No comments about In Company: Robert Creeley's Collaborations.

4 comments about Beauty Shots (Pro-Lighting Series).

1. This best is great if you want to see other photographers photographs and how they lit there pictures (but not in detial). It does not talk about lighting. It just gives examples. You can learn more doing tests yourself. This is a good book for the price.



2. Great book. You won't find explanations on how the camera works or how different lenses behave in here. This is a book for those who already know how to use their equipment but are looking for new and different idea. Lots of different styles and techniques are illustrated by top and side diagrams that I found to be quiet helpful. This book is a great learning source for studio photography techniques.



3. This was a good book if you already know alot about lighting. The problem is this that it doesn`t talk about lighting it just shows you examples. Doesn`t say why you put this light here and what effect it has on the film. I do say though it is worth it to add it to your libary if the price is right.



4. An excellent reference for the studio photographer. However I feel that the info on each lighting lacks crucial information, such as light ratios. If you have five different light sources it's crucial to know which is the main one and what its intensity is in relation to the others. Since these books are about the lighting and nothing but the lighting, I feel that such details should be in there. It would also be nice to know something more about the darkroom and/or the digital post production of the shots, because the effects in the shots are only partially created by the lighting.

1 comments about Decorative Art 1960's (Taschen Specials).

1. This book offers a glimpse into the design world of the 1960s like no other. Many vintage photos showing furniture in authentic room settings. Each section, Glass, Ceramics, Lighting, Textiles and Furniture, show the reader objects that are rarely seen anywhere else.

   On the negative side, there is little detailed text on the specific objects beyond each photo's caption. The fact that many of the photographs are vintage allows for many grainy images.

   That said, what this book is lacking as a text based reference guide, it more than makes up for in the shear volume of decorative items pictured.

No comments about Dieter Roth Books + Multiples: Catalogue Raisonne.

No comments about Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e.

No comments about Working For Diaghilev.

5 comments about Exquisite Mayhem.

1. If you like wrestling! If you like people twisted in knots! If you like black and white images! This huge, heavy book is for you!! It's campy! It's cool! It's fun to look at! This book is a piece of wrestling history! It's not only got great photography and images from the past but it's a kick to see some of the old-time wrestlers. It's a time when "wrestling" was not part of the mainstream but more of the "underbelly"! It's where WWF, WWW and all the "W's" originated from. No...it's not for the kiddies...there is a lot of female nudity due to the pic's of female wrestlers BUT it's all part of the fun. If you have a coffee table that can hold this "monster" I would highly reccommend it.



2. This is a very high quality book with terrific photos; it's so heavy that you may have to reinforce the glass on your coffee table before placing it there (just kidding, but it is very heavy). Many of the photos are obviously posed, but they're exciting anyway. There's lots of nudity, some full frontal nudity, so some parents might not want to leave this out where the kids will find it (I think that was the complaint of one reviewer who didn't actually spell it out). The well endowed cover model is adult film star Seka, who doesn't appear in any different photos in the book. There's even a couple of boxing photos in here, incuding a striking photo of an exhausted looking Sugar Ray Leonard. A fine mixture of erotic photos in a wrestling setting.



3. No one visits my house without spending a nice chunk of time flipping through this book and saying, "do you think she's hurting her?"



4. Make no mistake about it--- the palmellenic balance of overt sexuality and aggressive pop culture pathos is a vehicle that is best expressed in the apartment house wrestling craze that took pro wrestling magazines by storm in the 1970s. It mixes well with the presence of pro wrestling, combining the posed Amazon criteria with the bloody pop-sport that has since evolved into the World Wrestling Federation.

   Apartment house wrestling is a widely underrated chapter in the modern art world. In this monumental work, photographer Theo Ehret brilliantly poses the female warriors in such a still manner that they are obviously not actually engaged in combat. These fictional combat poses would look ridiculous on their own, but Ehret brilliantly derails the silliness by bringing out dynamic facial expressions on his models; the grimaces of rage and angst on the scantily clad women are simultaneously haunting and sensual. It is a mix of halted action and living Hellenic
   desire that Ehret delivers in seemingly infinite doses.

   Ehret distances himself from his brilliant visual existensial declaration by denying an active interest in his subjects; he claimed that both the pro wrestling and female combat photos were merely work assignments. Perhaps this is part of his statement: to capture erotic passion through the lense, place it in sensational pulp magazines, and then add a touch of performance art by portraying himself as a blue collar artisan who has numbed himself to the potential pleasures of sensual expression. Is this possible complex mix of photography and performance art a cry against the religious right's mockery of our progressive culture? Or could this be a literary hammer that pounds a nail of truth into the soul of the cowardice that is all too present in modern art.

   An odd addition to this fantastic ocean of voyeurism is the popular essay on professional wrestling by Roland Barthes. While entertaining for its day, they could have used an essay that stands the test of time. Pro wrestling has changed since Barthes penned his pseudo-philosophical essay, but missed his tegmental strike into the art's depth. The publishers of this book would have been wiser to print the modern pyrrhonic rants and scribblings on pro wrestling that was penned between 1978 and 1980 by New York sports historian Captain Lenny Dauber.

   This oversight does not take away from Theo Ehret's brilliant photo essay. This work is both a feminist cry of victory as well as a societal cry to break the chains of enslaved victims of religious judgment.




