Book of the Day Posted May 18, 2021

Book of the Day > Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories

● Purchase ● Made by Americans of European, African, Native and Hispanic heritage, these quilts and bedcovers range from family heirlooms to acts of political protest, each with its own story to tell
 
A mother stitches a few lines of prayer into a bedcover for her son serving in the Union army during the Civil War. A formerly enslaved African American woman creates a quilt populated by Biblical figures alongside celestial events. A quilted Lady Liberty, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln mark the resignation of Richard Nixon. These are just a few of the diverse and sometimes hidden stories of the American experience told by quilts and bedcovers from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
 
Spanning more than 400 years, the 58 works of textile art in this book express the personal narratives of their makers and owners and connect to broader stories of global trade, immigration, industry, marginalization, and territorial and cultural expansion.
Book of the Day Posted May 15, 2021

Book of the Day > Nancy Rubins: Fluid Space

● Purchase ● Words frequently used to describe American artist Nancy Rubins’s sculptural practice embody ideas of monumentality, fortitude, and awe-inspiring strength. While it is most certainly true that Rubins’s works result in formidable tours de force, evoking a wonderment about their seemingly impossible feats of construction, scale is often a means rather than a goal unto itself.
 
Meet Fizzy’s Nebuli, one of several new sculptures in the Fluid Space series. Standing approximately six-and-a-half feet high, eightand-a-half feet wide, and nine-and-a-half feet deep, this sculpture and those from Rubins’s newest series are, relative to her previous works, more petite. Fizzy’s Nebuli gives us permission for close and intimate viewing, inviting us to explore all of its elaborate details.
 
As our eye roves, biomorphic forms shift and appear before us, including calla-lily-like appendages, branches, hollowed out tree stumps, rosebuds, and ivy tendrils. These subtle gestures linger with us, even after those forms dissolve back into the sculptural whole.
Events Posted May 15, 2021

Show & Tell with Jason E.C. Wright!

Starting on Wednesday 5/26 at 5:00 PST we are delighted to host a monthly Instagram “Show & Tell” moderated by Jason E.C. Wright of @burntsiennaresearchsociety! You are in for a real treat so gather up your art books, design books, coffee table books or rare magazines and come nerd out with Jason.
 
Here’s how it works: Jason will be live @arcanabooks sharing some of his favorites with you. Raise your hand to share and he will tap you in. Chat about your most influential book or bookshop. Enjoy the hour, meet some interesting people, and support your local bookstore. There’s nothing like a little book fun in the middle of the week.
 
Jason E.C. Wright is the Founder of Burntsienna Reseach Society, a critical-thinking research consultancy for design histories, intangible culture, and reference materials. Jason is Indiana born and raised, who now considers Los Angeles home. He is an accomplished designer, researcher, writer, with 20+ years as a retail and fashion professional, who takes his love of books seriously, serving as librarian-in-residence at home in Treehouse Hollywood.
 
* You can watch the 5/26 show and tell through our instagram post here.
Book of the Day Posted May 14, 2021

Book of the Day > Ellen Sheidlin

● Purchase ● Russian artist and model Ellen Sheidlin provides an almost limitless exploration of millennial culture with her Instagram feed. Her conceptual self-portrait photography is both whimsical and weird, and the young woman also uses her doll-like appearance to induce more disturbing, bizarre undertones and thought-provoking social commentary in her creations. The many different layers of Ellen’s absurd and beautiful dreamscapes point to the perils of social media and our obsession with technology, or hint at more troubling topics like the situation of LGBTQ+ people in Russia and today’s global existential angst. Escape into her chameleonic fantasy world with this mind-bending collection.
Book of the Day Posted May 13, 2021

Book of the Day > Rashid Johnson: The Hikers

● Purchase ● A massive compendium on the multimedia art of Rashid Johnson, tackling themes of Black history, literature, philosophy and material culture
 
Rashid Johnson (born 1977) is renowned for challenging the assumptions often present in collective notions of Blackness. Based in New York, Johnson is among an influential group of American artists whose work employs a wide range of materials and images to explore themes of art history, literature, philosophy, and personal and cultural identity. After beginning his career working primarily in photography, Johnson has expanded into a variety of mediums, including text work, sculptural objects, installation, painting, drawing, collage, film, performance and choreography. Drawing on a dizzying array of historical, cultural, literary and musical references, Johnson ultimately invites audiences to find connections to their own lives.
Book of the Day Posted May 12, 2021

Book of the Day > By Design: The World's Best Contemporary Interior Designers

● Purchase ● A richly illustrated, authoritative global survey of the best and most creative interior designers and decorators working today
 
Our surroundings are the key to our comfort and happiness, and we're endlessly inspired by the creative professionals that show us how to put a personal stamp on the spaces we inhabit. This gorgeous book is a timely, comprehensive showcase of the most exceptional, innovative, and groundbreaking interior designers working today, nominated by an esteemed group of industry experts and thoughtfully curated to demonstrate why the world of interior design continues to raise the bar of creative practice.
 
