Events Posted Jun 12, 2019

Johnston Marklee El Croquis 198 Launch!

JOIN US SATURDAY, JUNE 15th, 4:00 to 6:00 PM WITH

SHARON JOHNSTON AND MARK LEE

TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF

EL CROQUIS 198: JOHNSTON MARKLEE 2005 2019 FOLDING TIME

 

Please welcome Arcana's very own architects for this special event held in the fabulous space they created for us in 2012! If you cannot attend but wish to purchase a copy of "EL CROQUIS 198: JOHNSTON MARKLEE 2005 2019" signed by Mark and Sharon, place your online order here, or call us at 310-458-1499. 

Founded by partners Sharon Johnston, F.A.I.A. and Mark Lee in 1998, Johnston Marklee is recognized for its diverse portfolio of architecture, engaging the physical and cultural circumstances of each project through a precise synthesis of structural form, materiality, and atmospheric light. The work of the firm pays tribute to a specific Southern Californian interpretation of modernism, and at the same time operates at the intersection of a global and local dialogue. 

Johnston and Lee have forged a leading role in the cultural discourse around contemporary art and architecture, eliciting design collaborations with distinguished museums, foundations, and artists around the world. Complementing this far-reaching network, the firm’s work is recognized for being deeply rooted in the history and foundations of the discipline. Their work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Art Institute of Chicago, Menil Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Architecture Museum of TU Munich. Mark Lee and Sharon Johnston served as Artistic Directors for the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. In 2018 they were named Professors in Practice at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Mark Lee was appointed Chair of the Architecture Department. They have also taught at major universities including Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Technical University of Berlin, ETH Zurich, and have held the Cullinan Chair at Rice University and the Frank Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto.

 

Events Posted Jun 05, 2019

Book Signing, 6/8 at Arcana > Mark De Paola: Recent Work

SATURDAY, JUNE 8th FROM 4:00 - 6:00 PM
 
MARK de PAOLA: RECENT WORK
 
BOOK SIGNING

 

Mark de Paola was literally born into a photo studio on Cahuenga Blvd in Los Angeles, and grew up splitting time between Los Angeles and New York. His earliest recollections are of watching photo shoots and being completely immersed in the fashion books and periodicals of the time - Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Mark's photographic foundation is the works of his father Alessio, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Bert Stern, and Art Kane. Now based in New York, Mr. de Paola is a fine art photographer who has had multiple covers for the likes of Vogue Spain and Vogue Mexico, as well as campaigns and commercials for Donna Karan, Laura Biagiotti, Neutrogena, Gucci, Brioni, Sephora, Sony, Leica Camera, Giorgio RED perfume, and MAC Cosmetics to name a few. He has directed nearly seven hundred television commercials in the fashion and beauty sector and has extensive campaign and retail experience. "Created over several years, “Recent Work” includes portrait, nude, landscape, and inanimate object; illuminating de Paola’s memories, feelings and impressions of people, places and objects he has known. Carefully sequenced by the photographer himself, the series invites viewers to leave behind the everyday and journey with him... Provoking us to project meanings into its viscerally striking, blurred and saturated forms. De Paola’s desire to wield the lens as an extension of his own body is clear in the subtle way he escorts us through his cinematic world. “Recent Work” is endlessly fascinating and promises to reward those who visit and revisit it again and again.”

 

Please join us this Saturday, June 8th, between 4:00 and 6:00 PM at Arcana to meet and greet Mark de Paola as he unveils his limited edition publication. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of "Recent Work", please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.

Events Posted Jun 04, 2019

UPCOMING EVENTS SUMMER 2019!

UPCOMING EVENTS!


SATURDAY, JUNE 8th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
MARK de PAOLA: RECENT WORK
BOOK SIGNING
 

SATURDAY, JUNE 15th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM

BOOK SIGNING WITH SHARON JOHNSTON + MARK LEE

SATURDAY, JUNE 22nd, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
BILL OWENS: ALTAMONT 1969
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, JULY 13th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
SOVO// MAGAZINE: ISSUE 5
LAUNCH PARTY + SIGNING

SATURDAY, JULY 27th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
STEVE BANKS: NITRO
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3rd, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
GARY CANNONE: ALBUMS BY CONCEPTUAL ARTISTS
EXHIBITION RECEPTION AND BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
NINA FREUDENBERGER + SHADE DEGGES: BIBLIOSTYLE
BOOK SIGNING

