Book of the Day Posted Aug 24, 2021

Book of the Day > Décorateurs Des Années 50

● Purchase ● The revival of the decorative arts in post-war France is extremely diverse, from the 40's style which endures through official orders to classical or neoclassical furniture whose success is unprecedented. Modernity remains a battle taken up by the young generation of decorators presented in this book. Their approach responds to the needs and aspirations of a country undergoing reconstruction, with the extraordinary vitality that characterized the time.
 
An introduction, which emphasizes the combination of aesthetics, fantasy and rigor of this abundant French creation, is followed by four parts, each preceded by an introduction that defines the historical context: the masters of the interwar period, the representatives of a '50s style - in freedom, playful and freed from any discourse in "ism”, the great figures of Reconstruction, and their spiritual sons. Text in French.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 21, 2021

Book of the Day > Rudy VanderLans: Oleander Sunset

● Purchase ● Inspired by artists like Edward Curtis and Charles Schulz, who devoted their lives to a single objective, Rudy VanderLans continues his pursuit to create a consistent body of work of postcard-size images, rendering a comprehensive portrait of California in the early part of the 21st century.
 
VanderLans, who is often drawn to places with fantastical names — like Oleander Sunset —wanders about California’s back roads with eyes wide open. Without theorizing, or searching for subjects, he allows himself to be receptive to the world around him and discovers beauty in the most ordinary locales. Like the men who named the cities and towns he visits, VanderLans makes the mundane seem less so, and in the process shows us what’s been overlooked.
 
Oleander Sunset juxtaposes single images on opposing pages, setting up dynamic formal and contextual interactions through contrasting, complementing and reiteration. The book is interspersed with a number of fold-out panoramas, placing the viewer smack in the middle of the author’s habitual stamping ground.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 20, 2021

Book of the Day > Judy Chicago: In The Making

● Purchase ● One of the founding forces behind the 1970s feminist art movement, Judy Chicago became widely known for The Dinner Party, a massive installation turning women’s traditional household-bound role on its head by setting a feast for thirty-nine remarkable women to shine a spotlight on women’s contributions to history. Like much of her work that would follow, The Dinner Party received massive popular acclaim while being harshly dismissed for its subject matter and embrace of “feminine” craft. For decades, Chicago operated on the margins of the art world, her work shunned by most critics and institutions, but she never stopped creating. Employing a vast array of mediums from textiles to painting to pyrotechnics Chicago is always willing to tackle the most urgent human questions. Judy Chicago: In the Making accompanies the first exhibition to o er a thorough overview of Chicago’s career. It traces the artist’s practice back to its roots, revealing her unique working process and the origins of the formal and conceptual strategies she has applied throughout her oeuvre. Bringing together a selection drawn from every major series of her work, it also reproduces sketchbooks, journals, and preparatory drawings that document her extensive process of research and development.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 19, 2021

Book of the Day > Alex Da Corte: The Roof Garden Commission 2021

● Purchase ● Alex Da Corte confronts themes of identity and consumerism in his work by placing familiar objects and cultural icons in surprising and surreal contexts. As Long as the Sun Lasts, his new site-specific work commissioned by The Met for its Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, draws together the beloved Sesame Street character Big Bird and the kinetic sculptures of Alexander Calder. Shanay Jhaveri's incisive essay explores Da Corte's deep engagement with art history, popular culture, and his personal experiences. Cultural critic Jack Halberstam provides a compelling consideration of As Long as the Sun Lasts in the context of Da Corte's earlier work, and the artist further discusses his diverse influences—from Renaissance painting to horror films—in a conversation with Sheena Wagstaff.

Book of the Day Posted Aug 18, 2021

Book of the Day > (Signed) Hoda Afshar: Speak The Wind

● Purchase ● On the islands in the Strait of Hormuz, off the southern coast of Iran, there is a common belief that the winds can possess a person, bringing illness and disease. The existence of similar convictions in some African countries suggests that the cult may have been brought to Iran from southeast Africa through the Arab slave trade. This history is rarely spoken about but these winds and the traces they have left on the islands and their inhabitants are the touchstone for Hoda Afshar's Speak The Wind. Through her subtle and perceptive images of the extraordinary landscapes, the people and their rituals, Afshar's beautiful and complex book attempts to picture the wind and its psychic entanglements, to form a visible record of the invisible.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 17, 2021

Book of the Day > Jim Hodges (Signed Edition)

● Purchase ● The first in-depth survey of the life and work of Jim Hodges, one of America's most celebrated contemporary artists
 
Jim Hodges is an artist who addresses issues such as memory, love, and existential struggles through a multifaceted practice that includes photography, screen printing, and sculpture. His use of found materials like rocks and denim, coupled with the adoption of transitory shapes like spiderwebs, speaks of a personal experience that resonates on a collective level filtered through elements available in nature. Mysterious, beautiful, poetic, and conceptually deep, Hodges's work has the rare quality of being simultaneously thought-provoking and visually beautiful.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 14, 2021

