Miscellany Posted Apr 30, 2022

Independent Bookstore Day 20212!

It's Independent Bookstore Day, a *happy* day thanks to YOU. You with your passion, enthusiasm, your dollars, and your commitment! We are here because you keep showing up -- and we thank you for this happy day.

And to our colleagues across this great book town, too numerous to list here: we salute you - live long and prosper! We're honored to be fellow travelers in this wacky and wonderful biblio-galaxy.

Here's a bittersweet reminder from Noah Davis and the beloved @theundergroundmuseum

Please visit, call, or shop the websites of our many illustrious confrères today, tomorrow, and throughout the year: @aliasbookseast, @artbookhwla, @booksoup, @chevaliersbooks, @counterpointrecordsandbooks, @despairbooks, @dieselbookstore, @esowonbooks, @hennesseyingalls, @iliadbookshop, @lalibreria, @larryedmunds1938, @lastbookstorela, @librosschmibros, @malikbooks, @nowservingla, @oofbooks, @otherbooksla @reparations.club, @therippedbodice, @thesalteaters, @theshq, @sideshowbooks, @skylightbooks, @smallworldbooksvenice, @storiesbooksandcafe, @thesedays.la @villagewellcc , @vromansbookstore, and so many more

Book of the Day Posted Apr 29, 2022

Book of the Day > Ralph Lauren's Polo Shirt

● Purchase ● Embodying a chic casualness that is uniquely American, the Polo shirt is a cultural symbol, worn by everyone from movie stars and presidents to athletes and artists.
 
The Polo shirt is to Ralph Lauren what Mickey Mouse is to Disney or the Empire State Building is to New York City. Whether worn with the collar popped up, open and untucked, or dressed up under a suit jacket, the Polo embodies the optimism of American style. In Lauren’s words, “It’s honest and from the heart and hopefully that is what touches the diversity of all who wear it. It was never about a shirt, but a way of living.”
 
Featuring a gallery of stars from the worlds of sports, politics, film, and music—from Leonardo DiCaprio and Spike Lee, to Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, to Pharrell Williams and Venus Williams—as well as everyday people who make the Polo their canvas for self-expression, The Polo Shirt looks at the enduring cool of a wardrobe classic.
 
Included are the full range of colors, styles, and fits the shirt has been produced in during its more than 50-year history. From the classic white to the weathered Polo, from the striped Polo to the US Olympic, US Open, and Wimbledon Championship collaborations, this catalogue celebrates the full spectrum of the Polo, making it a collector’s dream.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 28, 2022

Book of the Day > Barbara Bosworth: The Sea

● Purchase ● A luxuriously designed photographic meditation on the infinite permutations of the sea, from the author of the acclaimed photobooks The Heavens and The Meadow
 
Since moving to New England in 1984, Barbara Bosworth (born 1953) has been photographing the sea and its awe-inspiring ability to transform sky, water and light. The sea evokes calm introspection, romance and poetry, while remaining a deeply unknowable and overpowering natural force, a contradiction that has drawn people to the shoreline for millennia. Before she discovered photography, and for as long as she can remember, Bosworth has been looking at the sea. Many hours were spent with her father watching the light move across Cape Cod Bay. Later in life, she walked those same beaches with the wonder that had been passed down by her father, as well as generations of writers, poets and artists. This book of Bosworth's photographs of the sea, made with an 8x10 camera, follows in the tradition of The Meadow and The Heavens, serving as the third and final volume in the series, keeping the same size and design elements as the previous two publications.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 26, 2022

Book of the Day > Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists

● Purchase ● How have women artists used photography as a tool of resistance? Our Selves explores the connections between photography, feminism, civil rights, Indigenous sovereignty and queer liberation
 
Spanning more than 100 years of photography, the works in Our Selves range from a turn-of-the-century photograph of racially segregated education in the United States, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, to a contemporary portrait celebrating Indigenous art forms, by the Chemehuevi artist Cara Romero.
 
As the title of this volume suggests, Our Selves affirms the creative and political agency of women artists. A critical essay by curator Roxana Marcoci asks the question “What is a Feminist Picture?” and reconsiders the art-historical canon through works by Claude Cahun, Tina Modotti, Carrie Mae Weems, Catherine Opie and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, among others. Twelve focused essays by emerging scholars explore themes such as identity and gender, the relationship between educational systems and power, and the ways in which women artists have reframed our received ideas about womanhood.
 
Published in conjunction with a groundbreaking exhibition of photographs by women artists—drawn exclusively from MoMA's collection, thanks to a transformative gift of photographs from Helen Kornblum in 2021—this richly illustrated catalog features more than 100 color and black-and-white plates. As we continue to aspire to equity and diversity, Our Selves contributes vital insights into figures too often relegated to the margins of our cultural imagination.
Book of the Day Posted Apr 23, 2022

Book of the Day > René Gruau: Master of Fashion Illustration

● Purchase ● Effortless sophistication and timeless elegance are the hallmark of René Gruau’s fashion illustration. Filled with iconic full-page reproductions, detailed drawings, and biographical insights, this glorious celebration traces a career that is inextricably linked to the history of Parisian haute couture.
 
