Events Posted Mar 14, 2023

Join us Sunday, March 26th for a Discussion and Book Signing with Isis Aquarian, Jodi Wille and Charlie KItchings for "The Source Family Scrapbook!"

We are delighted to invite you to attend a very special Sunday afternoon presentation with authors Isis Aquarian, Jodi Wille, and Charlie Kitchings to celebrate the publication of Family: The Source Family Scrapbook. Panel moderated by FAMILY associate editor Steffie Nelson.
 
For the event the four will host an exhibition of rare photographs and printed materials from the Source Family Archive housed at the UC Santa Barbara Library's Special Research Collections, engage in a discussion about the Family and the book, and sign copies afterwards. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of this, or one of the other Source Family items we will be offering in limited supply, please place your order here, or call 310-458-1499.
 
Isis Aquarian is the Source Family’s archivist. As one of Father’s fourteen wives, she photographed and filmed Father and the Source Family, recorded audio, maintained scrapbooks, and helped manage the Family business. She is co-founder and Vice-President of the Source Foundation, and was an associate producer of The Source Family documentary. Isis has published her award-winning memoir, The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod: Ya Ho Wa 13 and The Source Family," and produced the record “Isis: The Crone." She has supervised the release of other Source Family music, created a Source Family comic book, and her own tee shirt line.
 
Jodi Wille is a filmmaker and curator known for her work exploring American subcultures. She is director of the feature documentary The Source Family, and the Co-Founder and editor of book publishing companies Otherworld, Process Media, and Dilettante Press. She has edited and published a number of award-winning books including The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, YaHoWha 13, and The Source Family; Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!; Pure Country: The Leon Kagarise Archives 1961-1971; and Starstruck: Photographs from a Fan, by amateur photographer Gary Lee Boas. She has curated numerous museum and gallery exhibitions related to her book and film projects in Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, Portland, and London.
 
Charlie Kitchings is an independent curator and art advisor. He founded AMBACH & RICE in 2009 and organized over fifty exhibits during the gallery’s six-year tenure in Seattle and Los Angeles. He is currently a partner in record manufacturing company SunPress Vinyl.
 

 

Events Posted Jan 24, 2023

Black Mass + LAXART at Arcana

We are excited to announce an in person discussion between LAXART's director Hamza Walker and Yusuf Hassan and Kwamé Sorrell of BlackMass Publishing. This Saturday, January 28th, 4pm.

Founded by Yusuf Hassan in 2019, BlackMass Publishing is a New York-based collective and independent press. At once a structure of coherent units and a collection of disjointed parts, BlackMass invokes an aggregate of Blackness, of matter in resistance. Combining archival photographs and found print material with poetry and jazz music, BlackMass grapples with the blurred lines and idiosyncrasies which make up the collective improvisation of African diasporic culture.

BlackMass have publications included in the permanent book collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, RAW Material Company, Dakar, Center for Book Arts, New York, The Thomas J. Watson Library, New York, The Whitney Museum Library, New York, The Houghton Library, Cambridge, The Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, New York, The New York Public Library, and The Evergreen State College, Washington.

Their discussion will be held at Arcana Books in Culver City on January 28th at 4pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

Events Posted Jan 04, 2023

Book SIgning & DIscussion 1/14/22 > LAWRENCE WESCHLER + STEPHEN BERKMAN: A TROVE OF ZOHARS

 
We are delighted to invite you to a book signing for Lawrence Weschler's brand new Hat & Beard publication, A Trove of Zohars. For the event Mr. Weschler will be joined by photographer and early-photographic process historian Stephen Berkman for a discussion about the book and the shrouded-in-mystery Zohar Studios. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy, please place your order here, or call 310-458-1499.
 
