Book of the Day Posted Oct 20, 2019

Book of the Day > Pot Dealer: Vol. 1 by Ben Sanders

Book of the Day > Pot Dealer Vol. 1 by Ben Sanders. Published by Ben Sanders. A catalog of 160 painted pots made between 2014-2018.

Book of the Day Posted Oct 18, 2019

Book of the day and book signing tomorrow, 4-6!> Magdalena Suarez Frimkess

Book of the day and book signing tomorrow, 4-6! Please join us to celebrate this utterly delightful work > Magdalena Suarez Frimkess. Published by @southwillard. “"This is the first book on the ceramicist Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Born in 1929, the Venezuelan-born, Venice, California-based artist is just now getting the recognition she deserves, with her work finding its way into the collections of LACMA and The Hammer Museum. Her unique approach to ceramics - incorporating cartoon characters such as Felix the Cat, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Goofy, and Betty Boop as well as more traditional motifs such as landscapes, birds, and flowers - has charmed a younger generation of artists such as Jonas Wood, Shio Kusaka, Mark Grotjahn, Lesley Vance, and Ricky Swallow - who contributes an essay here. This lovely catalogue offers a broad range of the colorful autobiographical pieces Magdalena Suarez Frimkess has produced over her long and varied career.” Book signing at Arcana 10/19, 4-6. All events at Arcana are free, open to everyone, and feature books, wine, and fellow enthusiasts.
 
 
Book of the Day Posted Oct 17, 2019

Book of the Day > French Fashion: Women & The First World War

Book of the Day > French Fashion: Women & The First World War. Published by Yale University Press. "An unprecedented examination of the impact of fashion on society in France throughout the Great War. This fascinating exploration of French women’s fashion during World War I is the first in-depth consideration of the role that fashion played in the upheaval of French society between 1914 and 1918. As the fashion industry—the second largest industry in the country—mobilized to help the war effort, Parisian couture houses introduced new styles, aggressively disseminated information through magazines, and strengthened their propaganda efforts overseas. Women of all social classes adapted their garments to the wartime lifestyle, and practicality was increasingly introduced in the form of pockets and 'sportswear' textiles like jersey. While women were heralded for contributing to the war effort, the clothes they wore while doing so often provoked debates, particularly when their attire was seen as too masculine or militaristic. With focused studies of wartime garments such as skirt suits, nurse’s uniforms, work overalls, and mourning clothes, this volume brings to life the passionate debates that roiled the French fashion industry and reveals the extent to which fashion was a hotly contested topic and a barometer for social tensions throughout this tumultuous era."
Book of the Day Posted Oct 16, 2019

Book of the Day > Francois Halard: A Visual Diary

Book of the Day > Francois Halard: A Visual Diary. Published by Rizzoli. "Francois Halard's unique photographic sensibility--old-world elegant and bohemian, accessible and personal--is unmistakable. Each image is imbued with the intimate knowledge of design history, each story a lesson in a master's point of view. This book is a continuation of his last volume of gorgeous photography of grand interiors, artists' studios, and architectural pilgrimage sites. Each story's subject matter is not just a personal passion of the photographer, but also an indispensable chapter in design history: Philip Johnson and Charles James's de Menil House, Giorgio Morandi's studio, Rick Owens's radical Paris apartment, Eileen Gray's recently restored modernist home on the French coast, Dries Van Noten's verdant garden and home, the home and studio of Louise Bourgeois in New York, and many more. Like his first book, Francois Halard: A Photographic Life will be a coveted, indispensable must-have visual resource for all lovers of interiors, glamour, and style."
Book of the Day Posted Oct 10, 2019

Book of the Day > Dennis Stock: California Trip

Book of the Day > Dennis Stock: California Trip. Published by Anthology. "In 1968, Magnum photographer Dennis Stock took a five-week road trip along the California highways, documenting the height of the counterculture hippie scene. These black and white photos were compiled to create California Trip, originally published in 1970, and became an emblem of the free love movement that continued to inspire throughout the decades. In print for the first time since its 1970 publication, California Trip is a faithful reproduction of Stock’s timeless work."
Book of the Day Posted Oct 09, 2019

Book of the Day > Lenore Tawney: Mirror of the Universe

Book of the Day > Lenore Tawney: Mirror of the Universe. Published by University of Chicago with John Michael Kohler Arts Center. "Recent years have seen an enormous surge of interest in fiber arts, with works made of thread on display in art museums around the world. But this art form only began to transcend its origins as a humble craft in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and it wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s that artists used the fiber arts to build critical practices that challenged the definitions of painting, drawing, and sculpture. One of those artists was Lenore Tawney (1907–2007). Raised and trained in Chicago before she moved to New York, Tawney had a storied career. She was known for employing an ancient Peruvian gauze weave technique to create a painterly effect that appeared to float in space rather than cling to the wall, as well as for being one of the first artists to blend sculptural techniques with weaving practices and, in the process, pioneered a new direction in fiber art. Despite her prominence on the New York art scene, however, she has only recently begun to receive her due from the greater art world. Accompanying a retrospective at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, this catalog features a comprehensive biography of Tawney, additional essays on her work, and two hundred full-color illustrations, making it of interest to contemporary artists, art historians, and the growing audience for fiber art."
Book of the Day Posted Oct 08, 2019

