ICONS vol.1

Portrait as a record — ICONS vol.1 by Shintaro Kago

The first volume in the four-volume ICONS series opens with a direct premise: historical figures rendered as records, not tributes. Published by The Mansion Press, this illustration artbook by Shintaro Kago applies a controlled, graphic sensibility to portraiture — each image composed with the same clinical remove the subject matter might resist.

The object is A4 format (21 × 29.7 cm), with 52 colour pages and a softcover bound with French flaps. The flaps extend the cover stock into a structure closer to a portfolio than a standard paperback, giving the volume a physical presence consistent with its presentation. The page size suits the image scale without excess.

Kago is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator whose practice moves between ero guro aesthetics and formal experiments in composition. His illustration work — collected internationally in art-publication contexts — is marked by design logic applied as narrative pressure: clean surfaces that hold distortion at a precise distance. This volume reflects that approach without explanation.

ICONS vol.1 functions as a self-contained sequence and as the opening entry in a structured series. The four-volume project continues with ICONS vol.2, maintaining the same format and editorial logic across volumes. Further titles in the Artbooks & Artist Publications catalogue follow a similar commitment to object quality and editorial restraint.