Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 31

Christos Prevezanos, interior designer, Los Angeles
"I love this book with its stairways to heaven, its fallen giants, and its sliced facades standing like burnt toast. "












PLEASURE OF RUINS
by Rose Macaulay photographs by Roloff Beny



"I love this book with its stairways to heaven and its fallen giants and it's sliced facades standing like burnt toast. It's heartbreakingly beautiful... puts all ones passion and efforts and hopes and frustrations into perspective.
Everything submits to time eventually."


- Christos Prevezanos



















"Great cities decline, they gradually submit to history, caught in the organic grip of nature and left haunted, or cruelly stripped of embellishments by man's urge to plunder. Some vanish, of those that remain, the ruins are often more majestic and, paradoxically, more human.
-Roloff Beny, 1964














Christos Prevezanos is an interior designer based in Los Angeles.







--------------------------













Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 30

IKO IKO & WAKA WAKA,
Echo Park
"
There are so many examples of the tension in positive - negative space as well as the limitlessness of brush, ink, gesture and accident."













IKO IKO
IKEBANA by Sofu Teshigahara
with photos by Ken Domon, 1952.


"This book was given to me by a friend when I was taking ikebana classes. It's a diverse sampling of the art of Sofu Teshigahara, the founder of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. It's all about the range of self expression with flowers as the medium and is my personal inspiration bible. So many incredible combinations of texture, palette, geometry, and feeling. I like that you can designate a kind of personality to the flowers in his arrangements."





















WAKA WAKA
Shohaku Show, Kyoto National Museum, 2005.


"This is the publication from the exhibition which I happened upon during a visit to Kyoto. There are so many examples of the tension in positive - negative space as well as the limitlessness of brush, ink, gesture and accident. It's inspiring to see the technical maturity of an artist in this way."















"The Shohaku Show explores the life and works of the iconoclastic Edo-period painter Soga Shohaku (1730-1781), who has long been believed to come from the province of Ise. His many works in this area even today appear to confirm this. However, records indicate that from his father's generation the family lived in Kyoto, where many eminent painters, including Yosa Buson, Ike no Taiga, Maruyama Okyo, Nagasawa Rosetsu, and Ito Jakuchu, were active. Ranking in line with such figures, Shohaku developed his own distinctive style by deviating from the contemporary art scene and professing to the then outdated style of the Muromachi (1392-1572) painter Soga Jasoku (d. 1483), undoubtedly in an attempt to undermine the overwhelming popularity of the realist painter Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795)."

(taken from here.)







--------------------




IKO IKO is Kristin Dickson's fantastic store located in the heart of Echo Park, Los Angeles. It's chock-full of art, ceramics, textiles, fashion, photography, and items she has sourced from the U.S and Japan. I'd suggest getting on her email list so that you are informed of the events at IKO IKO! Go to her blog here if you aren't local...


WAKA WAKA is Shin Okuda. He has been designing and building custom furniture under the WAKA WAKA name for the past few years in Los Angeles. WAKA WAKA is also sold at IKO IKO. YHBHS interviewed Shin about his work last year, his inspiration, and future plans for his work. Read the full interview here..










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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 29

Gerard O'Brien,
REFORM, Los Angeles
"The book inspires me because it is one man’s narrative about his choices with life. The house was the purist expression of that. "



















Arthur Espenet Carpenter: Education of a Woodsmith
by Art Carpenter; edited by Tripp Carpenter and Linda Moore



Gerard O'Brien
, from REFORM, writes "I just got back from San Francisco, where I was for the holiday. I was lucky enough to also get at chance to go up to Bolinas yesterday and see the Carpenter Round House in the flesh for the 1st time. I had been lucky enough to visit with Art while he was still alive, and been fortunate to handle a number of his important pieces.
If not for Art, I would have never gotten to work with the Blunk estate. It was while attending his memorial service in ’96 that I made the connection that led me to work with the Blunk estate.

