DREAMING SMALL: INTIMATE INTERIORS

Written by Douglas Woods, Photographed by Melba Levick

The masterpieces of small-house living featured here will serve as inspiration to those who struggle with the challenges presented by contemporary life in petite-size homes. Dreaming Small is a celebration of jewel-box homes, each marked by a sense of style that marries eclecticism, practicality, beauty, and livability. From quintessential bungalows and classic casas to Tudor fantasies, these delightful abodes are models of rich diversity and inspired living. In brilliant new photography, the book explores the possibilities that exist in these mostly unpublished gems by legendary architects Irving Gill, Richard Neutra, and Paul R. Williams, among others. The houses, each around two thousand square feet, are examples of what is possible in the small house and offer the reader a colorful palette of ideas from which to artfully transform spaces into comfortable, contemporary living.

Some homes featured here are period-perfect time capsules, harkening back to the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, while others embrace the new and are entirely of today. All are a testament to how a well-designed house can wonderfully serve the needs of the twenty-first century. In an age where many are downsizing, this book will be welcomed. While showcasing a mix of homes, it emphasizes light, bright, and inspiring interiors that are beyond distinct architectural styles. The trend of reviving old houses will continue to grow steadily, and this book will be inspirational for those looking to do it right.

PLEASE JOIN ARCANA: BOOKS ON THE ARTS + LA>< ART FOR A BOOK SIGNING AND RECEPTION FOR

MUNGO THOMSON AND MICHAEL WEBSTER'S  C R I C K E T S
Published by LA><ART, Christoph Keller Editions, and JRP | Ringier
 

The artist's book Crickets is the musical score for Mungo Thomson's artwork Crickets. For it, the artist acquired the rights to a compilation of field recordings of crickets made in France, Cameroon, Senegal, Martinique, Borneo, Thailand, and Venezuela between the late 1960s and late 1990s. These recordings became the basis for an original score. The result is a dynamic composition that moves around a company of musicians and offers different instrumentation as the locations and species in the recordings change from track to track. Crickets was performed at the Ball of Artists in 2012 and on the High Line in New York City on in 2013.

In addition to the first available copies of Crickets, Mungo Thomson's signed, blind-debossed, letterpress print Crickets score experimental cluster track 14 limited to five copies published by LA><ART Editions will be available for sale at the event. The image features several measures of music developed for violins to play “atmosphere” on Crickets. We will also have copies of Mungo Thomson's recent hardbound Site Santa Fe catalogue Time People Money Crickets.

 

MEET US AT THE FAIR!
 

Printed Matter's LA ART BOOK FAIR
 

Free to the public at the Geffen Contemporary at MoCA
  

PERRY ELLIS: AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL
with PHOTOGRAPHER ERICA LENNARD
AND SPECIAL GUESTS!
 

THE RHINO RECORDS STORY: REVENGE OF THE MUSIC NERDS  BY HAROLD BRONSON
 

ALEXANDER McQUEEN: WORKING PROCESS - PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK WAPLINGTON

In 2008 Alexander McQueen commissioned photographer Nick Waplington to document the creation of his Fall 2009 collection - all the way from inception to runway showing. Unfortunately, it was to be the last Fall / Winter collection that McQueen would stage before his untimely death. This show, which he titled The Horn of Plenty, found McQueen revisiting his fifteen-year archive of work and recycling it into a new collection. In effect, it was his personal survey of his work to date. The set was composed of broken mirrors and a giant trash heap made up of all the sets from his previous shows. Critics have commented that this reflected McQueen’s feelings towards the fashion system and how it pressures designers to be creative geniuses while relegating each collection to the garbage bin of history as soon as it’s sold. Waplington was given unprecedented access to McQueen and his staff, which included the current Creative Director of the brand, Sarah Burton. Every step of the creative process is documented in fascinating detail, and readers receive a rare insight into the inner workings of McQueen’s creative process. Most notably, McQueen himself conceived the book’s layout, sequencing each picture on storyboards. The book was ready for publication when McQueen died, then was put on hold - until now. This substantial overview, with more than one hundred and twenty photographs, is published just as McQueen edited it, commemorating the most personal of his collections. It includes an essay by Susannah Frankel, Fashion Editor at Grazia (U.K.).

Lee Alexander McQueen (1969-2010), CBE, was one of the most important fashion designers of the last two decades. He was the recipient of four British Designer of the Year awards, as well as the CFDA’s International Designer of the Year award, 2003. In 2011, following his death, the Costume Institute in New York organized an enormously successful retrospective of his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Artist and photographer Nick Waplington (born 1970) has published several books including Living Room and The Wedding (Aperture), Safety in Numbers (Booth Clibborn) and Truth of Consequence (Phaidon). He lives in London and New York.

 

Best of LA.

You'll find us in... Louis Vuitton City Guide: Los Angeles - thanks to Claude Deloffre!

PLEASE JOIN US THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th, 6:30 - 8:00 PM AT FOR A PUBLICATION PARTY FOR
RICKY SWALLOW:BRONZES

Ricky Swallow is known for intricately and attentively crafted sculptural works, often combining contemporary imagery with art historical references, and the traditional notion of nature morte. His current bronze works extend this practice while reflecting the more recent influences of twentieth century design, studio ceramics and the inventiveness of folk art.

This lovely new hardbound co-edition from Stuart Shave / Modern Art, London and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney surveys the artist's ongoing body of bronze sculpture made since 2010, and features an essay by Michael Ned Holte, photographs by Fredrik Nilsen, and is Designed by A Practice for Everyday Life.

SAM LUBELL + GREG GOLDIN: NEVER BUILT LOS ANGELES

Never Built Los Angeles, published by Metropolis Books, explores the “what if” Los Angeles, investigating the values and untapped potential of a city still in search of itself. A treasure trove of buildings, master plans, parks, follies and mass-transit proposals that only saw the drawing board, the book asks: why is Los Angeles a mecca for great architects, yet so lacking in urban innovation? Featured are more than 100 visionary works that could have transformed both the physical reality and the collective perception of the metropolis, from Olmsted Brothers and Bartholomew’s groundbreaking 1930 Plan for the Los Angeles Region, which would have increased the amount of green space in the notoriously park-poor city fivefold; to John Lautner’s Alto Capistrano, a series of spaceship-like apartments hovering above a mixed-use development; to Jean Nouvel’s 2008 Green Blade, a condominium tower clad entirely in cascading plants. Through text and more than 400 color and black-and-white illustrations drawn from archives around the U.S., authors Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin explore the visceral (and sometimes misleading) power of architectural ideas conveyed through sketches, renderings, blueprints, models and the now waning art of hand drawing. Many of these schemes--promoting a denser, more vibrant city--are still relevant today and could inspire future designs. Never Built Los Angeles will set the stage for a renewed interest in visionary projects in this, one of the world’s great cities.