Happy Thanksgiving! Book of the day > Bird Love by Leila Jeffeys. Abrams. “Fine art photographer Leila Jeffreys captures the beauty and diversity of some of our most colorful and elegant feathered friends. From the exotic birds of her native Australia to those of North America, Jeffreys seems to delve into the very souls of these creatures with her stunning and evocative portraits. Jeffreys works with animal rescue and conservation groups to find subjects to photograph. Her love and compassion for her subjects is evident throughout, as she captures their personalities in her delightful portraits; Commander Skyring the Gang-Gang Cockatoo, Dexter the White-Bellied Sea Eagle, Mrs. Plume the Budgerigar, and many others are as whimsical as they are beautiful.”

Book of the day and book signing tomorrow! Come to Arcana tomorrow (Saturday, 11/21) for an exciting photography bonanza with Charlotte Cotton (4:00-6:00) and Maestro Alec Soth (5:00-7:00). Can’t make it but want a signed book? Order on our website before noon .

Book of the day > Gathered Leaves by Alec Soth. MACK.

“Alec Soth’s reputation as one of the leading lights of contemporary photographic practice is largely predicated on the books he has published. This unusual catalogue accompanies a touring exhibition which uses the four major bodies of work which Soth has published as books since 2004 as the structural basis for both a mid-career retrospective and an investigation of Soth’s prescient understanding of the various and distinct applications of photography as a tool for storytelling across diverse media. The title of the exhibition comes from Walt Whitman’s poem Song of Myself [1855] and references both the pages of his books gathered for consideration and the notion that his work is also a story about Soth himself.

Soth's meteoric rise to international acclaim began with his first book, Sleeping by the Mississippi, published by Steidl in 2004. The book has sold through numerous print runs and has long been out-of-print. It embodies not only a moment in which a new and original voice emerged with an unusual ability to transpose subtle and highly personal stories of local American life, but also marked a significant early event in the photo-book publishing boom we are currently experiencing. The success of his two subsequent volumes, Niagara [2006] and Broken Manual [2010], combined with the hugely influential exploration of self-publishing under his Little Brown Mushroom imprint, have all reinforced Soth’s position as a master of the book form. The recent success of Songbook [2015] has seen a return to the mainstream of book publishing.

This catalogue is a special object, bringing together an essay by Aaron Schuman spread across 29 large format postcards, with mini facsimile versions of Soth’s 4 books [3 of which are now out-of-print], all housed together in a luxurious printed and embossed clamshell box.”

Book of the day and Book Signing Saturday, 4:00-6:00 – One of two exciting events on Saturday… Details here > Photography is Magic by Charlotte Cotton. Aperture. “Photography Is Magic is a critical publication that surveys the practices of over eighty artists, all of whom are engaged with experimental approaches to photographic ideas, set within the contemporary image environment, framed by Web 2.0. The book contains a substantial essay by Charlotte Cotton and statements from all the contributing artists. The over three hundred image sequence represents the scope of photographic possibilities at play within contemporary creative practices. From Michele Abeles and Walead Beshty to Daniel Gordon and Matt Lipps, Cotton has selected artists who are consciously reframing photographic practices in the post-Internet age. Photography Is Magic provides an engaging physical experience - designed by Harsh Patel - for younger photo aficionados, students, and anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of contemporary photography.”

With images and texts by Michele Abeles, Takaaki Akaishi, Lotta Antonsson, Walead Beshty, Lucas Blalock,Andrey Bogush, Brian Bress, Bianca Brunner, Stefan Burger, Antoine Catala, Phil Chang, Talia Chetrit, Joshua Citarella, Sara Cwynar, Bryan Dooley, Jessica Eaton, Shannon Ebner, Marten Elder, Jason Evans,Sam Falls, Brendan Fowler, Victoria Fu,Daniel Gordon, Darren Harvey-Regan, Leslie Hewitt, Nancy de Holl, John Houck, Go Itami, Rachel de Joode, Farrah Karapetian, Matt Keegan, Annette Kelm, Soo Kim, Yuki Kimura, Josh Kline, Lucas Knipscher,Owen Kydd, Josh Kolbo, Taisuke Koyama,Nico Krebs and Taiyo Onorato, EladLassry, Brandon Lattu, John Lehr, Anthony Lepore, Alexandra Leykauf, Matt Lipps, Florian Maier-Aichen, Phillip Maisel, Annie MacDonell, Emmeline de Mooij, Carter Mull, Nerhol - (Ryuta Iida and YoshihisaTanaka), Katja Novitskova, Arthur Ou, Matthew Porter, Timur Si-Qin, Eileen Quinlan, Jon Rafman, Sean Raspet, Clunie Reid, Abigail Reynolds, Will Rogan, Asha Schechter, Hugh Scott-Douglas, Shirana Shahbazi, Daniel Shea, Erin Shirreff, Elisa Sighicelli, Brea Souders, Kate Steciw, BatiaSuter, Yosuke Takeda, Miguel Ángel Tornero,Sara VanDerBeek, Artie Vierkant, Anne deVries, Hannah Whitaker, Charlie White, Lindsey White, Chris Wiley, Letha Wilson, and Amir Zaki.

