Collection: Ian Whittlesea

Ian Whittlesea (born 1971) is a British artist whose practice explores the relationships between language, light, image and diagram, both on the page and in the world. His books function as what have been described as ‘instruction manuals for transcendental exercise’: publications that connect yogic practice, colour theory, esoteric systems and bodily attention into a single printed form. His translations and adaptations include Yves Klein’s Les Fondements du Judo (2009), Mazdaznan Health & Breath Culture (2012), Becoming Invisible (2014), The Egyptian Postures (2017) and On Colour… (2019). His 2020 publication Trataka — 200 sequential photographs of a candle burning to nothing — proposes the book itself as a meditation object. Whittlesea’s work is published by The Everyday Press, founded in 2007 by artist Arnaud Desjardin to publish the work of visual artists as printed matter.