Book of the Day Posted Jul 23, 2019

Book of the Day > Tania Franco Klein: Positive Disintegration

Book of the Day > Tania Franco Klein: Positive Disintegration. Published by Editions Bessard. "Positive Disintegration, the first monograph by Mexican artist Tania Franco Klein, comprises an extended version of her acclaimed series Our Life In The Shadows.The work is influenced by the pursuit of the American Dream lifestyle in the Western World and contemporary practices such as leisure, consumption, media overstimulation, eternal youth, and the psychological sequels they generate in our everyday private life. The project seeks to evoke a mood of isolation, desperation, vanishing, and anxiety, through fragmented images, that exist both in a fictional way and a real one. Philosopher Byung-Chul Han says we live in an era of exhaustion and fatigue, caused by an incessant compulsion to perform. We have left behind the immunological era, and now experience the neuronal era characterized by neuropsychiatric diseases such as depression, attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, burnout syndrome, and bipolar disorder. Drawing inspiration from his theories, Mexican photographer Tania Franco Klein places this contradiction at the centre of her autobiographical project."

Events Posted Jul 23, 2019

UPCOMING EVENTS!

SATURDAY, JULY 27th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
STEVE BANKS: NITRO - DRAG RACING IN THE SIXTIES
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3rd, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
GARY CANNONE: ALBUMS BY CONCEPTUAL ARTISTS
EXHIBITION RECEPTION AND BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
WHO IS MICHAEL JANG?
BOOK SIGNING

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
ZANDRA RHODES: FIFTY YEARS OF FABULOUS
BOOK SIGNING + DISCUSSION WITH DAME RHODES AND JOAN QUINN

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
NINA FREUDENBERGER + SHADE DEGGES: BIBLIOSTYLE
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
STEVEN REA: THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK CLUB
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
SITE: M ARMOL RADZINER IN THE LANDSCAPE
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
TODD HIDO: HOUSE HUNTING (REDUX)
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
MELBA LEVICK + RUBEN G. MENDOZA:
MISSION SAN MIGUEL
BOOK SIGNING

Events Posted Jul 23, 2019

Steve Banks: NITRO: DRAG RACING IN THE SIXTIES. Saturday, 7/27!

PLEASE JOIN US THIS SATURDAY, JULY 27th 4:00 - 6:00 PM

FOR A BOOK SIGNING

STEVE BANKS: NITRO DRAG RACING IN THE SIXTIES!

"In 1964, a young Steve Banks bought one of the most coveted Muscle Cars on the market - a Pontiac GTO with a four-speed stick and a Hurst shifter, Tri-Power, and three Rochester 2G carburetors. He then drove Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles to begin his new advertising agency job. Gassing up one day at Nobo’s Shell station at Beverly and Larchmont, Banks learned that Nobo had previously been head mechanic at the Courtesy Chevrolet dealership, and that his station had become a center for building and tuning street racers. On and off over the next few months, Banks would leave his car at the garage while Nobo fine-tuned the carburetors, replaced the stock tires, torsion, and sway bars, and added Koni shocks and a Sun tachometer. Next, he taught Banks how to ‘speed shift’ - while making late night runs up and down Larchmont Boulevard.

One day, Nobo mentioned he was going to a drag race that Saturday, and that Banks was welcome to come along. Witnessing his first drag race, Steve Banks was immediately hooked. He returned the following Saturday, and the next, and again the next; but this time with with his cameras. Over the course of two years, Banks photographed guys preparing runs, the thundering nitro-burning dragsters launching down the strip at two hundred-plus miles per hour, and everything else that moved.

Today, fifty years later, the sport of drag racing is a big bucks, corporate-sponsored television broadcast business with the NHRA sporting over two hundred different drag racing classes. However, in a nod to the sport’s modest beginnings, almost every weekend from coast-to-coast one can find ‘nostalgia racing’ events preserving the dragster culture of the 1960s captured here in NITRO, Drag Racing In The Sixties: 1964-1966.

So, gear-heads: gas up and head down to Arcana this Saturday afternoon to quaff a brew and hang out with legendary local ad-man and photographer Steve Banks along with some of the subjects of his amazing, hot-off-The-Nazraeli-Press super-limited edition. If you cannot attend but wish to purchase a signed, specially-priced copy of NITRO (regularly $250.00 - but only $150.00 for our event!), place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499. We also have signed copies of Steve's excellent Deadbeat Club Press book - New Vogue Beauty Salong - available here.

