Book of the Day Posted Jan 08, 2022

Book of the Day > Armando Alleyne: A Few of My Favorites

● Purchase ● The first book on the New York painter’s eclectic iconography of jazz musicians, boxers and friends
 
With bright patches of acrylic paint and carefully placed found ephemera, New York–based artist Armando Alleyne’s (born 1959) multimedia portraits are immediately eye-catching, drawing viewers in to inspect and appreciate the layers of meaning collaged on top of one another. Alleyne’s renditions of jazz musicians, Afro-Latino singers, and his own family members and acquaintances are rife with color and contemporary iconography as well as references to the artist’s own life. Series such as Shelter Blues reflect on Alleyne’s experiences of homelessness, while Maria’s Song pays homage to his late sister through a pantheon of religious imagery. This volume is the first book on Alleyne, highlighting a lifetime of work alongside snapshots and personal anecdotes.
Book of the Day Posted Jan 07, 2022

Book of the Day > Jackie Nickerson: Salvage

● Purchase ● Portraits that explore how environmental and economic circumstances shape people’s lives
 
American-born British artist Jackie Nickerson (born 1960) began photographing Zimbabwean farmworkers in 1996. Her first series of these portraits served to change the perception that those who work in African agriculture are disempowered, unmodern people by highlighting their individual personalities through their handmade clothing. Ever since, she has continued in the vein of portraiture as a tool for social awareness, with a particular emphasis on global labor practices and agriculture. Her recent series Salvage interrogates the homogeneity of the artistic conventions, such as balance, likeness, proportion and scale, that characterize the portrait genre. In contrast to these expectations, Nickerson’s photography engages both her subjects and her viewers with light, airy color palettes and nontraditional framing, sometimes obscuring her sitters’ faces to imply anonymity within a larger system or otherwise photographing them from a low angle to emphasize their authority within the image’s frame.
Book of the Day Posted Jan 06, 2022

Book of the Day > Helmut Newton. Legacy

● Purchase ● Virtually unparalleled in scope and spanning more than five decades, the photography of visionary Helmut Newton (1920–2004) reached millions through publication in magazines like Vogue and Elle. His oeuvre transcended genres, bringing elegance, style, and voyeurism to fashion, portrait, and glamour photography through a body of work that remains as inimitable as it is unrivaled. Having mastered the art of fashion photography early in his career, Newton’s shoots invariably went beyond standard practice, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. Newton’s clear aesthetic pervades all areas of his work, particularly fashion, portraiture, and nude photography. Women take center stage – with subjects such as Catherine Deneuve, Liz Taylor, and Charlotte Rampling. Moving beyond traditional narrative approaches, Newton’s fashion photography is imbued not only with luxurious elegance and subtle seduction, but also cultural references and a surprising sense of humor.
 
During the 1990s, Newton shot for the German, American, Italian, French, and Russian editions of Vogue, primarily in and around Monte Carlo where he was living from 1981 onwards. Transforming locations like his own garage into starkly contrasting or particularly minimalist theatrical stages, Newton would often portray the eccentric lives of the beautiful and rich, full of eroticism and elegance, in unconventional scenarios. He made use of and simultaneously questioned visual clichés, at times tinged with self-irony or mockery, but always full of empathy.
Book of the Day Posted Jan 04, 2022

Book of the Day > Reversing Into The Future: New Wave Graphics 1977–1990

● Purchase ● Packed with exclusive artworks and expert texts, this is the comprehensive guide to the unforgettable period of New Wave. Having witnessed an emerging generation of music buyers who’d been energized by punk, major record labels and independents alike went in search of sounds and visions that captured something of the energy and cheeky attitude of punk, while ignoring its political edge. New Wave was embraced by the mainstream music and entertainment industries and used to promote artists who rejected the anti-consumerist, anti-materialistic, black-and-white nihilism of the original punk movement in favor of a more optimistic, humorous and colorful present refracted through the past. In doing so, and as this book illustrates, the New Wave followed Marshall McLuhan’s dictum that ‘we drive boldly into the future with our eyes fixed firmly on the rear-view mirror’. New Wave artists rejected punk’s satirical, parodic and irreverent treatment of rock ’n’ roll’s original, iconic imagery preferring to display it reverently or referenced with love and affection.
 
