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Rating: 
Summary: World's most expensive AND cheap magazine!
Review: Don't get me wrong, I love Visionaire and own many issues and hope they keep putting out new issues, but I am also hard on them when, IMHO, they don't meet my expectations. It seems Visionaire has had an "up and down" quality issue as of late. Some issues are as elaborate as can be, others are like this issue, a cheaply bound "book" in a even more cheap looking "case". Since this issue is sponsored by "Olay Colour" I guess they wanted to make the case like a make-up "compact". The case is flimsy, tin, and silver colored with a "button" you press to make it pop open like a compact. At least that's what it looks like it's supposed to be. Whatever it is, one thing is for certain, the case is cheap and ugly looking. The book itself is a meager affair. It's soft bound with a red "velvet" material as the cover. There are various images in the book that are supposed to represent different aspects of women. There are mostly young and sexy representations with the occasional naked old woman thrown in or a cat nursing her kittens for an added twist on the theme. There is also a "life-size" nude dividing up the book, apparently if you had 6 copies of the book you could "build" the woman by stacking the books on top of each other. Is this creativity or just a cheap ploy to get people to buy 6 issues each of this "collectible" magazine? Anyway, anything with a print run of 6000 isn't considered rare, it would have to be under 3000 tops. Definately one of the worst issues to date, I'm sorry to say. It seems such a waste to have a subject with such possibilities done so thoughtlessly.
Rating: 
Summary: learning to see art
Review: so alot of people say the depictions are "not nice"? oh well! learn to see meaning, try to get outside your own and society's fashionable limits for a second and view what other people are trying to say and thinking about whether you like it or not. this is communication. decode. if you aren't on the edge yet or simply mocking that edge that everyone's trying to jump on, take a look at visionaire and call it a prediction of your mind's apocalypse. change is good.
Rating:
Summary: learning to see art
Review: so alot of people say the depictions are "not nice"? oh well! learn to see meaning, try to get outside your own and society's fashionable limits for a second and view what other people are trying to say and thinking about whether you like it or not. this is communication. decode. if you aren't on the edge yet or simply mocking that edge that everyone's trying to jump on, take a look at visionaire and call it a prediction of your mind's apocalypse. change is good.
Rating:
Summary: Great packaging ... disappointing photographs
Review: When I purchase a great art book, I can't wait to share it with my friends. In the case of "Visionaire 29: Woman," I'm reluctant to even put it on my coffee table. The allure of this book stems from its being a one-of-a-series, limited edition (only 6000 printed) publication. Other plusses are its high quality paper, velvet cover and the really cool, mirrored presentation case. What's between the covers turned out to be a disappointment for me. [Note: #29 is the only "Visionaire" book I've seen, so I can't make a comparison to the others]. There are about 100 pages of mostly photos (both color and b/w, many nudes) with a couple of paintings, sketches, etc., included. About 70 people were listed as contributors. While some of the photos are interesting, beauty does not abound here (try instead: "Photographs" by Patrick Demarchelier). Noteworthy are the photos by Karl Lagerfield, Peter Lindbergh (of Madonna) and Marcus Piggott/Matt Alas. What I don't relish looking at are pictures of a sex doll with its face slashed, a nude torso with nasty cosmetic surgery scars, or some overly back-lit stills from a stairway video installation. There's also a photo of a cat nursing her kittens ("woman"?). Okay, so if the subject matter isn't always charming, maybe there's supposed to be a theme or message to this compilation of art. I couldn't find one. If you're a collector of rare, trendy photo books, it might be worth your while to plunk down the steep price for this. But, in my opinion, the bad outweighs the good here.
Rating:
Summary: Great packaging ... disappointing photographs
Review: When I purchase a great art book, I can't wait to share it with my friends. In the case of "Visionaire 29: Woman," I'm reluctant to even put it on my coffee table. The allure of this book stems from its being a one-of-a-series, limited edition (only 6000 printed) publication. Other plusses are its high quality paper, velvet cover and the really cool, mirrored presentation case. What's between the covers turned out to be a disappointment for me. [Note: #29 is the only "Visionaire" book I've seen, so I can't make a comparison to the others]. There are about 100 pages of mostly photos (both color and b/w, many nudes) with a couple of paintings, sketches, etc., included. About 70 people were listed as contributors. While some of the photos are interesting, beauty does not abound here (try instead: "Photographs" by Patrick Demarchelier). Noteworthy are the photos by Karl Lagerfield, Peter Lindbergh (of Madonna) and Marcus Piggott/Matt Alas. What I don't relish looking at are pictures of a sex doll with its face slashed, a nude torso with nasty cosmetic surgery scars, or some overly back-lit stills from a stairway video installation. There's also a photo of a cat nursing her kittens ("woman"?). Okay, so if the subject matter isn't always charming, maybe there's supposed to be a theme or message to this compilation of art. I couldn't find one. If you're a collector of rare, trendy photo books, it might be worth your while to plunk down the steep price for this. But, in my opinion, the bad outweighs the good here.
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