Art’s honest narrative of his own choices in life, and the images of his work that accompany it are truly inspiring for me. The book inspires me because it is one man’s narrative about his choices with life. The house was the purist expression of that. "
















"A prominent figure in 20th century American furniture design, Arthur “Art” Carpenter (1920-2006) combined great creativity with obsessive pragmatism, helping originate the distinctive California Roundover style.

In this book, twenty years in the making and completed in the last year of his life, Carpenter reflects on his extraordinary career. He discusses his influences, including Western and Asian furniture traditions, modern art, and organic forms of nature, and articulates his philosophical approach to design and workmanship. Filled with personal anecdotes and hundreds of photographs that Carpenter took over a 50-year span, the book's chapters have titles ranging from “Wood”, “Tools” and “Chairs” to “Beauty”, “Metaphor” and “Bohemian Economics”. (from here)




---------------



REFORM: Gerard O’Brien tells stories about post war California Modernism and the artists / craftsmen that have called the West Coast their home and inspiration. Take a wander into his L.A. Melrose store, REFORM, and get lost in works made in wood, ceramics, glass, and textiles. It's likely you'll see work by Peter Voulkos, Paul Tuttle, Gerald McCabe, Evelyn Ackerman, and J.B. Blunk!

6819 Melrose Ave,
Los Angeles CA 90038
323.938.1515


Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 28

Genevieve Dellinger,
designer, Portland
"Pure weird castoffs get the same respect as iconic objects, and everything works together in a totally individual way, and has helped me to see beauty in the weirdest stuff. "












Wary Meyers Tossed and Found
by Linda & John Meyers





Genevieve Dellinger
writes: I'll admit it, I am a total geek for these guys and their vision. As a longtime picker and resaler, retail and interiors junkie, and craftsperson I have looked to this book with so much admiration. The projects range from crazy simple to extra involved, but the main message is that there are no rules and that life is a total playground.

Pure weird castoffs get the same respect as iconic objects, and everything works together in a totally individual way, and has helped me to see beauty in the weirdest stuff. My husband is a fan too, but I'm not sure that he is a fan of the fact that I now bring home more random junk than ever and our basement is getting a little scary.

If ever I am just lounging around with nothing to do, I often grab this book just to page through and get excited about future projects and come up with fresh ideas. Their blog is also an almost daily stop, if only just to see the jealousy invoking stuff they score through their hunting, and to give me fresh motivation on my hunts."
















Shell Magazine Issue 2/3, 1977.


"My other book, Shell Magazine Issue 2/3, is something I recently dug out of my boxes (while finally building myself some new bookshelves 2 years after moving into my house). This was a really good find from when I lived in Upstate New York and combed through stacks of garbage and free piles and people's weird homes and yard sales and anything else to find the gems that all the intellectual New York City fallout that has trickled up into that area has had stashed away for 35 years, to resell at our storefront on Warren St in Hudson.

I saw a lot of amazing stuff during that time, most of which made it's way onto pastures greener than my own, but this one I couldn't let go...it's just too cool. I've never really been able to dig up any information on the publication (maybe because googling "Shell Magazine" tends to bring up an avalanche of gun sites?) so I just kind of let it maintain it's mysterious aura. I like to leaf through it when I need to feel really cool for a minute and fantasize about the New York City literary scene at the end of the 70's. (Additionally if anyone knows anything about this publication, I really would love to know more!)

Includes, among others, poems by Charles Plymell, Andrei Codrescu and Ira Cohen.
Short story and poems by William S. Burroughs!

Cover photo by Lucas Samaras.









--------------------






Genevieve Dellinger, in her own words! "I’m Genevieve, a DJ and designer working in Portland Oregon with my husband and one dear dog. In the day I work as a creative administrator at Wieden + Kennedy. Me and Matt (hub) and Ola (pooch) live in a tiny bungalow which we like to fill with music and friends, as well as a pile of nice stuff."

