What allows us to claim that Czech books are Christians? The baptism ceremony at the launch event (křest knihy), with godfather or godmother, when the book itself is sometimes poured with champagne (not beer, my dear lovers of stereotypes). And what doesn’t? The relatively secular (or even pagan) nature of the ceremony, the lack of other common elements, and the absence of official representatives of the confession. This is the first thing. And, which is the main thing, I don’t want to walk on thin ice of religious themes.
Anyway.
On April 15, the official christening of the book under the name Fluff in the Sky (Czech original title — Na obloze Obláček) by Pavlína Šimonová and Sota Sakuma took place at K-A-V-K-A Artbook Store (my personal lèche-vitrine Number One since we moved to Prague: always closed when we are finally free).
Sunny day (with blooming lilacs on the embankment, not far from the shop), familiar faces, both authors, official speeches, violin music and many books around (and, of course, all of these books were must-haves, how else?).
The presentation was, let’s say, crowded. K-A-V-K-A Store is spacious, but there is a limit to everything.
The book was published by Bold Gallery (well, by Indigoprint, actually, but it’s just a technical detail). The place where, if you remember, last year the exhibition The Wandering Forest of Sota Sakuma took place. That time there was no exhibition catalogue (not even a postcard, not even a pocket calendar, for that matter), but now there is the first book. Not a very big, but the real one.
And this is a book about a cat named Fluff, or Obláček in Czech original version (which literally means Small Cloud).
Because books, cats and illustrations (and tea; I love tea, especially Darjeeling) are made for each other.
The artist himself is allergic to cats, but not to Fluff (and only to Fluff), his friends’ (Pavlína and Petr Šimonovy) cat. No sneezing at all, and if there are tears, they are tears of affection (well, I suppose so, it is a neko after all). And it was Pavlína who wrote the text for Sota Sakuma’s first book. The book that shows that Fluff is special not only because its amazing hypoallergenic (at least in one individual case) properties.
Fluff is very concise. The author’s self-discipline and self-control are simply incredible. Because, yes, much has been said about cats, there is no need for more, but there is always more to say, always.
As an experienced cat parent (15 years with Nyanta, real name — Sonya, pseudonym for subversive activities at night in the kitchen — Amalia McFluffin) I am well aware that hundreds and thousands of novels, plays, poems and fairy tales can always be written about cats.
I have many stories to tell the world. How my cat moves her paws in her sleep, how she listens to audio courses with me, how she walks in the forest, how she turns on a lamp for herself if we don’t make it home before dark, how she shows off her toys to the neighbors’ cats, or how she tried tuna for the first time and almost got stuck in a can, how she traveled by plane, how she bravely re-learned to walk after a back injury two years ago… On the other hand, I don’t write any of that either. And if I do write something similar, it’s fairy tales about hedgehogs. Nyanta is still too personal.
But if we return to the subject of our discussion, even with the brevity of the text, it is still possible to get to know Fluff the Bengal cat, their habits and the pattern of fur dapples quite closely. The rest in the matter of forming the image and the cat’s rich inner world is the work of illustrations.
Little creatures, living on Fluff as on a mythical whale, are very cute. And the book looks cute (matte, but bright cover, orange pocket, Munken paper, Hiragana, design by Jana Vahalíková… all these little things that matter).
But despite this «cuteness», the main character and the volume of the text, the book is not necessarily addressed to children, but rather to fans of Sota Sakuma’s work, and to those who have not lost touch with their inner child (and to those who love Japanese visual culture or the Czech way of publishing books).
The presentation featured special and limited edition of 25 illustrations in the recognisable style for sale with the book (originals, oil on paper), additionally created on the theme of cats (everyone in a row, from Doraemon and Lada’s Mikeš, to Natsume Sōseki almost in the role of his character, a maneki-neko and someone resembling Bulgakov’s Behemoth; Hello Kitty wasn’t detected) — nice opportunity to bring home some art.
The original illustrations for the book were also shown: a slightly larger format, not for sale (all types of cats, from Mozart in a wig to bakeneko, because Fluff is a multifaceted personality living in a world rich in plots). This world needs more cats, all good and different (and as for the drawn ones, there are no allergies to them — profit).
The book is published in two versions: Czech-Japanese and English-Japanese (Japan translation — Petr Holý, English translation — Sylva Ficová). If I’m not mistaken, 200 and 200 copies were published, respectively. If I remembered something wrong, it doesn’t matter, there aren’t very many books anyway.
Books are numbered and signed in advance by the artist (Pavlína Šimonová’s autograph was taken separately, during the launch event). We have number 10, in English.
Pages are not numbered, but the book should be read from the end («from the end» — if you are not used to the Japanese way, because in that case it is usually the beginning).
Fluff in the Sky was presented at K-A-V-K-A Store only for one day (on the occasion of the release, and it was possible to get the book or the book + original illustration at a discount; but it seems a few copies are now available online too), afterwards, it will be available at Bold Gallery (without any discounts and by appointment, but definitely in a less crowded and more calm atmosphere that, frankly, suits cats better).
