Book of the Day Posted Jun 26, 2025

Book of the Day: Afrosport

From the publisher: "Afrosport studies sport on the continent through the lens of design and by way of research, interviews, thought pieces, creative exploration, analysis, graphics and photography. The book explores the visual culture of African sport, its rich history and its global influence in the world: present and future. African design is reshaping the world’s cultural stage, sport shows us how." Book of the day! (Mami Wata, 2025)

Book of the Day Posted Jun 22, 2025

Book of the Day: Rodolfo Abularch

Rodolfo Abularach (1933-2020) is one of Latin America’s most distinguished yet underrecognized masters. Throughout his over six-decade long career, Abularach created a fascinating and spiritual world filled with images of planetary forms, mandalas, and earthly and psychological portals. His most iconic and repeated subject was the eye, which he saw as a window into the soul. His interest in the mysteries of the earth led him to depict volcanoes, emblems of the artist's homeland and ancient history. Abularach mastered and explored a variety of styles, from hyperrealistic to abstract, monochrome to multicolored, esoteric to surreal. This is our book of the day on June 6th, 2025!
Book of the Day Posted Jun 20, 2025

Book of the Day: Virgil Abloh - "Make It Ours"

From the publisher: "In 2018, shockwaves were sent around the fashion industry when Virgil Abloh was appointed the head of menswear for Louis Vuitton. Despite no formal training in pattern-making or tailoring, Abloh had become the first Black designer to serve as artistic director in the brand’s 164-year history. Make It Ours tells the story of how that moment came to be and how Abloh came to symbolise and embody the industry’s way forward. Using Abloh’s surprising path to the top of the luxury establishment, Givhan unfolds the larger story of how the cloistered, exclusive fashion world faced a revolution from below in the form of streetwear and designers unafraid to storm the gate, and how a simple t-shirt came to hold as much cultural power as a haute couture gown." This new biography of the late designer by author Robin Givhan is our book of the day.
Book of the Day Posted Jun 18, 2025

Book of the Day: Sexy Record Covers

From the publisher: "An album cover collection exploring 70 years of surprising, shocking and frankly hilarious nude and provocative art. Sexy covers sold all musical genres, from funk to punk, and the silly German schlager. Comedy albums range from mid-century 'stag party' pin-ups to the undeniably raunchy ’70s sensation, Blowfly. Steamy, seamy and adults only." Book of the day, from the esteemed people at Taschen.
Book of the Day Posted Jun 01, 2025

Book of the Day: Superfine - Tailoring Black Style

From the publisher: "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style traces the complex and vibrant legacy of menswear across three centuries of Black culture—from today’s hip-hop aesthetic and popular street trends, through its use during the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement as a symbol of creative and political agency, to its surprising origins as an imposed uniform for servants and enslaved people. Organized by key characteristics of dandyism that resonate across time, including presence, distinction, disguise, and respectability, this fresh interpretation of a centuries-old aesthetic draws on prominent Black voices in fashion, literature, and art." Book of the day! Purchase here
Book of the Day Posted May 29, 2025

Book of the Day: Existential Comics by R. Crumb

From the publisher: "This volume brings together twenty-five of R. Crumb’s most ambitious, acclaimed, and profound comics. One of the most influential and iconic cartoonists of our time, R. Crumb is celebrated for pushing the boundaries of representation, mass consumerism, and polite society. The comics in this volume exemplify Crumb’s creative output over twenty-five years following his early experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s. The comics collected here depict characters searching for an understanding of the world around and within themselves. Through adaptation, autobiography, biography, and short fiction, Crumb—much like his subjects—demands we pay attention to our darkest desires, compulsions, fears, and obsessions. Existential Comics also features a new, introductory comic strip by Crumb, reflecting on his practice in the context of this volume. Editor Dan Nadel’s essay further weaves together Crumb’s life, career, and influences, delving into the creative environment that informed some of the artist’s most outstanding comics."
Book of the Day Posted May 28, 2025

