![Michael Dean, Stardust Malady, ublication, Design by Wolfe Hall](https://images.prismic.io/wolfe-hall/ZfSSInYkiKrtlJ5a_0045_ublication_Books_Michael-Dean_1.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress)
Michael Dean: Stardust Malady
A book of kisses. Michael Dean’s tender, elegiac, angry and funny poem that speaks of that which remains when love is gone. Resonating with anguish and ire, but here and there the language slips, as if misheard through a distance.
After writing ‘Stardust Melody’,* Michel painted his lips black and kissed the entire poem away. Transcribing each word with his kiss so that they could not be read anymore: the text disappears, its language transformed into a physical syntax of love and loss. Returning as a ripped page slipped inside the book.
The book is printed using five different inks, including a ‘deep space black’, to replicate the black ink found on the original artwork. It is bound with an open spine and covered with a loose jacket that is further signed with a kiss.
Client
ublication
Category
Format
215 × 280 mm
Extent
64pp
Binding
Open Spine, Section Sewn
Photography
Thomas Adank
* The poem re-interprets ‘Stardust’ by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. Parish wrote the song using Carmichael's account of how he was inspired to compose the melody, while the lyricist developed a story focused in the concept of lost love. The song has been recorded over 1,500 times either as an instrumental or vocal track, featuring different performers.