Arcana: Books on the Arts

For the avid art explorer no visit to Los Angeles is complete without a few hours page-turning in arguably one of the world’s finest bookstores. Arcana: Books on the Arts has been the go-to purveyors for specialist, out of print and collectible publications on twentieth-century visual art, architecture, design, photography, film and fashion since 1984.

In 2012, Arcana founder Lee Kaplan relocated from Santa Monica to Culver City’s landmark Art Deco complex at Helms Bakery - a former bread bakery from the 1930s, now transformed into LA’s interior design district.

There is no hint of the Deco on entering the 5000 sq ft space. Bright, white lines welcome visitors into this extensive emporium of over 100,000 items collected by Kaplan himself. A kaleidoscope of covers and spines colour the minimal, monochrome space from floor to ceiling on banks of custom metal shelving. Curated by theme and alphabetised, lowfi subject dividers on upcycled cardboard slot between catalogue raisonnés and monographs of international artists and designers as well as statement tomes on iconic aesthetics, architecture or actors. Elusive publications are designated cabinet space akin to artworks in miniature white cube displays.

If book shops are for bookworms, Arcana is for butterflies. The atmosphere is elegant and serene yet electric with every book unleashed from its plastic sleeve, revealing high-quality imagery produced by the world's leading publishing houses. From little and large to minimal and extravagant, Arcana’s vast range of visual page candy is unparalleled to the bookshelves of even the grandest of museum gift shops and is a testament to its strong client base from the creative worlds of entertainment, design and fashion who visit the shop for inspiration, guided by Kaplan’s comprehensive expertise on the old, the new and the beautiful.

Arcana: Books on the Arts is open Tuesday-Sunday 11am – 7pm

The Historic Helms Bakery


8675 Washington Boulevard


Culver City, Los Angeles CA 

90232

Look out for more for future posts reporting on my visit to LA earlier this year where I explored the alternative art and design scenes across the city here on the blog, my Twitter and Instagram. 

BAFTA Art Diary

The film industry is in full swing with awards season counting down to its zenith at the Oscars next month. Before all eyes descend onto Hollywood, London will host the 67th British Academy Film Awards in celebration of film and documentary. The esteemed BAFTA awards are generally viewed as a signifier to Oscar success and with Gravity receiving the most nominations amongst a pool of brilliant talent from 2013 - including 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street and Blue Jasmine to name only a few - this year’s ceremony at the Royal Opera House will guarantee plenty of action and drama on the night.

In the run-up to this weekend’s BAFTAs I pick the most inspiring exhibitions on show in London town; from large-scale installations to intimate works of art, the capital offers a range of celebrated talent equal to that on the silver screen:

Bailey’s Stardust at the National Portrait Gallery 

If you want to know where all the stars are hanging out in London head to the National Portrait Gallery where a landmark exhibition of David Bailey’s photographs chart more than half a century of electric imagery that spans popular culture, celebrity and reportage from around the world.

Bailey's Stardust runs until 1st June 2014 at the National Portrait Gallery. 

Jack Nicholson, 1978 - David Bailey

Richard Deacon at Tate Britain

Discover Turner Prize winning sculptor, Richard Deacon’s material manipulation in a major exhibition presented at Tate Britain. A range of large-scale mixed media sculpture and organic drawings reveal Deacon’s prolific career for sinuous forms over four decades. The gallery’s recent £45million renovation is a masterpiece in the marriage of the historical and contemporary worth exploring on your visit.

Richard Deacon runs until 27th April 2014 at Tate Britain.

It's Orpheus When There's Singing #7, 1978-9 - Richard Deacon

Globe Head Ballerina at the Royal Opera House

Look no further than the venue for this year’s BAFTAs for a dose of contemporary art. In fact, look upwards along the façade of the Royal Opera House to view Yinka Shonibare, MBE’s gravity-defying public art installation Globe Head Ballerina, which takes residence with neighbouring street performers in the heart of Covent Garden on Bow and Russell Street.  Find out more about the installation commissioned by the Royal Opera House in my review Street Dance.

Globe Head Ballerina will be on display at the Royal Opera House until 2017.

