The Flog.

The San Francisco based collective Hamburger Eyes is invading Los Angeles this weekend starting with a show at Hope Gallery.
The communal photographic project which started in 2002 with B&W xeroxed paper is now the magazine published tri-annually, still in B&W but off-set printed and in an edition of 3000 copies.

At the beginning of the year, they published a book with powerHouse Books. Check the post on Fecal Face about the massive show they had at the Arena back in March for the release of the volume.

The show slash book release opens Saturday May 3rd from 7 to 10 pm at Hope Gallery.

(Left image, flyer for the LA show. Middle & right image from Amazon, Hamburger Eyes: Inside Burgerworld (Hardcover))

To stay on the photographic topic Film is not dead it just smells funny is somewhat like a serious side of my Friday Flickr Finds dedicated to film photography (you know, as opposed to digital).
It’s Film son. Nothing else on the world smells like that. I love the smell of argentic film in the morning…
(Thanks Michael!)

(All images from FINDIJSF. Left Joel Aron, April Snow in Red Square - Leica M6, Leica Summicron 35mm, Ilford Delta 100. Flickr Ref. Middle Michael Napper, nomad (in a landscape) - Agfa Isolette I, Kodak Plus-X. Flickr Ref. Right Sean Wood, no title - Hasselblad 503cx, 50mm Distagon cf T*, Fuji neopan 400. Flickr Ref.)

I received this delicious book while in New York for the fairs and didn’t take the time to feature it on the site yet.
Elsa Sahal is a french artist whose ceramic work I truly love. I have been quite enthusiast by the progression of her work and this catalogue features a great amount of works which have never been shown before, along with an interview with the artist (both in french & english).
Her recent body of work were created while in residency at the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres - the famous french porcelain manufactory.

The catalogue was published in the occasion of the exhibition Sculptures at the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard from March 10 to April 5, 2008. It features fabulous shots of her work along with an interview with the artist.

(All images from HEY HO Design Studio.)

While browsing the Fondation Ricard’s website, I stumbled upon this upcoming event in Paris. Le Lundi c’est théorie (Monday is Theory) will mark the closing conference and party with all of the authors who collaborated to Fresh Théorie, a compendium of essays on a variety of domains, from philosophy to cryptology, from the arts to pornography published by Léo Scheer.
I have only read the second opus - they have published three books so far - and have been craving for more since my last french trip. As the title denotes with its amusing use of french and english, this compilation is more playful than burdensome. The tone is light-hearted without turning vapid and some essays are truly creative.

(All images from Fresh Théorie.)

Nieves Library @Ooga Booga (March 7 – April 3, 2008)

Last weekend I finally checked the fabulous Nieves exhibition at Ooga Booga and will post my shots closely right after this.
Today, the publisher released three new great zines Frédéric Fleury: Obnivorious, Körner Union / Reala Kö: Mix Sany Mix & Kim Hiorthøy: What We Must.

I am pretty thrilled to announce that I will be exhibiting Fleury’s work, alongside Isabelle Boinot, Emmanuelle Pidoux, Frédéric Poincelet, and Stephane Prigent, all members of the collective Frédéric Magazine, this summer at the space.

(All images from Nieves, left is Frédéric Fleury’s inside spread. Middle is Körner Union and Reala’s inside spread and right is Kim Hiorthøy’s inside spread.)

JRP Ringier has released the first monograph of LA based artist Meg Cranston, Hot Pants in a Cold Cold World - Works 1987-2007. The volume was published in collaboration with Artspace, Auckland, NZ.
Cranston is one of the artists featured in the exhibition California Video which is currently on view at the Getty until June 8th. This will come fast. The show is a definite must see, so bring your most comfortable headphones for a day of video browsing. (Unfortunately, tea sipping is forbidden while watching.)

(All images from JRP Ringier)

I meant to write about this site for a while now. Hol Art Books is a new publisher dedicated to great writing on visual art. Under the guidance of founder Greg Albers, the site provides a platform for people to submit a literary project and/or choose a book to be published.

From the press release:
__From theory to fiction, we publish and promote books that are enjoyable, engaging, and enlightening reading. We are now in the process of putting together seed teams to publish our first books, for release in the fall of 2009. We will publish original works, reprints and new editions of older titles, and new translations of foreign language works—all in simultaneous paperback, hardcover and ebook formats whenever possible.

The idea is generous and is another interesting and optimistic step in the changing direction of independent publication and distribution of artistic essentials.
This brings certain questions to mind: How can one judge the release of one cultural item over another? Can the distribution of art become a social service as opposed to the current capitalistic condition?
Whether in the field of music, visual art or writing, we can see a shift taking place and this is pretty exciting.
With the raise of the one-person accounts, through blogs and other people generated initiatives, ones project and artistic creation can now easily be seen and appreciated by a very large amount of people in a brief amount of time. The classic middle woman/man with her/his power to compile who is worth showing and distributing someone over someone else doesn’t carry as much weight any more.
Sure I am going to take the example of what happened with the release of both Radiohead and NIN’s last albums, and it might seem trivial, yet these mark an interesting turn in the history of self-release.
Let’s see what it will mean for the visual arts spectrum. I bet on Self Released Art Fairs! You read it here First! (Edit: Or you know, maybe!)

