Book of the Day Posted Apr 22, 2020

Book of the Day > The Human Planet: Earth At The Dawn Of The Anthropocene

● Purchase ● A dynamic aerial exploration of our changing planet, published on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day 

 

The Human Planet is a sweeping visual chronicle of the Earth today from a photographer who has circled the globe to report on such urgent issues as climate change, sustainable agriculture, and the ever-expanding human footprint. George Steinmetz is at home on every continent, documenting both untrammeled nature and the human project that relentlessly redesigns the planet in its quest to build shelter, grow food, generate energy, and create beauty through art and architecture. In his images, accompanied by authoritative text by renowned science writer Andrew Revkin, we are encountering the dramatic and perplexing new face of our ancient home.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 21, 2020

Book of the Day > Eva Hesse and Hannah Wilke: Erotic Abstraction

● PURCHASE ● This exhibition and accompanying book offers the first opportunity to appreciate the resonances between the studio practices of Eva Hesse and Hannah Wilke. Both artists found themselves drawn to unconventional materials, such as latex, plastics, erasers, and laundry lint, which they used to make work that was viscerally related to the body. They shared an interest in repetition to amplify the absurdity of their work. These repeated forms--whether Hesse's spiraling breast or Wilke's labial fold--sought to confront the phallo-centricism of twentieth-century sculpture with a texture that might capture a more intimate, psychologically charged experience. Eleanor Nairne, the curator of the exhibition, writes the lead essay, followed by texts by Jo Applin and Anne Wagner. An extensive chronology by Amy Tobin includes primary-source materials, which bring a new history of how both artists' work sits in relation to the wider New York scene. Also included are excerpts of both artists' writing.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 17, 2020

Book of the Day > Cats & Plants

● PURCHASE ● Cats & Plants is the debut book from Chicago-based artist Stephen Eichhorn. The 152-page book includes more than 200 rich color images of the artist’s curious cat collages, and features felines balancing plants (and sometimes shells or minerals) on their furry heads. There are Calicos and cactuses, Siamese and succulents, and so much more.

Book of the Day Posted Apr 16, 2020

Book of the Day > Trejo's Tacos

● Purchase ● Hollywood’s baddest good guy shares 75 recipes that make Trejo’s Tacos the Los Angeles go-to for award-winning tacos, donuts, and more.
 
Long before he was a Hollywood star, Danny Trejo used to joke with his mom that they should open a restaurant. A few arrests, a couple boxing championships, and more than 300 movies later, Hollywood’s favorite bad guy did just that with Trejo’s Tacos. His unexpected journey from ex-con to actor to Narcotics Anonymous/Alcoholics Anonymous counselor to successful restaurateur is a true rags-to-riches story.
 
Now, in Trejo’s Tacos, Trejo not only shares 75 recipes for cantina favorites like succulent carnitas, vegan cauliflower tacos, and pillowy-sweet cinnamon-sugar lowrider donuts, but offers insights into his life and pays respect to his hometown, his roots, and all of the colorful characters who helped him along the way, creating a delicious tribute to L.A. and the city’s vibrant Latino culture.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 15, 2020

Book of the Day > Neri Oxman: Material Ecology

● Purchase ● Throughout her 20-year career, Neri Oxman has invented not only new ideas for materials, buildings and construction processes, but also new frameworks for interdisciplinary—and interspecies—collaborations. She coined the term “material ecology” to describe her process of producing techniques and objects informed by the structural, systemic and aesthetic wisdom of nature, from the shells of crustaceans to the flow of human breathing. Groundbreaking for its solid technological and scientific basis, its rigorous and daring experimentation, its visionary philosophy and its unquestionable attention to formal elegance, Oxman’s work operates at the intersection of biology, engineering, architecture and artistic design, material science and computer science. This book—designed by Irma Boom and published to accompany a midcareer retrospective of Oxman’s work—highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the designer’s practice. It demonstrates how Oxman’s contributions allow us to question and redefine the idea of modernism—a concept in constant evolution—and of organic design. Some of the projects featured in the book and exhibition include the Silk Pavilion, which harnesses silkworms' ability to generate a 3-D cocoon out of a single thread silk in order to create architectural constructions; Aguahoja, a water-based fabrication platform that prints structures made out of different biopolymers; and Glass, an additive manufacturing technology for 3-D printing optically transparent glass structures at architectural dimensions.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 14, 2020