In YHBHS words: "To say that I am amazed by Genevieve Dellinger's precise talents & overall explorations is a huge understatement. Her blog Tell You Today is a daily read, her musical project LINGER & QUIET is on constant rotation at the office and home. We've built a friendship based on art, music, and email correspondence:) (truly a 21st century pen pal, I'd say!) I'm psyched and truly honored our paths crossed!"







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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 27

Kevin Beer,
artist & designer, Hollywood
"This book is a constant reminder that perfection does not have to mean brand new."











Vestiges of Grandeur: Plantations of Louisiana's River Road
by Richard Sexton, with an introduction by Eugene Cizek



Kevin Beer
writes: "This book gives me great comfort. Visually, it supplies me with a since of refinement that is nearly impossible to find in Hollywood. Emotionally, it connects me to my past family roots and the land my ancestors came from. This book is a constant reminder that perfection does not have to mean brand new. Most of the rooms featured are classical proportioned, climate inspired, and modestly furnished. All these elements I try to achieve in my own design. I love this book. "

















"Published in 1999, Vestiges of Grandeur is perhaps best described as a companion volume to New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence. This project focuses on the historic plantation architecture of the River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. In many ways, Vestiges of Grandeur is a refinement of the photo-essay approach that proved so successful in Elegance and Decadence. The subject matter, though, is more somber. Whereas Elegance and Decadence was a celebration, Vestiges of Grandeur is more of a lament. Also, Vestiges is more journalistically ambitious and seeks to present a more definitive picture of its subject."


via Richard Sexton Studio, go here....
















Kevin Beer is an artist-designer living in an old house in the heart of Hollywood. He has come to realize you never get discovered in Hollywood, you discover Hollywood. In his words: "I am a designer, an artist, and a dealer of antique and vintage decorative arts. I design residential and commercial interior and exterior spaces. When I'm not designing, I'm sleeping, and even then I may shout out colors. My passion as well, is collecting and selling decorative arts. I am a treasure hunter. "



go to Kevin's site, Hollywood forever, Kevin











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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 26

Galerie Half, Los Angeles
Cameron Smith & Cliff Fong











2 Selections by Cliff Fong,


Fucked Up and Photocopied : Instant Art of the Punk Rock Movement
by Bryan Ray Turcotte and Christopher T. Miller

"a great reference for all things punk , though which one can see the strength of this movement's on fashion, culture , design and history in general."
















"it's inspiring to have an aperture into this great designer's world; his philosophy, purity , restraint and ingenuity."




-----------------



(text via publisher)

"Chareau's work was aggressively innovative and distinctly modern: in 1939 he turned packing containers into furniture for the French government. He boldly worked with materials out of context--turning stone into a lampshade--and built on the art nouveau tradition of combining disparate materials such as metal, wood, and glass into a desk or chair. Mobility and transparency are the leitmotifs of his work. Contemporary readers flipping through the pages of this book will find that the screens, built-in furniture, and moving walls of his interiors look very familiar. But in the '20s and '30s, when most of the work was designed, it verged on revolutionary.

Chareau's furniture, even his rooms, curve around themselves, fan out into triangular elements, combine clean lines and lush upholstery fabrics. He was at his best when he combined his talents as architect and designer to come up with a bathtub-bookshelf unit, a screened washing area, and a table lamp easily mistaken for a sculpture. "


(via here)




















1 Selection by Cameron Smith,


Andreas Gursky
by Norman Bryson & Werner Spies (Rizzoli)

"his untouched photographic overviews whether a packed dance floor or a formula 1 racetrack in bahrain in large format are simply inspired, captivating and redundant in their beauty"




--------------


(text below via publisher)

"Following the 2010 exhibition at Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills, this magnificent set of slipcased books captures the grandness and lushness of the epic photographs of Andreas Gursky, one of the world’s greatest living photographers. In these new works, Gursky demonstrates that a photographer can make or construct--rather than simply take--photographs about modern life and produce them on the scale of epic painting. Just as history painters of previous centuries found their subjects in the realities of everyday life, he seeks inspiration in his observations of the human species in the world, whether firsthand or via reports of global phenomena in the daily media."