"So Lawrence Weschler was minding his own business, as all his stories begin, when he got a call from Gravity Goldberg (her real name!) who introduced herself as the Director of Public Programs and Visitor Experience at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. She was calling, she told him, to apprise him of an upcoming show - an inaugural exhibition, that is, of a recently uncovered trove of work by Shimmel Zohar, a mid-19th-century Lithuanian immigrant photographer. A contemporary of Mathew Brady, Zohar had chronicled the Jewish immigrant community of the Lower East Side of 1860s - 1870s Manhattan in unparalleled detail, compiling a complete inventory of professions and types. Or not. There was, she suggested, some slippage in the whole story, and they were trying to find someone who might be willing to investigate things, and they were wondering, might he be interested?
Thus begins an antic tale of investigative perplex and vertiginous inquiry, as Weschler tracks down Stephen Berkman, the wet-collodion devotee who claims to have discovered the trove in question, but it’s a long and loopy story. And indeed, Weschler’s account evolves into the fourth volume of his ongoing “Chronicles of Slippage” series, doing for the early history of photography and the long heritance of Judaism what the series’ first volume, the Pulitzer-shortlisted Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, once did for the history of museums and the phenomenology of marvel.
And that’s just the half of it, for the main text sprouts a veritable delirium of digressive footnotes (taking up more than half the book), constituting what may be the closest we are going to ever get by way of memoir from this confounding and beloved writer."
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Events Posted Dec 05, 2022

Book Signing and Discussion 12/10, 4-6 > DOUG AITKEN WORKS 1992-2022

We are delighted to invite you to a book signing and discussion with Doug Aitken for his new book Works 1992-2022 published by MACK. Doug will be joined by Dean Kuipers for a discussion about the book.

This comprehensive new book explores the career of multimedia artist Doug Aitken, following the path from his first major works in the late 1990s through to the present day. Aitken’s work encompasses large-scale film installations such as Sleepwalkers (2007), site-specific sculptures including his Underwater Pavilions (2016) installed off the coast of Catalina Island, California, and peripatetic happenings like Station to Station (2013), which saw a train containing a travelling studio cross the USA from the Atlantic to the Pacific, staging unique performance events at each stop. Weaving together images and text in an energetic composition of rhythm and movement, this authoritative volume mirrors the ways in which Aitken has approached and explored the contemporary world in his conceptual body of work across multiple mediums.
 

If you cannot attend but would like a signed copy, please place your order here
Events Posted Dec 02, 2022

Book Signing 12/3, 4-6 > ROGER DAVIES - BEYOND THE CANYON: INSIDE EPIC CALIFORNIA HOMES

We are delighted to invite you to attend a book signing with Roger Davies for his new book Beyond the Canyon: Inside Epic California Homes. 

For more than twenty years, globe-trotting English-born, Los Angeles-based photographer Roger Davies has shot stunning, luxurious, unique, and storied residences by the world’s most acclaimed designers and architects for the most prestigious magazines. In Beyond the Canyon, he trains his camera on residential interiors throughout the Golden State, his adopted home. Granted unparalleled access from Malibu to Marin County and Laurel Canyon to Hollywood, Davies takes readers into the often glamorous, always compelling homes of artists, film producers, actors, musicians, interior designers, art collectors, and others who lend the West Coast its cachet. Across the variety of spaces represented - including legacy works by mid-century masters John Lautner, A. Quincy Jones, and Craig Ellwood as well as contemporary designs by Tadao Ando and Frank Gehry, he captures the essence of California living in his portraits of spectacular spaces and breathtaking views of the Hollywood Hills and palm tree–lined beaches, all bathed in a warm glow.
 
As one of the world’s top photographers of interiors, Davies’s work has appeared in numerous design and architecture books. In Beyond the Canyon, his first monograph, he provides in his own words a rare behind-the-scenes, industry insider’s experience of photographing these stunning residences.

If you cannot attend but would like a signed copy, please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.

 

Events Posted Nov 12, 2022

Book Signing 11/20, 4-6 > DAVID SHRIGLEY: GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER

We are delighted to invite you to attend a special book signing with David Shrigley. Get Your Shit Together is the first book that exclusively features with iconic British artist's recent artwork in color. It celebrates Shrigley's absurd, deadpan sensibility through both his signature drawing style and accompanying text.
 
