Modern Love: Valentine's Day Staff Picks 2019

A photograph is forever. Or is it? Culled from the vast vernacular photographic collection of Thierry Struvay, Love & Hate & Other Mysteries presents a funny, often poignant and truthful glimpse into the human condition. The unassuming and elegantly designed hardcover publication explodes once opened with 100 found black-and-white and color photographs that have been manually altered by scissors or pen, or physically attacked in a fit of rage. Some deletions, such as a missing face in the shape of a heart or oval, were clearly intended for a locket. Others, however, contain angrily scratched-out heads and bodies, or are simply torn in half. A third group features manipulations more mysterious in nature: strange cut-outs that hint at a mix of emotions and motives. Together with a poetic introductory text by Glenn O'Brien, the photographs suggest a wide range of human drama, from affection to anger and much in between.

Contemporary Art Meets Amour

Published by Skira.
Edited by by Danilo Eccher.

Art is always a great declaration of love. Consider the tragic images of a crucifixion, the moving embrace of the Sarcophagus of the spouses at the Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, the spectral whiteness of Christ's corpse of Mantegna at the Pinacoteca di Brera, the dramatic and secret truth of the Raiser of Géricault, the sweet and silent abandonment of Böcklin's Isle of the Dead, the invading flesh and in the deformed faces of Freud and Bacon, the shocking head of Quinn's son made with his mother's blood and placenta. They are all profound and desperate declarations of love: to the value of sacrifice as a path of salvation, to conjugal life that challenges the transience of time, faith in resurrection and spiritual joys, to the stubborn struggle for an uncomfortable and denied truth, to abandonment and silence of a solitude full of memories, to the joy of a new life that goes through pain to face the world. See it in the evocative scenography of classical Greek theater, in the indescribable face of Santa Teresa wrapped by the marble fluctuations of Bernini, in the soft dialogue of "Quia respexit" between oboe and soprano for Bach's Magnificat, in the young and casual Demoiselles of Picasso's "Rue d'Avignon," in the theosophical balance of the colors of Mondrian or in the atmospheres of a Rothko.

Through the works of the most important artists of contemporary art - among others Robert Indiana, Tom Wesselmann, Andy Warhol, Tracey Moffatt, Francesco Clemente, Marc Quinn, Gilbert & George, Francesco Vezzoli, Vanessa Beecroft - and essays by Danilo Eccher, Federico Vercellone, Pierangelo Sequeri, Mattia Fumanti and Woody Allen, the volume deals with one of the universally recognized feelings which has always been a source of investigations and representations, Love, telling the different facets and infinite declinations. A happy, anticipated, misunderstood, hated, ambiguous, transgressive, childish love that unfolds along an unconventional exhibition path, characterized by visual and perceptive inputs.

The Cinema of the Sexual Revolution

Published by International House Philadelphia.
Introduction by Jesse Pires. Text by J. Hoberman, Eric Schaefer, Elena Gorfinkel, Whitney Strub, et al.

Free to Love looks at a selection of films from the 1960s and 70s, both commercial and experimental, to investigate how issues surrounding sexual liberation and the undoing of censorship laws manifested themselves in moving-image art from around the world. While the sexual revolution cannot simply be viewed as one unified movement, its conflicts and contradictions inspired some of the most important films from this period, asserting sexual power in an era when "power to the people" was the motto. The essays examine key works and individuals associated with the cinema of the sexual revolution (Radley Metzger, Pat Rocco, Phyllis and Eberhard Kronhausen), and the book includes a DVD of three short films: Desire Pie (Lisa Crafts, 1976), A Quickie (Dirk Kortz, 1970) and Norien Ten (John Knoop, 1972). Also included is a discussion with A.K. Burns, Barbara Hammer, M.M. Serra and A.L. Steiner.

Modern Love

Published by Primary Information/Ugly Duckling Presse.
By Constance DeJong.

“People used to tell me, if you keep on writing maybe you’ll make a name for yourself,” New York–based artist and writer Constance DeJong (born 1950) wrote in Modern Love. “They were right: My name’s Constance DeJong. My name’s Fifi Corday. My name’s Lady Mirabelle, Monsieur Le Prince, and Roderigo. Roderigo’s my favorite name. First I had my father’s name, then my husband’s, then another’s. I don’t know. I don’t want to know the cause of anything.”

Modern Love, DeJong’s first book, was published in 1977 by Standard Editions, an imprint co-founded by DeJong and Dorothea Tanning. In 1978, the text was adapted into a 60-minute radio program accompanied by the “Modern Love Waltz,” a piano composition by Philip Glass. In this new edition, DeJong’s debut novel is brought back into print, her dissonant shifts of voice and inimitable staccato rhythm made available to a new generation of readers.

Sophie Calle: Take Care of Yourself

Published by Dis Voir/Actes Sud.
Text by Sophie Calle.