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GALERIE HALF

The NYT Fall 2010 writes, "In Cameron Smith and Clifford Fong’s large, airy space, pieces by Jean Prouve and Arne Jacobsen sit next to humble found items like a Parisian park bench or a primitive American harvest table. Keep one eye on the door; it’s also a good place for people watching."

YHBHS writes: "Simply stated: this store will blow your mind with all the design that is packed into one room! Smell the history, and look at lamps that could bring you to tears!" If you are in Los Angeles, go check out their Melrose location.... If you are outside of Los Angeles, go to their site to see more...




g a l e r i e h a l f

6911 Melrose Avenue;
(323) 424-3866;
galeriehalf.com





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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 25

Paulette Pascarella, interior designer, New York
"Charlotte most assuredly had a life force, and it was her tireless curiosity, which led her to travel with her eyes, translating those lessons into forms."




























Charlotte Perriand, Et Le Japon
,
written by Jacques Barsac, published by Norma Editions



-----


Paulette Pascarella sent an inspired entry to the YHBHS Card Catalog. I've read her exquisitely curated blog, Dialog with Paulette Pascarella, (go here to her site) for about a year now. Though we've never met in person, I know we share the same passion for design, interiors, and art. She writes:





A creative life does not exist in a vacuum.


French designer, Charlotte Perriand, collaborated with the big guys; Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, Jean Prouvé, and Lucio Costa, but I like to think her time spent in Japan, was another big influence. Charlotte most assuredly had a life force, and it was her tireless curiosity, which led her to travel with her eyes, translating those lessons into forms.

Charlotte Perriand, Et Le Japon, written by Jacques Barsac, published by Norma Editions, is a beautiful monograph on Perriand and the influence of Japanese design and craft on her work. The visuals of this book tell the story, with many of the photographs taken by Charlotte. It is the final photograph in the book, by Lord Snowdon taken in 1989, which I find most intriguing.

The photograph shows Charlotte Perriand in stylized vernacular Japanese clothing, without the accoutrements of her designs, suggesting the power and authority of this Design Icon.























Paulette Pascarella Design
(PPD) is a New York based Interior Design firm focusing on the design of high-end residential and commercial interiors. Principal, Paulette Pascarella’s terrain of design begins through the lens of a curator working both solely and collaboratively as a multi disciplinary design studio.

PPD has a unique concentration in working with both renowned Interior designers, private clients as well as collaborating with Architects to create significant interiors. This dual strategy has allowed a developed language applicable to a working process of applied objectives, pragmatic solutions and aesthetic vitality. This practice ultimately enriches, diversifies and expands both firms artistic and value base.

PPD has a diverse clientele and treats each commission like a piece of artwork with balance, line, scale and clarity of form. PPD’s work ranges from design of complete full-scale interiors, curating of small-scale projects, installations and bespoke furniture. Exploring the relationship between art and culture our work seeks innovative ways to translate elements of timeless design and edited sensibility suited for modern living.















all images from Charlotte Perriand, Et Le Japon,
(thank you Paulette.....)










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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 24

Suzy Annetta
, interior designer,
HONG KONG

"Maria Pergay has managed to create art that looks refined, elegant and luxurious from a material that is normally considered cold and hard..."













“Maria Pergay: Between Ideas and Design”
by Suzanne Demisch.



Suzy Annetta writes, "In terms of art and craft intersecting, I’d have to say the monograph on Maria Pergay comes to mind immediately. “Maria Pergay: Between Ideas and Design” by Suzanne Demisch. I love this book and find so many of her pieces so inspiring because he work is so unique. She is truly an artist. Pergay has managed to create art that looks refined, elegant and luxurious from a material that is normally considered cold and hard. Truly inspiring."