If you cannot attend but would like a signed copy, please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.
 
David Shrigley was born in 1968 in Macclesfield, UK. He lives and works in Brighton and Devon. In January 2020 the artist was awarded the decoration of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or OBE. Shrigley’s quick-witted drawings and hand-rendered texts are typically deadpan in their humor and reveal chance utterings like snippets of over-heard conversations. Recurring themes and thoughts pervade his storytelling, capturing deliberately two-dimensional views of the world, the perspective of aliens and monsters or the compulsive habits of an eavesdropper shouting out loud. While drawing is at the center of his practice, Shrigley works across an extensive range of media including sculpture, large-scale installation, animation, painting, photography and music. He consistently seeks to widen his audience by operating outside the gallery sphere, including producing artist publications and creating collaborative music projects.

 

 

 

Events Posted Oct 08, 2022

Book Signing Today (10/8/2022)!!!

We are delighted to invite you to attend a special double book signing this Saturday with photographers Ave Pildas and Ian Bates to celebrate their two exciting new Deadbeat Club Press releases!

If you cannot attend but would like a signed or special edition copy of Star Struck, Meadowlark, or both, please place your order here, or call us at 310-458-1499.
 
Please Note: This Saturday is the Culver City Art Walk and Washington Boulevard will be closed between McManus and Caroline Ave. Parking here will be crowded and we recommend taking the Metro, carpooling, or ride share. Here is a map of available parking at Helms.
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Events Posted Aug 09, 2022

Eric Kroll Book Signing and Vintage Photographic Print Sale Saturday 8/20, 4:00 to 6:00 PM!

Please join us for a book signing and vintage photographic print sale with Eric Kroll for "The New York Years, 1971 To 1994" at Arcana Saturday, August 20th, 4:00 to 6:00 PM.
 
Due to overwhelming early response, only thirty copies of "The New York Years..." remain from our initial imported supply which we must reserve for those attending Saturday's event. We regret that there will be no more advance sales either by phone or website before then. If you cannot attend and would like to purchase a signed copy, please email us with your request. If there are copies available following the weekend, we will respond to you in the order we received your inquiry. Otherwise, we have another order on the way due to arrive early next month which we will arrange to have Mr. Kroll sign and make for sale once again.
 
As for this unique one-day sale of Mr. Kroll's vintage New York photographs, the images range from 8 x 10 to 16 by 20", with most being framed. They are priced between $750.00 and $2,000.00. See the selection below for some of these classic pictures that feature Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Debbie Harry, Andy Warhol - and a selection of Factory Superstars, David Bowie, James Van Der Zee, Futura 2000, Grace Jones, David Wojnarowicz, and many, many more. There will be additional prints for sale beyond these displayed at the event. Want to own one and cannot attend? Please email us with any questions!
 

Various sizes, L to R - Nam June Paik, Civilian Warfare Gallery artists,
Leslie Macayza at Kenny Scharf's Fun Gallery exhibition, Futura 2000,
Patti Astor at her Fun Gallery Keith Haring exhibition, Debbie Harry x 2,
Robert Mapplethorpe, Luis Frangella paints a picture
 
11 x 14" - James Van Der Zee and Donna Mussenden, Secretary on her lunch break,
Dondi
 
14 x 11" - Todd Rundgren, The Dead Boys' Stiv Bators, Leslie Macayza
 
14 x 11" - Susan Smith, Andy Warhol, David Bowie
 
14 x 11" - R. Crumb and Gloria, Keith Haring with Patti Astor at his Fun
Gallery exhibition (with an original Eric Kroll drawing), Andy Warhol at
The Factory
 
14 x 11" - Debbie Harry x 2, Candida Royale
 
10 x 8" - John Sex, Times Square sex worker, Debra Martin - New York
transsexual
 
10 x 8" - Futura 2000 at work, Grace Jones, Susan Smith
 
Eric Kroll is a name familiar to anyone with even the vaguest interest in contemporary photography. His first book, Sex Objects: An American Documentary, from 1977 has attained cult-like status. He has gone on to publish several high-profile, best-selling books with houses like Taschen, and his work has been featured in countless magazines over the years.
 
