īeyond Sunset: Strange Tales of Southern California (Independent). Questioning ideas of authorship and certainty, while beguilingly illustrating the unpredictable vagaries of time’s passages, Music Book is an extension of Cain’s colorful, pattern-rich painting but at an immediate and intimate scale. Cain has been carrying the notebook around since 2008, like a diary, adding to it intuitively and whimsically. A series of colorful abstractions painted atop a collection of vintage sheet music found in Switzerland, Cain’s paintings interact with the musical notation itself, as well as its former owner’s handwritten notes. Sarah Cain’s Music Book (X Artists’ Books). This lavish new book marks the occasion of Miyazaki’s acclaimed exhibition at the recently inaugurated Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in L.A. He is celebrated and admired around the world for his delicate and kaleidoscopic creative vision, unmatched craftsmanship and empathy, and the universal appeal of his natural settings and expressive characters, many of whom are strong girls and young women.
For over four decades, Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films have offered timeless explorations of youth and what it means to grow up. Shot over four years, both in his Los Angeles studio and around North America and Europe, this is his most ambitious book yet. Followers of Little’s nuanced male portraiture have long asked him to make a book of nudes, but his work has always been careful to stay on the thoughtful side of anything like pornography, so he took his time with this project.
To be naked can be powerful, and it can be vulnerable, especially for the camera. We are born naked, and before we start to construct our identity with, for example, clothes, the birthday suit is who we are. Along with insightful and evocative text by David Kipen, the book takes a 52-mile drive from PCH to the Hollywood sign, through the natural landscapes that define the region, to the built environments that shape its culture. Driving the curvaceous length of the road along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains for more than two years, the resulting book features 41 panoramic photographs with saturated palettes and dramatic flair.
That’s where she encountered David Hockney’s monumental painting Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio, and when she moved to Los Angeles a few years later, she was eager to explore the real thing. Photographer Karen Halverson fell in love with Mulholland Drive in 1988, in New York City. Karen Halverson: Mulholland (MW Editions). This book is the first survey of her extraordinary career, and coincides with a literal global show, opening at Lévy Gorvy galleries in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris. With influences drawn from 19th-century European painting and popular culture, Thomas crafts a world of aspiration and confidence, built through the lens of gender and race, subverting harmful norms of beauty, sexuality and celebrity. Beloved creator of obsession-worthy work in painting, collage, photography, video and immersive installations, Mickalene Thomas’ unmistakable exuberance of color, pattern, texture and empowerment have captivated for decades. Weekly’s favorite art books of the moment, perfect for giving and for keeping. From sumptuous publications on some favorite contemporary and historical artists to original book projects by independent painters and photographers, multiple romantic and eccentric love letters to Los Angeles and to sneaker culture, quirky design-inspired fiction, life-affirming creative actions, insightful memoirs and biographies by and about titanic art world figures and more - here are some of L.A.