Please join us Saturday, May 14th, 5:00-7:00 for a book signing for 

OLIVIA BEE: KIDS IN LOVE
With an acoustic set by special guest BØRNS!

Olivia Bee is celebrated for her dreamy, evocative portraits and landscapes rich with implied narratives of intimacy, freedom, and adventure. Her first full-length book Kids in Love from Aperture showcases two bodies of photographic work, including the series "Enveloped in a Dream" that first brought Bee recognition as a teenager. These images offer a visual diary of girlhood friendship and the exploration of self, showcasing Bee’s unique ability to convey the bittersweet nostalgia of adolescence on the brink of adulthood and new possibilities. The second, "Kids in Love", continues Bee’s photographic chronicle of her circle of friends and new loves, capturing both the pleasures and terrors of the fleeting passage of romanticized youth. While the work continues to evolve, what remains constant is her seductive use of color and photographic artifact, as well as the immediacy and charge of each image. Bee gives voice to the self-awareness and visual fluency of the millennial generation. Experiences are sharply felt, and easily communicated and shared, generating visual records that render these memories as significant as the moments themselves. Tavi Gevinson, founding editor of the online magazine "Rookie" as well as Bee’s frequent collaborator and model writes about the work and about the role of images as social currency in today’s image-driven world.

Joining Olivia Bee here at Arcana on May 14th will be her friend and very special musical guest, BØRNS, who will present an acoustic set as part of the evening's festivities!

If you cannot attend but wish to purchase a signed copy of Kids In Love - please place your secure online order here or call us at 310-458-1499.

In addition to it being World Book Day, today is St. George’s day. In Catalonia it is La Diada de Sant Jordi and tradition dictates that you present your loved ones with books or flowers. We think this is a beautiful practice. And recommend doing both a the same time.

Robert Mapplethorpe

 Victor Landweber.
 

18th Century Indian cotton.
 

Cy Twombly

Jan Davidsz de Heem.

Lanvin

Oscar de la Renta


Gerhard Richter

Thomas Struth

Book of the (earth) day > Patterns in Nature by Philip Ball. University of Chicago. “Though at first glance the natural world may appear overwhelming in its diversity and complexity, there are regularities running through it, from the hexagons of a honeycomb to the spirals of a seashell and the branching veins of a leaf. Revealing the order at the foundation of the seemingly chaotic natural world, Patterns in Nature explores not only the math and science but also the beauty and artistry behind nature’s awe-inspiring designs.

Unlike the patterns we create in technology, architecture, and art, natural patterns are formed spontaneously from the forces that act in the physical world. Very often the same types of pattern and form – spirals, stripes, branches, and fractals, say—recur in places that seem to have nothing in common, as when the markings of a zebra mimic the ripples in windblown sand. That’s because, as Patterns in Nature shows, at the most basic level these patterns can often be described using the same mathematical and physical principles: there is a surprising underlying unity in the kaleidoscope of the natural world. Richly illustrated with 250 color photographs and anchored by accessible and insightful chapters by esteemed science writer Philip Ball, Patterns in Nature reveals the organization at work in vast and ancient forests, powerful rivers, massing clouds, and coastlines carved out by the sea.

By exploring similarities such as those between a snail shell and the swirling stars of a galaxy, or the branches of a tree and those of a river network, this spectacular visual tour conveys the wonder, beauty, and richness of natural pattern formation.” $ 35.00

“Throwback” book of the day > Women Are Beautiful by Garry Winogrand. Garry Winogrand's sly photographic portraits of everyday public life in the third quarter of the twentieth century stand on a pedestal with those of Robert Frank and only a handful of others. Published in conjunction with a 1975 exhibition at New York's influential Light Gallery - one of the first galleries devoted exclusively to showing photography - this lovely catalogue celebrates Winogrand's eye for the innate allure of the seventies gal in the workplace, at the park, partying at night, and on the street. As the photographer is quoted here: "Whenever I've seen an attractive woman, I've done my best to photograph her. I don't know if all the women in the photographs are beautiful, but I do know that the women are beautiful in the photographs". A bright, most handsome example of the uncommon first hardbound edition (cited on pages 306-307 of The Hasselblad Center's "The Open Book") bearing two short closed tears to the edges of the dust jacket. New York: Light Gallery Books & Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975. First Edition. Oblong 8vo. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Photography Monograph. Fine/Near Fine. np, profusely illustrated in b&w. $ 850.00 

Book of the day (4/20) > Grassland. Photographs by H. Lee. Kehrer. “The United States is seeing historic change regarding marijuana: A fundamental shift is in motion between those who seek to keep it illegal, and the overwhelming populist appeal for legal reform. For decades, farmers in Northern California have had to operate in secret, hiding their gardens from law enforcement. But as new legal markets have begun to emerge, marijuana agriculture is moving into plain view; the country, some are saying, is experiencing a »Green Rush.« Grassland offers a view of this world, peeking beneath the towering redwoods of Humboldt County, an epicenter of cannabis cultivation in California, where a sizable community is shaped by a plant regarded as both magical and medicinal; a plant whose cultivation holds the promise of profit, and, despite the changes in state policy, possible jail time.

This formerly-clandestine farming community is now boldly uncovering its greenhouses and growing giant plants in full sun, readying for what looks like the end of pot-prohibition.

