Events Posted Mar 11, 2020

Book Signing 3/14/20 > JEFF DIVINE: 70s SURF PHOTOGRAPHS!

Jeff Divine '70s Surf Photographs' launch at Arcana has been  POSTPONED! 
 
Signed copies WILL be available to ship or pick-up on Wednesday, 3/18, though so order here!
 
 

Jeff Divine '70s Surf Photographs' launch at Arcana

If you were there, even just for some of it—Hawaii, California, surfing, the ’70s—the memories and stories will flow freely from these photographs. Jeff Divine was there for all of it, and these images have been culled from an enormous personal archive. Divine was shooting for Surfer, the monthly magazine that was the bible of the scene. His photos from this archive show the precommercialized era in surfing when the hippie influence still held sway. Surfers had their own slang-infused language and were deep into a world of Mother Ocean, wilderness and a culture that mainstream society spurned. Surfboards were handmade in family garages, often made for a specific kind of wave or speed, for paddling, ease of turning, and featured all kinds of psychedelic designs. Some were even hollowed out to smuggle hash from Morocco. 
 
The color and black-and-white photographs collected here, taken throughout California on the coastlines at Baja, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, La Jolla, Malibu, San Clemente and Oahu, give a vivid image of this close-knit culture and the incredible athletic feats of its heroes and heroines. 
 
Raised in La Jolla, California, Jeff Divine (born 1950) started photographing the surfing world in 1966. He held jobs as photo editor for 35 years with Surfer magazine and Surfer’s Journal. His works have been displayed worldwide in museums and galleries, as well as in books, magazines and media. In 2019 he was inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame for his contribution to surf culture in a career lasting 50 years.
 
 
Arcana: Books on the Arts 
8675 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, California 90232
Telephone 310-458-1499
Book of the Day Posted Mar 10, 2020

Book of the Day > Stones From the Inside: Rare and Unseen Images

Book of the Day > Stones From the Inside: Rare and Unseen Images. Photographs by Bill Wyman. Published by ACC Art Books. "As soon as Bill Wyman was given a camera as a young boy, he quickly developed a passion for photography. After joining what would become the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band, Wyman continued his hobby. When he didn't have his bass, he had his camera. The result is an arresting, insightful and often poignant collection of photographs, showing his exclusive inside view of the band. From travelling to relaxing, backstage and on, Stones From the Inside is a unique view captured by a man who was there, every step of the way. Along with the images of the band at work and play, Wyman includes remarkable images of those along for the ride, from John Lennon, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and Iggy Pop to John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. To accompany his photographs, Wyman offers up wonderful insights, anecdotes and behind-the-photo stories, giving all us a front-row seat and backstage pass to what it was like to be there, as music history was made as a member of The Rolling Stones. Bill Wyman was the bassist for the Rolling Stones between 1962 and 1993. An avid photographer from a young age, he started experimenting with a camera at 11. However, it wasn't until a tour in Paris, 1966, that he started to take it seriously. Since then, he has exhibited in galleries across the globe. Wyman now enjoys photographing landscapes and wildlife."
Book of the Day Posted Mar 08, 2020

Book of the Day > Dali: Tarot

Book of the Day > Dali: Tarot. Published by Taschen. “Dalí poses as the Magician, his wife Gala becomes the Empress, and the death of Julius Caesar is reinterpreted as the Ten of Swords in the artist’s extraordinary custom tarot deck. First published in a 1984 limited edition that has since long sold out, this lush box set brings back all 78 cards, each dazzling in color, along with a companion book on the making-of and practical instructions.”

Book of the Day Posted Mar 06, 2020

Book of the Day > Charles Gaines: Palms Trees and Other Works

Book of the Day > Charles Gaines: Palm Trees and Other Works. Published by Hauser & Wirth. “Published alongside Charles Gaines’s 2019–20 exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, this monograph charts the evolution of the palm tree in Gaines’s work from the 1980s to the present. In a new text, David Platzker explores the cultural and art historical contexts of the series, particularly the recent ‘Numbers and Trees’ works, shown for the first time in Los Angeles, that take palm trees as their subject. Also featured is a conversation between Gaines and Cherise Smith, which delves into the conceptual underpinnings of the artist’s work. Additionally, this publication documents and discusses other works from Gaines’s decades-long career, including the ‘Manifestos’ series (2008–18), exploring the threads that unite various parts of his practice.”

Book of the Day Posted Mar 05, 2020

Book of the Day > Lorena Lohr: Tonight Lounge.

Book of the Day > Lorena Lohr: Tonight Lounge. Published by COB Gallery. Tonight Lounge is the first complete survey of Lohr’s photographic still life documentation of her journeys across America for the last decade. This hardback publication comprehensively brings together each chapter of Lohr’s ongoing series ‘Ocean Sands’.
Book of the Day Posted Mar 03, 2020

Book of the Day > Nan Goldin: The Other Side.

