New Work: ‘A Certain Alchemy’

DJ Stout has designed his eighth book for the internationally acclaimed photographer Keith Carter. The new title, A Certain Alchemy, published by the University of Texas Press, is being released this month. Lauded as “a transcendent realist” and “a poet of the ordinary,” Keith Carter is a Beaumont, Texas native whose work has been shown in over one hundred solo exhibitions in thirteen countries. Initially finding his subjects in the familiar, yet exotic, places of East Texas, Carter has since expanded his range not only geographically, but also into realms of dreams and imagination, where objects of the mundane world open glimpses into ineffable realities.

A look inside A Certain Alchemy after the jump.

Stout designed Carter’s first volume of photographs, From Uncertain to Blue, in 1987 and his last book, Ezekiel’s Horse, in 2000. “Over the years Keith has grown as an artist. He refuses to stay put stylistically,” says Stout. “My designs for Keith’s books have changed and become more interesting as his work has evolved.”

Other titles Stout has designed for Carter over the last 20 years include The Blue Man, Mojo, Heaven of Animals, Keith Carter Photographs: Twenty-Five Years and Natural Histories.