Reversing Into The Future: New Wave Graphics 1977–1990 includes graphic designs for, among others, The B52s, Boomtown Rats, Devo, Duran Duran, The Cars, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, XTC, Cyndi Lauper, The Police, Simple Minds, Gary Numan, Japan, Blondie, Talking Heads, The Go-Gos, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Simple Minds, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and many more. Graphic artists featured include Martyn Atkins, Barney Bubbles, Chris Morton, Malcolm Garrett, Alex McDowell, Tony Wright, Martin Kaye for the Paradiso, X3 Posters, DEVO Inc., Neville Brody, The Designers Republic, Russell Mills and more.
 
A collectable item itself, the book is beautifully produced with front and back cover artwork by world-renowned designers Malcolm Garrett and Chip Kidd. Alongside a vast array of original artworks and graphics from the New Wave period, the book includes text contributions from recognized and respected commentators, critics and designers from the UK, US and Australia. Documenting the incredible impact of New Wave, this is the ideal book for die-hard music fans and graphic design aficionados alike.
Book of the Day Posted Dec 31, 2021

Book of the Day > Brendan Lott: Safer At Home

● Purchase ● Staying home day and night with a desire to remain creative during the quarantine, Lott began shooting photographs from his DTLA loft of the residential building across the street. He became entranced with peeking into the private lives of others during the pandemic, capturing their behavior and activities in candid moments. These images are not portraits and he avoids showing complete faces. They are moments in time; a time of great uncertainty and fear. The final images simply reveal a knee, an edge of the face or just a headless body with the face obscured by architecture, plants, furniture or props. Metaphorically, Lott challenges the notion of the face being the site of our individuality, thus these faceless bodies articulate the evacuation of individual selves in the age of digital information.
 
Lott entitles the series Safer at Home, referencing the nurturing environment that we create for ourselves with personal tastes revealed in the décor, arrangement of furniture, accessories and lighting. However, there is an ominous feeling within each of these images. As noted by critic Daniel Coffeen, “What we learn from seeing these images is that there is no longer any safety at home for we are all evacuated, turned inside out, atomized within the network, all these isolated nodes gravitating towards the same center. The line that would separate a screen from a window has been erased. We no longer peer through windows; we view screens. The image is no longer over there or up on the screen, in theaters, or even on TVs. The image is right here. It's everywhere. It's us.”
Book of the Day Posted Dec 30, 2021

Book of the Day > Return of the Mecca: The Art of Islam and Hip-Hop

● Purchase Link in Bio ● Rakim. Public Enemy. A Tribe Called Quest. Gang Starr. Ice Cube. The Wu-Tang Clan. Mos Def. Lupe Fiasco. Jay Electronica. To many, these are some of hip-hop’s most significant artists. But few know that these artists, like many others, identify as Muslim and/or are connected to the global religion of Islam. Through the influence of figures such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, hip-hop culture was dominated, if not deeply influenced by its relationship to Islam, from the foundation of Zulu Nation in the early 1970’s, to the “Golden Age” of hip-hop (1986-1995), and onto the present. Return of the Mecca will showcase how Islam deeply impacted the world of art and culture, creating an alternative Black consciousness, one where Black people imagined themselves not as a national minority, but as part of a global majority.
 
The book features an extended interview with Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), essays by Chuck D and Sohail Daulatzai, photos by Jamel Shabazz, Ernie Paniccioli, B+, Katina Parker and Cognito, as well as other artwork and ephemera.
Book of the Day Posted Dec 29, 2021

Book of the Day > Morning of the Earth - 50th Anniversary Book

● Purchase ● This beautifully designed coffee table book commemorates Morning of the Earth’s 50th Anniversary and showcases 170 brilliantly remastered images from the film. Executed without compromise, it is the definitive companion, featuring 50 screen grabs from never-before-seen outtakes that reveal a forgotten past. The book is swiss-bound for a truly immersive lay-flat experience, presenting crystal clear imagery on uncoated paper stock that transports the viewer back to a land before time. See Australia, Bali and Hawaii before rampant development took over; see the wide angled point of views that didn’t make the film; see legendary scenes like the surf discovery of Uluwatu, Bali; and travel back to the early 70’s where country soul was life, and surfing was too.
 
