Arcana:

(OWENS, RICK). Danielle Levitt, Photographer. New York: Rizzoli, I00230922. 2023. 10 x 13 in, 200p. Fashion Monograph. New.

Rick Owens remains one of the most daring and influential fashion designers working today. This new book of photographs describes an exceptionally fertile and transformational period in his career, one that saw him experiment with new shapes, the application of new materials, and an unprecedented use of color.

Lavishly documenting men’s and women’s collections and featuring Owens’s continuing collaboration with the photographer Danielle Levitt, this book is an unabashed love letter to one of the most devoted followings in contemporary fashion.

Picking up where Rizzoli’s previous monograph on Owens’s work left off, looks from his critically lauded homage to the rock-and-roll designer Larry Legaspi set a frenzied visual pace that never lets up—right through the pandemic, when Owens memorably staged shows on the Lido di Venezia.





Here, the continued evolution of nearly three decades of Owens’s “grunge-meets-glamour” worldview is seen close up. Grace and grit are paired with an obsession with structural transformation and movement, where diaphanous, flowing shapes contrast with sharp objects. This formal invention is matched by a mania for new and exotic materials. The use of translucent bovine leathers, brightly dyed snakeskin, and the hide of the pirarucu, a massive Amazonian fish, are applied to old and new icons of the brand. Color is now firmly part of the Owens legendarium, and a profligacy of pink, orange, blue, green, and iridescent hues now vie with trademark black, oxblood, and dust that have been part of the palette since the inception of the brand.

Owens’s newest provocations, grounded by the portraiture of Danielle Levitt, achieves a sublime unity in this essential volume. 9780847873371 Inventory Number: I00230922

(PARACHUTE). Walker, Alexis & Nicola Pelly. New York, NY: Rizzoli Publications International, I00240517, 2024. First Edition. 12 x 8 1/2", 4to. Pictorial Boards. Fashion Monograph. New/No Jacket - As Issued.. 360pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. Text in English and French. "From its beginnings inspired by New Wave subculture to its position as an international fashion sensation, the Parachute brand from Montreal was recognized for its visionary, bold apparel and innovative concept stores. Avant-garde in attitude and design, Parachute brought together high and low, the establishment and the underground. The clothing was defined by androgynous looks, oversized silhouettes, elevated essentials, and graphic references to past and future, from exaggerated trench coats to “space samurai kimonos.” Together with a considered retail presence, which combined an industrial aesthetic in the stores with exuberant photography campaigns, the brand created a vision for street fashion that is keenly relevant today. Walker explores the history of the brand through hundreds of images, many never published, including personal photography from the founders of the label alongside striking editorial and campaign imagery. A go-to label for stars like Madonna, Peter Gabriel, and David Bowie, Parachute both encapsulated the exuberance of the 1980s and signaled the future in clothing and retail. Uniquely designed with ephemera layered over photographs as if in the founders’ own scrapbooks, this is a definitive insight into a highly influential cult 1980s brand, and a key reference for fashion historians and designers alike." A brand new example of this awesome tome. 978-0847899722 Inventory Number: I00240517

(PETTIBON, RAYMOND). David Zwirner Books, I00220707, 2022. 12 x 9 inches, 192 Pages. Hardcover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

“All this must be either surfed or painted”: This is the underlying sentiment behind Raymond Pettibon’s iconic works of surfers and waves in this quintessential volume dedicated to the motif.

Pettibon is known for his characteristically enigmatic aesthetic and sharply satirical critiques of American culture. Though drenched in cynicism, his work empathizes with the dizzying madness of our own humanity as it engages both so-called high and low culture. Perhaps most poetic among the many motifs present in Pettibon’s oeuvre is the surfer. In 1985, Pettibon began his series of surfers and waves––which he continues to work on to this day––popular for depicting a lone surfer silently carving “a line of beauty” along an impossibly large wave.

This book spotlights a selection of more than one hundred surfers from the series, from smaller monochromatic works on paper to colorful large-scale paintings applied directly to the wall. For Pettibon’s protagonist in these works, surfing exists apart from all else. Momentarily he achieves sublimity on the wave, distant yet synced with turbulent reality. We are forced to confront our own scale: small and feeble in the face of the power of nature, what is beyond our control. Pettibon’s lyrical writings on these painted surfaces—both his own and lines taken from literature—reference his own philosophies and the confusions of reality: he critiques and highlights the hypocrisies and vanities of the world he engages. To help navigate, the scholar Brian Lukacher explores art-historical antecedents in Pettibon’s work, particularly the seascapes of J. M. W. Turner, and Jamie Brisick, the writer and former professional surfer, examines the Southern California surf and music culture of Pettibon’s youth. Professional big wave surfers Emi Erickson and Stephanie Gilmore also describe the sensory experience of conquering the enormous waves depicted in Pettibon’s works. 9781644230350 Inventory Number: I00220707

(PILDAS, AVE). Campany, David & Ave Pildas. Los Angeles: Deadbeat Club Press, I00221000. 2022. First Edition 1/750 Copies. 4to. Gilt-Stamped Cloth with Pictorial Pastedown. Photography Monograph. As New./No Jacket - As Issued. 104pp, profusely illustrated in duotone. Designed by Clint Woodside. 978-1-952523-04-5

PLEASE NOTE: Mr. Pildas will be signing copies of "Star Struck" at Arcana Saturday, October 8th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM. If you cannot attend and would like to order a signed copy to have shipped or to pick up at the shop, please purchase by selecting "Add To Cart" below. Orders will begin shipping Tuesday, October 11th.

"Hollywood Boulevard, Walk of Fame, 1970s. You were there, with your camera, with your love of life and people. It seems you turned the sidewalk into a little stage, and everyone came for a momentary audition. Some wanted to be famous, some were ok with a walk-on part, most were just happy to see you.”

So writes David Campany of the pictures in Star Struck, the first monograph from the legendary Ave Pildas in more than forty years. These photographs were made between 1972 and 1975 in perhaps the most famous of the many famous spots in Los Angeles – but at a time when Hollywood had more of a neighborhood feel and a raucous diversity was the norm.

In Pildas' generous and gentle view, everyone is an A-list celebrity. And he should know! Those who have sat before his camera include Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, and the Velvet Underground. Pildas brings the same joyous discipline to regular folks on the street as he did to his well-known work for DownBeat magazine and Capitol Records.
 

In the end, the most beautiful and beguiling thing about Star Struck is that you’re not sure if the title refers to the people whom Ave Pildas encountered on Hollywood Boulevard, or to the photographer himself. A brand new, most handsome example of this charming volume hot off The Deadbeat Club Press limited to seven hundred and fifty copies additionally SIGNED by Ave Pildas in ink.

