The Empire Strikes Book - by Joseph Ari Aloi (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Empire Strikes Book is a 500-page book gathers the full arc of a lifelong fascination--drawings and works born from the Star Wars universe. The book begins with the artist's earliest, childhood sketches at age seven in 1977, when the first film detonated the imaginations of viewers across the world. JK5's work is organized by year and provides a visual progression of his skill, style formation, and infatuation with the franchise. The Empire Strikes Book is a visual feast that is chock-full of fan-favorite characters reimagined in JK5's unique style.

"I drew obsessively through the original trilogy years. In 1994, during my senior year at the Rhode Island School of Design, I felt the desert winds of the 'Dune Sea' calling me back. That autumn, as I began tattooing in earnest, I adopted JK5 as my nom de plume (Jedi Knight, Red 5), and the visual grammar of Star Wars evolved into a parallel mythology--part homage, part catalyst. It became a lens through which I explored identity, expression, and the construction of my own personal cosmology. This work is the record of that journey." - JK5

About the Author

JK5, or to some, Joseph Ari Aloi, is a satellite orbiting cultural discourse, mythology, and symbolism to create a visual vernacular for both the perfunctory and the profound. The layers of meaning from spiritual, to philosophical, to poetic, to pop, build bridges that are fluid enough to be inclusive and complex enough to leave you wondering and wanting more.

If drawing is like taking a line for a walk (Paul Klee), then JK5's lines are on walks that turned into truth seeking epics. As you follow these lines, you are intimately invited into alternate worlds and new narratives at endless cultural crossroads, aiming to raise collective consciousness and provoke play. JK5 brings in the personal, prophetic, timely, and timeless to converse across disciplines. Each of his works are both the medium and the message.

This JK5 universe is built on the backbone of devotion and mastery. Art as freedom, led to this primary expression of identity, and then 25 years as a tattoo artist and restless draftsman placed precision in his hands and connection to the human experience at the heart of all conceptual exercises as a translator-- a rare perspective. It is this universe and viewpoint that distinguishes JK5's current work as a painter, illustrator, calligrapher, designer, poet, and writer.

JK5's process is wildly organic and associative. His level of attention to artistry showcases a commitment to an ever-evolving range of styles and a constant nurturing of distinct writing and communication systems. It is this approach and the multiple meta meanings that unfold that have touched the heads and hearts of countless cultures and subcultures. JK5 has joined forces and created custom projects with Nike, Comme des Garçons, Dover Street Market, Zeiss, Topps Project 2020, Project 70, Kidrobot, and Wieden + Kennedy, to name a few. His work has been exhibited through Deitch Projects, Alife NYC, and other galleries worldwide. He recently exhibited a new body of work as the inaugural solo show at Three Kings Studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.