Book of the Day Posted May 10, 2022

Book of the Day > Emanuel Hahn: Koreatown Dreaming

● Purchase ● “Koreatown Dreaming” was borne out of a sense of urgency around documenting the stories of Koreatown, during the Covid-19 pandemic and creeping gentrification. As many small business in Koreatown closed permanently, long-time establishments and mom-and-pop stores disappeared without leaving a record of their history and contributions to Los Angeles. This photo book documents their varied lives and stories, and celebrates the contributions that Korean immigrants have given to one of the most diverse and iconic neighborhoods in America.
 
This book chronicles 40 small businesses across retail, services, community spaces and restaurants to offer a comprehensive look into the lives of this entrepreneurial immigrant group. This book includes rich photography, poetry, and essays by Katherine Yungmee Kim (author of LA's Koreatown), Lisa Kwon (writer and reporter), Cathy Park (contributing writer at Eater) and Dumbfoundead (artist).
Book of the Day Posted May 06, 2022

Book of the Day > Hilary Pecis

● Purchase ● Hilary Pecis has won widespread acclaim for her singularly charming domestic still lifes and sun-drenched street scenes, paintings and drawings rendered in vibrant saturated colors and bold linework that seem to celebrate the quiet moments of life: coffee tables overflowing with books, the remains of a dinner party, terrains lush with Southern California succulents.
 
This monograph, the artist’s first, collects more than 50 works painted in the period between 2017 and 2021. Writer and musician Johanna Fateman contributes a new text on Pecis’ works as they exist in dialogue with the history of representational painting, while painter Lily Stockman provides a more personal view on the collected paintings as Pecis’ unexpected studio-mate during the time of the COVID pandemic. This lavishly designed and fully illustrated volume invites the reader into the enchanting world of an ascendant new talent in painting.
Miscellany Posted May 06, 2022

SUMMER HOURS!

ARCANA’S NEW SUMMER HOURS!

Starting 5/6/22  we’ll be implementing a new summer schedule to allow us to catch up on some necessary maintenance. We need some time to handle new submissions and correspondence, train staff, replenish our stock from the backroom, price recently acquired out-of-print material, and so much more that needs to be done to keep the shop humming.

For the next few months, our schedule will be:

 

Monday – Closed

Tuesday – By prior appointment only (books@arcanabooks.com, 310-458-1499)

Wednesday-Sunday – 11:00 AM -7:00 PM

 

Thank you for your understanding!

 

Book of the Day Posted May 05, 2022

Book of the Day > Jason Dill: Prince Street

● Purchase ● I never thought I’d make a book of my photography, especially a book this big. In 1994 I was 17 when I first went to New York, traveled to Japan and all over Europe. I had just become a Professional Skateboarder, this occupation continued to send me around the world. (This book has nothing to do with skateboarding) I moved to New York, I ended up in Africa, Italy, Greece, Mexico, Paris, Australia, I took pictures all along the way. I took photos of what I thought was beautiful, innocent, strange, ugly, I just shot so much shit. There are moments of sadness and regret in the book and moments of sheer happiness. There are friends who are no longer here and places and times that no longer exist.
Book of the Day Posted May 03, 2022

Book of the Day > In My Eyes Photographs 1982-1997 by Jim Saah

● Purchase ● In My Eyes Photographs 1982-1997 (Cabin 1) features hundreds of impressive (and never before seen) photos of Fugazi, Minor Threat, Void, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Jawbox, Government Issue, The Faith, Iron Cross and more. But Saah’s musical palette wasn’t just confined to punk rock, as evidenced by the inclusion of The Cramps, The Pixies, Lou Reed, Guided by Voices, Fishbone, Wilco et al. The hard cover book closes with several intimate interviews between Saah and longtime friends/fans including Ian MacKaye, J. Robbins, Jon Langford (Mekons), Shepard Fairey, and photographers Cynthia Connolly and Patrick Graham
Miscellany Posted Apr 30, 2022

Independent Bookstore Day 20212!

It's Independent Bookstore Day, a *happy* day thanks to YOU. You with your passion, enthusiasm, your dollars, and your commitment! We are here because you keep showing up -- and we thank you for this happy day.

And to our colleagues across this great book town, too numerous to list here: we salute you - live long and prosper! We're honored to be fellow travelers in this wacky and wonderful biblio-galaxy.

Here's a bittersweet reminder from Noah Davis and the beloved @theundergroundmuseum

Please visit, call, or shop the websites of our many illustrious confrères today, tomorrow, and throughout the year: @aliasbookseast, @artbookhwla, @booksoup, @chevaliersbooks, @counterpointrecordsandbooks, @despairbooks, @dieselbookstore, @esowonbooks, @hennesseyingalls, @iliadbookshop, @lalibreria, @larryedmunds1938, @lastbookstorela, @librosschmibros, @malikbooks, @nowservingla, @oofbooks, @otherbooksla @reparations.club, @therippedbodice, @thesalteaters, @theshq, @sideshowbooks, @skylightbooks, @smallworldbooksvenice, @storiesbooksandcafe, @thesedays.la @villagewellcc , @vromansbookstore, and so many more

Book of the Day Posted Apr 29, 2022

Book of the Day > Ralph Lauren's Polo Shirt

● Purchase ● Embodying a chic casualness that is uniquely American, the Polo shirt is a cultural symbol, worn by everyone from movie stars and presidents to athletes and artists.
 
