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  • Matt Kish, page 129 : BOOK I (Folio), chapter I (Sperm Whale)

This week's striking Mercury cover comes courtesy of artist Matt Kish, whose new book Moby-Dick in Pictures features 552 illustrations inspired by text from each page of the Signet Classics paperback edition of Moby Dick. Publisher Tin House has done a great job in the past with stuff like this—I'm thinking of Zak Smith's Pictures Showing What Happens on Every Page of Gravity's Rainbow—and Kish's big, beautiful book is no exception.

Kish's work will be on display at the downtown Powell's throughout November; there's an artists reception tonight at 6:30 pm, followed by a book talk at 7:30 pm, and then an afterparty at the Cleaners at 8:30 pm. with music from John Wesley Harding, a couple Decemberists, and REM (RIP)'s Peter Buck.

The correlations between Kish's art and Melville's writing aren't necessarily literal, as a quick scan of some of the art makes clear—it'd be fun to grab the proper edition of the book and do a sort of self-guided tour of the Powell's show, try to understand some of the connections Kish makes. Kish was also on Think Out Loud this morning, where he talked with humor and enthusiasm about his project. (Though I think my favorite moment was host Dave Miller's attempt to avoid spoiling the book's ending.)