Events Posted May 24, 2019

Book Signing and Discussion, 5/25 at Arcana > Mona Kuhn: She Disappeared Into Complete SIlence

PLEASE JOIN US THIS SATURDAY, MAY 25th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
MONA KUHN: SHE DISAPPEARED INTO COMPLETE SILENCE
BOOK SIGNING AND CONVERSATION WITH
MONA KUHN AND NORMAN KLEIN
 
Acclaimed for her intimate nudes, Mona Kuhn takes a new direction into abstraction in her latest series. Photographed at a golden modernist structure on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park, architectural lines, light reflections and a single figure have been carefully balanced against the backdrop of the Californian desert.

The human figure in these images--Kuhn’s friend and collaborator Jacintha--emerges like a surrealist mirage, fragmented and indistinct, at times submerged in shadows or overexposed. The building’s facades of glass and mirrors serve as optical planes, an extension of the artist’s camera and lens. Light is split into refracting colors, desert vegetation grows sideways, inside is outside and outside in. Kuhn pushes a certain disorienting effect by introducing metallic foils as an additional surface, at times producing purely abstract results. The work marks Kuhn’s increasing use of techniques that appear to merge the figure, abstraction and landscape into one.
Mona Kuhn is best known for her large-scale, dreamlike photographs of the human form. Her pictures often reference classical themes with a light and insightful touch. Kuhn’s approach to her work is distinguished by the close relationships she develops with her subjects, resulting in images of remarkable naturalness and intimacy. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Kuhn lives and works in Los Angeles.
 
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Please join us at Arcana Saturday May 25th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM to meet Mona Kuhn as she engages in discussion with  historian and writer Norman Klein, and stay for a book signing and reception. 

If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of "She Disappeared Into Complete Silence", please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.
 
 

 

 
Events Posted May 19, 2019

“A Life in Color: Gere Kavanaugh, Designer” at Helms Design Center

Please join us to celebrate “A Colorful Life: Gere Kavanaugh, Designer” at the Helms Design Center (8745 Washington Blvd, just West of the store) on Tuesday, May 21, 6:30-8:00 pm. There will be reception, discussion, and book signing with Gere Kavanaugh and co-authors Louise Sandhaus and Kat Catmur. The event is free but seating is limited: please rsvp to helmsinfo@wnmrealty.com. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of this delightful book, please write or call us 310-458-1499.
Events Posted May 17, 2019

Rohina Hoffman: Hair Stories - Saturday, 5/18 at Acana!

JOIN US SATURDAY, MAY 18th FROM 4:00 - 6:00 PM

ROHINA HOFFMAN: HAIR STORIES

BOOK SIGNING AND CONVERSATION WITH ALINE SMITHSON

 

Hair Stories is a series of excerpted interviews and color portraits of a diverse array of women that explores the complex relationship women have with their hair. Indian-born, Los Angeles–based photographer Rohina Hoffman deployed the interviewing skills she has developed in her training as a neurologist to establish an intimate rapport that allowed for a truthful dialogue about the role of hair in these women's lives. Though conceived and shot before the #MeToo movement, this salient project presents hair as a metaphor for identity, femininity, and the manner in which women struggle for control over their own bodies in a sometimes misogynistic world. Hair Stories shows that hair is more than just style or aesthetics; it is a physical manifestation of the ongoing hope and history of women.

 

Born in India and raised in New Jersey, Rohina Hoffman is a fine art photographer whose practice uses portraiture and the natural world to investigate themes of identity, home, women’s issues, and adolescence. A graduate of Brown University Medical School and resident at UCLA Medical Center, her training led to a career as a neurologist. While an undergraduate at Brown University, Rohina also studied photography at RISD and was a staff photographer for the Brown Daily Herald. A skilled observer of her patients, Rohina was instilled with a deep and unique appreciation of the human experience. Her ability to forge the sacred trust between doctor and patient has been instrumental in fostering a parallel connection between photographer and subject. Aline Smithson is an artist, educator, and editor based in Los Angeles. She is best known for her conceptual portraiture and a practice that uses humor and pathos to explore the performative potential of photography. Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, her work is influenced by the elevated unreal. She received a BA in art from the University of California at Santa Barbara and was accepted into the College of Creative Studies. After a decade-long career as a New York Fashion Editor, Aline returned to Los Angeles and to her own artistic practice. She founded LENSCRATCH, a photography journal that celebrates a different contemporary photographer each day, has been the Gallery Editor for Light Leaks Magazine, and has curated and jurored numerous exhibitions.