Nominators include: Felix Burrichter, Aric Chen, Amy Fine Collins, Francisco Costa, Ronnie Fieg, Marianne Goebl, Laila Gohar, Niki Haas, Gert Jonkers & Jop van Bennekom, Lorena Mosquera, Hanya Yanagihara, and Rachel Zoe.
 
Featured designers include: Beata Heuman Ltd, Kelly Wearstler Studio, Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, Neri & Hu, Norm Architects, Romanek Design Studio, Studioilse, Studio KO, Studio Shamshiri, Faye Toogood, and Vincent Van Duysen.
Book of the Day Posted May 11, 2021

Book of the Day > Lucio Fontana: Walking the Space

● Purchase ● Documenting the first-ever reconstruction of Fontana’s immersive installations
 
Lucio Fontana’s (1899–1968) Ambienti spaziali, or Spatial Environments were immersive installations that include neon crystal tubes, paint that glows under black light and captivating pa-pier-mâché sculptures. Fontana’s use of technology pushed the boundaries of art beyond the canvas to “paint” with light and invite viewers into the physical space of the work itself. In spring 2020 Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles staged the first comprehensive presentation of Ambienti spaziali in the United States, carefully reconstructing the installations as they initially appeared from 1948 to the final years of the artist’s life. This accompanying volume is edited in collaboration with Milan’s Fondazione Lucio Fontana and includes a survey of Fontana’s contributions to the evolution of conceptual art, tracing his influence on other legendary figures as Piero Manzoni, Yayoi Kusama and James Turrell.
Book of the Day Posted May 08, 2021

Book of the Day > Dawoud Bey: Street Portraits

● Purchase ● From 1988 to 1991 Dawoud Bey made a series of portraits of African Americans in the streets of various American cities. Using a large format tripod mounted camera and a unique positive/negative Polaroid film that created both an instant print and a reusable negative, he asked a cross section of the populations of these communities to pose for him, creating a space of self presentation and performance in the streets of the urban environment. As part of every encounter, Bey gave each person a small black-and-white Polaroid print for themselves as a way of reciprocating and returning something to the people who had allowed him to make their portrait. Defying racial stereotypes, the resulting portraits reveal the Black subjects in all of their psychologically rich complexity, presenting themselves openly and intimately to the camera, the viewer, and the world.
Book of the Day Posted May 07, 2021

Book of the day > Harry Gruyaert: India

● Purchase ● “For more than thirty years, Harry Gruyaert has been recording the subtle chromatic vibrations of Eastern and Western light. His photographs attest to his singular vision: his interest in story, public space and unexpected scenes.
 
This book brings together 125 of Gruyaert's photographs of India, many published here for the first time. From Gujarat to Kerala, Gruyaert captured the quintessence of this multifaceted country. Streets bustling with activity in New Delhi or Calcutta; modest villages in Tamil Nadu or Rajasthan; ghats of the great religious city of Benares; women in saffron and purple saris beating grain, dyers busy at smoky vats, an encampment of nomadic shepherds at twilight… Gruyaert’s India is saturated with colour, light and noise – and sometimes silence too.
 
These images move beyond stereotype to present the plurality of India. ‘Taking a photo means both seeking contact and refusing it, being at once the most and the least present,’ says the photographer. It is a question of teasing out wonder, of capturing what characterizes places. The search for density within the frame makes photography a physical experience – one that is particularly well represented here, in this multi-sensorial journey through India.” Published by Thames & Hudson.
 
Please consider a donation of any size to help the dire crisis in India : https://covid.giveindia.org/ 
Book of the Day Posted May 06, 2021

Book of the Day > Cig Harvey: Blue Violet

● Purchase ● Blue Violet is a vibrant meditation on the procession of seasons, sensory abundance, and the magic in everyday life. Part art book, botanical guide, historical encyclopedia, and poetry collection, Blue Violet is a compendium of beauty, color, and the senses. Plants, flowers, and our experience of the natural world are the threads that tie this unique book together. Exploring the five senses, Blue Violet takes the reader on a personal journey through nature and the range of human emotions. As with her previous three titles–You Look At Me Like An Emergency, Gardening at Night, and You an Orchestra You a Bomb–this book invites the reader to pause, laugh, cry, create, and become more aware of the natural world. Images and text in a variety of forms (prose poetry, recipes, lists, research pieces, diagrams) focus on immediate experience to understand the vibrancy of the senses on memory and feelings.
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