Covers brings together 69 book covers of Hans Ulrich Obrist’s publications, re-created in watercolor.

In this process, Cella shifts the medium of the book into the medium of the image: the cover—normally a vehicle for content and distribution—becomes the central motif. The painterly translation works through reduction, color fields, typographic fragments, and precise scale, making publishing itself visible as a visual procedure.

Within the broader discourse on appropriation, Cella’s serial approach differs from ironic reinterpretations such as Harland Miller’s painted covers or Richard Prince’s Nurse Paintings. Rather than parody, Covers emphasizes translation and the materiality of the book as image carrier, foregrounding questions of authorship, reproduction, and the migration of forms across media.

Signed and numbered edition of 300, published in 2013, printed and bound in Austria. Softcover, approx. 144 pages, 12.5 × 16.5 cm, English.