The Polo shirt is to Ralph Lauren what Mickey Mouse is to Disney or the Empire State Building is to New York City. Whether worn with the collar popped up, open and untucked, or dressed up under a suit jacket, the Polo embodies the optimism of American style. In Lauren’s words, “It’s honest and from the heart and hopefully that is what touches the diversity of all who wear it. It was never about a shirt, but a way of living.”
 
Featuring a gallery of stars from the worlds of sports, politics, film, and music—from Leonardo DiCaprio and Spike Lee, to Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, to Pharrell Williams and Venus Williams—as well as everyday people who make the Polo their canvas for self-expression, The Polo Shirt looks at the enduring cool of a wardrobe classic.
 
Included are the full range of colors, styles, and fits the shirt has been produced in during its more than 50-year history. From the classic white to the weathered Polo, from the striped Polo to the US Olympic, US Open, and Wimbledon Championship collaborations, this catalogue celebrates the full spectrum of the Polo, making it a collector’s dream.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 28, 2022

Book of the Day > Barbara Bosworth: The Sea

● Purchase ● A luxuriously designed photographic meditation on the infinite permutations of the sea, from the author of the acclaimed photobooks The Heavens and The Meadow
 
Since moving to New England in 1984, Barbara Bosworth (born 1953) has been photographing the sea and its awe-inspiring ability to transform sky, water and light. The sea evokes calm introspection, romance and poetry, while remaining a deeply unknowable and overpowering natural force, a contradiction that has drawn people to the shoreline for millennia. Before she discovered photography, and for as long as she can remember, Bosworth has been looking at the sea. Many hours were spent with her father watching the light move across Cape Cod Bay. Later in life, she walked those same beaches with the wonder that had been passed down by her father, as well as generations of writers, poets and artists. This book of Bosworth's photographs of the sea, made with an 8x10 camera, follows in the tradition of The Meadow and The Heavens, serving as the third and final volume in the series, keeping the same size and design elements as the previous two publications.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 26, 2022

Book of the Day > Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists

● Purchase ● How have women artists used photography as a tool of resistance? Our Selves explores the connections between photography, feminism, civil rights, Indigenous sovereignty and queer liberation
 
Spanning more than 100 years of photography, the works in Our Selves range from a turn-of-the-century photograph of racially segregated education in the United States, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, to a contemporary portrait celebrating Indigenous art forms, by the Chemehuevi artist Cara Romero.
 
As the title of this volume suggests, Our Selves affirms the creative and political agency of women artists. A critical essay by curator Roxana Marcoci asks the question “What is a Feminist Picture?” and reconsiders the art-historical canon through works by Claude Cahun, Tina Modotti, Carrie Mae Weems, Catherine Opie and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, among others. Twelve focused essays by emerging scholars explore themes such as identity and gender, the relationship between educational systems and power, and the ways in which women artists have reframed our received ideas about womanhood.
 
Published in conjunction with a groundbreaking exhibition of photographs by women artists—drawn exclusively from MoMA's collection, thanks to a transformative gift of photographs from Helen Kornblum in 2021—this richly illustrated catalog features more than 100 color and black-and-white plates. As we continue to aspire to equity and diversity, Our Selves contributes vital insights into figures too often relegated to the margins of our cultural imagination.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 23, 2022

Book of the Day > René Gruau: Master of Fashion Illustration

● Purchase ● Effortless sophistication and timeless elegance are the hallmark of René Gruau’s fashion illustration. Filled with iconic full-page reproductions, detailed drawings, and biographical insights, this glorious celebration traces a career that is inextricably linked to the history of Parisian haute couture.
 
Before photography became the primary medium for marketing fashion, there was René Gruau with his pens, brushes, watercolors, and inks. Beginning in 1940 when he helped create the Miss Dior campaign, and for more than two decades, Gruau was at the forefront of fashion design. In addition to his long and fruitful partnership with Dior this book features sublime reproductions of Gruau’s work with luxury designers such as Givenchy, Chanel, Balenciaga, Lacroix, and Schiaparelli. It looks at the artistic influences--from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kabuki theater—that shaped his use of pigment and line and demonstrates how, with just a few strokes and a splash of color, he managed to capture the perfection of a woman’s hat, or make tangible a perfume’s alluring scent. A gorgeous introduction to French fashion’s golden age, this definitive volume is also an indispensable reference for anyone interested in fashion design, haute couture, and commercial illustration.

 

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