 

Please join us at Arcana Saturday May 18th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM to meet Rohina Hoffman as she engages in what is sure to be a thought-provoking discussion with Aline Smithson on the work, and signs copies of her new, already-sold-out (!) Damiani publication. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of "Hair Stories" or Ms. Smithson's wonderful "Self & Others - Portrait as Autobiography", please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.

Events Posted May 03, 2019

Melodie McDaniel: Riding Through Compton

PLEASE JOIN US
THIS SATURDAY! MAY 4th FROM 4:00 - 6:00 PM
FOR A BOOK SIGNING WITH
MELODIE McDANIEL: RIDING THROUGH COMPTON
and a conversation with contributors
AMELIA FLEETWOOD AND MAYISHA AKBAR

 
“According to the US Census Bureau, one-third of the population of Compton, California is under the age of eighteen and one-fourth of its population lives at or below the poverty line. Despite the latter statistic, Compton has been home to significant athletes, musicians, scientists, writers, and pioneering public officials. Over decades young people have found a way to overcome the socioeconomic odds against them when their life begins in this city. For the last thirty years, the streets of Compton have been the stomping grounds of a youth riding and equestrian program under the leadership of Mayisha Akbar. Designed to provide the kids of Compton with meaningful year-round after-school activities, members not only learn to ride, but to care for their horses - developing responsibility, discipline, and self-esteem. 'Riding Through Compton' (published by Minor Matters Books) pairs three years of documentary photographs and formal portraits by Melodie McDaniel with interviews by Amelia Fleetwood conducted with participants, guardians, and volunteers involved with the Compton Junior Posse. In addition, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles Robin Coste Lewis contributes an excerpt from her poem "Frame", and an afterword by Walter Bodle places the photographs and the importance of the CJP program in historical context."

Please come to Arcana on Saturday May 4th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM to meet and greet Melodie McDaniel as she signs copies of her lovely new Minor Matters Books' title, and to listen to Amelia Fleetwood and Mayisha Akbar engage in what promises to be an intriguing discussion about the book and history of The Compton Junior Posse. PLUS, the Art Center College of Design Photography Department is generously providing refreshments for this celebration of illustrious grad, Ms. McDaniel!

If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of "Riding Through Compton", please place your order here or call us at 310-458-1499.
  

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Melodie McDaniel is an American photographer and director who graduated in 1991 with a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, and whose work challenges prevailing motifs of American identity, with a deep investment in the exploration of sub- and countercultures. She has created over two hundred advertising campaigns to date for companies that include Nike, Target, Yahoo, Sony, Disney, Levi’s, Chrysler and Delta. Her work has been published in magazines such as Vogue, Dazed, Interview, GQ and Spin. “Riding Through Compton” is her first monograph.
 
A contributing editor for Santa Barbara Magazine and LALA Magazine, writer Amelia Fleetwood is based in Ojai, California, and has also been published in Architectural Digest, At Large, Domino, C Magazine, Huffington Post, and Du Jour, among others.

Mayisha Akbar’s life-long love of animals and her dedication to the youth of the Richland Farms neighborhood of Compton lead to her creation of the non-profit organization "The Compton Jr. Posse Youth Equestrian Program”. It is a place where kids learn the value of hard work, teamwork and competition. Many wonderful opportunities are offered to youth through the program, including apprenticeships with internationally-known trainers including Olympic gold medalists.

 

 

Events Posted Apr 23, 2019

PUBLIC ISSUE 2 LAUNCH!

