's time for my segue into farewell, as there's plenty to do around here too. So I'm going to hop to it, but as usual, I'll be back tomorrow with this week's photography offering. See you then!