5. This is the ultimate coffee table book if you are (a) a fan of the Los Angeles pro wrestling scene circa 1960s-70s and/or (b) a fan of the hot & steamy apartment house wrestling pictorials that appeared in "Victory Sports" magazines during the 1970s.

   Fans who frequented the Olympic Auditorium most likely remember seeing Theo Ehret snapping photos at ringside. The introduction of this book includes an interview with Ehret in which he says that pro wrestling held absolutely no fascination for him; he was a photographer, and that was his job. So here's a wonderful irony, that a guy with no passion for the wrestling industry publishes a book that vividly captures the height of Southern California's pro wrestling heyday.

   The superstars who personify 1970s L.A. wrestling are all here: Freddie Blassie, John Tolos (for those of you who remember the Blassie-Tolos feud, the photo of John Tolos jumpstarting the war by throwing the blinding powder into Blassie's eyes is included!), Mil Mascaras, The Sheik, Superstar Billy Graham, Dr. Jerry Graham, Andre the Giant, Antonio Inoki and many, many more!

   If you are offended by adult entertainment or the erotic apartment house wrestling phenomenon that was hot in the 1970s, this book is definitely not for you. If you are a fan, this is paydirt! These "Pulp Mag" style nude photo essays were all over the magazines, albeit they had those black bars pasted everywhere to cover up the naughty bits. For those of you who ogled these pictorials (while pretending to be offended in front of conservative wrestling fans who thought these trashy photos degraded the wrestling industry!)but were frustrated that the forbidden fruit was blocked from your view, well... the women are here in all their Amazonian glory! This trip down memory lane is also enjoyable as this was before the era where virtually every erotica model had the extensive plastic surgeries so prevalent today. An interesting sidenote for fans of adult cinema, one of the models who frequent the pages of "Exquisite Mayhem" is the legendary Seka!

   If you are a nostalgic wrestling fan who is indifferent or "on the fence" about the erotic nature of this book, the ratio between pro wrestling and apartment wrestling pics is pretty evenly divided. The book is well worth the price. This is easily the best pro wrestling collectible I have found in over five years.

3 comments about Bauer Pottery.

1. This is an excellent beginner book for lovers of Bauer pottery. Mostly a picture book, but a good one!



2. This is a MUST READ for anyone interested in Bauer Pottery. It is a shame that the last book about Bauer, written by Jeffrey Snyder, didn't use this book as a reference. Mitch Tuchman did extensive research on the subject and no inaccuracies are found. The pictures by Peter Brenner do the colorful pottery justice.



3. Bauer: Classic American Pottery, by Mitch Tuchman a detailed account of the Bauer family business, from its nineteenth century roots in Paducah, Kentucky, until the close of its Los Angeles plant in 1962. This chronicle is punctuated by large, beautiful photos both old and new. The second half of the book features pictures and brief descriptions of the collections of several people. In all, it makes a pleasant read. The only things one might ask for are a suggested values list, something appreciated in most collector's books, and more detail conerning the shape and colors of each of the lines, to help with identification.

No comments about The Roman Vergil and the Origin of Medieval Book Illumination.

1 comments about The Art of Drew Posada.

1. In a relatively short period of time Drew Posada has skyrocketed to fame to become one of the top glamour and pinup artists working today. Posada got his start working in comics for Image as well as some of the Image affiliate studios such as Top Cow and Wildstorm and other publishers like Avalon Studios. But Drew wanted to achieve acclaim for his pinup work and dropped out of comics to hone his work for over two years. His diligence would finally pay off when he was able to have his works exhibited at the prestigious Tamara Bane Gallery in L.A.
   
   In the introduction, Posada explains his combination of old fashioned technique mixed with modern day technology. Posada begins his works by creating a drawing using pencil. The piece is then scanned into Adobe Photoshop where he completes it with primarily the airbrush. Posada explains he gets the level of photo-realism by using the single pixel or single dot brush and drawing each strand individually. This dedication to detail is evident in all of Posada's works. As with all of the full-color artist collections from SQP, a detailed index in the back provides the name of each piece and notes from Posada on what the work was created for, model's name, and other information.
   
   Posada's work has what I would term as a soft luminescence to it, due in large part to Drew's masterful air-brushing technique. One of the first great examples in the book is the piece entitled "Blade" showing a nude blonde, kneeling and holding a great, glimmering broadsword. Posada provides a fantastic dominatrix piece with a gorgeous, green-haired beauty, wearing leather thigh-highs and green thong, with her legs spread almost impossibly apart.
   
   "Wicked" was created for a cover to the comic book of the same name for Avalon Studios. This is a non-nude piece showing a woman lounging seemingly without a care as a demonic horror wisps ups from a magical tome lying at her feet. "Slayer" is one of my favorite pieces in the book showing a redheaded warrior maiden wearing a Vampirella-style outfit ready to swing a huge long sword. Speaking of Vampirella, Posada has a piece featuring that popular vampire from Warren that he sent to Harris Comics as an example...and they rejected! Someone was obviously asleep at the wheel.
   
   After these 48 full-color pages of Posada's work, you're sure to be clamoring for more just as I was. A fantastic collection by a new star in pin-up art.
   
   Reviewed by Tim Janson