Spectres and Ambedo: The Art of Tran Nguyen Collections: Two luxurious hardcover books that collect the very best paintings and drawings by Tran Nguyen! Our Kickstarter campaign runs until May 22, 2025.
Hi, everyone,
Making books, even after publishing for nearly 25 years, always takes more time than we expect. I was looking back at our email exchanges with Tran about Spectres and came to the realization that this has been a three-year project. If you add the time that Tran put into making the art, Spectres is over a decade in the making.
“Study No. 1,” the painting that would spark this series by Tran was done in 2014. I was already well-aware of Tran at this time and marveled at each new painting that she created. It was in early 2018 that I first broached the idea of publishing a book on her paintings. Thankfully Tran said yes! This led to the release of Ambedo in December of 2019. The\is book had a limited print run and was never available to stores. It quickly sold out directly from us.
The experience of working with Tran was so enjoyable, and I continued to see her growth and creation of her “Study” series, I was eager to work with her again one day. In early 2022 we started discussing a new edition of Ambedo and a new book collecting her experimental studies–Spectres.
As with Ambedo, this opportunity to publish a second collection of Tran’s work has been an absolute privilege. Tran is very kind, creative and professional with smooth communication. She is very involved with the designs and packaging of both books. The cover designs are all by Tran. The look and feel of the book are very much guided by her feedback. This is a book that not only collects her art, but the covers serve as her own hands to hold the book together.
While it is a long process, the time is worth it. We never set a schedule when making a book. The time needed is dictated by the book, not by us.
We tried something new with this campaign. In the past we had stretch goals. Instead, this time we launched as an all-or-nothing approach. The gilt edges, the foil for the cover stamps, the spot color inside the book are all elegant features. We wanted to make sure you knew from the beginning that these books are luxurious.
Your pledge and trust in us, and our faith in you to support us, has made something especially beautiful. Thank you.
The campaign ends this Thursday. As we noted in our last update, the book is with the printer. The proofs have been approved and the book is on the press. As soon as we have our advance copies, we will share pictures in a future update. We will also update the shipping schedule once the books are on the way from Hong Kong.
We look forward to getting Spectres and Ambedo into your hands and onto your library shelves.
On behalf of Tran and everyone here at Flesk, thanks!
Enjoy,
John
Flesk Publications
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Text copyright © 2025 John Fleskes. Photos by Vicky Lien and John Fleskes and © 2025 . Videos © 2025 Flesk Publications. Artwork © 2025 its respective artists. All rights reserved.