In this remarkable artist's book, French conceptual artist/provocateur Sophie Calle presents 107 outside interpretations of a "breakup" e-mail she received from her lover the day he ended their affair. Featuring a stamped pink metallic cover, multiple paper changes, special bound-in booklets, bright green envelopes containing DVDs and even Braille endpapers, it is a deeply poignant investigation of love and loss, published to coincide with the 2007 Venice Biennale--where Calle served as that fair's French representative. All of the interpreters of Calle's breakup letter were women, and each was asked to analyze the document according to her profession--so that a writer comments on its style, a justice issues judgment, a lawyer defends Calle's ex-lover, a psychoanalyst studies his psychology, a mediator tries to find a path towards reconciliation, a proofreader provides a literal edit of the text, etc. In addition, Calle asked a variety of performers, including Nathalie Dessay, Laurie Anderson and Carla Bruni, among others, to act the letter out. She filmed the singers and actresses and photographed the other contributors, so that each printed interpretation stands alongside at least one riveting image of its author, and some are also accompanied by digital documentation. The result is a fascinating study and a deeply moving experience--as well as an artwork in its own right. Already a collector's item, this is a universal document of how it feels to grieve for love.

Dorothy Iannone: You Who Read Me With Passion Now Must Forever Be My Friends

Published by Siglio.
Edited by Lisa Pearson. Text by Trinie Dalton.

For over five decades, Dorothy Iannone has been making exuberantly sexual and joyfully transgressive image–text works. Karen Rosenberg wrote of her in The New York Times: “High priestess, matriarch, sex goddess: the self-taught American artist Dorothy Iannone has been called all these things and more. Since the early 1960s she has been making paintings, sculptures and artist’s books that advocate ‘ecstatic unity,’ most often achieved through lovemaking.” Beginning with the famous “An Icelandic Saga,” in which Iannone narrates her journey to Iceland (where she meets Dieter Roth and leaves her husband to live with him), this singular volume traces Iannone’s search for “ecstatic unity” from its carnal beginnings in her relationships with Roth and other men into its spiritual incarnation as she becomes a practicing Buddhist. Reproducing several previously unpublished or long-out-of-print works in their entirety (such as Danger in Düsseldorf, The Whip, “An Explosive Interlude”), as well as longer excerpts from rarely-seen works like A Cookbook and Berlin Beauties, this volume gives readers the chance to read her work with sustained attention, and enjoy the sophistication of the stories she tells and the visual–textual embellishments that make them so irresistible.

Associated with Fluxus through her close friendships with Emmett Williams, Robert Filliou and Ben Vautier, as well as most well-known for her relationship with Dieter Roth, Dorothy Iannone (born 1933) nevertheless has her own distinct aesthetic style and substantive concerns. Her first major museum show in the U.S. came when she was 75 in 2008 at the New Museum, shortly after her “orgasm box” titled “I Was Thinking of You” was included in the Whitney Biennial in 2006, and she has recently attained more recognition with solo shows at the Camden Arts Centre, Palais de Tokyo and the Berlinischer Galerie.

AVERY LOZADA | DATE 2/14/2019

Found Altered Snapshots from the Collection of Thierry Struvay

Published by August Editions.Introduction by Glenn O'Brien

PUBLISHER August Editions

Contemporary Art Meets Amour

Published by Skira.Edited by by Danilo Eccher.

PUBLISHER Skira

The Cinema of the Sexual Revolution

Published by International House Philadelphia.Introduction by Jesse Pires. Text by J. Hoberman, Eric Schaefer, Elena Gorfinkel, Whitney Strub, et al.

PUBLISHER International House Philadelphia

Published by Exact Change.By Gérard de Nerval. Translated by Geoffrey Wagner, Robert Duncan, Marc Lowenthal.

A harrowing document of a descent into madness, by France's defining poet of bohemian romanticism

PUBLISHER Exact Change

Published by Primary Information/Ugly Duckling Presse.By Constance DeJong.

PUBLISHER Primary Information/Ugly Duckling Presse

The Daniel Nicoletta Photographs

Published by Reel Art Press.Introduction by Chuck Mobley. Foreword by Gus Van Sant.

Glittering drag queens, gay politics and alternative theater: Nicoletta was at the heart of the gay mecca that was 1970s San Francisco

PUBLISHER Reel Art Press

Published by Dis Voir/Actes Sud.Text by Sophie Calle.

PUBLISHER Dis Voir/Actes Sud

Published by Siglio.Edited by Lisa Pearson. Text by Trinie Dalton.

PUBLISHER Siglio

Published by La Fábrica.

Selected from photographs taken during the Webbs’ nearly 30-year relationship, this group of 80 paired photographs creates an affectionate play of visual rhymes

PUBLISHER La Fábrica

Published by August Editions.
Introduction by Glenn O'Brien

PUBLISHER
August Editions

Published by Skira.
Edited by by Danilo Eccher.

PUBLISHER
Skira

Published by International House Philadelphia.
Introduction by Jesse Pires. Text by J. Hoberman, Eric Schaefer, Elena Gorfinkel, Whitney Strub, et al.

PUBLISHER
International House Philadelphia

Published by Exact Change.
By Gérard de Nerval. Translated by Geoffrey Wagner, Robert Duncan, Marc Lowenthal.

PUBLISHER
Exact Change

Published by Primary Information/Ugly Duckling Presse.
By Constance DeJong.

PUBLISHER
Primary Information/Ugly Duckling Presse

Published by Reel Art Press.
Introduction by Chuck Mobley. Foreword by Gus Van Sant.

PUBLISHER
Reel Art Press

Published by Dis Voir/Actes Sud.
Text by Sophie Calle.

PUBLISHER
Dis Voir/Actes Sud

Published by Siglio.
Edited by Lisa Pearson. Text by Trinie Dalton.

PUBLISHER
Siglio

PUBLISHER
La Fábrica