Inventory Number: E000APSS

(PLATON). Text by Platon, Ko Bo Kyi, Wael Ghonim, Tanya Lokshina, Alina Diaz, Denis Mukwege.. MW Editions, I00240501. 2024. 9.75 x 13.75 in. / 560 pgs . Paperback. Photography Monograph. New. 9798987784501

Platon will be signing copies of "The Defenders" at the UTA Artist Space (403 Foothill Road, Beverly Hills, CA 90210) on Saturday, May 4th, between 2:00 and 4:00 PM following a walkthrough of his exhibition. If you cannot attend and would like to order a signed copy to have shipped or to pick up at the shop, please purchase by selecting "Add To Cart" below. Orders will ship the week of May 7th.

Fifteen years of Platon’s visually arresting and often dangerous documentation of human rights movements, from Cairo to the Congo

The celebrated portraitist Platon has spent much of his career photographing the famous and powerful, but he has also traveled the world documenting human rights activists and their quests for justice. The Defenders presents five photo essays spanning 15 years of work on these struggles in Burma, Egypt, Russia, the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In Burma, he took portraits of monks, sex workers, former child soldiers and the controversial political leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He was on the ground in Cairo for several weeks early in 2011, when Egyptians took to the streets and demanded the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. In Russia, he photographed and spoke with dissidents who have battled a slew of oppressive governments. Along the border between the US and Mexico, he documented victims of inhumane immigration policies. Finally, the chapter on the Congo documents the continuing trauma of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

The full-bleed images are accompanied by short texts that contextualize the complex issues in each place, and retell Platon’s own stories of shooting on location. The book also includes a poster.

Inventory Number: E000P

(RABABY, MICHAEL). Cali Editions, I00201201, 2020. 10 x 10 in., 320 pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Curated by Michael Rababy this book features the work of 110 photographers from all over California – celebrating what makes our diverse, inclusive, forward-thinking state so great. This is Rababy’s visual mixtape, featuring the greatest hits of friends’ and colleagues’ work that I’ve enjoyed through my years as a curator. I hope to share the excitement I have for great images the way I’ve shared my favorite rare grooves, B-sides, and bootleg recordings over my lifetime. All proceeds from sales of this book benefit the Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP) 9780578763859 Inventory Number: I00201201

(ROLSTON, MATTHEW). Laguna Art Museum, I00210716, 2021. 9 x 12 in., 84 concertina formated pages. Hardbound. New.

ART PEOPLE: THE PAGEANT PORTRAITS is a body of work by photographer and artist Matthew Rolston. This group of photographs furthers Rolston’s investigations into the nature of portraiture and the methods by which society and the human condition are mediated through artwork and art creation. Comprised of emotionally intimate portraits of participants of “Pageant of the Masters,” a tableaux vivants show that is part of an annual arts festival in Laguna Beach, California, Rolston’s photographic subjects reenact pivotal historical figures and works from art history, from antiquity through 20th century modernism.

Accompanying Laguna Art Museum’s June 27 – September 19, 2021 exhibition of Rolston’s Art People is a lavishly illustrated museum catalogue with essays by cultural critic and journalist Christina Binkley, Pageant of the Masters scriptwriter Dan Duling and classical scholar Nigel Spivey, alongside carefully selected images from art history that contextualize the work in the exhibition. The catalogue is designed in an unusual concertina format, folded rather than bound and printed on both sides.

The limited Collector’s Edition is enclosed in a linen-and-inset photographic slipcase with metallic gold and matte white foil stamping on the front and spine and includes a folio with a signed and numbered print. 9780940872509 Inventory Number: I00210716a

(SAAR, BETTY) Edited with text by Stephanie Seidel. Foreword by Alex Gartenfeld. Text by Sampada Aranke, Edwidge Danticat. Interview by Leah Ollman.. ICA Miami / Delmonico Books, I00220915, 2022. 11 x 8 inches, 208 Pages. Hardcover. New.

Rarely seen installation works that exemplify this pioneering artist’s critical focus on Black identity and Black feminism

Showcasing a lesser-known aspect of Saar’s art, Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight provides new insights into her explorations of ritual, spirituality and cosmologies, as well as themes of the African diaspora. Featured here are significant installations created by Saar from 1980 to 1998, including Oasis (1984), a work that will be reconfigured at ICA Miami’s Saar exhibition for the first time in more than 30 years.

With compelling scholarship and rich illustration—combining new installation photography and archival material—the monograph provides a fresh look at this significant artist’s critical and influential practice. Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight reinforces and celebrates Saar’s standing as a visionary artist, storyteller and mythmaker, and the ongoing significance and relevance of her work to the most pressing issues in America today. 9781636810362 Inventory Number: I00220915

(SAMUEL, JACOB). Adler, Esther, Mona Hatoum, Cristina Iglesias, Shio Kusaka, Rita McBride, Josiah McElheny, Mathew Monahan, Meredith Monk, Gabriel Orozco, Gert and Uwe Tobias, Charline von Heyl, James Welling, Jonas Wood, Christopher Wool & Jacob Samuel. New York: Museum of Modern Art, I00231128. 2023. First Edition. 10 1/2 x 9". Illustrated Boards. Printmaking Monograph. New/No Jacket - As Issued. 176pp, 310 color illustrations. 978-1633451551

PLEASE NOTE: Mr. Samuel will be signing copies of "New Ground: Jacob Samuel and Contemporary Etching" at Arcana Saturday, December 2nd, between 4:00 and 6:00 PM. Music for the afternoon will be supplied by DJ Dave Muller. If you cannot attend and would like to order a signed copy to have shipped or to pick up at the shop, please purchase by selecting "Add To Cart" below. Orders will begin shipping Tuesday, December 5th.

Over the course of four decades, Santa Monica-based master printer and publisher Jacob Samuel has collaborated with some of the most influential painters, sculptors, photographers, performance artists, and musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries to make etchings, a medium grounded in techniques more than five centuries old. Through a traditional but maximally flexible approach, he was driven to prove that etching could be a successful contemporary medium, and the breadth, variety and creativity in the works he published is evidence of his success in making old master printmaking relevant to artists today. Published for an exhibition that draws from Mr. Samuel’s catalog of more than seventy projects, New Ground presents a selection of works by a diverse range of artists including Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Jonas Wood, Shio Kusaka, Barry McGee, Wangechi Mutu, Christopher Wool, Chris Burden, Nancy Rubins, Mona Hatoum, Rebecca Horn, Jannis Kounellis, Cristina Iglesias, Rita McBride, Josiah McElheny, Mathew Monahan, Meredith Monk, Gabriel Orozco, Gert and Uwe Tobias, Charline von Heyl, James Welling, and many more. This richly illustrated hardbound catalogue features an essay by curator Esther Adler, interviews with thirteen of the artists Samuel has worked with, and a checklist detailing every project published by Edition Jacob Samuel in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. A brand new example additionally SIGNED by master etcher - and decades-long Arcana pal Jacob Samuel.

