Book of the day > Dzama / Pettibon. David Zwirner Books. “Raymond Pettibon has been making zines since he graduated from UCLA in the late seventies, but he has rarely collaborated as he did with Marcel Dzama on Dzama / Pettibon. After meeting at David Zwirner Books in 2015 to discuss possible projects, the two artists began to embark on their shared endeavor—something that would develop into an exceptionally beautiful, exquisite corpse–inspired form. Pettibon and Dzama traded drawings and spent the rest of the summer reworking each other’s pieces—illustrating, collaging, accentuating, and writing—to make a brand new body of collaborative work. Months later, the unique pieces arrived back at David Zwirner Books where they were photographed and arranged in zine form in close collaboration with both artists.” 

Book of the day > Concordia by Jonathan Danko Kielkowski. White Press Verlag.  “On the evening of January 13, 2012 one of the largest cruise ships in the Mediterranean wrecked just off the Tuscan island of Giglio . More than 4,000 people were evacuated in the course, 32 lost their lives. The cause of the disaster qualifies human error. The images of a tilted luxury liner have gone around the world, in total they peddle the idea of ​​a giant whale stranded. The sinking of the Costa Concordia, which occurred almost exactly 100 years after the Titanic, is often interpreted as a portent for the ongoing European crisis.” Drawn to the wreckage, photographer Jonathan Danko Kielkowski swam out to it under the cover of darkness to take pictures: “The wrecked Cruise Ship is visible and attracts me like a magnet, so I finally venture to swim across. Against all odds, I find the shipwreck freely accessible — neither fences nor security personnel! Rather, the doors are open, lights are turned on, no man can be seen—nothing in the way.”

Book of the day > Mickalene Thomas: MUSE. Aperture. “Mickalene Thomas, known for her large-scale, multitextured and rhinestone-encrusted paintings of domestic interiors and portraits, identifies the photographic image as a defining touchstone for her practice. Thomas began to photograph herself and her mother as a student at Yale, studying under David Hilliard—a pivotal experience for her as an artist. This volume is the first to gather together her various approaches to photography, including portraits, collages, Polaroids and other processes. The work is a personal act of deconstruction and reappropriation. Working primarily in her studio, Thomas' portraits draw equally from memories of her mother, 1970s black-is-beautiful images of women such as supermodel Beverly Johnson and actress Vonetta McGee, Édouard Manet's odalisque figures and the mise-en-scène studio portraiture of James Van Der Zee and Malick Sidibé. The interior space of her studio, a reappearing character in many of her photographs and paintings, frequently takes on as much of a performative role as her models do. The space exudes a thick, cozy physicality from its layers of fur, rugs, wood paneling and multipatterned linoleum tiles—all of which are richly laden with sensory triggers of a 1970s American rumpus room.”

Book of the day > Gasoline and Magic, Hilar Stadler. Edition Patrick Frey/Museum im Bellpark. “Everything about them is cool. The baby blue Porsche 917, the Chevy Camaro, the blue-, red- and yellow-striped overalls, the boys in low-buttoned shirts, sporting moustaches and a full head of hair, with the sunshine in their faces. Women wearing thick eyeliner and bell-bottoms, girls in crocheted bikinis at the finishing line, garlands of flowers for the winner. Motor sports in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s gave rise to a whole world of imagery that arouses a certain wistfulness nowadays. Not only a nostalgia for beautiful old racing cars, but a more comprehensive yearning for the days when even major auto races were still held on ordinary roads, when ambitious auto mechanics would tinker away at a racing car in the local garage and international Grand Prix stars were still approachable. Gilles Villeneuve pushes a strand of hair behind his ear, Pedro Rodriguez rests up on a little stone wall, Jo Siffert stands around in white jeans and cowboy boots, Ayrton Senna is absorbed in thought. The cars race through Monaco and Le Mans and over the hills of Palermo. Most of the pictures in Gasoline and Magic, often impressive and quasi intimate shots, were taken by amateur photographers, who now share with us their fascination with fast cars. Swiss filmmaker and collector Thomas Horat spent years tracking down, labeling and archiving these pictures, which he presented for the first time to the world at large in Gasoline and Magic – and at the show "VROOOOAAAMMM" at the Museum im Bellpark in Kriens, Switzerland.”

Book of the day > Todd Hido: Khrystyna’s World. Reflex  Amsterdam. Signed: $ 150.  “Khrystyna has the rare ability to become unrecognizable; to become somebody else - many different people, in fact. Todd Hido, meanwhile, had never really bought into the idea of a muse. He had never worked so consistently with a single model before, but with just one Khrystyna he found himself capturing endless others: characters, times, places. Throughout Khrystyna's World, however different the implied stories that Hido creates across this sweeping body of work, a single constant is Khrystyna's fullness of expression. Never simply a prop for hair and makeup, she is an animate communication of Hido's complex environments, their spirits, shadows and combustible associations. In a single collection of photographs, Hido illustrates a sense of empowerment with the skeleton of vulnerability, sarcasm in the face of threat, and playfulness despite gravity. Khrystyna's World exists outside of time and place, therefore. The physical world shapes the title character's internal one, at the same time that it is the reflection of it.”

