The good people at Citizens of Humanity produce a sumptuous and thoughtful book-like journal, HUMANITY (which you can pick up for free at Arcana!).
Issue 10 (Spring 2017) includes a great feature about Arcana's owner, Lee Kaplan, amongst the likes of the esteemed Venus Williams, Steve McCurry, Massimo Bottura, Norman Lear, Julian Schnabel, Gustavo Dudamel and more! Come in for a copy or read the full arcticle here.
Book of the day > Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between. By Andrew Bolton. Published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photography by Nicholas Alan Cope, Inez & Vinoodh, Katerina Jebb, Kazumi Kurigami, Ari Marcopoulos, Craig McDean, Brigitte Niedermair, Paolo Roversi, and Collier Schorr. “’What I’ve only ever been interested in are clothes that one has never seen before, that are completely new, and how in what way they can be expressed. Is that called fashion? I don’t know the answer.’ —Rei Kawakubo
Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons is widely recognized as among the most important and influential designers of the past 40 years. Since her Paris debut in 1981, she has blurred the divide between art and fashion and transformed customary notions of beauty, identity, and the body.
This lavishly illustrated publication weaves an illuminating narrative around Kawakubo’s experiments in oppositions and the spaces between boundaries. Brilliant new photographs of more than 120 examples of Kawakubo’s womenswear for Comme des Garçons accompanied by Kawakubo’s commentary on her designs and process, reveal her conceptual and challenging aesthetic as never before. A chronology of Kawakubo’s career provides additional context, and an insightful conversation with the author offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of this fashion visionary. Also includes a bonus foldout poster featuring 2 Dimensions, autumn/winter 2012–13 and Invisible Clothes, spring/summer 2017.”
Book of the day > Irving Penn: Centennial. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Irving Penn was among the most esteemed and influential photographers of the twentieth century. This indispensable book features one of the largest selections of Penn's photographs ever compiled—nearly 300 in all—including famous and beloved images as well as works that have never been published. Celebrating the centennial of Penn's birth, this volume spans the entirety of his nearly 70-year career.
Lively essays acquaint readers with Penn's primary subjects and campaigns, including early documentary scenes and imagery; portraits of cultural figures and celebrities; fashion; female nudes; peoples of Peru, Dahomey (Benin), New Guinea, and Morocco; and still lifes. Rounding out the book are discussions of Penn's advertising pictures and his painstaking printing processes, as well as an illustrated chronology. Irving Penn: Centennial is essential for any fan of this artists work or of the history of twentieth-century photography.”
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Book of the Earth Day > Overview: A New Perspective of Earth by Benjamin Grant. Published by Amphoto Books. "A stunning and unique collection of satellite images of Earth that offer an unexpected look at humanity. Inspired by the 'Overview Effect'--a sensation that astronauts experience when given the opportunity to look down and view the Earth as a whole--the breathtaking, high definition satellite photographs in OVERVIEW offer a new way to look at the landscape that we have shaped. More than 200 images of industry, agriculture, architecture, and nature highlight incredible patterns while also revealing a deeper story about human impact. This extraordinary photographic journey around our planet captures the sense of wonder gained from a new, aerial vantage point and creates a perspective of Earth as it has never been seen before."
Book of the day > François Halard Polaroids. Published by The Name Books. “A fine selection of glamourous photographs from three decades.”
Book of the day > Arbus, Friedlander, Winogrand: New Documents, 1967. Published by MoMA. "In 1967, The Museum of Modern Art presented New Documents, a landmark exhibition organized by John Szarkowski that brought together a selection of works by three photographers whose individual achievements signaled the artistic potential for the medium in the 1960s and beyond: Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. Though largely unknown at the time, these three photographers are now universally acknowledged as artists of singular talent within the history of photography. The exhibition articulated a profound shift in the landscape of 20th-century photography, and interest in the exhibition has only continued to expand. Yet, until now, there has been no publication that captures its content. Published in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the exhibition, Arbus Friedlander Winogrand features full-page reproductions of the 94 photographs included in the exhibition, along with Szarkowski’s original wall text, press release, installation views and an abundance of archival material. Essays by curator Sarah Hermanson Meister and critic Max Kozloff, who originally reviewed the exhibition for The Nation in 1967, critically situate the exhibition and its reception, and examine its lasting influence on the field of photography."
PLEASE JOIN US FOR A BOOK SIGNING
LENARD SMITH: A SORT OF LOOKING
SATURDAY, APRIL 15th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
A Sort Of Looking is Los Angeles-based photographer Lenard Smith's first major publication. In it, he presents a selection of seductive images from the past five years of work that draw lines connecting the artist’s hand and chance. The formal compositions of his still lifes bring attention to the banal object form; tissue paper, flower, and in between the exploration of sculptural arrangements. Smith’s portrait work commands attention - bringing the viewer up close up to his subjects - whether they are photographed in the studio or quickly on the streets. These powerful portraits act as a metronome throughout the entire book, grounding the audience. The title reveals the artist’s engagement with institutional critique, and plays with the discourse that is commonly used in art conversations. A Sort of Looking is in fact Lenard Smith’s own looking, and not a “sort of”, but exactly how he is able to view the world in front of his lens just as he sees it.
Please join us Saturday, April 15th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM as we welcome our friend Lenard to celebrate this lovely new limited edition, nearly-sold-out survey of recent work. If you are unable to attend but wish to purchase a signed copy of A Sort of Looking, please place your order on our website here, or call us at 310-458-1499.
Book of the day > Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern by Wanda M. Corn. Published by Brooklyn Museum, Delmonico Books | Prestel. “This book explores how Georgia O’Keeffe lived her life steeped in modernism, bringing the same style she developed in her art to her dress, her homes, and her lifestyle. Richly illustrated with images of her art and views of the two homes she designed and furnished in New Mexico, the book also includes never before published photographs of O’Keeffe’s clothes. The author has attributed some of the most exquisite of these garments to O’Keeffe, a skilled seamstress who understood fabric and design, and who has become an icon in today’s fashion world as much for her personal style as for her art. As one of her friends stated, O’Keeffe “never allowed her life to be one thing and her painting another.” This fresh and carefully researched study brings O’Keeffe’s style to life, illuminating how this beloved American artist purposefully proclaimed her modernity in the way she dressed and posed for photographers, from Alfred Stieglitz to Bruce Weber. This beautiful book accompanies the first museum exhibition to bring together photographs, clothes, and art to explore O’Keeffe’s unified modernist aesthetic.”
Book of the day > Rules For Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky. First Edition, 1971. Published by Random House. “In this book Saul Alinksy, America’s most famous community organizer, tells the Have-Nots how they can organize to achieve real political power for the practice of true democracy. Machiavelli told the Haves how to maintain themselves in power – this books tells the Have-Nots how to take that power away. Alinsky’s hard-headed tactical advice provides an alternative not only to the powerlessness that threatens our democracy, but to the random violence and bitter alienation by which so much radical energy is wasted.” Same as it ever was…