Inventory Number: E000JSNG

(SCEMAMA, MARION AND DAVID WOJNAROWICZ). Is-land Editions, I00210810, 2021. 6 x 9 inches, 156 Pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

While working as a reporter photographer in the mid-1980s, Marion Scemama was sent to New York. There she met David Wojnarowicz at the Christopher Street Pier, where he was painting his first frescoes. He introduced her to his friends, gave her access to the New York underground scene she wanted to document. From that moment on, until David's death in 1992, they maintained a passionate friendship that took the form of artistic collaborations on several occasions, with Marion taking pictures or making films that David Wojnarowicz used in his work.

In 1991, David was invited to San Francisco for the launch of his book, Close to the Knives. He wanted to get there by land, traveling through the desert, which he had already done alone several times. He loved those landscapes, the extreme loneliness they made him feel, the physical enjoyment and excitement he felt on the road, feeling weighed down by the sun.

When David wrote his long-time friend and asked her to join him that trip, he had known for several years that he was HIV-positive and sensed that this trip may very well be the last one he would ever have the strength to take. The photographs show what this trip meant to the two friends. Like a silent farewell, but in a moment when the knowledge of his impending death, no matter how clear and profound, never suppressed the heightened life force that grew within David in the midst of these desert landscapes.

During this weeks-long journey, Marion took about one hundred photographs that have been kept hidden until now. The book follows the two friends on the roads, from shabby motels to deserted villages, against the backdrop of the Death Valley's shadowless landscapes, amidst the white rocks of Zabriskie Point, where the old emblems of American mythology live on.

To accompany the account of this journey and tie it to David Wojnarowicz's life and oeuvre, two texts, one written by Thibault Boulvain and Elisabeth Lebovici, will close the collection. The contribution of these researchers, who are in France two important figures in the current research in queer studies, will make it possible to introduce David Wojnarowicz's work in France, where there has only been a translation of Close to the Knives —albeit out of print now—and where no major exhibition of his work is yet to be announced. 9791097544027 Inventory Number: I00210810

(SCHLESINGER, PETER). Damiani, I00210421, 2021. 9 x 12 in., 164 pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

An unprecedented document of one of the Middle East’s most extraordinary cultures

In 1976, Peter Schlesinger visited the Yemen Arab Republic (as the northern part of Yemen was then called). He was accompanying the photographer Eric Boman, who was on a fashion shoot assignment for a French magazine. Yemen had been closed to foreigners for many years and in the interest of encouraging more tourism the government decided to court media outlets. Over the course of his eight-day stay, Schlesinger took hundreds of photographs documenting what he saw as he traveled from the capital, Sanaa, and on through the northern city of Sa’da.

Forty-two years later, as he began making this book, Schlesinger shared these images with Bernard Haykel, a professor at Princeton University and an expert on the Middle East. He was taken aback at their existence, since documentation of Yemen in the ’70s is so rare. Haykel provides an enriching introduction that brings to life the world Schlesinger captured. 9788862087209 Inventory Number: I00210421

(SHIELDS, SCOTT A.) With Biographies by Mariah Carmen Briel. Hirmer, I00220416, 2022. 10 x 10 inches, 136 Pages. Hard Cover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

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.” 9783777438399 Inventory Number: I00220416

(SHORE, STEPHEN). With essays by Noah Chasin and Richard B. Woodward. MACK , I00221214, 2022. 30.5 x 25.2 cm, 204 pages. Hardcover. New.

Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape presents the latest body of work from Stephen Shore: a series of photographs shot by drone from 2020 onwards, which reveal in arresting detail the interplay of natural and man-made landscapes in Montana, North Carolina, New York, and beyond.

In this new body of work, Shore revisits the original ambitions of the renowned 1975 exhibition ‘New Topographics’, using a new aerial viewpoint to consider afresh the concerns of the movement – the objective, the commonplace, and the relationship of the natural and man-made in the American landscape – reflecting on how these might be applied in the twenty-first century.

As much as exploring the formal possibilities of the aerial photograph, Topographies displays a glorious dedication to detail and surprise, in which the slightest bend of a river or turn of a shadow uncovers the textures and colours of America’s urban and suburban landscapes, all investigated with Shore’s signature rigour.

9781913620899 Inventory Number: I00230204

Simon, Harper. Los Angeles: Hat & Beard Press, 2023. 9 in. x 12.25 in., 352 p. New.

“Everyone is fascinated by crime,” says Harper Simon. “When you look at the history of song, romantic love songs may be the dominant mode of songwriting, but second would probably be songs involving crime—murder ballads for one. Crime is a major theme in all songwriting.”

Simon offers a new and expansive contribution to this legacy with Meditations on Crime, an ambitious multi-media project that includes an album he produced of musical collaborations with a sweeping range of contributors (Julia Holter, Gang Gang Dance, King Khan, the Sun Ra Arkestra) and a book he edited featuring essays by such notables as Miranda July, Hooman Majd, and Jerry Stahl, alongside artwork from giants like Cindy Sherman, Tracey Emin, Julian Schnabel, and Raymond Pettibon.

The genesis of Meditations on Crime came in 2016 as a confluence of several ideas. Simon was interested in collaborating with musicians he knew and admired on the creation of a vinyl LP with an accompanying book, which would be “a beautiful physical object to stand outside the digital world.” Given what America was going through during that particular election year, though, he thought the times called for something more politically charged.

“I was trying to come up with a collective, curated project that had political content, but wouldn’t be so obvious and agenda-driven,” says Simon. Something “that would give people the freedom to express some ideas that might meet that volatile period in culture and in politics. One of the titles I came up with was Meditations on Crime—if you get down to it, crime is politics and politics is crime, so crime can go a lot of different ways. It seemed to be a way of approaching the moment that was a little more subtle and left space to explore.”

The songs were developed in a variety of ways: Sometimes Simon sent his collaborators guitar tracks or demos he was working on and had them write over them, sometimes he collaborated on lyrics. On the Sun Ra Arkestra track, he composed melodic themes and went to the group’s home base of Philadelphia with the legendary producer Hal Willner, where they fleshed out two songs. (Willner passed away in 2020 from Covid. “To have that creative moment with him makes it really touching for me,” says Simon.)

“Since I wasn’t out in front singing, it freed me up to go into a lot of different styles and genres that I wouldn’t attempt on a solo project,” says Simon. “It was liberating and fun—that was part of what I wanted to do, and it turned out to be gratifying in all sorts of ways.”

As he reached out to more musicians (“I kind of just went with my gut, and one person led to the next”), he retained a consistent backing band for most of the tracks, allowing for some cohesion. He played most of the guitars, with Paz Lenchantin from the Pixies on bass and Carla Azar, who has played with everyone from Jack White to PJ Harvey to The Who, on drums, as well as members of Ariel Pink’s band and Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s.