Book of the day > Robert Mapplethorpe: The Archive. Getty Research Institute. “Celebrated photographer Robert Mapplethorpe challenged the limits of censorship and conformity, combining technical and formal mastery with unexpected, often provocative content that secured his place in history. Mapplethorpe’s artistic vision helped shape the social and cultural fabric of the 1970s and ’80s and, following his death in 1989 from AIDS, informed the political landscape of the 1990s. His photographic works continue to resonate with audiences all over the world. Throughout his career, Mapplethorpe preserved studio files and art from every period and vein of his production, including student work, jewelry, sculptures, and commercial assignments. The resulting archive is fascinating and astonishing. With over 400 illustrations, this volume surveys a virtually unknown resource that sheds new light on the artist’s motivations, connections, business acumen, and talent as a curator and collector."

Book of the day and book signing tomorrow (2/6, 4-6) with coffee courtesy of Cognoscenti! > Hollywood Café: Coffee With The Stars by Steven Rea. Schiffer. “Put on a pot of your favorite coffee, perk up, and enjoy nostalgic black-and-white photos that celebrate screen icons from the Silent Era through the eighties, making and drinking their own cups of joe, java, pour-overs, and percolated brews. Hollywood Café bridges the vibrant coffee culture of right-now with the glamorous coffee culture of the star-studded past. A dream cast of nearly 200 stars—Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Clara Bow, Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Robert Mitchum, Rita Hayworth, Bob Hope, Michael Caine, Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner, Jackie Gleason, Lucille Ball, Elvis Presley, Jayne Mansfield, Sammy Davis Jr., William Holden, Lauren Bacall, John Wayne, and many more—is captured on the set, on the run, in costume and out, behind-the-scenes and at the kitchen table, refilling and refueling, sipping and savoring, drinking the good stuff, just like us.”

Order a signed copy here or join us tomorrow - details are here!

Thanks to Cognoscenti!

Book of the day > African Textiles: The Karun Thakar Collection. Prestel. “This book offers a fascinating journey through the history and culture of textiles in Africa drawn from the private collection of Karun Thakar, widely considered to be one of the best in the world.  This collection of rare and exquisite textiles from Central, Northern, and West Africa includes weavings from Ghana, Nigeria, and the Ivory Coast; embroideries, veils, and haiks from Morocco and Tunisia; and raffia fabrics from Congo. Organized by region, each piece is dramatically photographed to highlight the extraordinary colors, patterns, and skill with which it was created. Drawn from a collection consisting of over 4,000 pieces, this book illustrates the most important textiles from the renowned collection. The book provides not only a thrilling sample of timeless patterns and designs but also a historical perspective that deepens our understanding of the importance of woven materials in the African tradition.”

Book of the day > Nicolas Winding Refn: The Act of Seeing. Fab Press. “For the first time filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn trawls through his unique collection of rare American film posters to unfold ways the viewer validates and actualizes the presentation of key images into their own personal reality. From the vintage visuals of SPIKED HEELS AND BLACK NYLONS, OBSCENE HOUSE and ALICE IN ACIDLAND to THE TWISTED SEX, TORTURE ME KISS ME and ZERO IN AND SCREAM – to name just a few of the tantalizing film titles showcased – the controversial Danish icon constructs a whole new way of looking at the key artwork and shameless hyperbole thought up in the back alley gutters of the exploitation industry. The masterfully overblown promises and alluring tag-lines were dubious attractions solely devised to persuade the ravished sight to suppress the cool head of reason and tempt it to sit in a dark auditorium to watch other people’s lurid lives shockingly unravel. Now the celebrated filmmaker makes complicit voyeurs of us all by editing his exceptional collection of little-seen and vivid front-of-house displays into an extraordinary creation to match the observation sensations explored in his own pioneering screen work. With comprehensive historical context provided for each poster and every production detail meticulously overseen by Winding Refn himself, this book encapsulates everything he has knows about eyewitness confrontation on a heart-felt journey into the art and act of seeing. This lavish quarter bound volume has unprecedented production values including silk covered boards and a cloth bound gold embossed slipcase.”

Book of the day > Carly Steinbrunn: The Voyage of Discovery. Mack.

A few hundred years hence, in this same place, another traveller, as despairing as myself, will mourn the disappearance of what I might have seen, but failed to see. I am subject to a double infirmity: I am hurt by everything I see, and I constantly reproach myself for not looking as much as I should. Claude Lévi-Strauss, "Tristes Tropiques"

Carly Steinbrunn’s The Voyage of Discovery poses as the scientific report of a mission to discover and describe unknown worlds. The photographs present an inventory of findings, with an encyclopaedic curiosity reminiscent of the expeditionary narratives of James Cook and the travelogues of Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Touching upon the realms of geography, botanics, anthropology and zoology, Steinbrunn’s body of work borrows from the varied approaches of the scientific register, and from the history of photography. Echoing Le Gray and Blossfeldt to evoke the aesthetic catalogue of photography’s own evolution, Steinbrunn also enfolds found images to question the transparency of the medium, where a photograph is simultaneously an index of reality and a fabrication.

Steinbrunn’s project is wilfully inconclusive, offering only signs to a pathway through a territory that exists only within the universe of her book. Ultimately, the work bears reference to that particular history which links photography to exploration – the successive conquests of the sea, the air and outer space – and Steinbrunn suggests that, in an age where every island has been charted, every frontier has been breached, the only journey left is inside the image itself.

Carly Steinbrunn (b, 1982) is a French artist who lives and works in London. The Voyage of Discovery is her first book. She is currently developing The Astronomical Unit, in collaboration with the Société Française de Photographie in Paris, a project inspired by Jules Janssen’s journey to Japan in 1874 attempting to photograph the transit of Venus.