Globe Head Ballerina, 2012 - Yinka Shonibare, MBE

Martin Creed at sketch

Whimsical and witty are the main ingredients to Martin Creed’s art practice. What’s the point of it? is a survey of the controversial artist’s signature works currently on show at the Hayward Gallery. To immerse yourself fully in the conceptually curious world of Creed cross over the Thames to Mayfair and pay a visit to the Gallery at sketch where the artist has redecorated with aplomb the restaurant’s famed salon; curating its furniture, furnishings, tableware and artwork as well as designing a custom marble floor. Mixed in with the culinary creations of Head Chef Pierre Gagnaire, the total effect creates one of the most stimulating rooms in the city. 
The Gallery at sketch may be viewed during the day – for dining advance reservations are strongly recommended.

 Martin Creed in the Gallery at sketch 

ICA Off-Site: Dover Street Market at Dover Street Market

Art meets fashion in the latest of the Institute of Contemporary Arts’ Off-Site projects. Returning to its former address in Mayfair, now occupied by fashion emporium Dover Street Market, a collection of rare archival material occupies the exterior and interiors of the emporium across all six floors. Not unfamiliar with in-store art interventions amongst its designer collections, Dover Street Market makes for the ideal canvas in this evocative homecoming where seminal art activity was staged between 1950-1968. More details on the blog - Back to the Future

ICA Off-Site: Dover Street Market opens this week at Dover Street Market through to 6th April 2014.

ICA Off-Site: Dover Street Market

Richard Hamilton at Tate Modern

The late British artist Richard Hamilton is affectionately known as Daddy Pop. A leading member of the Independent Group in the Fifties debating art, architecture and theory, it was at the ICA in Dover Street where the earliest work of Pop art is cited - Hamilton’s very own 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? showcased in the This Is Tomorrow exhibit. Themes of American consumer culture, celebrity and politics inspired Hamilton to create a number of influential images on art history’s timeline from the twentieth century. London pays tribute to Hamilton with an exhibition at the ICA’s main gallery on The Mall as well as with a retrospective at Tate Modern, which promises to be an immersive mash-up of the artist’s affiliation with the worlds of architecture, product design and film throughout a career that dates from the 1950s to the artist’s final series of paintings created in 2011.

Richard Hamilton opens 13th February at Tate Modern through to 26th May 2014. 

Swingeing London, 1968-9 - Richard Hamilton

Hannah Höch at Whitechapel Gallery

Head East to Whitechapel Gallery to the view the original ‘cut and paste’ works of Hannah Höch. A driving force in the development of twentieth century collage, Höch was a member of Berlin’s Dada movement and transformed everyday printed material into intimate artworks. Over one hundred collages feature in this first major exhibition in Britain and include themes on fashion, finance and feminism in a post-war Germany.

Hannah Höch runs until 23rd March 2014 at Whitechapel Gallery. 

 

Für ein Fest gemacht (Made for a Party), 1936 - Hannah Höch

Click here for a full view of my BAFTA Art Diary map of London


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Images courtesy of David Bailey, sketch London, Whitechapel Gallery
ICA and the estate of Richard Hamilton

Hotel Wes

The hottest hotel destination for 2014 is opulent and eccentric with a fine eye for detail – behold The Grand Budapest Hotel located in the wonderfully whimsical world of Wes Anderson. After his celebrated ode to summers of love in last year’s Moonrise Kingdom (The Kingdom Come, January 2012), Anderson’s latest creation is a wintery adventure of wealth, murder and romance. 

Shot through a regal spectrum of red carpets and purple tailcoats, the film director’s most beloved subject, the hotel, returns to take centre stage for a stellar cast featuring Anderson-regulars (Wilson, Murray, Dafoe, Brody, Schwartzman and Swinton) and rookies (bienvenue, willkommen and welcome Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Saoirse Ronan and Tony Revolori). The star ratings have accumulated through Anderson’s cinematic career: from a Texan motel in Bottle Rocket to the heights of the Waldorf Astoria and Hôtel Raphaël in The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited respectively. Hotel life makes for a compelling backdrop for Anderson, as it has been for his close contemporary Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Somewhere). The Grand Budapest Hotel is five-star in meticulous style and loaded Anderson-symbolism as well as elaborate substance, with an irresistible narrative of upstairs, downstairs Downton-dynamics that plays out in the hotel lobby surrounding concierge and lothario Gustave H (Fiennes) and a Dowager Countess of Grantham-inspired Madame D (Swinton). Inheritance and art fuels the ritzy drama that is distinguishably Anderson, while also proving there is much more to explore in this crazy microcosm that has earned an established cult following, which will undoubtedly command advance bookings for a night’s stay in an imaginary Hotel Wes – if only for the bespoke hotel stationery. Imagine! Have your Do Not Disturb signs at the ready for a March 2014 release...