For the book, Simon points to “On Crime,” the essay by Nigerian novelist and poet Ben Okri, as a central piece. “It almost felt like an introduction because it was so philosophical,” he says. “It set the tone. The book started to become less political and more interesting. Once the tone was set, you could go to this beautiful essay on war crimes by Janine di Giovanni, the famous foreign correspondent. You could see it go to a humorous place in a piece by Jerry Stahl or an interview with Kenneth Anger. Wayne Kramer from the MC5 has a foundation called Jail Guitar Doors that brings musical instruments and songwriting to prisoners, and has spent time in prison himself, so I thought he would have an interesting perspective.”

Simon was committed to including visual art that investigated the idea of crime, so he enlisted his friend Jonah Freeman, from the art team Freeman-Lowe, as a co-curator. “He brought in a great deal of artists and really became my partner,” says Simon. “Julian Schnabel came on, Nate Lowman, Laurie Anderson, just so many great people. And then Jonah got Raymond Pettibon, who made this original portrait of John Dillinger, and we put that on the cover—which I loved, because I grew up listening to albums with Raymond Pettibon covers, like Black Flag and Sonic Youth.”

Though the concept sprang from Simon’s inspiration, he emphasizes the collaborative aspect of Meditations on Crime. “This is a counterculture project that integrates different areas of creativity into a collective effort,” he says. In the end, 38 artists contributed across the various media, three of whom remained part of the endeavor despite facing online controversies after their collaborations were recorded. “I made the decision not to cut them,” says Simon. “One of the reasons being that I think canceling, in quotes, is blacklisting, and blacklisting, in my view, is wrong whether it comes from the left or the right.”

Meditations on Crime is already expanding into other areas, as Simon and Freeman are completing a short film based on Okri’s essay, narrated by actress Katherine Waterston. There’s talk of possible art shows and benefit concerts in the future based around the theme.

“A lot of the old models of how things are done in the music world are becoming more and more obsolete and uninteresting,” says Simon. “Make an album and make an album cover and put it out and get a review in the music press and go on tour and make a poster—I don't know if it's just been exhausted creatively or made obsolete due to technology. It’s time to play with different ways of approaching how to put things out, and how to play with different areas of creativity and weave them together in new ways and create new models. I don't think people even have the language yet to know how to speak to this transitional moment in culture.”

“This project allowed me to explore different worlds other than the music world,” he says. “To have different platforms for different audiences, and to do a whole bunch of things that people don't normally do when they make an album.” 9781955125284 Inventory Number: I00230827

(SMALLWOOD, DONAVON). Trespasser, I00220722, 2022. 14 x 12 inches, 56 Pages. Softcover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Languor is an ode to NYC’s Central Park. With the pandemic at hand and the history of Seneca Village in mind, Smallwood created photographs of tentative comfort and appreciation as an examination of nature, home, tranquility, and escape. 9780578907598 Inventory Number: I00220722

(STEIN, HARVEY). Zatara Press, I00201226, 2020. 7 x 9 in., 88 pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

In Then and There, the well-known photographer Harvey Stein documents a crucial aspect of public behavior at the 1979 New Orleans Mardi Gras. Shooting with an instant SX-70 Polaroid camera, the process allowed Stein to directly interact with his subjects, who perform, observe, and even share in the photographic process. The 47 portraits are made just feet away from each person, mostly at dusk, sharply revealed by the light of the camera’s flash bar. His subjects creatively present themselves in diverse colorful masks, makeup, and revelry. Each portrait is a glimpse into a layered and hidden personal identity made possible by the collaborative choices of the photographer and the subjects acting in front of the camera. The raw excitement of Mardi Gras flows through each portrait with the people physically filling the entire frame of the Polaroid as if the print itself were a stage just for them. Mardi Gras allows both the subject and the photographer a moment of freedom to observe a transformation into another reality of being. Stein investigates these many themes throughout the book, and captures those flamboyant moments of lightning in a bottle with each Polaroid. 9781733840613 Inventory Number: I00201226

(STEINMETZ, MARK). Stanley/Barker, I00220224, 2022. 11 x 11 inches, 208 Pages. Hard Cover. New.

The photographs in Mark Steinmetz's expansive new book Rivers & Towns were made in the 1980s in working class towns and cities in Connecticut, USA.

"The brooding factories and mills built alongside rivers had seen their heyday and were beginning to decline. I was moved by these places and wanted to describe the bridges, houses, and streets, and to show something of people's inner lives. At the same time, I was trying to discover myself as a photographer." - Mark Steinmetz

A brand new, most handsome example in the publisher's shrinkwrap of this already out of print classic!

9781913288341 Inventory Number: I00220224

(STEINMETZ, MARK). Steinmetz, Mark. Paso Robles, CA: Nazraeli Press, I00240115. 2023. First Edition. Large Quarto. Cloth with Pictorial Pastedown. Photography Monograph. New/No Jacket - As Issued. 9781590055960

"In the summer of 1987, I was 26 years old, a couple years out of graduate school, and living in a derelict apartment outside of Boston. I had received an artist’s residency in the South of France, and so, in August, I flew to Paris. I stayed a few weeks with close family friends in a top floor apartment on the Avenue de Wagram. My friends were working in fashion and film, and I was told my bed had once belonged to Jane Fonda before she became Barbarella. The weather was getting colder, and they gave me a brown corduroy jacket to wear that Jean Seberg (Godard’s Breathless, Preminger’s Bonjour Tristesse) had cried on. I would eat some breakfast and run around Paris photographing all day—hardly eating because I had no money—returning to their apartment for dinner and a glass of champagne."

Inventory Number: E000MSF1987

(STEINMETZ, MARK). Steinmetz, Mark & Gregory J. Harris. Paso Robles, CA: Nazraeli Press, I00240427. 2024. First Edition 1/1000 Copies. 12 x 10 1/4", Quarto. Cloth with Pictorial Pastedown. Photography Monograph. New/No Jacket - As Issued. 80pp, 63 duotone illustrations + front cover. "American photographer Mark Steinmetz photographed the people and environs of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport between 2012 and 2019 as part of the High Museum of Art’s "Picturing the South" series, a photographic archive that examines a range of themes specific to the American South. The sixty-four duotone images in "ATL" - the fifteenth volume of Steinmetz’s work published by Nazraeli Press - emphasize “the quiet transitional moments in this liminal world,” writes curator Gregory J. Harris in the volume’s introduction. Steinmetz captures “the more introspective moments” of travel in and out of the world’s most heavily trafficked airport and includes travelers of all ages “leaving one chapter of their lives and going to another,” as the artist stated in a 2019 interview at the museum. Airline pilots, ground personnel, flight attendants, and janitors are also pictured, always working, often waiting; they share a space with the travelers but remain apart. Steinmetz also turns his focus to the open spaces around the airport, presenting vast, overgrown, and often unpeopled areas that provide a sharp contrast to the busy workings of the airport and its constantly changing population. A selection of images taken from aircraft windows depict the graphic beauty of clouds, light streaks, and jet trails, echoing the “sense of levity and mystery” felt by those traveling, as well as those viewing the photographs. Though taken over a period of years, this collection of images evokes the distinct timelessness of air travel, “capturing ordinary yet captivating human dramas that play out in the public spaces across the airport.” A brand new, most handsome example of this thought-provoking Nazraeli Press offering limited to one thousand copies still in the publisher's shrinkwrap. 978-1-59005-567-0 Inventory Number: I00240427