PLEASE JOIN US! THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 27th FROM 4:00 - 6:00 PM PUBLIC ISSUE 2 LAUNCH PARTY + SIGNING WITH PUBLISHER AND DESIGNER ALEX McWHIRTER
 
Come to Arcana: Books on the Arts this Saturday, April 27th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM to celebrate the West Coast launch of the latest installment of Creative Director Alexander McWhirter's thematic annual art and fashion journal, Public. Presented in a distinctive large-format with three different cover options, the highly-anticipated new issue tackles the challenge “We Must Take Action”. Public 2 features seven subjects photographed by Camille Vivier, Jack Webb, Eileen Cowin, Thomas Giddings, Aleksandra Zagozda, Moises Saman, and Rachel Lamb, with styling by Delphine Danhier, Eliza Conlon, and Shibon Kennedy. Notes McWhirter: "The obvious is all around us. It is a void in which everything has been fine-tuned to such an extent that indistinctiveness prevails. “Cool” has become inoffensive and predictable, and taste is easy to place a pulse on. Public breaks this pattern of democratized cool, bringing together a body of work that covers a unique perspective on subjects in life."
 
Originally from London, Alexander McWhirter began his career in New York as the Art Director at V Magazine before founding McWhirter Studio. His projects focus on working closely with distinctive collaborators to present a narrative that observes human interaction, be that with our environment or with each other. The story is woven together with elements from art and fashion, the resulting idea is unmistakable and inclusive to all. He has collaborated with Visionaire, Suzanne Geiss Gallery, Cultural Traffic, and Calvin Klein, where he worked closely with Raf Simons and Pieter Mulier on 2017 campaigns for Calvin Klein Jeans, Underwear, and the 205W39NYC RTW Collection Book. So meet and greet Alexander and special guests who will be at our Helms Bakery location this coming Saturday afternoon. Public 2 is limited to a mere one hundred and fifty copies - fifty each of three different covers - that will quickly sell out. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed example, please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.
Events Posted Apr 07, 2019

KRAFTWERK: DANCE FOREVER EXHIBITION + DANCE PARTY

 
Come to Arcana: Books on the Arts at the Helms Bakery this Saturday evening (4/13, 5:00 - 9:00) to experience the West Coast premiere of "Kraftwerk: Dance Forever" – a graphically dazzling exhibition drawn from the Mott Collection of rare and compelling visual material from the German electronic music pioneers and those they influenced. Documenting Kraftwerk's aesthetic output from the early 1970s to the present, on display will be promotional material, sheet music, obsolete recorded media, posters, photos, and musical toys charting Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider's highly influential machine music aesthetic, which inspired dance music and specifically Detroit Techno. The evening will feature Kraftwerk-themed musical sets by Rose Knows and Sean Horton, Kraftwerk shirts and bags designed by Arcana favorite Alex McWhirter, and Toby Mott signing copies of the limited edition catalogue to the show. If you cannot attend, place your order for a signed copy here!

 

Events Posted Apr 07, 2019

2019 LA ART BOOK FAIR

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For the sixth time, Arcana: Books the Arts will be exhibiting at the Printed Matter LA Art Book Fair at the Geffen Contemporary at MoCA! This year we are bringing hundreds - yes, hundreds - of artworks, posters, announcements, and other forms of ephemera that have been slumbering in our flat file drawers for the past thirty-five years. We will feature an exciting selection of rarities from the realms of contemporary, Pop, and Conceptual Art, Photography, Design, Architecture, Music, Cinema, and Fashion; including signed works by Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, John Baldessari, James Turrell, Mike Kelley, Raymond Pettibon, Edward Gorey, and many, many more. We'll also have a vintage wire spinning rack featuring an amazing selection of Art-related postcards for sale. We will be restocking with fresh merch each day, so come early and often for the best selection!
 
The Grey Organisation was a London-based artist collective active between 1983 and 1991. Showing in London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, members Toby Mott, Tim Burke, Daniel Saccoccio (nee Clegg), and Paul Spencer worked in the mediums of painting, sculpture, film, and video. Most infamously, in the dead of night on the 21st of May, 1985 The Grey Organisation staged an "art terrorist action" vandalizing the establishment art galleries on Cork Street in central London with buckets of grey paint to protest their lack of support for emerging artists. Limited to one hundred copies only, this Alex McWhirter-designed book presents Andrew Catlin's documentary photographs of the "Cork Street Attack" along with texts by Mott, Neal Brown, and Stewart Home. On Friday at 4:00 PM author and Grey Organisation member Toby Mott will be signing copies of this soon-to-be-rarity at our booth at the Book Fair. If you cannot attend, place your order for a signed copy here!
 
 

 

 

 

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