Taschen and the folks behind Wooster Collective have teamed up to bring us Tresspass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art. I know the cover is a little cheesy, but I am looking forward to picking up this book when it comes out* and seeing what they have and maybe educating myself on some Urban Art.
*September 2010..so, next week?
Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe Hello Meth Lab in the Sun, 2009
I can’t tell if this is a “Book I Want” or if I have just been watching too much Breaking Bad?
Now, while this isn’t necessarily a book I can’t afford, I just checked the exchange rate and it comes out to be about $33.40, I am leery of international shipping costs.
It is a documentatry work about this city in Azerbaijan, suffering a loss of identity not through degradation but through a skyrocketing economy, creating a market with no or little concerne for cultural heritage.
Its changes in the current century however are especially grave: land prices rocket high and alone between the years 2000 an 2008 about 800 new high-rise buildings have been built. Though Azerbaijan´s rich in architectonical heritage: Wilhelminian styled buildings, Boulevards and great promenades form the cityscape award Baku a European flair although its core is even oriental. The new apartments are often vacant, not seldom they are bought only as an investment. In the course of this rapid change a lot of Azerbaijanian cultural heritage from the times around 1900 is about to be replaced. S.B.
Here are some good pictures of the special edition with concrete slip case.
He is financing the book with a pre-sale offer which seems very reasonable at 26 euro, and if you like, your name will be listed as a supporter.
Get all the info here.
via…
It’s just so pretty!
Natasha (and other swell contributors) wrote a great book that Publisher’s Weekly calls “an entertaining read and the definitive companion book for the series.”
It’s out today, and you should buy it.
via atencio
Agreed.
Billy Al Bengston and Edward Ruscha Business Cards 1968
Would you consider this a “Book I Want” or “Unattainable Art Piece”*? Is it the kind of object you would put in a glass box and only take out when you have your kid gloves on or something you enjoy on your bookshelf and proudly show off whenever company comes over? Does it matter which? Probably not. Am I lusting after it? Of course, who wouldn’t?
8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, unnumbered pages, wrappers.
Signed by Ruscha in red pen above photograph attached to front cover with black photo corners.
Intitialed by Bengston in black ink on front cover below photograph.
Business cards of each artist stapled to final leaf in book.
Each copy of the book was hand bound by the artists using a leather cord knotted at two points on the front cover.
Engberg, Ruscha Catalogue Raisonne No. B7. $3000.00
Too good right?
*FOR NOW!!!
So after a bit of searching on some really poorly designed websites associated with this book I finally found where it can be purchased for € 35.00. Ok, conversion rates, today the conversion rate puts this at $44.26 minus shipping and handling, which I will guesstimate will be at least $20 considering it is overseas, putting the total at around $65. Dangit. Why does everyone want to punish my insatiable curiosity, undying desire to own lots of pretty books and my pathetic bank account, ALL THE TIME!? Curses, I say! Curses!
Between Fall 2008 and Spring 2009, Witte de With organized three symposia under the title Rotterdam Dialogues, subtitled in turn The Critics, The Curators, The Artists. Each event focused on one agent in the art world, looking at their expectations, positions and the contexts in which they operate. The speakers included the most sought-after names in their field, emerging talents, as well as representatives of alternative production from around the world. The sense of critical mass was palpable throughout and mounted with each symposium, yet each gathering had its own tone and its own set of concerns. The mood was dissonant, constructive and, it must be said, entertaining.
This book is a site where the voices of these three distinct cultural agents come together. If it cannot quite capture the lively excitement of 35 international critics, 48 curators and 57 artists, not to mention the 500+ visitors who attended the symposia, it can highlight the individual spirit of many of the discussions. Contained within are selected transcripts from each symposium, the outcomes of the associated workshops, and a freewheeling section of responses to the question “What are you talking about now?” asked to all the guests in the months that followed the symposia.
Here we go again, with my neediest feature on my little ‘ole blog, “Book I Want, Do Not Have, Can Not Afford”. This weeks installment is the gorgeous tome from Phaidon, a monograph on the inimitable Anish Kapoor. Even if Kapoor wasn’t an all-time fave, the gorgeous ombre cover is a work of art in itself. If you break it down, $95 for 528 pages isn’t too bad, but when I break it down, I also like paying my electricity bill so the food in my refrigerator doesn’t go bad. However, reading the description isn’t helping with my trigger happy buying finger:
Anish Kapoor’s sculptures are as mysterious as they are beautiful. Although they employ a wide range of traditional and non-traditional materials, from alabaster to polished steel to vaseline, their real subject is often immaterial and ungraspable: a chasm, a reflection, a column of air. Kapoor belongs to a generation of British sculptors (Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Antony Gormley) who revived sculpture by injecting it with new vitality, even playfulness, in the wake of Minimalism. It should come as no surprise, then, that he is one of the best-loved artists working today, the recipient of numerous international awards (including the Turner Prize) and the creative force behind some of the most popular public sculptures in contemporary art, including Marsyas in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall (2002) and Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millennium Park (2004). This generously illustrated volume includes hundreds of artworks spanning Kapoor’s long and celebrated career, as well as perceptive new essays by David Anfam and Johanna Burton and an insightful interview by Donna De Salvo.
I can’t tell if this recording of Olafur Eliasson’s Blind Pavilion is tedious or brilliant. It’s not long, just about 3 and a half minutes, but it’s interesting to be “reading” a book from the perspective of someone else, at their pace, at their glance. Thoughts?