New York-based photographer H. Lee (a pseudonym) spent a year documenting the culture of cannabis in Humboldt County, capturing intimate moments, as she lived among the growers.” $ 50.00

Book of the day > Raymond Pettibon: Homo Americanus - Collected Works. David Zwirner Books. “Philosophically profound, deeply literary and biting in his satire, Raymond Pettibon is the foremost draftsman of his generation, and one of America’s most important contemporary artists. Approaching “high” and “low” subject matter with equal appetite and comfort, Pettibon plumbs the depths of American sexuality, politics, subcultures, mores, and intellectual histories through themes ranging from Shakespeare to Gumby, surfers to the Bible, baseball to German Romanticism.

Published on the occasion of his major European traveling retrospective at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg – Sammlung Falckenberg, Raymond Pettibon: Homo Americanus presents over six hundred works from every part of the artist’s career, the majority of which have never been shown before. Arranged thematically in thirty-two chapters, this unique catalogue charts the appearance and development of the themes that have come to define Pettibon’s expansive oeuvre. Different sections are introduced with excerpts from interviews conducted with the artist, and are further discussed in a detailed appendix by curator Ulrich Loock. Beyond shedding valuable light on the genesis and cross-pollination of Pettibon’s thematic interests, this catalogue is the first to tackle the artist’s work as a whole—as a kind of hive mind of American culture whose various branches constantly address and reinterpret one another. Of particular interest are Pettibon’s own readings of individual works in the book. In excerpts paired with corresponding images, Pettibon guides readers through his complex, often meandering turns of thought; never condescending, they invite readers to enter more deeply into his thinking without sacrificing the intellectual rigor and sense of mystery that makes Pettibon’s work so compelling and challenging. The book includes a complete facsimile of his first artists’ book, Captive Chains—almost entirely unavailable for decades—in addition to numerous early drawings completed with his nephew, record covers, flyers, and sections dedicated to collages and drawings from the 1980s to today. Also featured are biographical notes compiled by Lucas Zwirner, offering a nuanced, insightful reading of Pettibon’s history, whose early life and work is often simplified and categorically tied to punk rock, and instead underscores the complexities surrounding the artist’s long-standing relationship with art, literature, and American culture. This unparalleled selection of Pettibon’s work is the definitive single volume for novices and experts alike.” $ 65.00

It’s Record Store Day! Go to a record store and buy something! Book of the day > Record Stores. 160 Stores. 33 Cities. 5 Continents. 1 Book. seltmann+soehne. “Since 2009 the photographer Bernd Jonkmanns from Hamburg has been working on a photo documentation about the culture of record stores. When Jonkmanns started the project in 2009 he thought that there won’t be many record stores left within a few years. Over the past decades many Record Stores have vanished, but vinyl records have made a rapid comeback among music lovers all over the world. Thus, new stores opened up in big cities like Berlin, Brussels, Paris, and Los Angeles, preserving the phenomenon “record store” as an expression of youth culture. 

Over the last six years he travelled all over the world to 33 cities on five continents to photograph over 160 record stores, the store owners, the buyers, and the people who work there. His photos show their love and passion for vinyl, cd, and buying music in a store. This is what they all share and what makes the specific atmosphere of such stores.

Jonkmanns found great stores on all continents in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Paris, London, Brighton, Stockholm, Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, Amsterdam, Sydney and even in Hobart, Tasmania.” $ 59.00

Book of the day > WKW: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai. “The long-awaited retrospective from the internationally renowned film director celebrated for his visually lush and atmospheric films. Wong Kar Wai is known for his romantic and stylish films that explore—in saturated, cinematic scenes—themes of love, longing, and the burden of memory. His style reveals a fascination with mood and texture, and a sense of place figures prominently. In this volume, the first on his entire body of work, Wong Kar Wai and writer John Powers explore Wong’s complete oeuvre in the locations of some of his most famous scenes. The book is structured as six conversations between Powers and Wong (each in a different locale), including the restaurant where he shot In the Mood for Love and the snack bar where he shot Chungking Express. Discussing each of Wong’s eleven films, the conversations also explore Wong’s trademark themes of time, nostalgia, and beauty, and their roots in his personal life. This first book by Wong Kar Wai, lavishly illustrated with more than 250 photographs and film stills and featuring an opening critical essay by Powers, WKW: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wei is as evocative as walking into one of Wong’s lush films.” $ 65.00

“Throwback” book of the day (only one available of this veryscarce item -- first come, first served!) > Three Modern Masters: Billy Al Bengston / Edward Ruscha / Frank Lloyd Wright. 

Reese Palley Gallery, 1969. First Edition. 4to. Stapled Pictorial Wrappers. Exhibition Catalog. Very Good +. np (6pp), 7 b&w illustrations. With an exhibition checklist. Designed by Edward Ruscha. In a protective clear acetate dustwrapper.

One of the very earliest publications for both of these seminal Los Angeles artists, this slender six-page catalogue documents a 1969 exhibition of nineteen works each by Billy Al Bengston and Edward Ruscha held at San Francisco's Reese Palley Gallery. The gallery was located at the site originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948 for the V.C. Morris Gift Shop, and the cover photograph by Ruscha's good friend Patrick Blackwell shows the two artists contemplating the brass plaque crediting Wright with the design of The Guggenheim Museum. A most handsome example of this exceedingly uncommon item - only four copies are currently cited in OCLC WorldCat - showing a bit of unobtrusive foxing to the inside covers and endpapers. $ 450.00