Book of the Day Posted Jul 21, 2019

Book of the Day > SF Eyes

Book of the Day > SF Eyes. Published by Hamburger Eyes and Hat & Beard Press. "In 2001, Ray and David Potes began producing a black-and-white zine called Hamburger Eyes. Quickly gathering traction in the photo community, the photocopied booklets rapidly evolved into a monthly magazine. Quietly based in San Francisco’s Mission District, the Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicenter boasted coverage of “the continuing story of life on earth,” its maxim attracting tens of thousands of cult followers, photographers, and voyeurs from around the world. Nearly two decades later, Hamburger Eyes has produced hundreds of issues and exhibited thousands of photographs in galleries across the US, Europe, and Asia. As the magazine developed into a haven for lovers of analog and print, the city surrounding its production was rapidly changing. The bastion of art and activism watched as housing markets skyrocketed. Big tech—the new gold rush—had come to change the character of the streets themselves. While the magazine has always revealed an aesthetic narrative from page to page and photographers have previewed and exhibited their own projects within them, this book will be the first publication to hone the focus of its large catalog on one point, the city that helped to establish it. Featuring contributions from Chris Beale, Jason Roberts Dobrin, Troy Holden, Kappy, Dylan Maddux, Alex Martinez, Mark Murrmann, David and Ray Potes, Ted Pushinsky, David Root, Andrea Sonnenberg, Stefan Simikich, David Uzzardi, Tobin Yelland, and many more, Hat & Beard Press brings to you SF Eyes: The Continuing Story of Life, Loss, Tragedy, and Triumph in the City of San Francisco as Captured by the All-Seeing Lens of Hamburger Eyes Photography Magazine. This installment in the Hamburger Eyes canon chronicles San Francisco life and culture—what it is, what it was, and why it matters—from the beginning of the turn of the new century."

Book of the Day Posted Jul 20, 2019

Book of the Day > Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects

Book of the Day > Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects. Published by National Geographic. "A celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo missions to the moon, this narrative uses 50 key artifacts from the Smithsonian archives to tell the story of the groundbreaking space exploration program. Bold photographs, fascinating graphics, and engaging stories commemorate the 20th century's most important space endeavor: NASA's Apollo program to reach the moon. From the lunar rover and an emergency oxygen mask to space food and moon rocks, it's a carefully curated array of objects--complete with intriguing back stories and profiles of key participants. This book showcases the historic space exploration program that landed humans on the moon, advanced the world's capabilities for space travel, and revolutionized our sense of humanity's place in the universe. Each historic accomplishment is symbolized by a different object, from a Russian stamp honoring Yuri Gagarin and plastic astronaut action figures to the Apollo 11 command module, piloted by Michael Collins as Armstrong and Aldrin made the first moonwalk, together with the monumental art inspired by these moon missions. Throughout, Apollo to the Moon also tells the story of people who made the journey possible: the heroic astronauts as well as their supporters, including President John F. Kennedy, newsman Walter Cronkite, and NASA scientists such as Margaret Hamilton."

