Vera's Room is the first monograph on the artist Maria Chevksa. Most celebrated for her evocative, almost edible, treatment of language in her paintings, Chevska explores the rich historical relationship between art and words. Her early work featured fictional extracts from Beckett, Kafka, and Raymond Carver poured onto the canvas in gestures echoing those of Jackson Pollock. More recently Chevska has incorporated new methods of working including sculpture and complex installation. The book also contains Chevska's latest project, the eponymous Vera's Room. This takes the exclusive shape of a scratch book printed on newsprint and forms the central piece of the book. It is a visual as well as textual collage where the artist and her alter ego, Vera Kasmiach, take a journey through film stills, press cuttings, found photographs and other ephemera. Vera's Room traces and documents Chevska's rich and complex work through texts and illustrations. Two specially commissioned essays provide an art historical and philosophical context to the work, while the lavishly illustrated art work section offers an exciting overview of Chevska's oeuvre to date. 130 colour 0b/w illustrations
