Books

Colors pursue me like a constant worry. They even worry me in my sleep. - Claude Monet The recent release from Doppelhouse Press, Even When Fall is Here is a bilingual, fictionalized, multi-seasonal, communication between now deceased landscape architect Chris Shea, Painter Erick Meyenberg, garden owner Eloisa Haudenschild, and curator and writer Ruth Estevez. In it, Estevez creates an intertextual, fictionalized narrative that brings together Meyenberg’s observations, various email communications, historical accounts of gardening by other writers, video recordings, and logbooks kept by Shea, to create a...

30 May, 2020 /

I am in quarantine. Not sure how long this will last. And like many others, in an effort to find something to do that isn’t staring into one of the several glass screens in my home, I am thinking this would be a good time to clean my office. I mean really clean my office. According to Kyle Chayka’s recent release, The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism, a new survey of the minimalism of the moment, I may be suffering from an abstract desire for a different and simpler world that...

09 April, 2020 /

The Orange Coast Review is Orange Coast College's literary journal. The current issue (which I art directed) contains sixteen pages of art from mostly local artists working in various media, including works by Bradford Salamon, Lindsay Buchman, Pamela Diaz Martinez, Nguyen Ly and Riley Waite, who is represented by two pieces from his Playing With Fire series of portraits of young heroin addicts drawn with candle soot on paper. The cover painting by Fatima Jamil combines traditional realism with contemporary abstraction. A reading from the journal...

26 April, 2016 /

Chiron Review has long been one of America’s most respected literary journals. After a brief hiatus, they have returned with a new 6 x 9, perfect-bound, softcover format, as well an e-book option supporting kindle, iBooks, Nook and most other readers and devices. In 1989 Gerald Locklin came on as poetry editor and Ray Zepeda as the fiction editor. Since then the magazine has showcased consistently raw, vibrant, often controversial writings from the likes of Charles Bukowski, William Safford, Marge Piercy, Edward Field, Albert Huffstickler, Lyn Lifshin, James Broughton,...

17 November, 2014 /

Late summer is hardly peak season in the art world: Schools are out of session and gallery owners are on vacation. If art is being seen, it’s most likely at one of the outdoor festivals at the foot of Laguna Canyon Road or in the art competitions at the local county fair. Obviously nobody wants to be indoors when it’s 90 degrees, but there are a few shows ending soon that will make a quick venture indoors a worthwhile endeavor. [caption id="attachment_5974" align="alignright" width="135"] A.M. Rousseau,...

19 August, 2014 /

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." If you have had any contact with the Orange County art scene over the past decade then you know what ISM: a community project is, what they do, why they do it and who they are. Right? Well, partially. In the spirit of the above saying by Abraham Lincoln, ISM is as an organization as elusive and open-ended...

06 July, 2012 /

Magu, in his natural state - a smile. Pomona, CA.   At the collector’s preview of the new exhibition at the dA Center for the Arts, Cruisin Magulandia, the all-around feeling of the event was that of reverence. The entire night was filled with shared stories, friendly faces, passionate music, home-made snacks, and dozens of people looking to open up and revel in the loving memories of artist, Gilbert Luján. Better known as Magu to most, he was a friend to so many people it was overwhelming...

18 August, 2011 /

  [caption id="attachment_2055" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="Title wall"][/caption] In the art world's  recent obsession with Street Art, Pasadena Museum of California Art takes a closer look at the local level. This Street Art Exhibition is not MOCA's copy cat partner, though the buzz coming into the museum was all about that -- MOCA did it first, MOCA did it bigger, MOCA had the controversy, MOCA had the press. One thing that MOCA didn't have that PMCA did, was local flavor. In a place like Southern California, with perfect weather, beautiful...

15 May, 2011 /

Fullerton, CA Last night, on Saturday evening I found myself walking into some sort of Wonderland that seemed as if it were on the other side of the looking glass...

20 March, 2011 /

Richard Morrison from The Times (London) finds this book gripping. . .I'm not sure how gripped I was by the marketing strategies and branding, but it is pretty entertaining.   For those of you out there that cannot come to terms with the astronomical prices that Contemporary Art commands, this is the book for you.Don Thompson does a good job at giving the reader an overview of how auction houses, art dealers, collectors, and museum curators each play an economic role in the pricing of artworks.-Joanna ...

14 July, 2009 /

Congrats to Grand Central Art Center and their art book publishing effort! The Original Art of Basil Wolverton co-published by Grand Central Press made the NY Times Book Reviews. That book and many other great books can be had at their online store. Thanks C-Monster. ...

26 February, 2008 /

I first picked up a copy of Monocle at the newsstand in South Coast Plaza a few months back and was impressed right away. For those interested in art, design, culture, business with an international focus you can't go wrong with this fairly new magazine. And as someone who still prefers a newspaper or magazine to the Internet I'm happy to support the new endeavor. Although the $150 subscription rate was a first. For those that don't want to fork over the steep subscription...

18 December, 2007 /

  Hey folks, Gordy Grundy has offered all the readers of the OC Art Blog a free e-copy of his new book Artist's Pants. Just head over here to pick up your copy. As a regular reader of his Genuflect column I'm sure you wont be disappointed. Thanks Gordy! ...

08 October, 2007 /

Gustavo Arellano gives us a heads-up in the current issue of OC Weekly about an important book signing coming up. Brian Doan will sign copies of his photo book The Forgotten Ones this Sunday in Westminster. For those that don't know OC has the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam and The Office is located about two miles from Little Saigon. Details: THE FORGOTTEN ONES: A PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION OF THE LAST VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE IN THE PHILIPPINES BY BRIAN DOAN. PAPERBACK, 110 PAGES, $24.95. AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.THEFORGOTTENONES.ORG;...

25 February, 2005 /

Because I'm partial to Mr. Baldessari and his great work. Go buy this book: YOURS IN FOOD, JOHN BALDESSARI A BLIND SPOT BOOK WITH MEDITATIONS ON EATING BY PAUL AUSTER, DAVID BYRNE, DAVE EGGERS, DAVID GILBERT, TIM GRIFFIN, ANDY GRUNDBERG, JOHN HASKELL, MICHAEL MORE, GLENN O'BRIEN, FRANCINE PROSE, PETER SCHJELDAHL, AND LYNNE TILLMANN ...

09 November, 2004 /