----------------




(buy it here)

"At a recent auction, after two of Maria Pergay's 1970s steel chairs sold for seven times their high estimate, an observer told The New York Times that was "the most exciting bidding of the sale, because it was fashion." Over Pergay's 50 year and-counting career, her sophisticated objects, furniture and decor have brought her a following that has included Salvador Dal', Pierre Cardin and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, but they have only recently gained recognition among design collectors, curators and aficionados.

Maria Pergay: Between Ideas and Design
is the first in-depth survey of the designer's remarkable life and work. Beginning with the 1950s and continuing to the present, it features over 200 photographs of interiors and furniture, archival illustrations from her personal collection--most of which have never before been published--and a candid interview. The end product is equal parts authoritative reference, source of rare insight and aesthetic journey into the lifestyle of the cultural and social elite of the late 60s and early 70s."
(text via artbook)





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Suzy Annetta
, of STUDIO ANNETTA, is lover of early 20th Century design — especially the French designers — Suzy is highly influenced by this aesthetic in her work. However, she also draws inspiration from nature, fashion, the decorative arts and her travels. Suzy believes in not following passing trends but in using harmonious elements to create a symphonic environment. Whatever the style of the space she works with, Suzy strives to create refined yet comfortable interiors.








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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 23

Walter Van Beirendonck
, fashion designer, artist
"my collection AVATAR was inspired by this book!"








Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson




While stuck in Munich due to snow, Walter Van Beirendonck writes:

"The book that inspired me enormously and which introduced me to the new digital worlds, is now probably dated, but i loved it than,back in (i think) 1992. It was called SNOWCRASH. My collection AVATAR was inspired by the book! I'm writing this mail on Munich-airport,waiting for a delayed flight dued to the SNOW! ....another kind of snowcrash!"





--------





plot summary taken from here...

"The story begins and ends in Los Angeles, which is no longer part of what is left of the United States, during the early 21st century. In this hypothetical future reality the federal government of the United States has ceded most of its power to private organizations and entrepreneurs. Franchising, individual sovereignty and private vehicles reign (along with drug trafficking, violent crime, and traffic congestion). Mercenary armies compete for national defense contracts while private security guards preserve the peace in gated, sovereign housing developments.

Highway companies compete to attract drivers to their roads rather than the competitors', and all mail delivery is by hired courier. The remnants of government maintain authority only in isolated compounds where they transact tedious make-work that is, by and large, irrelevant to the dynamic society around them."






---------------------






Walter Van Beirendonck
is considered to be one of the main trend-setters in men’s fashion by the professional press. His designs are very recognisable by either strong graphics or innovating cuts and unexpected colour combinations.

Walter works besides the collections, regularly on projects: Designing costumes for theater, ballet and film, curating expositions, designing objects, think-thank for commercial projects and products,image-making for pop-groups, illustrating books, designing commercial collections... Walter is buyer for the 'Walter'-store and co-curator for the 'Window'-gallery.



visit his site here....








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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 22

Andrew Russeth, writer, 16 Miles
"He makes art matter in these essays. And in doing so, he is consistently hilarious, precise, and brutal. Twenty years later, that work is thrilling, inspiring, and daunting to read.













Peter Schjeldahl
"The 7 Days Art Columns, 1988-1990"
Published by The Figures, 1990




Andrew Russeth writes, "From March 1988 to April 1990, Peter Schjeldahl, who is now art critic for the New Yorker, wrote a regular column for the gone-in-a-second New York weekly 7 Days. In that stretch, the culture wars began in earnest, AIDS continued to devastate American society, Thomas Krens became director of the Guggenheim, the Berlin Wall fell, and international art fairs expanded, as money flowed rapidly into the art world. All the while, Schjeldahl managed to address each of these issues in his reviews, elegantly connecting what he saw in galleries to the broader world. He makes art matter in these essays. And in doing so, he is consistently hilarious, precise, and brutal. Twenty years later, that work is thrilling, inspiring, and daunting to read.

