Cool Pastoral Splendor. Last Chance Press and Jap Sam Books. 2015. 11 x 18 cm. 240 pg.

Cool Pastoral Splendor is the first Center Pivot publication the Last Chance Press of M12 Studio. It is published as a special limited edition, in a print run of 250 copies. Co-publishers: M12 Collective and the Last Chance Press.

Through interdisciplinary approaches, this series explores and connects the changing realities of rural landscapes and communities around the world.

Cool Pastoral Splendor includes a selection of pictures from Richard Saxton’s Rural Research Archive and accompanying writings by Kurt Wagner. Saxton and Wagner are among a rare breed of artists focusing on the non-heroic, psychic and lyrical unfolding of daily events. Both Saxton and Wagner infuse the work with their own rural experiences, but no single genre or culture captures the whole of these intentions. Cool Pastoral Splendor leaves us in search of beauty hidden in plain sight.  

—Kirsten Stoltz

Editors
Kurt Wagner and M12 Studio

Contributors
Richard Saxton, Kurt Wagner, epilogue by Kirsten Stoltz

ISBN
978-94-90322-53-3