With the winter winds and driving rain, things naturally fall apart — twisted, gnarled, and eventually incapable of function. When something goes wrong, the solution is often improvised with whatever is available. This haphazard collage of old materials can make it feel as if the country is in a constant state of disrepair. The fences and gates, in particular, embody this with their bespoke supports. When one part collapses or a hole appears, the ubiquitous blue twine come out to bind everything together. Sometimes the original structure disappears altogether, and all that remains is the collection of parts propping it up. With this unspoken artistry, the unexpected is made.
— From the introduction to In the Wilds by Nigel Peake
One of the joys of working at Raincoast Books is receiving books from New York-based publisher Princeton Architectural Press in the mail. This week, a beautiful 6″ by 8″ hardcover called In the Wilds by artist Nigel Peake arrived.
Peake who has worked with the likes of Ninja Tune, The Believer, Blueprint, and Dwell Magazine, lives and works in the Irish countryside (the self-described “middle of nowhere”). In The Wilds collects together his obsessively detailed drawings and watercolors of this rural life — the trees, fields, lakes, and rolling hills, but also farm houses, tractors, fences, and telegraph poles.
It is simply lovely.
