'Even the birds gave pause' is the fourth photographic book by Michael Stipe presenting a series of works-in-progress that continue an exploration of contemporary portraiture, instinct and abstraction. Classical and conceptual forms create a cohesive whole from seemingly disparate elements, and build what is hopefully an inclusive and complete vision, in which the familiar and unfamiliar are given equal grounding. These works-in-progress include plaster, concrete, rotocast plastics, ceramics, bookmaking, and darkroom photographic printing. Process and the documentation of process becomes a part of the whole. All of this is done in the buildup to a one person exhibition at the Ica Milano Foundation, opening in December 2023 into 2024.

Before his wildly successful foray into music—as frontman of the 1990s international sensation R.E.M.—Michael Stipe was a visual arts student at the University of Georgia in Athens. After the band dissolved in 2011, Stipe returned to his first love: generating illustrations, photography and sculptures. His diaristic photographs are perhaps his best known works, and he has previously published three photo books with Damiani that largely consisted of portraits: 'Volume 1' (2018), 'Our Interference Times: a visual record' (2019) and 'Michael Stipe' (2021). In this fourth publication, portraiture once again takes focus. This time, however, Stipe articulates the form through a plethora of mediums: including plaster, concrete, rotocast plastics, bookmaking, ceramics, video and darkroom photographic printing. The book privileges process over product, displaying a series of works-in-progress that continue an exploration of contemporary portraiture, instinct and abstraction. Classical and conceptual forms create a cohesive whole from seemingly disparate elements, culminating in an inclusive and complete vision, in which the familiar and unfamiliar are granted equal grounding. The volume is published in conjunction with Stipe’s solo exhibition of his artwork at the ICA Milano (December 12, 2023 - March 16, 2024).

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