Concrete Poetry
'An essential coffee-table tour' Wired
The end of the Second World War was an era marked by community engagement through post-war progressive civic architecture and art that gave rise to some of the UK's most important pieces of public art: from Richard Serra's Fulcrum in London's Broadgate to Barbara Hepworth's works across the country, to the less well-known Cumisky mural in Skelmersdale and the vivid Schottlander shapes in Warwick. These works of art have become familiar companions; backdrops to British lives.
In Concrete Poetry, Simon Phipps photographs, explores and celebrates Britain's post-war public art, placing it in context and considering its future. Complete with incredible photography, an introduction by Phipps, an essay by Darren Umney and detailed captions, this book honours not only the artworks themselves, but the community spirit of the age from which they came.
Designed by creative agency Studio Small, Concrete Poetry is a uniquely beautiful book that is as inventive as its subject matter.
Simon Phipps, born in Leeds, is an artist based in London. He is a graduate in sculpture from the Royal College of Art and a renowned photographer of post-war modernist architecture. He is the author of the books: Brutal London, Finding Brutalism, Concrete Poetry: Post-War Modernist Public Art, Brutal North, Brutal Outer London and Brutal Wales/Cymru Friwtalaidd. Finding Brutalism was a winner of the 2018 DAM Architectural Book Award and Brutal London was a finalist for the British Book and Production Awards 2017. @new_brutalism