IT's an exciting overlapping double header at Arcana this Saturdsay, 11/21. 4:00-7:00.....

4:00-6:00 > Charlotte Cotton: Photography Is Magic

5:00-7:00 > Alec Soth Gathered Leaves

Click above for details! 

Book of the day > Work Horse by Charlotte Dumas. The Ice Plant. “In November 2014 Charlotte Dumas began photographing the eight native horse breeds of Japan. Once necessary for farming and transportation, most of these indigenous breeds have lost their practical purpose and have declined in number. Mostly confined to small islands, the horses have never been able to migrate, and their future existence is now uncertain. In some cases, these near-mythical animals have become symbolic of their place, like the Yonaguni horse, which — together with the world’s largest moth and the marlin — is depicted on the manhole covers of this remote island. Each breed seems to unlock a history of its location and a story about the people who share its territory. This limited artist book, documenting Dumas’ project to date, portrays horses from the islands of Yonaguni, Miyakojima, Nagano and Hokkaido.  Since 2002, Charlotte Dumas has worked exclusively on photographic projects exploring the ways in which we use, define and relate to animals. Her work has been published in several previous volumes, including Retrieved (2011), Repose (2010), Paradis (2009), Heart Shaped Hole (2008), Reverie (2006), and Day is Done (2005). Represented by Julie Saul Gallery and Galerie Paul Andriesse, she lives and works in Amsterdam and New York.”

Book of the day > Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia. Walker Art Center. “Hippie Modernism examines the art, architecture and design of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. The catalogue surveys the radical experiments that challenged societal norms while proposing new kinds of technological, ecological and political utopia. It includes the counter-design proposals of Victor Papanek and the anti-design polemics of Global Tools; the radical architectural visions of Archigram, Superstudio, Haus-Rucker-Co and ONYX; the installations of Ken Isaacs, Joan Hills, Mark Boyle, Hélio Oiticica and Neville D'Almeida; the experimental films of Jordan Belson, Bruce Conner and John Whitney; posters and prints by Emory Douglas, Corita Kent and Victor Moscoso; documentation of performances by the Diggers and the Cockettes; publications such as Oz and The Whole Earth Catalog; books by Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller; and much more.
While the turbulent social history of the 1960s is well known, its cultural production remains comparatively under-examined. In this substantial volume, scholars explore a range of practices such as radical architectural and anti-design movements emerging in Europe and North America; the print revolution in the graphic design of books, posters and magazines; and new forms of cultural practice that merged street theater and radical politics. Through a profusion of illustrations, interviews with figures including: Gerd Stern of USCO; Ken Isaacs; Gunther Zamp Kelp of Haus-Rucker-Co; Ron Williams and Woody Rainey of ONYX; Franco Raggi of Global Tools; Tony Martin; Clark Richert and Richard Kallweit of Drop City; as well as new scholarly writings, this book explores the conjunction of the countercultural ethos and the modernist desire to fuse art and life.”

Book of the day, book signing tomorrow (4:00-6:00) -- please join us! > Jona Frank: The Modern Kids. Kehrer Verlag. "In the Fall of 2010, photographer Jona Frank began to make portraits at an amateur boxing club just outside of Liverpool in a suburb called Ellesmere Port. All the boys tried to act tough for the camera, and Frank was reminded of a line from the Arcade Fire song Rococo: "They seem wild, but they are so tame". In the song they are singing about going downtown and watching the modern kids. It made Frank think about how these boys, in this town, are in their life. For them, everything is present. This is their 21st Century, their right now, but their faces evoke the past. Many of them, shirtless and sweaty, their hands covered with big, puffy, colorful gloves, look timeless, but the truth is they are like any adolescent who is trying on a role and attempting to find their place. Like the suburb of Liverpool where these photos were made, boxing has a foot in the past while grasping its contemporary purpose. Frank’s photographs provide a record of a sport and a community whose presence is slowly fading.