Book of the Day: THIS MUSIC LEAVES EXIT WOUNDS: DARBY CRASH AND GERMS EPHEMERA

From the archive of esteemed punk publishing house Kill Your Idols comes "This Music Leaves Exit Wounds: Darby Crash and Germs Ephemera!" True to its title, this book reproduces hundreds of rare and seldom seen gig flyers, photographs, set lists, magazine ads, record graphics, and more. A brand new, most handsome example of this awesome survey of all things Germs limited to a mere five hundred unnumbered copies. Get yours before it invariably sells out!!!
Book of the Day Posted May 24, 2025

Book of the Day: Vince Aletti - Physique

From the publisher: "Physique showcases over 250 rare physique photography prints from the private collection of renowned critic and curator Vince Aletti. Spanning the 1930s to the early 1960s, these photographs chronicle a hidden, coded world of homoerotic imagery. Once sold discreetly through mail-order catalogues and underground physique magazines, the prints point to an emergent queer sensibility and visibility. Accompanying this visual archive is a personal essay by Aletti which traces the historical and political significance of these images, firmly establishing their place in the canon of photography. He celebrates the artistry of the photographers, models, and studios that brought the photographs to life. Physique reveals a forgotten chapter of American gay culture in which photographic prints served as a lifeline, connecting a community of men under threat while also providing solace, pleasure, and empowerment amid oppression." Book of the day!
Book of the Day Posted May 18, 2025

Book of the Day: Revisions - Francis Bacon in the Act of Painting

From the publisher: "An indispensable supplement to Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, uncovering valuable new information about the artist's practice. The manner in which Bacon’s paintings evolved was misunderstood during his lifetime. Since he always painted alone in his studios, there were no witnesses to the emergence of his visceral imagery. His insistence on privacy helped generate considerable speculation about his painting process, most of it erroneous. Bacon did make one clear statement about the genesis of his paintings: 'I sketch out very roughly on the canvas with a brush, just a vague outline of something, and then I go to work … .' Yet this fundamentally accurate summation of his technique ran counter to the received wisdom and was misunderstood or ignored. Martin Harrison’s introductory essay begins by demonstrating exactly what Bacon meant, and what he did: it will show what “rough sketching’ signified. It also deploys X-ray and infrared images that reveal under-drawing, and analyzes other features that elucidate Bacon’s methodology. Photographs of paintings briefly arrested at intermediate points before completion—taken by the few visitors to the studio allowed the privilege—help to explain later stages in painting process. Sophie Pretorius’s survey incorporates every one of the images that have hitherto remained unseen, illustrating the transitional states of all the paintings recorded in photographs, arranged thematically. A reference section includes thumbnail images of all the paintings discussed here, arranged in chronological order. This is consistent with the layout of Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné (2016), to which this volume may be regarded as a supplement, publishing significant new information."
Book of the Day Posted May 16, 2025

Book of the Day: Chromotherapia

Book of the day! From the publisher: "Chromotherapia: Feel-Good Color Photography offers genuine relief from the black-and-white world. Often disparaged, not always taken seriously, color photography has nevertheless allowed artists to get out their palettes and 'paint.' Many have freed themselves from the medium’s documentary status to explore the common roots of the image and the imaginary, flirting with the worlds of Surrealism and Pop. Famed Italian visual artist and curator Maurizio Cattelan and curator Sam Stourdzé offer a rereading of the history of color photography through the 20th century into the 21st, and through the works of over 19 artists who take us on a journey into vibrant, acidulous worlds. Treat yourself to sunny yellow, azure blue, bright red, bubbly orange and more, straight from the lenses of the biggest names in color photography. Artist include: Yevonde Middleton, Harold Edgerton, Erwin Blumenfeld, Walter Chandoha, William Wegman, Hiro, Guy Bourdin, Alex Prager, Juno Calypso, Adrienne Raquel, Miles Aldridge, Ouka Leele, Hassan Hajjaj, Ruth Ossai, Pierre et Gilles, Sandy Skoglund, Martin Parr, Arnold Odermatt, and Toiletpaper."

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