For 125 years, Coca-Cola has connected with more people in more places than any other product the world has ever known. First sipped at an Atlanta soda fountain as a hot weather pick-me-up, Coca-Cola has triumphed by engaging people, one by one. The company’s long-time leader Robert Woodruff sought always to have it “within arm’s length of desire.” He succeeded so well that Coca-Cola has become a part of our landscape, part of our rituals, part of our lives. This illustrated book celebrates the world’s most iconic beverage with the brand’s photographs, advertisements, and designs as well as memories from film, social history, and pop culture. Decade by decade, Coca-Cola represents the zeitgeist with nostalgia and flair. Pre-order here.
American Fashion Designers at Home offers an intimate look into the private quarters of more than 100 members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America—from the classic elegance of Carolina Herrera’s Louis XV influenced New York apartment to the pink-mirrored, flower-filled flat of Betsey Johnson. This collectible, one-of-a-kind sneak peek into the lives of CFDA stars reveals that fashion’s most creative minds also take their work home them.
Upon its first publication in 2001, Back in the Days by Jamel Shabazz became an instant classic. And it has endured as a seminal and iconic title, inspiring a decade-long, international revival in old-school hip hop style, music, and culture. Now available for the first time in a limited-printing, tenth-anniversary-edition, Back in the Days: Remix includes a new edit with over 30 never-before-published photographs, a new essay, an interview with photographer Jamel Shabazz, and deluxe cloth binding. Now is the perfect time to reintroduce yourself to the ultimate collection of timeless street fashion and style: Back in the Days: Remix. Pre-order here.
It’s a fact: individuals have the power to change the world. And in an age of rampant environmental devastation, nothing is as vital as saving our planet and the health of its inhabitants. Eco Amazons brings together, for the first time, American women leading the charge to create a sustainable future. They are individuals at the forefront of the global ecological movement, making a critical difference in all of our lives. Through intimate interviews conducted by journalist Dorka Keehn and arresting images by award-winning photographer Colin Finlay, Eco Amazons chronicles and illuminates the leading environmental issues of our time and shows how concern leads to passion, and how passion leads to action that can be emulated by all. Continue reading “Eco Amazons: 20 Women Who Are Transforming the World” »
’12 Years Graffiti Writing’ captures European street artist and photographer Ozkar Gorgias who documented the sneakers he wore over more than a decade of creating his art. Much of gorgias’s photography documents the work and lives of graffiti artists, bringing him to subways, train tracks, abandoned buildings, and rooftops. Becoming an extension of who he is, his dirty and paint-splattered sneakers provide another window into his work, imprinted as they are with the traces of each encounter, escape, and project.
Burton Snowboards in conjunction with Milk Gallery, VICE Magazine and powerHouse Books is pleased to present Winter’s Children by photographer and filmmaker Jim Mangan. These snowboarding photographs, first seen on the pages of counter-culture institution VICE are an irreverent commentary on the industry and a playful hybrid of cultural documentary and nature photography. A book based on the series, published by powerHouse Books, will be included in the artist’s book collection at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
In 2010, Mangan left for Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountain, he was accompanied by seven snowboarders; his college friend, Peter Sutherland, now a reowned photographer and artist, and rising stars from the sport’s next generation, including Laura Hadar and Alex and Andrews.
The sever riders hit the slopes naked on vintage snowboards from the 1980′s, dressed in only vibrant Native American blankets that contrast with the stark winter landscapes.
In the end, for the photographer, the riders, and the viewers, Winter’s Children becomes a baptism, with the cold snow washing away the neon filth of consumerism and serving as a bracing reminder of snowboarding’s pure origins.
Jan 15 at 7 to 10pm
450 W. 15th St. – Milk Gallery NYC
Fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto has never been one to stick to the norm and predictable so it comes as no surprise that his first biography isn’t in any sort of chronological order but rather a collection of personal retrospect told through flashbacks, poems and short fiction.
Stylelikeu, created by mother-daughter team Elisa Goodkind and Lily Mandelbaum, goes way beyond the now ubiquitous and static poses of street-fashion bloggers The Sartorialist, Face Hunter, and all the rest, and instead, brings us into the homes–and more importantly the closets–of the most stylish people on the streets of New York, Los Angeles, London, and more.
Not interested in celebrities and the stylists who dress them, Elisa and Lily have an uncanny knack for finding and gaining the trust of people who march to the beat of their own, very chic, drummer. Often spending up to three hours with the most daring and original dressers they can find, Stylelikeu photographs each fashionable person in several different looks of the subject’s choosing.
To probe deeper into each subject’s personal style, they conduct intimate interviews on their ambitions, influences, and dreams, making each portrait so much more than yet another street photograph. From the most personal pieces in their subjects’ wardrobes, to the favorite books on their shelves, to the most precious objects in their houses, Stylelikeu goes far beyond mere appearances to showcase how creativity is fostered and manifested by living in the most stylish way of all: true to oneself. Trumpeted in the press for Elisa and Lily’s departure from the top-down nature of mass-market fashion, where the editors of popular fashion magazines tell consumers what is stylish, Stylelikeu represents the vanguard of a new, DIY, fashion-media paradigm. It is a bold and inspirational experiment, documenting fashion at its source-the individual.