Book of the Day > THE COCKETTES

● PURCHASE ● THE COCKETTES: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy, 1969-1972. Published by Process Media. “They were like hippie acid freak drag queens, which is always a good thing!!” — John Waters The Cockettes were an acid-fueled, experimental, hippie collective performance troupe who, through their theatricality, costume, and communal living, created the singular “High Drag” performance genre known as Gender Fuck. The influence of the Cockettes on American underground culture is present in every glittery sequin and candy-colored coiffure gracing our daily lives. Birthed in an LSD bathed commune in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district in the fall of 1969, The Cockettes were a fever dream of sexual freedom and expression. They granted themselves names and identities that reflected their inner nature then put it all on the stage with elaborate costumes in anarchic musical productions. Gay, straight, bisexual, pansexual—The Cockettes were EVERYTHING. The photos here are shared from museums, magazines, private collections, and the archives of founding and long-time Cockette, Fayette Hauser. Notable photographers whose work is represented in these pages: Mary Ellen Mark, Peter Hujar, Clay Geerdes, Bud Lee, Robert Altman, David Wise, Michael Zagaris, Roger Anderson, Gilles Larrain, Scott Runyon, Blair Paltridge, Jack Mitchell, and Wendy Mukluk. Includes interviews with John Waters and Peter Coyote.

Book of the Day Posted Apr 13, 2020

Book of the Day > Miranda July

● Purchase ● The work of Miranda July—the most impressively cross-disciplinary artist of her generation—is brought into focus in this mid-career retrospective. From her early rarely seen Riot Grrrl-influenced fanzines and performances to a career that has produced seminal films, fiction, sculptures, public art, and even a smartphone app, Miranda July has proven adept at articulating the poignancy and humor of the human plight while also achieving enormous acclaim along the way. This chronological retrospective includes July’s performance and video projects, award-winning films, digital multimedia, and written pieces which make clear the multidimensionality of her work. The book includes photography, stills, and archival ephemera and is narrated by friends, collaborators, curators, assistants, and audience members including David Byrne, Spike Jonze, Lena Dunham, Carrie Brownstein, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, as well as July herself. This behind-the-scenes commentary reveals an intimate perspective on the process, struggles, and grit involved in forging one’s own path. What emerges is just how singular her voice is—from a movie narrated by an injured cat to a performance that builds an intentional community; from sculpture that engages the public to an interfaith charity shop in a London department store. July may be impossible to categorize, but the importance of her work and her status as an essential cultural icon with wide-ranging appeal is irrefutable.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 12, 2020

Book of the day > David Hockney: Drawing From Life

● PURCHASE ● “Celebrating more than 60 years of intimate portraiture by David Hockney

Published to accompany a major international exhibition, David Hockney: Drawing from Life features Hockney’s drawings from the 1950s to the present day, and focuses on his depictions of himself and a small group of sitters close to him: his muse, Celia Birtwell; his mother, Laura Hockney; and his friends, the curator, Gregory Evans, and master printer, Maurice Payne. In his portrait drawings of these figures, Hockney tries out new stylistic experiments and expresses his admiration for his artistic predecessors, from Holbein to Picasso.

 

Featuring 150 beautifully reproduced works from public and private collections across the world, this publication traces the trajectory of Hockney’s drawing practice by examining how he has revisited these five figures throughout his career. Highlights include a series of new portraits, colored pencil drawings created in Paris in the early 1970s, composite Polaroid portraits from the 1980s and a selection of drawings from an intense period of self-scrutiny during the 1980s when the artist created a self-portrait every day for two months.”

 

 

Book of the Day Posted Apr 09, 2020

Book of the Day > Fucked Up + Photocopied: 20th Anniversary Edition

● PURCHASE ● This edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of this iconic collection and features a new introduction & a vibrant red cover. Raw, brazen and totally intense, Fucked Up + Photocopied is a collection of frenetic flyers produced for the American punk scene between 1977 and 1985. Many were created by the musicians themselves and demonstrate the emphasis within the punk scene on individuality and the manic urge of its members to create things new. Images were compiled out of whatever material could be found, often photocopied and, still warm, stapled to the nearest telephone pole to warn the world about next week’s gig. One glance and you can sense the fury of live performances by bands such as Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys and The Minutemen, and, through the subtext the reader is exposed to the psyche of a generation of musicians stripped bare: The Germs, J.F.A, NOFX, X, The Circle Jerks, Devo, The Exploited, The Screamers, The Cramps, The Dils, The Avengers and more.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 08, 2020

Book of the Day > Read Me, Los Angeles

● Purchase ● Read Me, Los Angeles is a colorful, lively, and informed celebration of all things bookish in L.A. past and present, including interviews with current L.A. writers; day trips in search of favorite fictional characters, from Marlowe to Weetzie Bat; author quotes galore; curated lists of the must-read L.A. books, from fiction to history to poetry; a look at where writers have lived and worked in the City of Angels; and insight into the city’s literary festivals, bookstores, publishers, literacy nonprofits, libraries, and more. Rich with photographs, book images, and vintage maps, Read Me, Los Angeles is a gift to L.A. from a creative team that includes author Katie Orphan, editor Colleen Dunn Bates, associate editors Katelyn Keating and Julianne Johnson, designer Amy Inouye, photographer Shahin Ansari, and artist Kate Wong.
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