None Posted Jul 19, 2019

Book of the Day > Alice Neel: Freedom

Published by David Zwirner Books. "One of the foremost American figurative painters of the 20th century, Alice Neel (1900–84) was a humanist—she was fascinated by people. Known for her daringly honest portraits, Neel loved to paint people in all their complexities—to penetrate and reveal their fears and anxieties. She also loved to paint the unadorned human figure. Her nudes, in particular, explore the body with frankness while celebrating the individuality of each of her subjects, and they exemplify the freedom and courage with which she approached her work and her life. Through her paintings and works on paper, Neel was able to free herself from the expected inhibitions and crippling taboos that were placed on women and focus on the beauty and nuanced complexity of flesh and the human body. In their mastery of form, color and implied social commentary, her nudes are as relevant today as when they were painted. This book documents the solo exhibition of the artist’s work at David Zwirner in New York in 2019. Including works that span the 1920s to the 1980s, this presentation focuses primarily on the nude figure—whether male or female, adult or child—and demonstrates how Neel rebelled against and challenged the traditional perceptions of sexuality, motherhood and beauty in our society. The catalog includes newly commissioned scholarship by Helen Molesworth and a foreword by Ginny Neel of the Estate of Alice Neel.""One of the foremost American figurative painters of the 20th century, Alice Neel (1900–84) was a humanist—she was fascinated by people. Known for her daringly honest portraits, Neel loved to paint people in all their complexities—to penetrate and reveal their fears and anxieties. She also loved to paint the unadorned human figure. Her nudes, in particular, explore the body with frankness while celebrating the individuality of each of her subjects, and they exemplify the freedom and courage with which she approached her work and her life. Through her paintings and works on paper, Neel was able to free herself from the expected inhibitions and crippling taboos that were placed on women and focus on the beauty and nuanced complexity of flesh and the human body. In their mastery of form, color and implied social commentary, her nudes are as relevant today as when they were painted. This book documents the solo exhibition of the artist’s work at David Zwirner in New York in 2019. Including works that span the 1920s to the 1980s, this presentation focuses primarily on the nude figure—whether male or female, adult or child—and demonstrates how Neel rebelled against and challenged the traditional perceptions of sexuality, motherhood and beauty in our society. The catalog includes newly commissioned scholarship by Helen Molesworth and a foreword by Ginny Neel of the Estate of Alice Neel."

Book of the Day Posted Jul 18, 2019

Book of the Day > Twenty-Five Bootleg 8-Tracks

Book of the Day > Twenty-Five Bootleg 8-Tracks. Published by Sound Unseen.

Book of the Day Posted Jul 17, 2019

Book of the Day > Cocain: History & Culture

Book of the Day > Cocain: History & Culture. Published by Assouline. "In the popular imagination, cocaine appeared sometime in the 1970s, seemingly out of nowhere, as the ne plus ultra party drug for the disco generation; shortly thereafter, its destructive effects became impossible to ignore. But in fact, cocaine’s history of addiction dates back to the nineteenth century, when it was legal and sold over the counter to treat ailments ranging from stomachaches to cramps to teething pain in babies. For millennia before that, however, the unprocessed coca leaf had been essential to the development of indigenous South American cultures. How did the sacred plant of the Incas become the addictive white powder that held in its grip—and nearly destroyed—prominent figures like Sigmund Freud and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, among countless others? And how did it get to wield the corrosive power depicted in films and television series such as Scarface and Narcos? This book tells that story."

Book of the Day Posted Jul 16, 2019

Book of the Day > Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music

Book of the Day > Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music. Published by Reel Art Press. "This is the official 50th-anniversary celebration of Woodstock, by the festival's creator and founder, Michael Lang. A large illustrated edition, it includes hundreds of photographs and documents accompanied by Lang's fascinating memories and insights into the most famous and influential festival of all time, with images of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Richie Havens, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald and the Grateful Dead. The ephemera from Lang's largely unseen archive include the original designs and plans for the event, correspondence, set-lists, information on artists' fees and much more. This wealth of information is accompanied by the best photographs of the event by famous and unknown photographers such as Ralph Ackerman, John Dominis, Bill Eppridge, Dan Garson, Barry Z. Levine, Elliott Landy, Lee Marshall and Baron Wolman, and notably featuring the archive of Henry Diltz. Diltz was the only official photographer at Woodstock and was there for two weeks, from an empty field of cows to first construction, crowds arriving and the aftermath. He also captured onstage performances and behind-the-scenes moments with the many artists involved. Woodstock is an exuberant volume that conveys the vision, hard work and elusive magic that made up "three days of peace and music."

Book of the Day Posted Jul 14, 2019

Book of the Day > Urs Fischer: Sculptures 2013-2018

"Featuring over 100 works and documentation of forty exhibitions and installations both public and private, New York–based artist Urs Fischer (born 1973) presents six years of work in this substantial volume. Arranged chronologically, this book allows the reader to follow Fischer's developments in form and his frequent adventure into whimsy. The artist's instinct for design is evident not only in his individual works but also in his clarity of vision for a space, beautifully illustrated in this volume. Sculpture inherently has physical presence and Fischer utilizes this to manipulate the viewer's perception of reality. Encountering the immense and the minuscule, the ever-changing and the static, a viewer must reconcile with his or her own presence in time. With this volume, the reader is invited to experience significant ephemeral, collaborative and interactive works in context in over 400 pages plus gatefold inserts."