Before photography became the primary medium for marketing fashion, there was René Gruau with his pens, brushes, watercolors, and inks. Beginning in 1940 when he helped create the Miss Dior campaign, and for more than two decades, Gruau was at the forefront of fashion design. In addition to his long and fruitful partnership with Dior this book features sublime reproductions of Gruau’s work with luxury designers such as Givenchy, Chanel, Balenciaga, Lacroix, and Schiaparelli. It looks at the artistic influences--from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kabuki theater—that shaped his use of pigment and line and demonstrates how, with just a few strokes and a splash of color, he managed to capture the perfection of a woman’s hat, or make tangible a perfume’s alluring scent. A gorgeous introduction to French fashion’s golden age, this definitive volume is also an indispensable reference for anyone interested in fashion design, haute couture, and commercial illustration.

 

Book of the Day Posted Apr 20, 2022

Book of the Day > Chunklet Industries: Plus 1 Atlanta

● Purchase ● Plus 1 Atlanta is a 214-page, full-color love letter to the city I’ve called home for over half my life. Spanning the years 1962 to 2003, the flyers, posters, handbills, ticket stubs, and other junk that make up this book show a city ahead of its time. Among the venues documented herein are I Defy, the Duke Tire Company Warehouse, PJ’s Nest, 688, the Metroplex, the International Ballroom, the Great Southeast Music Hall and Richards, The Point and the White Dot, TV Dinner, the Nitery, the Celebrity Club, C. W. Shaw’s, the Bistro, Whisk ’a Go-Go, Jennings Rose Room, Bedrock Café…and then there are the places you’ve never heard of! I’ve also included a handy two-page index listing the addresses of all of the venues.
 
And heck, that’s without even mentioning the bands! See early show posters and listings for some of Georgia’s finest: the Black Crowes, the Hampton Grease Band, Ru Paul and the U-Hauls, Mastodon. And there’s unearthed material meticulously scanned from the likes of the Brains, the Fans, Darryl Rhoades and the Hahavishnu Orchestra, Thermos Greenwood, EQT, Nasty Bucks, the Razor Boys, Keith and the Satellites (later to become the Georgia Satellites), Baby and the Pacifiers, Glenn Phillips, the Restraints, and man oh man, so many others that it practically boggles the mind.
 
With material culled from over 300 individual collections (and even a few from the author’s own personal garbage, thank you very much), Plus 1 Atlanta is a beastly group effort, and it shows.
 
Along with a foreword by David Cross (Mr. Show, Arrested Development), an introduction by publisher Henry H. Owings, and an afterword by Bill Kelliher of Mastodon, the book features essays from some of Atlanta’s finest and bravest.
Events Posted Apr 20, 2022

Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga A Discussion with author Jennifer Golub & Eames Demetrios

Please join us in celebration of the publication of
 
Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga
 
A Discussion with author Jennifer Golub & Eames Demetrios
 
Sunday, May 1st 2022 at 4:00 PM
 
Signed copies of the book will be available during the event. If you cannot attend, you may purchase a copy here.
 
Jennifer Golub discusses her new book Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga with Eames Demetrios.
“The book fills in the gaps, from how the house evolved to Mary’s involvement. It’s a new deeply considered way to understand the collaborative work. It’s a beauty.” – John Danzer, Munder Skiles, emeritus board of directors, Manitoga\Russel Wright Design Center.

Best known for American Modern dinnerware, Russel and Mary Wright were at the forefront of American mid-century industrial design. Mary’s role as a partner, designer and entrepreneur is discussed here for the first time. Multiple archives have been synthesized exploring the innovation of Russel and Mary Wright’s design practice, their home and the extensive 77 acres of Woodland Paths at Dragon Rock, Manitoga.
Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga is an immersive experience evoking the individuality of these artists, the spirit of architecture and design in the mid 20th century and their ethos which continues to flourish.
 
Jennifer Golub is the author of Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga. Her previous publication was Albert Frey Houses 1+2, also published by Princeton Architectural Press. She has produced award winning branded content for the likes of Apple, Adidas, Levi’s, RayBan, and directed and produced Apple’s Emmy award winning “Think Different”. She is the founder of A-Frame Content, generating communications at the intersection of art and social impact. She has served on boards and developed content for various foundations including the XQ Institute, Conservation International, Virgin Unite, (RED), Rock the Vote, Feeding America and Phillip Johnson’s Glass House. She has produced films for Ed Ruscha and Frank Gehry, curated art exhibitions, and has commissioned multiple architectural projects. She resides in Los Angeles, West Marin and New York City.
 
