Book of the Day Posted Aug 13, 2022

Book of the Day > Piet Mondrian: Mondrian Evolution

● Purchase ● Celebrating Mondrian's journey from Dutch landscape painter to pioneer of lively, hard-edged abstraction

Published on the occasion of the Dutch artist’s 150th birthday, Mondrian Evolution celebrates the multifaceted work and artistic development of Piet Mondrian. The artist cemented his place in the art historical canon with his geometric compositions characterized by black lines cast against white surfaces partially filled by the primary colors blue, red and yellow. Indelible as they are, these compositions comprise only a portion of Mondrian’s expansive oeuvre. The artist moved through various formal evolutions, corresponding to his various geographical residences, before he arrived at his signature minimalist abstract style. After his classical training in figurative painting, Mondrian departed for Paris, where he immersed himself in the avant-garde currents energizing the city; Cubism, in particular, stimulated his imagination. Taking the movement as a point of departure, Mondrian developed Neo-Plasticism, a nonrepresentational “pure plastic art,” which he believed to be the pathway to universal beauty.

This monograph diligently traces the artist’s progression from landscape painter to abstractionist trailblazer—and all the stops in between. Each chapter homes in on a specific motif within Mondrian’s oeuvre, including windmills, dunes, the sea, farms reflected in the water and plants in various forms of abstraction.

Book of the Day Posted Aug 12, 2022

Book of the Day > Football: Designing the Beautiful Game

● Purchase ● The design story of soccer, from stadium planning to team badges

Soccer is unquestionably the world’s most popular sport, with a dedicated fan base and truly international reach. It is also a significant industry, with European soccer alone being estimated to hold a value of $30 billion in 2016. How did soccer evolve to be such a significant part of our cultural landscape, and what role has design played in shaping the sport?

This catalog—the first of its kind—explores the design story behind soccer, unpicking how design has been used to push the game to its technical and emotional limits. From the master-planning of the world’s most significant stadiums to the innovative materials used in today’s boots, the graphic design of team badges and the grassroots initiatives pushing back against the sport’s commercialization, this book provides a rare insight into the people and processes that have made soccer what it is today.

Accompanying the Design Museum exhibition of the same name, this book features informed and sometimes provocative contributions from figures across the world of football and design, from analyst Statman Dave and broadcaster Martin Tyler to architect Jacques Herzog and Adidas vice president Sam Handy.

Book of the Day Posted Aug 11, 2022

Book of the Day > Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe

● Purchase ● Ruth Asawa is an artist of vital importance to modern art. Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe, which accompanies the first public exhibition of Asawa’s work in Europe, introduces readers to Asawa’s work, including her signature hanging sculptures in looped and tied wire, and her pioneering education practice. It positions her expansive ethos—her self-identification as “a citizen of the universe” and belief that art education can be life enriching for everyone—as a catalyst for creative forward-thinking in the twenty-first century.

Focusing on a dynamic and formative period in her life from 1945 to 1980, this book gives readers a unique experience of the artist and her work, exploring her legacy and positioning her as an abstract sculptor crucial to American modernism. It is a wonderful celebration of her holistic integration of art, education, and community engagement, through which she called for a revolutionary and inclusive vision of art’s role in society.

Book of the Day Posted Aug 10, 2022

Book of the Day > Albarrán Cabrera: Photographic Syntax

● Purchase ● Photography duo Albarrán Cabrera uses photography as a tool to investigate reality. The images that make up their latest book ‘Photography Syntax’, function as the notebooks of their philosophical research. Together with the texts, the photographs testify to the use of photographic processes as a means of going deeper into the reasons and thoughts behind the images.

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."

Book of the Day Posted Aug 05, 2022

Book of the Day > Harry Benson: Paul

● Purchase ● A personal portrait of Paul McCartney by Harry Benson

Harry Benson began photographing the young Paul McCartney in 1964, a pivotal year for the Beatles when they took America by storm, toured the world, and made their movie debut with A Hard Day’s Night—all documented by the affable Scotsman. And when the Fab Four called it quits, it was Benson who was afforded intimate access to Paul and wife Linda, as Paul forged a new path creatively and personally.

Through Benson’s lens, Paul traces the evolution of its namesake as an icon, performer, and a devoted family man. We follow the musician at the height of his fame with the Beatles; in the recording studio with Linda and their band, Wings; with the family; behind the scenes and on stage during the 1975–76 “Wings Over America” tour; dancing the night away at a star-studded party on the Queen Mary to celebrate the band’s newest album; and with Linda on the couple’s farm in the U.K. in the early 1990s—a fittingly soft landing after so many years of flying high.

Featuring more than 100 color and black-and-white images by the legendary photojournalist, many never seen before, this collection is a window onto a one-of-a-kind artist, one who has remained somewhat enigmatic despite nearly a lifetime of being in the limelight.

Book of the Day Posted Aug 03, 2022

Book of the Day > Philipp Mueller: 120 bpm

● Purchase ● The dawn of Zurich’s 1990s techno scene, in photographs, ephemera and testimonials

Titled after the number of beats per minute on a club track, 120 bpm tracks techno’s meteoric rise in Switzerland, where it became one of the country’s last great youth movements, leaving a massive imprint on the nightlife, clubs and ongoing innovation in electronic dance music to this day. Swiss photographer Philipp Mueller, who has shot for Vogue, GQ and Playboy, covered the dawn of the Swiss techno scene in the early 1990s, in raw photographs of Zurich’s first street parades, underground raves and parties—whether backstage in clubs or in the intimacy of private venues—for various magazines. Mueller’s photographs are interleaved here with facsimile clippings from rave magazines and fanzines, as well as firsthand accounts from some of the ravers who made the nascent scene.

Book of the Day Posted Aug 02, 2022

Book of the Day > Signed Colby Deal: Beautiful, Still.

● Purchase ● Beautiful, Still. is the first monograph from photographer Colby Deal, documenting the people, objects, and environments of everyday life in the Third Ward neighbourhood in Houston, Texas, where the artist grew up. In this ongoing project, currently consisting of over a thousand negatives, Deal sets out to provide a visual record of overlooked communities and the cultural characteristics gradually being erased by gentrification, as well as a depiction of communities of colour whose members are often portrayed with negative connotations. Through these instinctive black-and-white photographs, Deal’s down-to-earth approach to his subjects is made apparent; at times candid and blurred, other times poised and sharply focussed, the series builds to convey the dynamism and vibrancy of family, community, and individual life in the Third Ward. The scratches and dust left on the negatives reflect the marks of lived life and simultaneously suggest the fragility of these documents and the corresponding precarity of the fabrics of social life they often depict. Deal’s almost conversational tone — the antithesis of media portrayals of the neighbourhood — invites his viewers in with a sense of joy and intuitive playfulness. From these alternately staged and documentary images, a new narrative emerges about a reductively and oppressively narrativized place, celebrating the agency and freedom that the photographic medium can offer.

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."