Documentary of SRL’s 1985 performances.

Publisher: Survival Research Laboratories
Video

Hot-Rod Acid Test paintings that move in on museum turf. Two sample three-part titles: “THE DAY THE BIG KAHUNA STOLE SURF CITY. Museum Catalog Title: The Surf Tiki’s Overture to the Abduction of the Golden State Geo-Madonna. Colloquial Title: Thoroughly Stoked On Pacific Fruitcake. PATRICK HAS A GLUE DREAM. Museum Catalog Title: With the Drone of Messerschmitts in his Ears the Young Boy Traveled Through His Glue Induced Third Eye, the Sweet Smell of Model Airplane Cement and Stale Urine Fills the P-38 Cockpit While the Radio Repeats ‘Bail Out Squadron Leader!’ Colloquial Title: The Li’l Ace With Peach Fuzz Testes.”

Publisher: Last Gasp
Paperback: 95 pages
Illustrated

“A complete catalog of the work of this influential Los Angeles artist, including documentation of his rare objects, verifax collages and Semina magazines. Berman fused technology with the mystical and psychological to create his powerful works which continue to have an impact upon artists, poets and filmmakers today.”

Publisher: RAM
Paperback: 118 pages
Illustrated

Through the eye of his camera Weegee discovered the visceral spirit of life in a country whose people were their own victims and enemies. Living far from the American dream, acting out a script imbued with bittersweet chaos and delivered with a jester’s smile, Weegee and his camera traversed the thin line between the inside and the outside. Although he was behind the camera, his spirit and compassion are evident in these vivid photographic moments that are difficult to erase from one’s memory. OAA

Publisher: Da Capo
Paperback: 242 pages
Illustrated

“This is the first study of artist Marcel Duchamp’s presence on the West Coast of the United States. Although his activities in New York and Europe have been well-documented, little has been written about his important relationships with West Coast collectors, art professionals and artists. Yet the integration of Duchamp (one of this century’s most original artists) into the mainstream of American art was due in large part to his participation in landmark events in San Francisco and Los Angeles.”

Publisher: Grassfield
Paperback: 128 pages
Illustrated

Documentary of SRL’s 1988 European tour: “SRL ferrets out and gleefully satirizes assorted icons of cultural pride in two of Europe’s more allegedly libertarian social democracies, Holland and Denmark. Not only provides the most comprehensive coverage of SRL’s performances themselves but also delves deeper into the whys and wherefores of SRL’s existence and development. Explores their attitude toward society, their ability to survive with little or no funding, the ideas that go into the making of the machines, and the performance scenarios. Also addressed is how SRL seeks to confound and confront their audiences and their reaction to their host countries in Europe.”

Publisher: Survival Research Laboratories
Video

This monograph presents the entire career to date of photographer Joel Peter Witkin, whose views of “perversity and sacrilege, taboo, life and death” are expressed in his notorious depictions of “forbidden hybrids, transformed transsexuals, freaks and fetuses.” Witkin’s intense and perverse energetic images invoke a new spiritual universe in which distinctions are transcended, conflicts and repression abolished and “death coexists with life.” OAA

Publisher: DAP
Hardback: 272 pages
Illustrated

“Focuses on Scorsese’s consistent thematic concerns, many of which seem to draw on the conflict between conventional morality and individual desires.”

Publisher: Scarecrow
Hardback: 168 pages

A beautifully packaged, full-scale monograph exploring Gorey’s roles as artist, illustrator, writer and theater designer. Includes perennial Gorey favorites The Doubtful Guest and The Fatal Lozenge as well as set and costume designs for Dracula and illustrations for such books as Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. Contains a lengthy interview by Clifford Ross in which the artist speaks of his many and varied interests, his creative process and his wide-ranging knowledge of art. Additionally, art critic Karen Wilkins provides a lengthy exploration of Gorey’s world—seductive, mysterious, eccentric, macabre—with particular attention paid to the evolution and sources of the artist’s style within the high and popular traditions of narrative art. Also includes over 50 pages of plates (some in color), an artist’s chronology and bibliography. An excellent introduction for the uninitiated and a must-have for collectors, The World of Edward Gorey is an intelligently executed, passionate appreciation of this masterfully bizarre artist and writer. MDG

Publisher: Abrams
Hardback: 192 pages
Illustrated

“These men and women saved the planet from aliens, behemoths, monsters, zombies and other bloated, stumbling threats—in the movies, at least—and now they tell their stories… They also discuss the impact ‘monster fighting’ had on their careers and what they are doing now.”

Publisher: University of Washington
Hardback: 328 pages
Illustrated