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An artist’s book made in response to the song, Élan, by Nightwish, In Praise of Style has an unassuming black cover that opens to a tunnel book. Around the inner edges the lyrics to the song are written in simple, elegant cursive and curl round in an inwards spiral*. Hidden within each layer of the tunnel book, so that they are only visible when it is fully opened, are winding and curling lines, abstracted to hint at a variety of designs: vines, wind, or waves to name a few. The entire work is limited to a basic black and white color palette to emphasize the lines.
In Praise of Style acts as an ode to the song, using designs to evoke the same elegance and beauty of the music and the tunnel book form to inspire the same sense of otherworldliness conveyed in the lyrics. The simple color choices and designs were made to allow for the viewer to develop their own thoughts and images within the work. The name of the work comes from the definition of the word ‘élan’ which a noun that means ‘energy, style and enthusiasm’ where style is also a synonym of élan. All together the art piece was inspired and guided by the song.
For the song, Élan, please see this link to Nightwish’s official youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WsOaSUXRHE
*Note: the lyrics, while all there, were slightly changed. All but the final chorus was removed due to spacial constraints within the book.