His brand new publication, The New York Years 1971 To 1994 from Timeless Edition in Paris  showcases a side of his work that until now has not been widely publicized. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Eric found himself at the very heart of a cultural eruption in NYC. With his camera ever at the ready he documented the work and private pursuits of cultural movers and shakers from the Rolling Stones to The Dead Boys, Blondie, Warhol, Basquiat, and Haring. Madonna, Kenneth Anger, Grace Jones, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, and too many regulars from the Max's Kansas City, Studio 54, and East Village Art Scene demimonde to name feature in this stunning collection of mostly never-before seen photos. From its sleazy underbelly to the highest-brow art galleries, Eric Kroll invites you to bygone Manhattan at the height of its decadence and cultural importance. The New York Years is a unique book, a journey, an experience!
Events Posted Aug 09, 2022

Book Signing + Discussion with Peter Fetterman for "The Power of Photography" This Saturday, August 13th, 4:00 to 6:00 PM at Arcana!

This Saturday, August 13th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM, renowned gallerist Peter Fetterman will engage in a lively discussion here with Arcana owner Lee Kaplan regarding his career, his love of the photographic medium, and Peter's lovely and thought-provoking new book, The Power of Photography.

If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a book signed by Peter Fetterman please place your order here or call us at 310-458-1499.

The power of photography lies in its ability to ignite emotions across barriers of language and culture. This selection of iconic images, compiled by pioneering collector and gallerist Peter Fetterman, celebrates the photograph’s unique capacity for sensibility. Mr. Fetterman runs one of the leading commercial galleries in the world, and has championed the photographic arts for over thirty years. During the long months of lockdown, he ‘exhibited’ one photograph per day, accompanied by inspirational text, quotes and poetry. This digital collection struck a chord with followers from around the world. The Power of Photography presents one hundred and twenty outstanding images from the series along with Peter’s insightful words. This carefully curated selection offers an inspiring overview of the medium while paying homage to masters of the art. From the bizarre Boschian fantasies of Melvin Sokolsky to the haunting humanity of Ansel Adams’ family portraits; from Miho Kajioka’s interpretation of traditional Japanese aesthetics of to the joyful everyday scenes of Evelyn Hofer; from rare interior shots by famed nude photographer Ruth Bernhard to Bruce Davidson’s wistful depiction of young men playing ballgames on a street; this book gathers some of the most unique and heartening photographs from the 20th century. Each image is a time capsule, offering us a glimpse into days gone past. Yet each photograph also speaks of tranquility, peace, and hope for the future."

Events Posted Aug 01, 2022

PLEASE JOIN US THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 6th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM FOR A BOOK SIGNING CLARA BALZARY: BIG FRESH AIR!

Join us Saturday, August 6th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM celebrate the launch of Clara Balzary's Big Fresh Air.
 
If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a book signed by Ms. Balzary, please place your order here or call us at 310-458-1499.
 
Clara Balzary is a Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker whose first book is the newly released Big Fresh Air from London's Pinch Publishing. "The photographs in Big Fresh Air were taken over the course of four days, spanning from the late spring to the late summer of 2021. All pictures are the result of a collaboration with Ruby Kernkamp and Emily Leona Rose. Kernkamp and Rose used contact improvisation techniques to create distinct movement dialogues between participants and the natural landscape, stemming from an interest in what happens when bodies give and receive weight and touch. Each day took place in the public parks in La Cañada / Flintridge, a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, during a time when groups were encouraged to gather exclusively in outdoor spaces."
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