Eames Demetrios is best known in the design world as director of the Eames Office and for authoring several design books — including An Eames Primer and Essential Eames. He has authored 11 books altogether and contributed to many others. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Eames Foundation, responsible for taking care of the Eames House. His current large-scale project is his parallel universe, Kcymaerxthaere, a global artwork of multi-dimensional storytelling. For this Eames has so far installed 143 markers and historic sites involving 27 linear languages, in 30 countries on 6 continents. (There is a ready-to-go design for the Moon.) Demetrios has also made over 60 films (mostly shorts) on topics from the Modern Maya to Frank Gehry, from homelessness to legendary winemaker Peter Gago. Genres include fiction, documentary and animation. Demetrios has given talks in 50 countries, including on the mainstage of the legendary TED conference. Eames Demetrios lives with his family in Los Angeles, California.
Events Posted Apr 20, 2022

Seeding the City Event - Saturday, 4/23

Saturday, April 23, 2022
11:00 – 5:00 PM
Helms-Wide Event
 
The Southland was once a garden of Eden. Now, as Los Angeles continues to build up its cityscape, connection to the land is out of reach for many. This rupture was underscored by the pandemic, when access to clean air, open space, plants and pets became an essential tonic.
 
But talented and creative designers are finding ways to green the City in ways beyond the traditional backyard, injecting trees onto rooftops, flowers under transit lines and plants into defunct concrete pools. They are reclaiming the wild and bringing back long-vanished birds and bees. Artists and writers are creating works reflecting on new ways of coexistence with all species.
Seeding The City celebrates the 21st century garden in Los Angeles with a daylong program of talks, tours, and popups, featuring some of LA’s leading landscape designers and thinkers, including:
 
Show & Tell at Arcana Books 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Join artbook enthusiast Jason E.C. Wright, founder of Burntsienna Research Society, for a ‘Show & Tell’ at Arcana: Books on the Arts. He will share books on gardens and green spaces as considered by artists, architects, photographers and designers.
 
Book of the Day Posted Apr 16, 2022

Book of the Day > The Candy Store: Funk, Nut, and Other Art with a Kick

● Purchase ● This beautifully quirky volume pays tribute to the legendary candy-store-turned-art gallery of California and its amazing roster of artists.
 
Adeliza McHugh helped put the whimsical, funky, and irreverent aesthetic of California’s Central Valley on the art-historical map at her legendary Candy Store Gallery, which she opened in Folsom, California, in 1962. The business began as a candy store, but after the store closed, McHugh converted the space into an art gallery. There, she featured ceramists and painters who would become nationally and even internationally significant, including Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, David Gilhooly, Irving Marcus, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Jack Ogden, Don Reich, Sandra Shannonhouse, Peter VandenBerge, and Maija Peeples-Bright. Their work, along with that of many other artists, delighted visitors to the gallery for thirty years.
 
This catalog, published on the sixtieth anniversary of the gallery’s founding, is the most significant publication to date on the Candy Store. It celebrates, as McHugh liked to say, art with a “kick.”
Book of the Day Posted Apr 15, 2022

Book of the Day > A–Z of Record Shop Bags: 1940s to 1990s

● Purchase ● Featuring over 550 graphically arresting record-shop bags, plus informative, humorous histories of the stores and their famous staff, this book reveals a previously undocumented side of British popular culture
 
This exhaustive collection of record-store bags provides a unique perspective on record shopping in the UK over the last century, bringing together over 500 incredible bags (some possibly the only surviving examples) to document the fascinating story of British high street record shopping. Bags from famous chains such as NEMS (where the Beatles were customers), Our Price and Virgin (the amazingly rare Roger Dean bags) sit alongside designs from independent stores run by eccentric enthusiasts. Packed with stories such as the first Jewish ska retailer, the record sellers who started Britain’s premier soccer league, famous staff (David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Morrissey) and equally infamous owners, these anecdotes of mythical vinyl entrepreneurs will entertain and delight.
 
With vinyl record sales at their highest for decades (outselling CDs in the US), this publication acts as an amazing insight into the history, culture and visual language of record collecting. Following Own Label, Wrappers Delight and Auto Erotica, A–Z of Record Shop Bags is the next book in the series by Jonny Trunk and FUEL, examining overlooked aspects of our collective past. Jon Savage, author of the classic 1981 punk history England’s Dreaming, provides a foreword.
 
Nostalgia enthusiast Jonny Trunk founded his record label Trunk Records in 1995, which specializes in releasing lost and archived recordings. He compiled and wrote The Music Library, documenting the hidden world of library music. His other books include Own Label, Wrappers Delight and Auto Erotica. Trunk also writes for a number of magazines and broadcasts every week on Resonance FM, London’s art broadcasting station.
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