The book includes a 40-page introduction with Albert Falzon and Torren Martyn, a foreword by David Elfick, and essays by Sean Doherty, Jamie Brisick, Simon Jones and Falzon, who share intimate stories, dive deep into the history of the film, reveal rare never-before-seen archival treasures, and explore the early development of an artist and the filmmaker’s journey. This treasure keeps the story going and, as a comprehensive look at Morning of the Earth’s 50-year heritage, is a must-have and prerequisite for any surfer and cinephile alike. It is a stunning time capsule that paints a picture of imagination and will allow you to fall in love with Morning of the Earth all over again.
Book of the Day Posted Dec 28, 2021

Book of the Day > Soviet Seasons: Photographs by Arseniy Kotov

● Purchase ● The post-Soviet republics seen over four different seasons, by acclaimed Russian photographer, Instagram sensation and Soviet Cities author Arseniy Kotov
 
In Soviet Seasons, Arseniy Kotov reveals unfamiliar aspects of the post-Soviet terrain in sublime photographs. From snow-blanketed Siberia in winter to the mountains of the Caucasus in summer, these images show how a once powerful, utopian landscape has been affected by the weight of nature itself.
 
This uniquely broad perspective could only be achieved by a photographer such as Kotov. Singularly dedicated to exploring every corner of his country, Kotov often hitchhikes across vast distances. On these journeys he chronicles not only the architectural achievements of the Soviet empire, but also its overlooked or simply undocumented constructions. He writes: “In this book I want to show how beautiful and diverse the cities and nature of this vast region are at different times of the year. I have traveled widely across Russia and its neighboring countries, where I captured the landscape of post-Soviet cities and witnessed the seasonal changes.”
Book of the Day Posted Dec 23, 2021

Book of the Day > Sophie Bramly: Yo! The Early Days of Hip Hop 1982–84

● Purchase ● The birth of hip hop in New York: rare images of the bands, the MCs and DJs, the artists and the fans, from Afrika Bambaataa and Run-DMC to Keith Haring and the Rock Steady Crew
 
This book features more than 150 rarely seen images documenting the rise of hip hop in the early 1980s, taken by French photographer Sophie Bramly. Bramly lived in New York during this period and became firmly embedded in the emergent scene. The book features many stunning, intimate images of a star-studded roll call of legendary hip hop figures, all of whom were only just getting known or in their ascendency. These include Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmixer DST, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lee, the Fat Boys, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and many more.
 
Bramly knew that hip hop was becoming a cultural force rather than just a musical fashion, and spent many hours photographing the four essential elements of this new world: the emcees, the deejays, the graffiti artists and the break dancers. Here you will see legendary graffiti artists captured at work and play, such as Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura, Phase One, Zephyr and Lady Pink, and break dancers including members of Magnificent Force, Dynamic Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew.
 
Bramly’s photographs also chronicle the desolate cityscapes from which hip hop emerged; the energy of the fans who first embraced hip hop; and the crucial players behind the scenes (Bill Laswell, Bernard Zekri, Rick Rubin, Fun Gallery co-owner Patti Astor).
 
Finally, this book also includes a bonus section documenting the rise of hip hop in Europe. Bramly returned to France in 1984 to find herself once again at the center of a new cultural phenomenon, helping bring the first US hip hop artists to Europe, including Fab Five Freddy, Futura 2000, Rocksteady Crew and many more.
Book of the Day Posted Dec 22, 2021

Book of the Day > Danielle Mericle: The Dark Wood

● Purchase ● The Dark Wood explores broad questions of history and our collective ability to document and learn from the past. Through intertwined images of abandoned Greco-Roman casts, an ancient Sequoia forest and the artist’s own texts, Mericle invites us to consider history as a fluid process rather than a static truth.
 
The once highly valued casts – which appear in the book as original and archival photographs – were rejected as worthless copies during the early part of the 20th century, under the belief that they lacked the artistry and aura of the originals, despite the fact that many of the ‘originals’ were in fact Roman copies of Greek artifacts. During the two World Wars, many of these ‘originals’ were damaged or destroyed, and the casts are now considered some of the most authoritative versions available. A Sequoia forest in Northern California offers two important counterpoints. Ancient Sequoia tree rings chart the rise and fall of civilizations over the last 3000 years, including those that created the Greco-Roman artifacts. The tree rings position human history within a broader geological timeframe, lending an adjusted perspective to the human enterprise. The rings also reveal the complex history and shifting perspectives on the significance of fire in the region, with the dissonant histories of expansive logging practices, the conservation movement, Indigenous knowledge, and climate change playing out against the troubled fate of the ancient Sequoias.
 
Though we attempt to understand and preserve our past, the endeavor is subject to inevitable shifts in knowledge, the whims of ideology, and the vagaries of historical truth. With an epilogue that grounds the complex sequence of images in personal elegy, The Dark Wood re-calibrates our sense of scale by allowing us to locate a sense of mourning, loss and the specifics of our own narratives within the broad and unfixed framework of history.
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