Book of the Day > Motor City Underground: Leni Sinclair Photographs 1963–1973

● Purchase ● Motor City Underground is a comprehensive document of the art, rock and roll, and political scenes of late 1960s Detroit. The images are arranged in a loose chronology, including events and subjects such as the March on Washington of 1963, and various performances and artists’ events in and around Wayne State University in Detroit; continuing on to the Detroit Artists Workshop, John Sinclair’s activities with jazz musicians and poets, events in Berkeley, Detroit and Ann Arbor; early concerts with the MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges in the Grande Ballroom; anti-war protests, Detroit Uprising and the Black Panthers; spectacular documentation of the influential performance style of the MC5; John Sinclair’s various arrests for marijuana possession and the police response to social protest; the Trans-Love Commune in Detroit and Ann Arbor; large-scale outdoor concerts in Detroit and elsewhere; Leni Sinclair’s ongoing documentation of Sun Ra, and other luminaries in jazz, blues and rock and roll.
 
A self-taught photographer, Leni Sinclair emigrated to the US from East Germany in 1959; in 1964 she met poet, jazz critic and manager of the MC5, John Sinclair. The two married the same year and embarked on a decade of political activism, first founding the Artist’s Workshop, a network of communal houses and performance spaces which evolved into the Trans-Love Energies Commune. The following year the Sinclairs founded the White Panther party in solidarity with the Black Panthers. The couple divorced in 1977; Leni has continued to practice photography and lives in Detroit.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 13, 2021

Book of the Day > Tania Franco Klein: Yalitza Aparicio

● Purchase ● This zine is a collaboration between Yalitza Aparicio and Tania Franco Klein. An attempt is made to conceal our breakout star in plain sight. We sneak into an intimate scene of seductive caramels blended across carpet, wood, leather, and heat that would not dare disguise the piercing ferocity of an ancestry folded over, an ancestry that would have been eradicated had it not been for this very ferocity. A face with centuries of history, how could its majesty end up among television static preaching black and white, and a misplaced token to tame the mane protecting it? Generations of adaptability seem to battle sacred tradition; in Yalitza Aparicio, we see the duality of Mexicans in the United States of America.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 12, 2021

Book of the Day > Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty

● Purchase ● Featuring newly commissioned essays and photography of rarely exhibited works, this book highlights the radicalism of Jean Dubuffet, who was one of the most provocative voices of the postwar avant-garde.
 
In 1940s occupied Paris, Jean Dubuffet began to champion a progressive vision for art; one that rejected classical notions of beauty in favor of a more visceral aesthetic. Taking a pioneering approach to materiality and technique, the artist variously blended paint with sand, glass, tar, coal dust, and string. At the same time, he began to assemble a collection of Art Brut–work that was made outside the academic tradition of fine art–even visiting psychiatric wards from 1945 to collect work by patients. This book features texts from leading scholars and is accompanied by images that illuminate Dubuffet’s attempts to move beyond the artistic expectations of his time. The works are grouped into six thematic sections that focus on specific series, from his graffiti-inspired “Walls” and his notorious portrait series, “People are Much More Beautiful Than They Think” to the “Corps de dames,” a controversial series of “female” landscapes, and his anthropomorphic sculptures, “Little Statues of Precarious Life.” Exquisitely produced, this celebration of Dubuffet’s work embraces his world view that art is for everyone, not just the elite.
Book of the Day Posted Aug 11, 2021

Book of the Day > Led Zeppelin Vinyl

● Purchase ● A tribute to the world’s greatest rock band through a kaleidoscopic collection of vinyl, from obscure international records to handmade albums of historic performances
 
Led Zeppelin released only eight studio albums and no singles over the course of their 12-year career, but to date there are more than 1,000 singles and 2,000 LPs in the market.
 
This definitive volume illustrates in full color some of the rarest and most interesting vinyl releases, including one-of-a-kind rarities, bizarre regional variations, official albums and historic recordings of legendary concerts, sometimes featuring handmade artwork or colored vinyl. The vinyl, labels and covers have been documented by photographer Ross Halfin in superb detail and are annotated with details of their release.
 
In addition, the book includes over forty pages of the most up-to-date comprehensive discography ever compiled on the band, with forensic detail. All known album and single vinyl releases from around the world are listed with catalogue numbers, release or recording dates and additional notes.
 
A labor of love, Led Zeppelin Vinyl is a must-have for fans of the group and vinyl enthusiasts. It is a paean of praise to vinyl artwork and graphic design: The illustrations are explosive and surreal, playful, experimental and subversive, interpreting multiple artistic disciplines with flair and wit.
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