Our top ten new books on punk fashion to sketchbooks and disused quarries this week
PUNK BOOK OF THE WEEK: Andrew Bolton – Punk: Chaos To Couture
Accompanying the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art’s astounding exhibition, this phenomenal book – laden with iconic photography and bold, assertive typeface – hones in on punk’s unlikely influence on high fashion. With the help of originators like John Lydon and Jon Savage, curator Andrew Bolton examines the dichotomy between and reconciliation of punk’s DIY-approach and the traditionally rigid and formulaic principles of haute couture. Clothes for heroes, indeed.
Exhibition open from May 9-Aug 14 at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York.
FASHION HISTORY BOOK OF THE WEEK: Pucci
Like Chanel evokes French chic or Comme Des Garçons epitomizes Japanese quirkiness, Pucci will forever be synonymous with that aristocratic, Mediterranean jet-set life. Pucci, Taschen’s new bible of the Italian fashion house, is an extensive insight into the opulent world of the Pucci family, where art, fashion and world history come together in the label’s iconic kaleidoscopic prints. You may never own a Pucci silk scarf, but at least now you can own a book packed with photos of them.
TASCHEN, 2013.
PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK OF THE WEEK: Elena Dorfman – Empire Falling
Every year, dozens of Americans die trying to swim or ride ATVs in disused rock quarries. Maybe it was that strange, unsettling fact that inspired photographer Elena Dorfman to explore these potentially fatal pits through a series of conceptual landscape images. Digitally layering hundreds of images of abandoned, industrial quarries, her images emulate their natural process and eventual decay, while simultaneously offering a complex commentary on modern economic history and the dubious abstraction of finance.
Published by Damiani on April 30.
MODEL BOOK OF THE WEEK: Miles Aldridge – I Only Want You To Love Me
Miles Aldrige’s family has a disproportionate amount of supermodels: he’s the half brother of Lily and Ruby and was married to Kristen McMenamy, whose daugther Lily is also a rising model. We’re not sure what it says about his family relations that his latest book features a herd of famous models posing as pent-up Stepford Wives in various claustrophobic, domestic environments, but it certainly makes for a good-looking collection of half-art, half-fashion images. Cara Delevigne, Carmen Kass and Anja Rubik are among the stars in Aldridge’s hyper-chromatic and over-stylised stories, but some of the most interesting details sit at the back of the book: a weird set of scratchy sketches and an uncharacteristically mundane picture of Miles’s mum.
Out in May 2013, published by Rizzoli New York.
FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK OF THE WEEK: Helmut Newton – World Without Men
World Without Men is the latest addition to the Helmut Newton catalogue – that ever-expanding library of majestic tomes reigned over by the 35kg-heavy Sumo. Built around a selection of his fashion editorials from the mid 1960s to the early eighties, this new title is lighter but nonetheless packed with glossy images. It is also interspersed with Newton’s own journal-style entries offering personal philosophies and anecdotes from each shoot, like when it turned out a famous shot for French Vogue featuring a model posing next to a brown bear had inadvertently captured the bear with a full-fledged hard-on.
TASCHEN, 2013.
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK OF THE WEEK: SEBASTIÃO SALGADO – GENESIS
Did you know 46% of the planet still remains in pristine, unspoilt condition? It’s a figure that might seem a little inconsistent with the ever-looming threat of global warming, but Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado has spent eight years documenting the places on earth that still remain untouched by the imprint of human society. The result is a hefty, 500-page opus revealing the astounding natural beauty surrounding us. The volume is Salgado’s “love letter to the planet”, but just as important, it’s a chilling reminder of what we are very much in the process of destroying.
TASCHEN, 2013.
ART BOOK OF THE WEEK: MONOGRAPH – GAVIN TURK
Assembled with the help of the ‘Young Turk’ himself, this weighty tome is the first comprehensive monograph of Gavin Turk’s extensive body of work. Turk, who took over Dazed Digital for two days last year was originally hailed as the outsider of the 1990s YBAs with his iconic visual puns and constant, humorous scrutiny of authenticity and authorship. Turk has been admirably prolific in the past two decades, and this book perfectly chronicles his output.
Out April 25, on Prestel.
DRAG BOOK OF THE WEEK: STEPHEN TASHJIAN – TABBOO!
“Dolphins are homosexuals!” reads a slogan by the East Village drag queen Tabboo!, aka artist Stephen Tashjian. He might be less known than his peers (Nan Goldin, Jack Pierson, Rupaul) but Tashjian left his own, flamboyant mark on the NY art scene with his exuberant, glittery paintings and swirly psychedelic calligraphy, which graced the cover of Deee-Lite’s immortal ‘World Clique’ album amongst other feats. This new book on his art and life looks a lot like a teenager’s scrapbook – all naïve collages, private photographs and emotional memories.
Out on Damiani on April 30.
PHOTO-ALBUM OF THE WEEK: BERTIEN VAN MAHEN – EASTER AND OAK TREES
This small-format collection of intimate, black-and-white holiday snaps taken between 1970 and 1980 and collected by Dutch artist Bertien van Manen, looks like the family photo album you secretly wish was yours. Much like Sally Mann’s portraits, these carefree images of naked children smoking imaginary cigarettes in the afternoon sun, tells of another time and a different political climate, and inevitably makes you wonder if family holidays in the seventies were just that bit more blissful…
Published by MACK books in March.
ILLUSTRATION BOOK OF THE WEEK: LAURA HEIT – ANIMATION SKETCHES
A sketchbook is an intimate thing, so Laura Heit’s Animation Sketches, which offers an intriguing glimpse into the private sketchbooks of some of the most innovative minds in animation and filmmaking, feels like something of a goldmine. With submissions by artists like cult artist David Shrigley and Waltz With Bashir’s lead illustrator David Polonsky – who says he normally only works digitally –, the volume is a fitting reminder that even the greatest visual ideas were born in someone’s tattered old notepad.
Published by Thames & Hudson on May 6.