By Nick Herman
Western Style is a limited edition book written and produced by artist Nick Herman. Printed in a first edition of 100 copies, each book consists of an essay, four hand dyed photographs, and a curated western style market of popular images and decorating tips. Western Style engages the question of how the image / myth of the West has inspired generations of would be mystics and explorers. A wide ranging critique of the West as utopian fantasy, Western Style uses the CMYK print protocol to critically engage the way images have historically framed and fanned our desire for paradise. The moniker Western Style is a sardonic but well grounded decontextualization of a term that is regularly applied to everything from (Western Style) democracy, capitalism, and foreign policy to cuisine, interior design and art. By juxtaposing themes of science fiction, religious fundamentalism, geology, interior decorating, American politics, and the avantgarde, Westen Style paints a vivid picture of a contemporay image cult that is as powerful and influential as any religious order.