(STREET-PORTER, TIM). Street-Porter, Tim & Annie Kelly. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, I00210223, 2021. First Edition. Oblong Folio. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Photography Monograph. As New/As New.
978-0-8478-6743-1

Inventory Number: I00210223

(STREET-PORTER, TIM). Street-Porter, Tim & Annie Kelly. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, I00240416. 2024. First Edition. 12 x 9", 4to. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Photography Monograph. New/New. 9780847899944

Inventory Number: E000AK+TSP

(TAYLOR, HENRY). Edited by Bennett Simpson. Foreword by Johanna Burton. Text by Wanda Coleman, Karon Davis, Charles Gaines, Harmony Holiday, Bob Kaufman, Walter Price, Bennett Simpson, Frances Stark. Conversation with Henry Taylor, Hamza Walker.. DELMONICO BOOKS/THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES, I00221109, 2022. 9 x 11 in. / 240 pgs / 191 color.. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.


The official catalog accompanying the major retrospective at MoCA LA. Henry Taylor creates a grand pageant of contemporary Black life in America.

Surveying 30 years of Henry Taylor’s work in painting, sculpture and installation, this comprehensive monograph celebrates a Los Angeles artist widely appreciated for his unique aesthetic, social vision and freewheeling experimentation. Taylor’s portraits and allegorical tableaux—populated by friends, family members, strangers on the street, athletic stars and entertainers—display flashes of familiarity in their seemingly brash compositions, which nonetheless linger in the imagination with uncanny detail. In his paintings on cigarette packs, cereal boxes and other found supports, Taylor brings his primary medium into the realm of common culture. Similarly, the artist’s installations often recode the forms and symbolisms of found materials (bleach bottles, push brooms) to play upon art historical tropes and modernism’s appropriations of African or African American culture. Taken together, the various strands of Taylor’s practice display a deep observation of Black life in America at the turn of the century, while also inviting a humanist fellowship that pushes outward from the particular.
9781636810560 Inventory Number: I00221109

(TEMPLETON, ED). Deadbeat Club, 2021. 12 x 13 inches, 14 Pages, Wire-O Binding. Paperback. New.

For the annual Deadbeat Club Calendar, we called on our friend Ed and told him to have fun with it. What he designed is twelve glorious months of classic Templeton color washes, doodles, custom lettering and other personal touches to accompany some of your fave Tempster photos. Here's wishing you a happy, healthy and friend-filled 2022, from your buds Ed Templeton and Deadbeat Club. 978-1952523021 Inventory Number: I00211109

(TEMPLETON, ED). Templeton, Ed. Tokyo, JAPAN: Super Labo, I00240918. 2024. First Edition. 9 1/2 x8", 4to. 64 pages. Stapled Pictorial Wrappers. Photography Monograph. As New./No Jacket - As Issued.

“City Confessions #3" is the most recent of Ed Templeton's global civic studies published by Tokyo's esteemed Super Labo. Culled from his many decades of travel as both a skateboarder and an artist, this third installment turns an iquisitive and insightful eye on the city of Paris. A brand new, most handsome example of this engaging document additionally BOLDLY SIGNED "Ed Templeton" with a small eye drawing in black marker on the title page.

978-4-91112-10-6 Inventory Number: I00240918

(TEMPLETON, ED). Templeton, Ed. Tokyo, JAPAN: Super Labo, 2021. First Edition 1/1000. 9 1/2 x8", 4to. 64 pages. Stapled Pictorial Wrappers. Photography Monograph. As New./No Jacket - As Issued.

“City Confessions #2 London is a mostly recent study on the city of London. Although some photos in this book go back over 20 years, the majority were taken over the past decade on numerous trips. Since the mid 1990’s, once or twice a year I find myself in London for a few days or weeks at a time and end up on long walks shooting photos with my Leica. The pictures in this book were chosen to highlight a particular shade of London I have always found interesting, Moments of weariness, furtive glances and subtle gestures within a densely populated city center as the swarms of people perform the ceremony of getting through another day.” 978-4908512995 Inventory Number: I00210629

(TERRY, BRYANT). 4 Color Books, I00211105, 2021. 8 x 10 inches, 320 Pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

A beautiful, rich, and groundbreaking book exploring Black foodways within America and around the world, curated by food activist and author of Vegetable Kingdom Bryant Terry.

In this stunning and deeply heartfelt tribute to Black culinary ingenuity, Bryant Terry captures the broad and divergent voices of the African Diaspora through the prism of food. With contributions from more than 100 Black cultural luminaires from around the globe, the book moves through chapters exploring parts of the Black experience, from Homeland to Migration, Spirituality to Black Future, offering delicious recipes, moving essays, and arresting artwork.

As much a joyful celebration of Black culture as a cookbook, Black Food explores the interweaving of food, experience, and community through original poetry and essays, including “Jollofing with Toni Morrison” by Sarah Ladipo Manyika, “Queer Intelligence” by Zoe Adjonyoh, “The Spiritual Ecology of Black Food” by Leah Penniman, and “Foodsteps in Motion” by Michael W. Twitty. The recipes are similarly expansive and generous, including sentimental favorites and fresh takes such as Crispy Cassava Skillet Cakes from Yewande Komolafe, Okra & Shrimp Purloo from BJ Dennis, Jerk Chicken Ramen from Suzanne Barr, Avocado and Mango Salad with Spicy Pickled Carrot and Rof Dressing from Pierre Thiam, and Sweet Potato Pie from Jenné Claiborne. Visually stunning artwork from such notables as Black Panther Party creative director Emory Douglas and artist Sarina Mantle are woven throughout, and the book includes a signature musical playlist curated by Bryant.

With arresting artwork and innovative design, Black Food is a visual and spiritual feast that will satisfy any soul. 9781984859723 Inventory Number: I00211105

(TILLMANS, WOLFGANG) Edited with text by Roxana Marcoci. Text by Quentin Bajac, Yve-Alain Bois, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Clément Chéroux, Durga Chew-Bose, Stuart Comer, Keller Easterling, Paul Flynn, Sophie Hackett, Michelle Kuo, Oluremi C. Onabanjo, Phil Taylor. Chronology by Phil Taylor, Andrew Vielkin. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, I00220827, 2022. 12 x 10 inches, 320 Pages. Hardcover. New.

