The Pocko Collection is an intrepid exploration into the world of uncertainties…the aim, through 96 books, is to pierce the surface of the social fabric so that you may feast on the irony inside. If the first set of books displayed an extraordinary view of the everyday, the second set – hitting the shops in May 2002 – lands on the other side, to scratch below the surface of our everyday reality.

Book number 05 of the collection, Lost Weekend, is a series of illustrations springing out from the artist’s self imposed two-day weekend isolation, while number 06, Day by Day, presents a photo-history on identity and the erosion of a relationship.

The Pocko group was established in 1999 by a group of young artists: Nicola Schwartz, Iñigo Asis and Olga Norman. As well as being involved in publishing, the London-based Pocko fami-ly runs a creative agency with 13 other professionals from diverse backgrounds in fashion, film, advertising, editorial, music and the web. In addition to selected art galleries and bookshops worldwide, the Pocko Collection is supported by urban fashion legend Diesel, stocking the pocket-size books in its global retail network throughout Europe, America and Japan. Diesel is in love with the project not only because of its creative and innovative content, but also because the affordable price of each book allows young people to approach the art world. Diesel also features the Pocko project in its website (www.diesel.com) showing the books to almost 100,000 international Diesel Club Members.

For more details on the Pocko project and online purchases check out: www.pocko.com For more information: Diesel International Press Office, T: +39 0424 477555 Pocko Editions, London. Contact: Iñigo Asis on T: +44 (0)208 964 9580 E: inigo@pocko.com

NO ARTISTS WERE DAMAGED IN THE SPONSORING OF THIS PUBLICATION LOST WEEKEND Title number 5 96 illustrated coloured pages Paperback £4.99

Lost Weekend

by Paul McDevitt

This book is an exercise in memory, inspiration and endurance, the result of a self-imposed two-day weekend of isolation. Artist Paul McDevitt worked with nothing but a black roller ball pen and a large pile of A4 paper. The result was ‘Lost Weekend’ a series of 274 drawings displayed at Hales Gallery in London. Chronicling every idle thought, every unconscious wandering of a mind fizzing with humour and energy. The results reflect his enclosure, forcing him to look within for amusement and stimulation. Sitting with your feet up watching an erupting volcano, staring death from a puddle’s point of view, rabbit’s sex matches the wanderings of an idle mind can be extraor-dinary, the wondering’s of an active one are explosive. Lost Weekend is a mental slide-show, a series of visual jokes for the viewer to decipher. The artist does not laboriously focus on a single image. Each image naturally feeds into the next changing with the mental, physical and emotional permutations of the artist. Word play and visual games blend into artistic reference with a surreal stroke of humour. More than anything this collection makes explicit the process of artistic creation, that the journey is just as insightful and interesting as the final destination.

Paul McDevitt (b. 1972, Troon, Scotland) is an artist who has been showing his drawings inter-nationally since graduating from an MA at Chelsea College of Art in 2000. In 2001 he exhibited in his first solo show at Hales Gallery, as well as group shows in the Saatchi Gallery at Underwood Street,Andrew Mummery Gallery, and The Trade Apartment in London. He was included in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2001. Images and/or review copies available on request.

For further information, contact Iñigo Asis at: Pocko Editions 39 Munro Mews, London W10 5RZ T+ F: 020 8964 9580 E: inigo@pocko.com or Diesel International Press Office, T: +39 0424 477555 DAY BY DAY Title number 5 96 illustrated coloured pages Paperback £4.99

Day By Day

by Ori Gersht & Tracey Ferguson

One chair, two lights, a tripod and a camera in the same corner of the house for three years. After waking each morning and breathing in the day, artists Ori Gersht and Tracey Ferguson would embark on their daily ritual: to take a single portrait of each other. From this formal and isolating composition a moving and empathetic all-visual chronicle of their relationship emerged documenting the last years of their emotional journey together. Day by Day presents the reality of the highly emotive and personal struggle to keep the relationship alive. Each image captures something different: each pair of eyes conveying something too powerful to write. A flicker of doubt; an erupting fear; a stare of resolve, all bound together by a sheer determination to love. This daily ceremonial love project shows their wish to come to terms with the march of time. Form the epilogue “In retrospect, these images were our swan song, our final celebration, our last attempt to resist the inevitable. At the time we were unable to admit or verbalise what we must have already known deep inside. This photographic journey provided us with our last hopes, an attempt to preserve what was already gone”

Ori Gersht (b. 1967, Israel) graduated from the University of Westminster in 1992 and later acquired a master degree from The Royal College of Art. He has exhibited extensively in Europe and the US. Current exhibitions include a solo show at Tate Britain in the Art Now Space and a large show at Tel Aviv Museum, both shows are accompanied by a monograph of his work, which will be published in May 2002. Tracey Ferguson (b. 1966, Scotland) trained at Glasgow School of Art, Chelsea School of Art and The Royal College of Art for an MA in curating. Projects include Artangel’s Ilya & Emilia Kabakov’s The Palace of Projects, Education Co-ordinator for Inshore Sites, Project Manager for Canal Culture and Break Down by Michael Landy. Images and/or review copies available on request.

For further information, contact Iñigo Asis at: Pocko Editions 39 Munro Mews, London W10 5RZ T+ F: 020 8964 9580 E: inigo@pocko.com or Diesel International Press Office, T: +39 0424 477555

The original press release for this can be downloaded as Pocko Press Release Series 2 PDF