Meet Flipboard
I shot this ad for a lovely little Palo Alto startup company with Adam Lisagor, who directed and stars in the spot.
via atencio
I know, I know, this is an art blog, but this blog happens to reside on the internet so it’s applicable. Anywho, tell me you can watch this video and not get all al;dkhg;agh for the ipad. TELL ME! That’s right, you cant.
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.
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?
Alright, so I can actually rationalize purchasing Phaidon’s Speaking of Art, as it retails for $39.95, really isn’t that exorbadant, especially considering the content. Art Fag City summed it up well:
Randy Kennedy wrote a great piece in the New York Times last week about conceptual artist William Furlong, a man who’s spent the last 30 plus years recording artists in their studios. What I wouldn’t do to have access to that entire archive! According to Kennedy, Phaidon Press has published Speaking of Art: Four Decades of Art in Conversation (Cookery)
which contains a fraction of the conversations he’s had over the years, and the Tate Britain has four hours worth on their website.
A 1993 talk with Richard Serra wanders onto his favorite material — Cor-Ten steel — and Mr. Serra seizes the opportunity to castigate his sculptural predecessors, from Picasso to Calder, for using steel as “the handmaiden to painting” instead of using it for its intrinsic qualities. James Rosenquist, prodded in 2006 about how he gets his ideas, says, “I’m not going to tell you my secrets” and then boasts that what he has in the works will “blow everyone’s socks off.” Sarah Lucas, amid talk of androgyny and Surrealism, mentions that she does not feel comfortable wearing floral prints. A 2003 audience with Damien Hirst somehow finds its way to Mr. Hirst’s mother.
I guess technically this is only a “Book I Want, Do Not Have”.
Anywho, here’s to keeping an eye out for this one at bookstores.*
*I’m starting to spend too much money on S&H.
“Book I Want, Do Not Have, Cannot Afford” double-duty-Wednesday edition.
Now here’s the deal with this situation, I want these books. Individually they aren’t too bad, 13 Euros each, but that is if you live across that bloody pond. Which I don’t. You know how much they are in the good ‘ole US of A? $59.95…BEFORE SHIPPING! I just don’t understand why international boundaries are keeping me from curling up in a chair with some proseco on a lovely Sunday afternoon and reading these by my make-shift garden*. Damn you Greenbox for being located somewhere not close. And damn you lottery for repeatedly not picking my numbers.
In case you judge books by more than their covers:
If you have access to a European credit card, get on this.
If you don’t, know you aren’t the only one who is sad about it.
If you don’t and have $120+ to spend on books right now, you probably have $240+ to spend on books…I know someone you could spend that extra money on. Email me.
*My kitchen sounds so much more glamorous when you read about it with your eyes as opposed to seeing it in person with your eyes.
This week in “Book I Want, Do Not Have, Cannot Afford” is Yoko Ono’s latest tome Fly Me, published by Ecstatic Peace Library. It’s a limited edition, only 2,500 are being printed, and it’s an odd size, 11.75”x17.75”, so I guess the $100 pricetag are justified…I GUESS. Oh, did I also mention you can fly it, because it’s a kite.
Her latest book, appropriately titled “Fly Me” can be unfolded into a 30 x 36 inch, totally flyable kite. Each page of the hand-bound book made of soy-based inks, 100 percent recycled paper, and hand-carved oak, has Yoko-minded inspirational advice, such as “Imagine Peace” and “Fly.” Sonic Youth front-man Thurston Moore thought the book was so rad, he had to publish it himself.
Now, I don’t know if I would be flying it anytime soon, but I would sure look at it, and coo at it, and maybe be so bold as to unfold it in the safety of my windless apartment.
Taschen, Taschen, Taschen. Why do you do this to me? You dangle a THREE VOLUME Julius Schulman collection in front of me and I immediately have visions of me curled up in my reading nook, in good afternoon light, delicately turning each page…Daydream ruined when I see the price tag of $300. I’m not saying it’s not worth that, in fact, that seems like a deal considering what you are getting. What I am saying, I don’t have $300 extra to spend on books, not even when they are that pretty, and now I am sad…
But wait! What is this?! Do I see a mini Meier book for a mere $9.99? Thank you Taschen, consider me assuaged…for now.