Encompassing photography, installation, print media, video and more, this publication is the most comprehensive account of Tillmans’ wide-ranging career to date

A visionary creator and intrepid polymath, Wolfgang Tillmans unites formal inventiveness with an ethical orientation that attends to the most pressing issues of life today. While his work transcends the bounds of any single artistic discipline, he is best known for his wide-ranging photographic output. From trenchant documents of social movements to windowsill still lifes, ecstatic images of nightlife to cameraless abstractions, sensitive portraits to architectural studies, astronomical phenomena to intimate nudes, he has explored seemingly every genre of photography imaginable, continually experimenting with how to make new pictures and deepen the viewer’s experience.

Published in conjunction with a major exhibition of Tillmans’ work at the Museum of Modern Art, this copiously illustrated volume surveys four decades of the artist’s career. An outstanding group of writers offer diverse essays addressing key threads of his multifaceted practice, and a new text by Tillmans himself elucidates the distinctive methodology behind his system of presenting photographs. Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear grants readers new insight into the work of an artist who has not only changed the way photography is exhibited but pointed contemporary art in dynamic new directions. 9781633451117 Inventory Number: I00220827

(TOBAK, VIKKI). Taschen, I00221014, 2022. 9.8 x 13.4 in., 388 pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Whether it's diamond-encrusted grills, oversized “truck” style chains, bust-down Rolex and Patek Philippe watches or a Tiffany necklace, jewelry is a cornerstone of hip-hop culture. Glittering, blinged-out jewels are the shining statement of a collective identity: unapologetic, charismatic, and street savvy.

Spanning the history of hip-hop jewelry, from the 1980s to today, Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History is a stunning compilation of storytelling and visuals. Hundreds of extraordinary images of every major hip-hop artist on record celebrate how “Ice” has become a proclamation of identity and self-expression.

Starting with Run-DMC’s gold Adidas pendants and Eric B. & Rakim’s ostentatious dookie rope chains and Mercedes medallions, the jewelry then transforms from street style into a booming design culture. The hip-hop tradition of “show up and show out” reaches new heights with artists like Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z, Gucci Mane, and Cardi B, whose over-the-top pieces integrate unique pop culture references, unconventional materials, and enduring collaborations with artists like Takashi Murakami.

Author Vikki Tobak reveals – in great detail – the work of pioneering jewelers such as Tito Caicedo of Manny’s, Eddie Plein, and Jacob the Jeweler as well as newer artisans such as Avianne & Co., Ben Baller/IF & Co., Greg Yuna, Johnny Dang, Eliantte, and many more.

Ice Cold is a treasure trove of dazzling, inspirational style, featuring the work of leading photographers, including Wolfgang Tillmans, Janette Beckman, Jamel Shabazz, Timothy White, Gillian Laub, David LaChapelle, Danny Clinch, Chris Buck, Mike Miller, Phil Knott, Raven B. Varona, Al Pereira, Albert Watson and many more.

A foreword by hip-hop superstar Slick Rick and essays by A$AP Ferg, LL COOL J, Kevin “Coach K’ Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas of Quality Control Music take us on personal journeys into their jewelry universe.

Ice Cold goes beyond the ostentatious bling to reveal a transformative story that is loud and proud.
9783836584975 Inventory Number: I00221014

(VANDERLANS, RUDY). Gingko Press, I00210821, 2021. 5 x 7 inches, 256 Pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Inspired by artists like Edward Curtis and Charles Schulz, who devoted their lives to a single objective, Rudy VanderLans continues his pursuit to create a consistent body of work of postcard-size images, rendering a comprehensive portrait of California in the early part of the 21st century.

VanderLans, who is often drawn to places with fantastical names — like Oleander Sunset —wanders about California’s back roads with eyes wide open. Without theorizing, or searching for subjects, he allows himself to be receptive to the world around him and discovers beauty in the most ordinary locales. Like the men who named the cities and towns he visits, VanderLans makes the mundane seem less so, and in the process shows us what’s been overlooked.

Oleander Sunset juxtaposes single images on opposing pages, setting up dynamic formal and contextual interactions through contrasting, complementing and reiteration. The book is interspersed with a number of fold-out panoramas, placing the viewer smack in the middle of the author’s habitual stamping ground. 9781584237594 Inventory Number: I00210821

(VARIOUS). Something Special Studios, I00220218. 9 x 13 inches, 210 Pages. Hard Cover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Summer of Something Special (SoSS) is an annual photo book by Something Special Studios. This is the publication’s third edition. Every edition of SoSS features a new selection of photographers from around the world, each capturing summer as they see it. The resulting photos come together to form a unique group diary - a communal ode to summer.

Summer of Something Special Vol.III will feature the following photographers’ work: Bafic, Nathalie Basoski, Robin Bernstein, Kennedi Carter, Jasmine Clarke, Christopher Currence, Ibrahem Hasan, Djiby Kebe, Zhenya and Tanya Posternak, Noah Sahady, Peter Sutherland, Ramona Wang, Kersti Jan Werdal Inventory Number: I00220218

(WAREHAM, DEAN) (TEMPLETON, ED). Wareham, Dean & Ed Templeton. Paso Robles, CA: Nazraeli Press / Anatol, I00231203, 2023. First Deluxe Edition 1/100 Copies. 4to. Illustrated Cloth over Boards in Illustrated Slipcase. Artist Monograph. As New/No Jacket - As Issued. 94pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w + illustrated covers. 978-1-59005-592-2-DLX

PLEASE NOTE: Mr. Wareham and Mr. Templeton will be signing copies of "Hearing Voices - Selected Lyrics 1987-2021" at Arcana Saturday, December 9th, between 4:00 and 6:00 PM. If you cannot attend and would like to order a signed copy to have shipped or to pick up at the shop, please purchase by selecting "Add To Cart" below. Orders will begin shipping Tuesday, December 12th.

Check out our other Ed Templeton-related offerings for sale HERE!

Hearing Voices is a collection of lyrics by songwriting great Dean Wareham. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wareham moved to New York City as a teenager, in August 1977. It was here, in high school, that he met future bandmates Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang. All three went on to attend Harvard University, and in 1987 founded Galaxie 500, for which Wareham was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter. Galaxie 500 released three albums For Rough Trade between 1987 and 1991 that have only grown in stature and influence. Wareham’s next band Luna recorded seven albums for Elektra and Beggar’s Banquet, followed by four albums as Dean & Britta (with wife Britta Phillips), and three simply as Dean Wareham, including his most recent album I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A. Also a writer, Wareham’s memoir, Black Postcards, was published by Penguin, and he has contributed to Salon, Pitchfork, the Talkhouse and Counterpunch. Hearing Voices is the first published collection of his lyrics, and is the result of a unique collaboration with the artist Ed Templeton, who created the illustrations for the book. Ed Templeton’s drawings, paintings and photographs have been widely exhibited and published in the United States, Europe and Asia. Hearing Voices is his fifth title with Nazraeli Press. A brand new example of the deluxe first edition limited to one hundred numbered copies SIGNED by Dean Wareham and Ed Templeton housed in a decorative cloth slipcase.