Oscars Art Diary

Sunday 24th February 2013 means only one thing: Oscars. In its 85th year the Academy Awards will honour the finest cinematic achievements from 2012 in the City of Angels; gilding Hollywood Boulevard like the yellow-brick-road leading to the Dolby Theatre, in preparation to paint the town red in the name of the silver screen.
Los Angeles may be the sacred home of the film industry but stars are not only found inside theatres. If the gold-plated Art Deco statuette is not enough to quench your culture cravings, the city’s dynamic and evolving art scene will satisfy both high and low tastes over the awards season.

Here is my pick of the best exhibitions now on across Los Angeles:

Fifty Works for Fifty States at MOCA

An incredible exhibiting concept conceived by The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection; dedicated lifetime collector's of contemporary art who subsequently gifted artwork to the American nation through fifty institutions across the country. The Museum of Contemporary Art is the chosen institution in California and presents significant works by Carl Andre, Lynda Benglis, Dan Graham, Joan Jonas and Richard Tuttle. Learn more about the Vogel 50x50 project here. 

Fifty Works for Fifty States runs until 3rd November 2013 at MOCA Grand Avenue. 

Little Pinch, 1978 - Lynda Benglis

Cowboys at Gagosian Gallery

The American Dream travels from screen to canvas with celebrated artist Richard Prince and his Cowboy paintings. Spanning over thirty years, the now iconic works examine the visual language of advertising and mass media, manipulated with reprographic technologies to create their very own cinematic, yet ironic, vistas of American aspiration and romanticism from the Wild West. 

Cowboys opens tomorrow 22nd February through to 6th April 2012 in Beverly Hills. 

Untitled (Cowboys), 2012 - Richard Prince

Sculpture Drawings Studio at Matthew Marks Gallery

New works by American sculptor Robert Gober in his first solo exhibition in four years. The domestic object as subject remains in this new body of work that includes trademark sink manifestations as well as mixed media installations of both small and large sculpture, drawings and wallpaper. 

Robert Gober: Sculpture Drawings Studio runs until 6th April 2013 at Matthew Marks Gallery West Hollywood outpost.

 Untitled, 1979-2009 - Robert Gober

Untitled, 2005-2006 - Robert Gober

No Man's Land at OHWOW

Ecology, geology and human progress form the basis of Nick van Woert's first solo exhibition with tri-coastal, creative platform OHWOW. Painting, photography, sculpture and installation will explore concepts between artificial substance and the environment, presenting a disturbing wasteland of anarchic architecture and destructive ideals. 

No Man's Land opens tomorrow 23rd February through to 6th April.

Untitled, 2012 - Nick van Woert 

Sanya Kantarovsky at LAXART

As part of its ongoing experimental initiative and public art programme, LAXART billboard facade on its exterior by Russian-born, Los Angeles-based artist Sanya Kantarovsky.

Kantarovksy's public art intervention will be on display until 30th November 2013 at La Cienga Boulevard.  

Sanya Kantarovsky, 2012

MAGIC IS REAL! by CYRCLE
In September 2012, art collective CYRCLE took over eleven-thousand square feet of surface at Bedrock.LA recording studios in Echo Park to create graffiti magic on a giant scale, which now claims to be one of the largest murals in the city. 
For further details and updates on the project visit CYRCLE

 MAGIC IS REAL!, 2012 - CYRCLE

The Getty Villa

The Ancient world collides with modern reproduction in the opulent surroundings of Malibu's finest address. J. Paul Getty's collection of ancient art and antiquities are housed in a recreation of the Villa of the Papryi at Herculaneum, Italy. The Getty Villa was built as a public museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of Greece, Rome and Etruria - a must for any classicist and Malibu romantic. 

Visiting the Villa is through pre-booking - go to the Getty homepage for more information. 

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