Nan Goldin: The Other Side. Published by Steidl. "This is a book about beauty. And about love for my friends." –Nan Goldin “This is an expanded and updated version of Nan Goldin’s seminal book The Other Side, originally published in 1993, featuring a revised introduction by Goldin, and, for the first time, the voices of those whose stories are represented. Published at a time when discourse around gender and sexual orientation is evolving rapidly, The Other Side traces some of the history that informs this new visibility. The first photographs in the book are from the 1970s, when Goldin lived in Boston with a group of drag queens and documented their glamour and vulnerability. In the early 1980s, Goldin chronicled the lives of transgender friends in New York when AIDS began to decimate her community. In the ’90s, she recorded the explosion of drag as a social phenomenon in New York, Berlin, Bangkok and the Philippines. Goldin’s newest photographs are intimate portraits, imbued with tenderness, of some of her most beloved friends. The Other Side is her homage to the queens she has loved, many of whom she has lost, over the last four decades.”
Book of the Day Posted Mar 01, 2020

Book of the Day > Donald Judd: Spaces

Book of the Day > Donald Judd: Spaces. Published by Judd Foundation & Delmonico Prestel. “This book presents an unprecedented visual survey of the living and working spaces of the artist Donald Judd in New York and Texas. Filled with newly commissioned and previously unpublished archival photographs alongside five essays by the artist, this book provides an opportunity to explore Judd's personal spaces, which are a crucial part of this revered artist's oeuvre. From a 19th-century cast-iron building in Manhattan to an extensive ranch in the mountains of western Texas, this book details the interiors, exteriors, and lands surrounding the buildings that comprise Judd's extant living and working spaces. Readers will discover how Judd developed the concept of permanent installation at Spring Street in New York City, with artworks, furniture, and decorative objects striking a balance between the building's historic qualities and his own architectural innovations. His buildings in Marfa, Texas, demonstrate how Judd reiterated his concept of integrative living on a larger scale, extending to the reaches of the Chinati Mountains at Ayala de Chinati, his 33,000-acre ranch south of the town. Each of the spaces was thoroughly considered by Judd with resolute attention to function and design. From furniture to utilitarian structures that Judd designed himself, these residences reflect Judd's consistent aesthetic. His spaces underscore his deep interest in the preservation of buildings and his deliberate interventions within existing architecture. “

Book of the Day Posted Feb 28, 2020

Book of the Day > To Exalt the Ephemeral: Alina Szapocznikow, 1962–1972.

Book of the Day > To Exalt the Ephemeral: Alina Szapocznikow, 1962–1972. Published by Hauser & Wirth. “Sensuality and abjection in the sculpture of an artist who expressed the female experience unapologetically and presciently Tracing a body of work by Alina Szapocznikow from 1962 to 1972, this book considers pivotal turning points in the Polish artist’s life and career. It considers her experimental approach to materials, ranging from plaster and bronze, to her groundbreaking use of polyester resin in the mid-1960s. Szapocznikow’s oeuvre maps her engagement with the human form, using body casting and particularly through the lens of her own body as it transformed from healthy to ailing. Featuring new photography, the publication aims to render the tactility and spatiality of these works in brilliant new detail.”
Events Posted Feb 28, 2020

Book Signing, Exhibition, & Performance! > Bruce Licher's Independent Project

Please join us Saturday, March 7th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM for a very special afternoon with Bruce Licher and Karen Nielsen Licher of Independent Project Press & Records as we celebrate the release of Savage Impressions with a book signing, one-day exhibition and sale of printed matter, and a musical performance at 5:00 PM sharp by SR2. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a copy of this exquisite new limited edition book, please place your order here!

 

Savage Impressions is the first extensive monograph on Bruce Licher's Independent Project Records and Independent Project Press. With the current explosion of interest in letterpress, many are looking to see how new work can be influenced by the past. Active since 1982, Bruce Licher’s Independent Project Press is a contemporary studio that has bridged technological eras and produced an unparalleled body of work. It has culled from the past while simultaneously turning it on its head with a distinct visual vocabulary that continues to influence current aesthetics. 

For the first time, a comprehensive overview of Independent Project Records and Independent Project Press has been compiled into a monograph published by P22 Type Foundry, produced in a quality that displays their  limited edition, hand-made work in over 200 pages of full color, from mechanical process work (for clients such as REM, Stereolab, and Camper Van Beethoven) to finished works of art with insights into the creative process along the way. The text includes an essay by Karen Nielsen Licher as well as material from Rudy Vanderlans’ Emigre magazine that featured the work of IPR & P. Co-designed by Bruce Licher and Jim Greishaber at P22, Savage Impressions is a 12 x 12-inch hardcover book that displays in full color the diverse range of art and design produced by Independent Project Records & Press. 

This first printing is an edition of one thousand copies, with three-hundred and fifty of those being a now-sold out Deluxe Edition that includes a 12” vinyl record and other letterpress-printed ephemera. This book is a profound reminder of the value of the hand-made and how it can interface with the mass-produced. It will stand as major documentation of one of the most influential letterpress studios currently in existence.


 

Book of the Day Posted Feb 27, 2020

Book of the Day > African Ceramics: A Different Perspective.

Book of the Day > African Ceramics: A Different Perspective. Published by Walther König. “A fresh look at ceramic production in Africa, examining form, decor and materiality. This extensive catalogue presents 250 African ceramic objects from the collection of HRH Franz, Duke of Bavaria, widely considered to be one of the most internationally significant collections of African ceramics. Featured here are objects dating from the 19th to the 21st century, across the wealth of forms and functions of African ceramics, although primarily focused on ceramic items crafted using a hand-building technique, forgoing the use of a potter’s wheel. Each object is accompanied by insights and analyses from international experts. The “different perspective” alluded to in the title is first and foremost an artistic point of view. This volume establishes a different, design-focused viewpoint. Instead of a presentation organized by region, as is customary in ethnographic museums and contexts, this book offers a design-historical examination of the vessels and figures.”
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