Inventory Number: E000DWET-HV-DLX

(WAREHAM, DEAN) (TEMPLETON, ED). Wareham, Dean & Ed Templeton. Paso Robles, CA: Nazraeli Press / Anatol, I00231203. 2023. First Edition 1/1000 Copies. 4to. Illustrated Cloth over Boards. Artist Monograph. As New/No Jacket - As Issued. 94pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w + illustrated covers. 9781590055922

PLEASE NOTE: Mr. Wareham and Mr. Templeton will be signing copies of "Hearing Voices - Selected Lyrics 1987-2021" at Arcana Saturday, December 9th, between 4:00 and 6:00 PM. If you cannot attend and would like to order a signed copy to have shipped or to pick up at the shop, please purchase by selecting "Add To Cart" below. Orders will begin shipping Tuesday, December 12th.

Check out our other Ed Templeton-related offerings for sale HERE!

Hearing Voices is a collection of lyrics by songwriting great Dean Wareham. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wareham moved to New York City as a teenager, in August 1977. It was here, in high school, that he met future bandmates Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang. All three went on to attend Harvard University, and in 1987 founded Galaxie 500, for which Wareham was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter. Galaxie 500 released three albums For Rough Trade between 1987 and 1991 that have only grown in stature and influence. Wareham’s next band Luna recorded seven albums for Elektra and Beggar’s Banquet, followed by four albums as Dean & Britta (with wife Britta Phillips), and three simply as Dean Wareham, including his most recent album I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A. Also a writer, Wareham’s memoir, Black Postcards, was published by Penguin, and he has contributed to Salon, Pitchfork, the Talkhouse and Counterpunch. Hearing Voices is the first published collection of his lyrics, and is the result of a unique collaboration with the artist Ed Templeton, who created the illustrations for the book. Ed Templeton’s drawings, paintings and photographs have been widely exhibited and published in the United States, Europe and Asia. Hearing Voices is his fifth title with Nazraeli Press. A brand new example of the first edition limited to one thousand unnumbered copies additionally SIGNED by Dean Wareham and Ed Templeton.

Inventory Number: E000DWET-HV

(WARHOL, ANDY). Taschen, I00210105, 2021. 13 x 11 in., 392 pages. Hardbound. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Well before Andy Warhol’s rise to the pinnacle of Pop Art, he created and exhibited seductive drawings celebrating male beauty. Andy Warhol Love, Sex, & Desire: Drawings 1950-1962 features over three hundred drawings rendered primarily in ink on paper portraying young men, many of them nude, some sexually charged, and occasionally adorned with whimsical black hearts and delightful embellishments. They lounge or preen, proud of or even bored by their beauty, while the artist sketches them, rapt. They rarely engage with their keen observer, and likewise Warhol’s focus is on their form, their erotic qualities, and unbridled sexuality. If his subjects are content to revel in their attractiveness, so too is Warhol. His confident hand illustrates a multitude of colorful characters, yet also reveals much about this enigmatic artist.

Warhol was already a booming commercial illustrator when he exhibited studies from this body of work at the Bodley Gallery on New York’s Upper East Side in 1956.He mistakenly saw these illustrations as his way of breaking into the New York art scene, underestimating the pervading homophobia of the time. While he never saw through his plan to publish the drawings as a monograph, he did produce more than a thousand elegant, seemingly effortless drawings from life. This volume finally brings his project to fruition by gathering his most striking images, published here for the first time in a comprehensive book and chosen by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Edited and featuring an introduction by the Foundation’s Michael Dayton Hermann, and essays by Warhol biographer Blake Gopnik and art critic Drew Zeiba. The inclusion of poems by James Baldwin, Thom Gunn, Harold Norse, Essex Hemphill and Allen Ginsberg create moments of introspection, which expand on the themes and moods present in the drawings.

In style, the drawings evoke the sketches of Jean Cocteau and even Matisse: highly distilled and sure of line, yet loose. The sly voyeurism, meanwhile, is entirely Warhol’s own, and even the most risqué drawings contain a kind of droll humor—a sense of ironic detachment—that would become a Warhol trademark. His confident hand illustrates a multitude of colorful characters, yet also reveals much about this enigmatic artist. 9783836574471 Inventory Number: I00210105

(WEBER, BRUCE). Weber, Bruce, Nan Bush.. New York: Little Bear Press, I00201202, 2020. First Edition 1/1000. 4to. 1/4 Linen Over Wrappers. Photography Monograph. As new./No Jacket - As Issued.

176pp, profusely illustrated in color and duotone. Art Director - Nathaniel Kilcer.

"Nothing endures but change — heraclitus

Our human capacity for transformation, and the freedom that implies, is very much at the heart of this latest edition of Bruce Weber’s “All-American” journal. Time will tell what any of us become—and the subjects of this year’s volume reveal the myriad ways that mutability can be a power and a revelation. Bruce’s long-time friend Kurt Markus shares photographs of his children, who now, as adults, reflect on the experience of being his subject. Patrice Calmettes, the beloved Parisian character, opens his personal archive—sharing images of ‘70s and ‘80s decadence with his evolution as a photographer. Noted film and stage biographer James Grissom offers a personal essay about the desires and perils of growing up in Baton Rouge. The paintings of the American artist John Koch suggest a
world of mystery and secrecy among the virtuoso compositions of his domestic scenes. And in this 21st edition, Bruce Weber celebrates a group of powerful women whose dedication to changing the world is a continual inspiration. Cheryl Little, Esq. and the Honorable Rosemary Barkett articulate the contradictions and paradoxes of our national debate over immigration. Gianna Cerbone’s devotion to Long Island City affirms the old-school values of community connection. And the model-turned-animal rights advocate Jane Gill narrates her story, and in so doing, demonstrates how one’s ability to adapt is at times a salvation." A brand new, most handsome example still in the publisher's shrinkwrap. 9780578314181 Inventory Number: I00211217

(WILEY, KEHINDE). National Gallery London, I00220329, 2022. 9 x 11 inches, 112 Pages. Hardcover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Presenting new work by American artist Kehinde Wiley, as he explores the European landscape tradition through film and painting

The American artist Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977) is best known for his spectacular portraits of African Americans with knowing references to the grand European tradition of painting. He was commissioned in 2017 to paint Barack Obama, becoming the first Black artist to paint an official portrait of a president of the United States. His work makes reference to old master paintings by positioning contemporary Black sitters in the pose of the original historical figures, raising issues of power and identity, and the absence or relegation of Black and minority-ethnic figures within European art.