Again and again, he proves to be fearless and efficient in stating and arguing his views. Take, for instance, his March 1989 article following the removal of Richard Serra's gigantic steel sculpture Titled Arc, after years of debate, from a public plaza in downtown Manhattan. While many in the art world decried the gesture, Schjeldahl confessed his joy. "You may or may not feel, as I do, sweet relief, like that of a child when the school bully moves away," he wrote, noting that Serra had reportedly told an interviewer that his opposition to the work had the feel "of fascism."
What more could a working critic ask for?













"Of course, unless it is joined with intelligence, good judgment, and a wide range of knowledge, fearlessness is worthless in an art critic. Thankfully, it goes without saying that Schjeldahl is never short of these attributes, jumping nimbly between topics as diverse as a Velazquz retrospective at the Met — "Velazquez is Mr. Cool," he writes. "If he were a rock singer, he would be Roy Orbison." — to an Elizabeth Murray show at the Whitney — "The sensation is like a full-body massage from a beautiful Swede who is on the verge of forgetting his or her professional detachment." The book is packed full of treasures like these.


On occasion, he sneaks off of the gallery and museum circuit (this is where things really get interesting), writing about baseball, journeys to Madrid and Berlin, and fireworks (they are a passion). But my favorite surprise is his report of a November 1988 auction at Christie's. "I was there because the eating of art by the rich this year is a bigger story than anything that might conceivably be happening in studios, galleries, or museums," he writes, a full twenty years before contemporary art auctions would reach their greatest peaks. He writes, with terrifying prescience, but also with what I read as a potent and refreshing faith in art criticism:


"… I foresee as a sure, short-term bet the rise of ambitious artists intimately attuned to the psychic wave-lengths of major money. Some of these artists, of whom Jeff Koons is a harbinger, will be very good, and I will like them — all the while dreaming of a great big set of scissors, in the hands of history, going snip snip snip, severing velvet ropes."






---------------------




16 Miles of String
covers contemporary art and art history, usually in or around New York City. It is published by Andrew Russeth.
Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 21

Brion Nuda Rosch, artist












ARIZONA HIGHWAYS


"My father stopped the car overlooking a hand painted wood sign declaring our future. LAND FOR SALE / 50 ACRES. I stepped on a cactus. I was eight years old, maybe nine.

Growing up, we moved very often and my father did not trust airplanes. Before I entered high school I had seen the entire country from the back seat of our family Oldsmobile.

On Easter we would drive from Denver to Phoenix. I remember my mother sitting in the front seat covered by the sun, making whimsical remarks concerning the changing colors of the landscape. My father would daydream. I sat in the back, pulling cactus needles from my foot.













I wore a jacket with Michigan stitched along the back. We had never lived in Michigan, and this particular drive began far from Michigan. Welcome to Connecticut – Son. A year later I broke my nose, or Mike did actually, punched me square in the face. I understand now - it was confusing then, a boy from Colorado wearing a Michigan jacket. Mike had never been to either state and this particular conundrum must have angered him.














My father was a businessman and my mother was a HIPPY.
HIPPY may not be the right word.
In fact she was NOT a HIPPY.
There were no HIPPIES in Arizona, only Cowboys and Indians.
My father was a Cowboy, my mother an Indian.
















We would stop along the side of the road to buy turquoise from Indians. The stones were laid out over large blankets. Years later I returned on my own, the Indians were not there. The local bartender told me they all opened casinos. “I guess it’s time we pay them back”, he said.

Walking down the street in San Francisco with my wife, I found an old box filled with Arizona Highways.

I took all I could.

I am HOME."








----------------------







Brion Nuda Rosch
currently lives and works in San Francisco. It has been many years since he has driven across the country. Studio time is shared with the curatorial direction of Hallway Projects including the One Day Artist Residency program and the now closed art reference blog Something Home Something. A recent residency with SFMOMA's Open Space involved blindfolded visits to the museum, recorded conversations and interventions, and pairing Sesame Street animations along side Jiddu Krishnamurti, Joseph Campbell, and E. H. Gombrich. http://blog.sfmoma.org/authors/alumni/brionnudarosch/
















---------------------------------





Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 20

Andrew Post of
An Ambitious Project Collapsing
, New York
"Every little mistake, mark, stain, scrape, smear and gesture makes it through."


























