Clint Woodside, Taylor Galloway, and William Karl Valentine - LAABF 2023 at The Geffen Contemporary at MoCA

"I Can Feel You Dreaming" - Taylor Galloway

September 9, 2023

The Deadbeat Club publishers have been crushing it lately with some amazing titles. I have a few of their books in my collection so when I went to Printed Matter’s Los Angeles Art Book Fair one of my top priorities was to find their booth, introduce myself to Clint Woodside - the founder, and see what new titles they had out.

Once I got to their booth, I was immediately drawn to Taylor Galloway’s book “I Can Feel You Dreaming” (Deadbeat Club publication #85). The book looks simple at first, but it so well printed and has a handcrafted feel to it. The images are wonderful, they allow the viewer to have their own interpretations of them, and they allow for unique experiences every time you revisit the book. The copy on display was a special edition with a small print from one of the images in the book which I loved. I like trains to begin with but the way the image is framed is absolutely perfect, I dig it. Taylor’s book gave me the opportunity to introduce myself to Clint.

Clint made a solid first impression, he knows his craft and is passionate about it. I told him how much I enjoyed owning a copy of Ave Pildas’s book Star Struck and I told him how I met Ave and Ian Bates at their book signing at Arcana Books. We started talking about Taylor’s book and how the Special Edition version was editioned to only 30 copies. Clint was showing me an artist proof and the other person in their booth said that AP copy was all they had left, that the edition had sold out. I guess I made a good impression on Clint because when I said I would still buy an AP copy because I liked it that much, he turned around and pulled out #30 of 30 which he had apparently set aside. I like to think Clint wanted to find a good home for the last copy of the special edition. If that’s the case, I am thankful I struck up that conversation. I am still pumped up about adding this book to my collection.

I have had a number of conversations with publishers over the last few years, Clint definitely stands out. I know I will be adding more of Deadbeat’s titles to my collection over time and I understand why Ave decided to publish one of his most important books with Clint.

The Archival Pigment Print included with the Limited Edition book.

Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair - Geffen Contemporary at MoCA

September 8, 2023

I was able to make it out to Printed Matter's 2023 LA Art Book Fair on August 13th at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA which did not disappoint. This was the first LAABF since 2019, which was fantastic, so I wanted to get up there for it. Ticket demand was high, so I ended up going up on Sunday during the masked-up visitor time which actually worked out great because there were less people there and I was even able to find a parking spot after driving around for half an hour.

The organizers did a fantastic job bringing the fair back to life after the pandemic. I saw lots of great material, things that were innovative ways for sharing art, and lot of well-crafted print on demand or self-produced works. I saw work I thought was amazing and had strong artistic value and there were things that saw which I thought were weak. A lot of the sexually explicit works seemed to fail as art in my opinion. Solid erotica for some folks I guess, I just didn’t see much more value in a lot of it. One of the most beautiful aspects of art is every visitor brings their own background to the viewing experience so everyone’s take on something can be different. I will also say that most all the booths were professional and tasteful about the display of their work so most people could enjoy LAABF without being offended.

The organizers remembered their past layouts in this epic facility and once again it was outstanding how the exhibit was set up. Photo books in their own area, and the traffic flow throughout the show worked well. I roamed around the entire exhibit a couple of times.

Below is a gallery of images from my visit, I am also authoring a couple other blog post about two books I bought there and my visit with Clint Woodside founder of Deadbeat Club publishing. If you are in Los Angeles, the next time LAABF is up you need to check it out.

Ave Pildas “Star Struck” and Ian Bates “Meadowlark” signing at Arcana Books

Ave Pildas "Star Struck" Book Signing at Arcana - 10/8/22

November 14, 2022

I have been a fan of Ave Pildas’s photography since I discovered his work in 2018 during another trip to Arcana Books. I even authored a blog post at the time reviewing his book Street / People which I had purchased.

Ave is 83 years old now and I am completely jealous of how much he gets out and photographs still, especially since he is also still constantly editing and promoting his older work. “Star Struck” is Ave’s 10th book and his 8th book since 2015. Ave is from Cincinnati and moved to Los Angeles in 1971 to work for Capitol Records in Art Direction. He started teaching at OTIS in 1985 and retired from there in 2008 to concentrate on his own photography. He has work in the permanent collections of LACMA and MoMA and has traveled the world photographing.

Photographing in Los Angeles is hard, I have written about that fact often here in my blog. The greater Los Angeles region is massive, thousands of miles, and a population of well over 15 million people. It is also eclectic demographically; Hollywood, Boyle Heights, South Central, Venice, The Valley, Pasadena, the OC, HB, Newport, Santa Ana, and the IE are all unique in their own rights even though they get lumped into “LA” from any perspective outside of California. It is not like photographing on Michigan Avenue in Chicago or on the street in New York City where it is easy to get out and walk amongst the people. I totally respect how much Ave has documented because I have traveled those same areas and what it takes to get to all those places.

This was the first time I have met Ave and I was so impressed with his incredible energy; he attacks life. During the time it has taken me to get to writing this post Ave has traveled to New York and Paris for the book fairs and has posted more updates of new work. We are planning of going out and photographing together sometime soon and I will share posts from that later.

But now, back to primary topic of this post and Ave’s new book. “Start Stuck” which showcases Ave’s photographs from the “The Hollywood Walk of Fame” section of Hollywood Boulevard taken between 1972 and 1975. The concise location helps make this book a great documentation of the people in the area during that era. It was published by Deadbeat Club and printed in China. This book is Deadbeat’s 78th book and the first edition was limited to 750 copies. The design, print quality, and image selection is very good, I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves documentary photography, street photography, or who is interested in Los Angeles’s past.

Ave was signing books with Ian Bates, whose new book “Meadowlark” was also published by Deadbeat Club (their 79th book). This was the first time I had seen Ian’s work. The only explanation text in the book is a short 2009 poem by Jim Harrison titled "I believe” and even with that text the viewer is pretty much left on their own to navigate the images. The quality and design of the book are good, and I liked most of Ian’s images on their own individual merit. Many of his photographs have a feeling of solitude, loss, and despair for me. There is a dark quality to them, but within most images there is also beauty and hope. Ian came across as a quiet person and I think I can see why he made these types of photographs and this book. You have to bring your own past experiences with you to appreciate this book, but I actually love that. I have seen enough photography in my life I don’t need someone stating obvious facts to me. This book is also one that you could come away with different feelings on different days from it, depending on where you were in life that day. It is a very good book to return to occasionally. I love that Ian is putting his work out there and I am happy to have added his book to my library.

Booooooom’s Review of Ian’s Book - Great examples of the images.

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