For his first collaboration with a major UK gallery, Wiley will depart from portraiture to explore the European landscape tradition through the medium of film and painting, casting Black Londoners from the streets of Soho. His new works will explore European Romanticism and its focus on epic scenes of oceans and mountains, drawing inspiration from the National Gallery’s masterpieces in landscape and seascape. 9781857096774 Inventory Number: I00220329

(WILLETT, AMANI). Overlapse, I00220408, 2022. 5 x 7 inches, 120 Pages. Hard Cover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

A romantic concept of ‘The Road’ has been embraced in American popular culture since the mid-20th century. Writers, artists and photographers, many inspired by revelations surrounding the Beat Generation’s legendary road trips, have long portrayed the idea of the road as a metaphorical symbol of freedom, independence and self-discovery.

Strikingly absent from this cumulative portrait is the Black American experience of the road which is often associated with fear, violence and death rather than freedom. This stark contrast is in conflict with the promise of familial fun times that the road trip afforded to white Americans.

In 1936, in response to the grave dangers faced by African American travelers, New York postman Victor Green created the Negro Motorist Green Book, a practical and necessary survival guide listing safe places where Black people could eat, sleep and find services along their journey without a dreadful fear for losing their lives. The guidebook was published annually for thirty years.

Mixing recent portraits and landscapes, digital screenshots and archival material—including pictures from Willett’s own family archive—A Parallel Road pays homage to Victor Green’s book, 84 years after it was first published, and sheds light on an experience of the road that has long been overlooked. It is produced in the same size as the original Green Book.

This nuanced and multi-layered work explores themes of history, racism, violence and Black identity in the United States, reflecting on the nation’s past and present while encouraging inclusivity and dialogue surrounding a complex and integral American story. While 54 years have passed since Green’s book ceased publication, it remains profoundly relevant in a time when the mere act of being on the road still threatens to be lethal for Black Americans. 9781999446871 Inventory Number: I00220408

(WILLIAMS, D’ANGELO LOVELL). MACK, I00220716, 2022. 9 x 11 inches, 104 Pages. Hard Cover. New.

Both an artist’s book and comprehensive inquisition of D’Angelo Lovell Williams’s work to date, Contact High offers an expansive engagement with the visualization of desire and depiction of the Black body. Williams’s narrative images reflect the many forms in which Black queer people exist and have existed historically within each other’s lives, picturing them as sitters, lovers, caregivers, or shadows. Williams’s work is guided by their life experience and an interrogation of their own perspective, as well as wider questions around the representation of race, class, sexuality, gender, and intimacy. The title Contact High references the importance of touch and gesture in Williams‘s work, and alludes to heightened senses and intuitive movement.

From self-portraits to collaborations with community, Williams’s photographs visualize the Black body in performative scenes that are theatrical, dance-like, and occasionally mundane, pointing towards collective histories and Black ancestral practices. At the heart of these intimate, dialogic images are notions of kinship and spirituality interweaved with quietly political and radical gestures. Williams’s unfaltering gaze insists on visibility and deference, and creates scenes in which Black and queer voices are the authority. The dynamics that play out between families, cultures, friends, lovers, ancestors and descendants are visualized as a spectrum of care, tenderness, and vulnerability, speaking to the nuances of our complex lives often overlooked by historical depictions. 9781913620622 Inventory Number: I00220716

(WILLIAMS, KANDIS) Introduction by Ebony L. Haynes. Text by Hannah Black. Conversation between Kandis Williams and Okwui Okpokwasili. David Zwirner Books, I00220922, 2022. 9 x 7 inches, 96 Pages. Hardcover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

The inaugural volume in a new series of books, Kandis Williams documents the Los Angeles–based artist’s exhibition A Line. Interrogating issues of race, nationalism, authority, and eroticism, her topical work is made across collage, sculpture, and video.

Williams draws on her background in dramaturgy to envision a space that accommodates the biopolitical economies that inform how movement might be read. Looking at the interconnections between popular culture and myth, she relates in her work anatomy, regions of Black diaspora, and communication and obfuscation. Williams’s body of work shapes an alternative language that examines how Black moving bodies are regarded. Williams continues to make visible the inexpressible violence Black bodies have been subjected to in dance and beyond.

Featuring contributions by the curator of 52 Walker—a David Zwirner gallery space—Ebony L. Haynes and the artist and writer Hannah Black, and a stirring conversation between Williams and the artist Okwui Okpokwasili, the book serves as an extension of the exhibition. Included are high-quality illustrations of the artworks alongside rich archival materials. 9781644230688 Inventory Number: I00220924

(WINOGRAND, GARRY). Almereyda, Michael & Susan Kismaric, Editors. Los Angeles: Twin Palms Publishers, I00240117. 2023. First Edition. 12 x 12", Large Oblong 4to. Cloth in Pictorial Jacket. Photography Monograph. New/New. 176pp, 150 color illustrations.

"Garry Winogrand is known primarily for his spontaneous and energetic street photography in black-and-white. What is lesser known is that Winogrand also shot more than 45,000 color slides between the early 1950s and late 1960s. These photographs were often taken between assignments, when the photographer, working on his own, developed and refined an approach to his medium that was increasingly open, independent, and radical. He routinely photographed with two cameras strapped around his neck, one loaded with color film, the other with black and white.

"Winogrand Color" presents one hundred and fifty photographs selected from the archives at the Center for Creative Photography by the American film director, Michael Almereyda and former Museum of Modern Art curator, Susan Kismaric. It is the first monograph dedicated to the artist's rarely seen color work. A brand new example additionally SIGNED in ink by author Michael Almereyda. 978-1-936611-18-8 Inventory Number: E000GWC

(WINSHIP, VANESSA) Story by Jem Poster. Deadbeat Club, I00220603, 2022. 10 x 8 inches, 104 Pages. Softcover. New/No Jacket - As Issued.

In Snow, Vanessa Winship’s latest monograph, we see that what’s not entirely comprehended is far more compelling than what is well understood. Perhaps that’s a truism, but it’s one that is rejuvenated and refreshed by each new and peculiar telling. This book is just such a revelation.

The origins of Snow lie in a commission (this from an artist who very rarely works on assignment, although Winship says she often approaches things “as if I have somehow been sent by someone”), but the photographer’s interest in what she found soon eclipsed anything that could properly be thought of as a “story.” So, she made repeated trips to a particular landscape – and, notably, a particular season – in order to fathom what it was that had disconcerted her in the initial making of these photographs.

Winship is well known and highly regarded for her intimate portraits, but in Snow we experience a noticeable physical distance between the photographer and her subjects. What little the viewer can possibly grasp onto is the subtle repetition of the humblest elements of the earth. Collectively, the pictures come to embody the artist’s struggle to connect and to make sense of this place while ultimately acknowledging that she, like us all, is nothing but a stranger in this world.

This estrangement is echoed in a piece of fiction – by the poet and novelist Jem Poster – that’s woven through Snow. It tells of a female portrait photographer and her recalcitrant subject. But this character is not Winship, and the sitter is not someone in a Winship photograph. Poster’s is a fiction based on an imagistic construct – another beguiling layer in a complicated book that seeks always to expose the slipperiness of narrative and to destabilize easy readings. 9781952523038 Inventory Number: I00220603