A few of the 1000+ comments left by fans of the Stylelikeu website: “Was just talking about how he NEEDED to be on this site. So amazing.” “I find her absolutely mesmerizing. She is so full of life and charm. She has a wonderfully contagious spirit. She is such an inspiration and I would love to be like her someday.” “I love that you guys feature such a diverse group of people-all ages, races, sizes, budgets. It shows how everyone can have style.” “I don’t have any words to describe how amazing those two girls are! They are the true inspiration for all the girls in this entire universe!”
Tehran has a drug problem. On the streets, in back alleys, and in small, crumbling, low-cost apartments, Iranian crack addicts are finding their fix in steadily rising numbers. The crack—a term used to describe many types of crystallized narcotics—currently flooding the streets of Tehran is different from that found in the West in a significant way: the “black crack” in Iran is made from heroin, not cocaine.
With neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan still ranking as world leaders in the production of poppies and their derivatives, and the demand for these products increasing daily, the flow of these drugs into Iran have been hard to stem. Despite severe consequences for possession, distribution, and trafficking, new customers are picking up needles and pipes at an alarming rate. Intent on documenting the plight of these masses of addicts, Aslon Arfa struck out into the underbelly of modern Tehran, camera in tow. The results of his mission, compiled here in Black Crack in Iran, are devastating images of men and women in the midst of a downfall. Some, including a young man with glazed eyes and infected burns stretching across his torso, are closer to the bottom than others.
Creating an accurate picture of daily life in Iran is a difficult task, and depicting addicts even harder. Due to strict religious and moral codes, even photographing a woman inside her home without a scarf covering her head is all but impossible. Add to the equation the shame of addiction, the misunderstanding and disapproval of drug use by outsiders, and the lack of trust from suffering people whose sickness is also a crime punishable by death, and the massive difficulties in completing this project become apparent. Yet, after months spent in the trenches, Arfa has succeeded astoundingly with Black Crack in Iran. The results are raw and humanizing, offering hope through exposure for an otherwise hopeless group of people.
The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis
The Day After Tomorrow takes readers on a journey to bear witness to the environmental destruction that is currently plaguing our planet; from a forest in West Virginia devastated by mountaintop removal mining, to a region in Florida left in ruins by the phosphate mining industry, J Henry Fair presents hard evidence that our unchecked consumerism is leading the way in the destruction of our planet, one natural resource at a time.
Primarily through the use of aerial photography, Fair captures spellbinding vistas of pools of toxic hog waste, streams of paper mill runoff, and the remains of hollowed-out mountains. These environmental abstractions lure the viewer in with unique asymmetrical shapes and striking colors; however, fascination quickly turns to horror, as the viewer realizes what lurks beneath the surface of the image.
Fair is a consummate environmentalist and after years as a corporate and portrait photographer he turned his lens on the industries that sustain us—oil, fertilizer, coal, and factory farming, to name a few—eager to uncover the dirty little secrets that he knew were well hidden there. It turns out the secrets, and the “dirt” they produce, are far too large to hide. For example: the factory farming industry is responsible for one of the largest environmental disasters in history, wherein a hog waste lagoon burst, causing 25 million gallons of highly toxic sludge to flood the New River in North Carolina, killing ecosystems, animals, and infecting water supplies. Just before Christmas in 2008, the Tennessee Valley Authority power plant was responsible for sending a billion gallons of coal ash waste into the Tennessee River; this spill was 40 times larger than the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Coal ash is toxic, containing a laundry list of hazardous substances such as uranium, mercury, lead, and arsenic. These are only two examples of the endless calamity we inflict on our environment daily. Now is the time to take action and make change. Continue reading “Guide Into 2011: Books” »
Spike Lee is stopping by The powerHouse Arena to sign copies of Spike Lee: Do The Right Thing, a new book that celebrates the 20th anniversary of the film’s seminal debut. It’s his first signing in NYC, so get your copy signed here before everyone else!
About the book:
Spike Lee: Do The Right Thing is an unprecedented, insider’s look at the film, with behind-the-scenes visuals and interviews celebrating the impact of Do The Right Thing on American culture.
Do The Right Thing remains one of the most controversial films of its era. Employing director Spike Lee’s hometown of Brooklyn as the essential setting, this explosive film masterfully explores race and class relationships.
Both a critical and popular success, Do The Right Thing became a landmark film that brought serious issues in the African American community to light and established Lee as a major director in American cinema. Lee also wrote the screenplay, produced, and even starred in this deeply personal film, which was applauded for its commanding visuals provided by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, intense performances by an all-star cast, and an assertive soundtrack featuring Public Enemy’s Fight the Power.
The film is even credited with bringing President Barack Obama and the First Lady together on their first date!
Thursday, December 16, 7–8:30PM
The powerHouse Arena ·
37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St.) ·
DUMBO, Brooklyn 718.666.3049
