New York is home to a host of independent booksellers who offer illustrated books sure to stimulate the eye and the spirit. Today, DART tags three books of interest.

Martha Camarillo
Fletcher Street (powerHouse 2006)
Exhibition opening and book signing
Jack Shainman Gallery
Friday, November 17, 6 – 8 pm

Martha Camarillo will be signing copies of Fletcher Street at the opening of an exhibition of large-scale chromogenic prints of images from the book.

Dating back to the early 1900’s, Fletcher Street has had horse stables where thoroughbreds were raised. Now an African-American community, the men and boys who live there maintain their own stables. Many of the stables in or around Fletcher Street were built on small plots, in former factories and warehouse spaces and sometimes in abandoned townhouses. Martha Camarillo’s photographs capture this inner-city phenomenon, portraying the men and boys of Fletcher Street and the way through which this unique way of life has provided a sense of belonging to the entire community.

Photograph: Keshawn, 2004. ©2006 Martha Camarillo.

Chuck Close
A Couple of Ways of Doing Something (Aperture 2006)

Talk and book signing with Chuck Close and Bob Holman
Thursday, November 30, 2006, 6:30 pm

Panel Discussion: The Daguerreotype Today
Thursday, December 07, 2006, 6:30 pm

Exhibition continues through January 04, 2007

For details about events and exhibition at the Aperture Gallery

Over the course of two years, Chuck Close created portraits of his artist-friends with all the detail and finesse available through the daguerreotype process. Each portrait is accompanied by a poem written by Bob Holman, the celebrated New York School poet; twenty of these pairings are collected in the book, A Couple of Ways of Doing Something. Author-critic Lyle Rexer will lead a discussion about this collaboration, which produced a work of book art that transcends any one medium.

For people interested in learning more about the daguerreotype process, artists and daguerreotype practitioners Mark Kessell, Mike Robinson, Alyssa Salomon, and Jerry Spagnoli will discuss how they have adapted this 19th-century medium, which dates from the dawn of photography, for contemporary times.

The exhibition of images from A Couple of Ways of Doing Something features daguerreotype portraits of many of the same artist-friends who have made regular appearances in his paintings over the years: Laurie Anderson, Lyle Ashton-Harris, Cecily Brown, Gregory Crewdson, Carroll Dunham, Ellen Gallagher, Philip Glass, Bob Holman, Elizabeth Murray, Elizabeth Peyton, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, James Siena, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, James Turrell, Robert Wilson, Terry Winters, Lisa Yuskavage, and himself.

Photograph: Cindy Sherman by Chuck Close. Taken from the Aperture Gallery exhibition, A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, Photographs by Chuck Close, Poems by Bob Holman.

Lauren Greenfield
Thin (Chronicle, 2006)
Tuesday, November 21, 7 pm
McNally Robinson NYC

Critically acclaimed for Girl Culture and Fast Forward, Lauren Greenfield continues her exploration of contemporary female culture with Thin, a groundbreaking book about eating disorders. Greenfield's photographs are paired with interviews and journal entries from twenty girls and women who are suffering from various afflictions. Alongside these personal stories are essays on the sociology and science of eating disorders by three renowned researchers on the subject.