Book of the Day > Stephen Gill: The Pillar

Book of the Day > Stephen Gill: The Pillar. Published by Nobody. "The landscape that surrounds my home in Sweden can be misleading. The bird activity it holds is diluted and disguised by the vast flat open land and sky that offers an impression of little going on. In January 2015, with an inkling of bird activity being more prominent than at first met my eyes, I decided to try to pull them out of the sky. I set up an 8cm diameter stage in the form of a wooden pillar that was around one and half meters in height, and opposite it another the same on which I mounted a camera that was triggered by motion. I visited the camera a few days later and, to my surprise, it had worked. The pillar somehow managed to funnel the birds from the sky by offering them a place to rest, feed, nurse their young, and observe. I was captivated immediately. The images were often unsettled, the birds awkward like contortionists, completely off-beat and the shapes and soft lines created were so arresting. From my kitchen window the pillar could be seen in the distance like a matchstick in the flat distance. My absence in turn somehow allowed a greater mental presence during the making of the work. I was frequently there though only in my mind, wondering what was happening at that very moment as I sat on a local train, or went about my daily routine. Even when I was out of the country I would be imagining the activity on the stage."
Book of the Day Posted Oct 06, 2019

Book of the Day > Godless Utopia: Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda

Book of the Day > Godless Utopia: Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda. Published by Fuel. “Throughout the Soviet period the USSR waged war against religion of all denominations. This book is the first to tell this story through the vivid propaganda used against ‘the opium of the people’, from immediately after the 1917 revolution to the eventual fall of communism in 1991. Drawing on the early Soviet atheist magazines Godless and Godless at the Machine, and post-war posters by Communist Party publishers, author Roland Elliott Brown presents an unsettling tour of atheist ideology in the USSR. Here are uncanny, imaginative, and downright blasphemous visions from the very guts of the Soviet atheist apparatus: sinister priests rub shoulders with cross-bearing colonial torturers, greedy mullahs, a cyclopean Jehovah, and a crypto-fascist Jesus; Russian cosmonauts mock God from space while vigilant border guards nab western Bible smugglers.”

Book of the Day Posted Oct 04, 2019

Book of the Day & BOOK SIGNING TOMORROW (10/5)! > Michael Jang: Who is Michael Jang?

Book of the Day > Michael Jang: Who is Michael Jang. Published by Atelier Editions. "San Francisco–based photographer Michael Jang spent nearly four decades working as a successful commercial portrait photographer. Unbeknownst to the world, however, he was simultaneously assembling a vast archive of thousands of remarkable images documenting, variously: college days, Hollywood celebrities, would-be weather presenters, San Francisco street scenes, his family, Bay Area punks and adolescent garage bands. Jang revealed nothing of his ever-expanding, eclectic archive for almost 40 years until 2001, when he submitted a number of images for consideration to San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. Jang’s work attracted immediate acclaim, and for the past decade he has continued to unveil his considerable oeuvre in national and international exhibitions and monographs. The photographer’s first major monograph, Who Is Michael Jang? highlights Jang's most important bodies of work. Introduced by his longtime collaborator and SFMOMA curator emerita of photography, Sandra Phillips, this volume offers readers a long-overdue introduction to Jang’s incredible images."

 

We wholeheartedly encourage you to stop in tomorrow afternoon, October 5th 4-6,  to meet and great the semi-reclusive Mr. Jang, and immerse yourself in his wry images of a kinder, gentler California of yore that includes the likes of Jack Lemmon, Peggy Lee, 'Ol Blue Eyes, David Bowie, The Ramones, Devo, The Sex Pistols, David Hasselhoff, Jerry Brown, Harvey Milk, John Baldessari, Lee Friedlander, and many, many more. "Who is Michael Jang?" was just shortlisted for the Aperture 2019 Photo Catalogue of the Year. In addition we will have a limited supply of the deluxe Michael Jang rarity "College". If you cannot attend, you may never really know who Michael Jang is, but you still may buy a signed copy of either or both of these gems by placing your order here, or by calling us at 310-458-1499. If you would like to pre-order a signed copy to pick-up at Arcana, please use the discount code PICKUP10 at checkout to remove the postage charge.

Book of the Day Posted Oct 03, 2019

Book of the Day > Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses

Book of the Day > Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses by Dominic Bradbury. Published by Phaidon. “A groundbreaking global survey of the finest mid-20th-century homes - one of the most popular styles of our time. A fascinating collection of more than 400 of the world's most glamorous homes from more than 290 architects, the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses showcases work by such icons as Marcel Breuer, Richard Neutra, Alvar Aalto, and Oscar Niemeyer alongside extraordinary but virtually unknown houses in Australia, Africa, and Asia. A thoroughly researched, comprehensive appraisal, this book is a must-have for all design aficionados, Mid-Century Modern collectors, and readers looking for inspiration for their own homes.”

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