(All images scans of books from Hol, left is Emile Zola, The Masterpiece, middle is Dietmar Elger, Gerhard Richter, Maler, and right is Roger Cardinal, Outsider Art)

Starting tonight and for the next days, books and publications will be celebrated.

Family, the exquisite bookstore on Fairfax is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a colossal “Thank You” group show inside the shop. The list of artists involved is already quite a treat to read, I can’t wait to see the work in person tonight!
The opening is at 8 pm. The show runs until March 31st.

(Left image, etching by Ashley Macomber, on view at the Family group show. Middle image, cover of Pulture book, by Darren Bader and published by 2nd Cannons. Right image, piece of the flyer by Geoff McFetridge for the Nieves Library Show at Ooga Booga)

On Friday, corduroy magazine will celebrate the release of their second issue at Mandrake in collaboration with Poketo. The event starts at 9 pm and goes on until 2 am. Side Cars will flow! RSVP@corduroymag.com.

On Saturday, Brian Kennon invites you to the book release party and exhibition of Darren Bader. Come meet the men from 6 to 9 pm at 2nd Cannons Project Space in Chinatown. A few other galleries have their openings scheduled that evening. Check the calendar.

Finally, I am delighted to announce that Nieves is coming to LA! The beloved Swiss publisher will present their tremendous collection of publications at Ooga Booga for a close-to-one-month long exhibition featuring works from 2001 to the present. If you have been reading the flog for a while now, you know that Nieves holds a dear place in my brains. Congrats Benjamin!
It will be quite emotional to browse such a crazy amount of rare and out of prints books from their collection.
Also, some of the artists published will be signing works each Thursday from 7 to 9 pm.
LA based artist Geoff McFetridge inaugurates the ball March 6th for the opening, then March 13th you have Mike Mills, March 29th Mari Eastman and March 27th Ari Marcopoulos. Too bad Rita Ackerman isn’t part of the signing session. Her new volume looks quite fabulous. Look at the format, 15×40 cm!

Tiny Showcase invited London based artist Cornelia O’Donovan to collaborate on their next limited edition of 100 prints. The sale starts tonight at 7:30 EST pm and I am curious to see which piece will be featured.

Canadian artist Beau Labute published his first zine with Nieves. Night Mewves looks quite dark yet playful. Love it.
Specs: 24 Pages, 14 x 20 cm, b/w Photocopy, Edition of 150. $8.

(Left image from Cornelia O’Donovan’s website. Middle and right image from Nieves, cover and inside spread from Beau Labute’s new zine)

Zurich based artist Andro Wekua collaborated with Nieves for the fourth time. Shadows on the Facade is 24 Pages, 19.5 x 25.5 cm, Color Offset, First Edition. $16.

Check also kilchmanngalerie for more info on the artist.

(All images from Nieves)

The always exciting spanish magazine ROJO is finally coming to the West Coast! And of course, they pick the evening of my own opening to take over the city of LA.

So to celebrate the release of ROJO®fortwo, the guys are throwing a party at smart house (1319 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. CA 90291 - map) which I believe is the new joint to grab another fancy yet non-clean vehicle.
The event will take place Friday, November 2nd, from 7 to 11 pm and you will need to RSVP (smartrojo@laforce-stevens.com)

The contributors for this issue include MWM, Friends with You, Holly Stevenson, Deanne Cheuk, Chet Purtilar, Jemma Hostetler, Dalek, Ben Summers, Yoshi Tajima, Bruno 9li, Yoshi Sodeoka, Evgeny Kiselev, Vanessa da Silva, Cristiano Trindade, Meomi, Todd Tourso, Justine Ashbee, Tofer, Alex Prager, Catalina Estrada, Amir H. Fallah, Sergei Sviatchenko. You might recognize a bunch of LA artists in there.

(All images from ROJO)

LA based artist Julie Lequin was invited to participate in a new series of DVDs which will be released by the East Cost publisher J&L October 1st.
__”J&L Video compiles films and animations from around the world with a sensibility of the real and the absurd.”

Other artists include Harrell Fletcher, Ted Gesing, Amy Von Harrington, Andrew Lampert, Oliver Laric, Julie Lequin, Matt McCormick, Tim McConville, Shana Moulton, Serge Onnen, Ed Panar, Mary Robertson, Will Rogan, Catherine Ross and Joon Sung.

Shana Moulton’s work was recently included in the Summer Loving Series of screenings and performances at Circus Gallery.

But now I am waiting for The Ice Tree Skating Opera Book/DVD to finally come out from 2nd Cannons. In the meantime, I will be watching the preview Julie concocted for us all to wait patiently.

(All images from J&L, screen captures from J&L Video)