Stanley Donwood Knihy

A book of stories by Stanley Donwood, Radiohead's long-time artist and collaborator.

Unsettling dreams segue into waking nightmares. In Humor, Stanley Donwood reveals himself as a contemporary master of the micro-narrative, riffing on the four humors of the human body - sanguine, phlegm, choler and melancholy - to rummage beneath the veneer of sanity that passes for civilised society.

A wild seascape, a distant island, a full moon. Gradually the island grows nearer until we land on a primeval wilderness, rich in vegetation and huge, strange beasts. Time passes and things do not go well for the island. Civilization rises as towers of stone and metal and smoke, choking the undergrowth and the creatures who once moved through it. This is not a happy story and it will not have a happy ending. Working in his distinctive, monochromatic linocut style, Stanley Donwood carves out a mesmerising, stark parable on environmentalism and the history of humankind.

Stanley Donwood and the enigmatic Dr Tchock are the elusive duo responsible for Radiohead's artwork. Containing paintings they have produced in the last decade, this book also contains a cornucopia of never-before-seen artwork. Featuring the apocalyptic scenes of the OK Computer album, the startling, sinister shadow of memory cast onto the present in the Kid A paintings, and the overwhelming information overload of Hail to the Thief's landscapes of conflict, Dead Children Playing presents some of the most iconic artwork of our time.