Joseph Beuys:
Bleistiftzeichnungen aus den Jahren 1946-1964
published by Propyläen, 1973



"I found this book 3 or 4 years ago tucked up on the top of a shelf in the back room of a bookstore in New York. There are more than a handful of books on / of Beuys' drawings (good and bad), but I haven't seen one that comes close to the quality of these reproductions. Every little mistake, mark, stain, scrape, smear and gesture makes it through."

- Andrew Post




















Andrew Post... born and raised on the west coast, Andrew Post now lives and works in New York, where he maintains the blog An Ambitious Project Collapsing.













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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 19

Liz Arnold, writer, New York
"“It is the hour of lamps."










My Mother's House and Sido
,
by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette



"As a writer obsessed with interiors and how we live in them, I’m completely absorbed in rereading La Maison de Claudine by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. The 1922 novel, translated as My Mother’s House by the beloved author known as Colette, is a collection of portraits about the author’s family, particularly the mother-daughter bond, using memories in the home to develop character relationships.

In one of my favorite vignettes, the young Colette is rhapsodizing to a childhood friend at dusk about her dreams of becoming a world traveler. But she sees the glow of the lamp in the window of her home, and her mother’s silver thimble as she sews inside. “It is the hour of lamps,” she writes. Colette heeds the feminine call, returning quickly to her mother and setting up the reader for the subtle conflict that plays out in the rather plotless but beautiful book: the tension between mother and daughter, the intimate and public, and the traditional and the hope for change."


- Liz Arnold





-----------------




Liz Arnold is the author of Homebodies, a blog about the homes of people she visits. She also writes about homes she’s never visited for a number of glossy shelter magazines. Her work has appeared in Real Simple, Luxe Interiors + Design, The Guardian, and The New York Times, among others. Liz is working toward her MFA in nonfiction at the Bennington Writing Seminars. She’ll graduate in June.








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Y H B H S (card catalog) selection 18

MINUS SPACE, Brookyln, NY
"It includes everything I like: artist couples, an international dialogue and exchange of ideas, the merging of art and design, etc."














Anni und Josef Albers:
Begegnung mit Lateinamerika
Anni and Josef Albers: Encounter with Latin America



"It's a book that I just received as a gift from an artist colleague based in Berlin, the subject of which I believe is highly appropriate for both our audiences. It includes everything I like: artist couples, an international dialogue and exchange of ideas, the merging of art and design, etc."








---------







from Hatja Canta Verlag:

"Featuring letters and manuscripts by Anni and Josef Albers, this catalogue is the first to document the influence of Central and South America on the work of this couple's work.

It argues that their art would not have been conceivable without their encounter with the southern continent. Anni Albers’ weavings, drawings, and painted studies demonstrate her in-depth knowledge of pre-Columbian textiles. Similarly, the paintings and photographs by Josef Albers testify to the way he developed his special sense of color in Mexico, and how he continued to further inform his own independent concept of photography."







------------




MINUS SPACE is a platform for reductive art on the international level. Reductive art is generally characterized by its use of plainspoken materials, monochromatic or limited color, geometry and pattern, repetition and seriality, precise craftsmanship, and intellectual rigor. Reductive art is inclusive and pluralistic in its approach, including geographic location, age, gender, medium, artistic strategy, and content of work.

In addition to our comprehensive web site, we operate a gallery in Brooklyn where we mount solo and group exhibitions of pioneering emerging and established American and international artists. Our gallery is the only venue of its kind in the United States, and one of only a handful of comparable spaces on the international level dedicated to reductive art.

MINUS SPACE was founded by artists Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez in 2003.





------------------------------