Bruce Weber states in the books preface "Although some of the most gentlemanly people I have ever met are boxers, for Jona to go into a boxing gym as a woman is a very rare thing. I used to visit a gym out in Las Vegas called Johnny Tocco’s that had a sign which read 'No Women Allowed.' But Jona’s boxers let her have this experience. They wanted to share their moment of glory with her, and she in turn made heroes of them in her photographs. These pictures will be placed on the mantles and the walls in their homes. People will take notice. Their hard work will matter. Some people might confuse the realism of Jona’s work with a certain anti-romanticism. But she’s just bending the ideal by holding true to the photographer’s mantra keep your eyes open and be true to your heart".

If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of Jona's new Kehrer Verlag title The Modern Kids, please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to unforeseen circumstances we will not be hosting the previously announced Nick Waplington book signing this Saturday, and regret any disappointment and inconvenience this may cause. However, signed copies of Living Room Work Prints and A Good Man's Grave is his Sabbath are still available to order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.

Book of the day > The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now. University of Chicago Press. "On the South Side of Chicago in the 1960s, African American artists and musicians grappled with new language and forms inspired by the black nationalist turn in the Civil Rights movement. The Freedom Principle, which accompanies an exhibition on the topic at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, traces their history and shows how it continues to inform contemporary artists around the world.

The book coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a still-flourishing organization of Chicago musicians who challenge jazz’s boundaries. Combining archival materials such as brochures, photographs, sheet music, and record covers with contemporary art work that respond to the 1960s Black Arts Movement, The Freedom Principle explores this tradition of cultural expression from, as one AACM group used to put it, the “ancient to the future.” Essays by curators Naomi Beckwith and Dieter Roelstraete, AACM member and historian George Lewis, art historian Rebecca Zorach, and gallerist John Corbett accompany beautiful reproductions of work by artists such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Barbara Jones-Hogu, Cauleen Smith, Rashid Johnson, Nick Cave, and many more. A roundtable conversation features Beckwith, Roelstraete, curator Hamza Walker, current AACM member and cellist Tomeka Reid, and scholar and curator Romi Crawford, with additional comments from poet and scholar Fred Moten. A chronology and curated playlist of AACM-related recordings are also included. The resulting book offers a rich sense of a global movement, with crucial roots in Chicago, driven by a commitment to experimentation, improvisation, collective action, and the pursuit of freedom."

Book of the day > Designing TWA: Eero Saarinen's Airport Terminal in New York by Kornel Ringli. Park Books.

" When it opened in 1962, the TWA Flight Center at New York’s JFK airport was a sensation. Created by Eero Saarinen with a distinctly birdlike design, it was instantly seen as a striking emblem of the romance of air travel. More than half a century later, it remains a beloved icon of modern architecture.

Designing TWA is the first book to tell the whole story of Saarinen’s building, from its early planning through its closing in 2001 after the takeover of TWA by American Airlines. Documenting the terminal’s commission, planning, building, and use, architect Kornel Ringli reveals the constant tension between the operational needs of the airline and Saarinen’s visionary imaginings—revealing the TWA building as an incredible architectural achievement that nonetheless failed to meet the day-to-day demands of the business it housed. Lavishly illustrated with archival photographs, Designing TWA is an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the making of a modern masterpiece."

Today!!! - Saturday, November 21st, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
CHARLOTTE COTTON: PHOTOGRAPHY IS MAGIC
+ overlapping second event
Saturday, November 21st, 5:00 - 7:00 PM
ALEC SOTH: GATHERED LEAVES

Saturday, December 5th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
ED TEMPLETON: TEENAGE SMOKERS 2 + MORE
+
ETHAN RAFAL: SHOCK AND AWE (WITH WHISKY AND PIE!)

Sunday, December 13th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
MANFRED HEITING: THE SOVIET PHOTOBOOK 1920-1941
in association with PAC / LA