Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present FLASH FLASH FLASH, an exhibition as tattoo parlor. Following the success of the same project at the NY Art Book Fair 2016, Gagosian has recruited six new artists, including Kenneth Anger, The Haas Brothers, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Analia Saban to create original flash art for the Los Angeles incarnation. Professional tattoo artists from the world famous Shamrock Social Club will be inking these specially commissioned designs inside the booth. Tattoos will be hand-numbered on the bodies of the purchasers, and once six people have a tattoo, the design will be retired forever. In addition to their permanence on patrons’ bodies, each original flash artwork has been produced as a limited print in an edition of six by The Lapis Press. Brian Roettinger has designed a special-edition book and relics acknowledging the authenticity of each tattoo for the project. In addition to a selection of Gagosian's publications and rare materials from the gallery's shop in New York, the tattoos, prints, and books will all be available for sale on-site at the fair.

Moran Bondaroff presents: The Sabian Exercise, 1971-72 by George Herms. From April 1971 to April 1972, George Herms made a drawing a day for one year based on Sabian symbols. Each day takes the form of one symbol as a starting point, and expands upon it within each degree of the zodiac circle. The exercise draws out the rhythm and formal qualities of the symbols, to assign new and personal meanings and associations, in the method of concrete poetry. In 1979, the drawings were collected and published into hand-painted box sets in an edition of 1,000. Having been in storage for the last 40 years, this will be the first time The Sabian Exercise will be presented to the public in the form of an immersive installation created by this iconic California artist.

MOCA Store & The Posters present: The INCOMPLETE John Baldessari. Baldessari has created a poster exclusively for the LA Art Book Fair conceptually designed for you to collaborate with. Stamp, draw, paint and adorn your artwork onto this Baldessari poster to finish it. MOCA Store will photograph the posters made at the fair for publication. Surprise collaborations will be on view. MOCA Store and The Posters (theposters.co) have partnered to make this project room. Proceeds from the sale of the poster will support MOCA’s Education programs and youth art education. Special thanks to John Baldessari for his continued support of MOCA.

In Support of Books is an exhibition of contemporary bookends. In seeking out the peripheries, ephemera, and supporting structures of book culture, Norma — a multi-disciplinary design practice based in Los Angeles — has produced an exhibition of contemporary Bookends from an international assembly of Product, Object and Industrial designers. As a project, In Support of Books seeks multiple outcomes: to publicly survey a single typology of design object; to lay bare the publication-based references of the exhibitors; and to begin a series of inquiries that explore the objects associated with the reading, display, and appreciation of [art] books. The exhibition will be accompanied by a printed catalog with essays by artist Erik Benjamins and Laura Houseley of Modern Design Review, and will also showcase publications from each participant’s canon — arranged, of course, in between and among the bookends in question.

Slow Culture & Deadbeat Club are proud to present “THE FOTOMAT”. A pop-up installation in the Geffen courtyard paying homage to vintage drive-thru photo kiosks with actual 24 hour film developing services. Photographer friends will be guest clerks and sell exclusive prints to the fair. Also available will be film & photography accessories, zines, photo books and other photo related ephemera.

EXHIBITOR PROJECT SPACES
Harper’s Books will curate a selection of books and ceramics, exploring the shared shelf-life of print and small sculptural objects.

onestar press and Three Star Books take the liberty to bridge some of their recent publications with their respective historical sources. Come see the art of History in Action with projects by John Baldessari, Sébastien de Ganay, Nic Guagnini, Karl Holmqvist, Parker Ito, Jacqueline de Jong, Margaret Lee and Ebecho Muslimova.

OSMOS has curated a project about constructivism across generations and cultures including new work by Leslie Hewitt and a selection of historical works by the German Anton Stankowski (1906 - 1998). Stankowski, who developed a prototype for contemporary advertising known as “constructive graphics,” was also a photographer and painter. The OSMOS project will show that both artists maintain a radical and innovative approach to using photographic material. While distinct in nearly every aspect, both artists’ constructions subtly implicate social, economic, and political situations. In the 1920s, Stankowski attended the Folkwangschule in Essen, where he studied with Max Burcharz. In the 1930s he relocated to Zurich to work with Max Dalang and the Zurich Group (e.g. Max Bill) before he was unfortunately sent back to Germany to be drafted and then made a prisoner of war. After the war, Stankowski built his studio in Stuttgart, where in 1951, he founded his own agency.

Werkplaats Typografie will present a project that is specially invented, devised, appropriated, designed and performed on the occasion of the LA Art Book Fair 2017.