The Sublime Object of Orientalism
Cover design for The Sublime Object of Orientalism by Professor Paul Bowman, an academic book published by Hong Kong University Press which ‘proposes that globalised Asian physical cultural practices such as taiji, qigong, yoga and meditation can be understood in important new ways if we are aware of the extent to which western orientalism is intimately connected with the Romantic aesthetic notion of the sublime’.
I produced various options for the cover, exploring different aspects of orientalism and the sublime, but the one above is my favourite. The title is set in the pseudo-Asian-style font Kung Fu Master, with the final word fading into a mirage, symbolising orientalism as an illusion. The painting in the background (The Shipwreck by Claude-Joseph Vernet) is in the Romantic style, evoking the sublime. And even the author name in the corner imitates the Chinese chop / seal style, for bonus ‘orientalism’.
The cover chosen by the author was the one featuring the gnome below. The title of the book echoes Slavoj Žižek’s The Sublime Object of Ideology, and the text on the gnome cover is set in the same style as the famous 1989 book. The gnome resonated with the author because it is European; it’s meditating; it looks like Wim Hof (who is discussed in the book); gnomes were popular during the Romantic period; gnomes are arguably the less ‘classy’ version of buddha statues; and the image poses lots of questions – ‘what the hell does that image have to do with that title?’, making people curious about the contents of the book.
