Bøger udgivet af BLURRING BOOKS

In 2021 after recreational marijuana was legalized in New York, an onslaught of guerilla smoke shops that sold weed began opening all over the city, beating any state-sanctioned dispensaries to the market. Almost overnight, it felt like every empty storefront was a smoke shop and every deli had added weed to their inventory. In an immediately over saturated market with accessibility like never before, the question of how to make your product stand out arose. The answer? Branding! This shift from black market to commercial led to an unprecedented emphasis on visuals for the weed being purchased, a renaissance of sorts. Never before seen strains whose names and designs played on current events, pop culture, lifestyles, luxuries and vices started showing up everywhere while more traditional strains like Sour Diesel or Gorilla Glue suddenly garnered an infinite amount of new visual interpretations. Soon enough, these bags were littered all over the streets and it became clear that they were, in most cases, unrelated to the strain of weed inside and served mostly as a visual aid - like a trading card. These bags were notably original and inventive, with seemingly endless variations of subject matter that felt completely unique to this moment of New York history. Za Zine is a collection of these bags found by Louis in New York between November 2023 and February 2024.

Any Sunday in Coacalco, offers an unvarnished and intimate glimpse into the subculture of Mexican luchadores, the global phenomenon that's inextricably tied with Mexican identity. Through a blend of reportage and deeply personal portraits, New York photographer Tyler Blint-Welsh highlights the roughness, absurdity, and passion that defines lucha libre, with a collection of images depicting raw violence, feats of athleticism, and moments of vulnerability. With a distinct perspective, honed over years as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, Blint-Welsh takes a documentarian's approach to a cultural performance, showcasing the aspects of machismo, tradition, and parody that have turned lucha libre into one of Mexico's biggest pop-culture exports. For his debut photobook, which was shot in a single afternoon, Blint-Welsh traveled to an outdoor wrestling ring on the outskirts of Mexico City, with a pair of cameras and seven rolls of 35mm film.

Between 2005 to 2007 the international documentary photographer Debby Besford researched and photographed a complexity of issues around the representation of the contemporary female, with emphasis on the Burlesque Stage Performer.This led onto further creative intrigue and a questioning of the idea of play between photographer, private space, intimacy, fantasy and the real, and the mystique of the performer.This particular body of work evolved from a deep-rooted curiosity about female sexuality, and how it can be expressed and represented in a positive and more complex way.

I Hope I Break Even, I Could Use the Money is a book of black and white photographs taken at Aqueduct Racetrack by NYC photographer Larry Racioppo. In a short accompanying essay, Larry describes a day spent there with his father and uncle who, like the majority of people at the track, were blue collar workers looking for a "score" to supplement their income.

At the crux of a time and culture where people can't decide whether it's more important to define yourself or to have fun, this book encapsulates the arguments we have with ourselves on our journey to that decision. It explores the confusion of being a young adult, the pain that comes from beauty, and the fine line between success and failure all through the limitlessness of movement. In the spirit of La Haine as Vinz describes the man who falls from a skyscraper reassuring himself: "So far, so good...so far, so good" on the way down, he reminds us that in life "It's not how you fall that matters. It's how you land."

Drawing from the media multiverse of TV shows, movies, and the internet, Cumwizard69420 casts a penetrating eye on the inflated egos and self-delusions raging through our celebrity-obsessed culture. And yet these images, which are often unnerving and frequently grotesque, are also generously human, laced with affection and humor. Cumwizard69420’s work reflects the chaotic topography of the internet, with subject matter that leans heavily on the scatological, the sexual, and the pop cultural.

The artist’s highly-detailed narratives are in the lineage of both Tom of Finland and Hieronymus Bosch. His canvases confront viewers with the joy, fear, catharsis, pleasure, and eccentricities imbued in fetish. In Salandra’s images, themes of repression, liberation, masculinity, worship, identity, and desire are combined with personal history, pop culture, and the life-long psychological impact of the Catholic Church’s perverse power dynamics. Each of the intricate 14 pieces depicted in this book is a testament to the artist’s liberation from the “Iron Halo,” a metaphor he uses to describe society’s many powerful forces of sexual control.

In an abandoned storage unit in Philadelphia, a collector discovered more than 150 works on paper by a presumably self-taught artist. The works fall into distinct groups—pencil drawings that are often sexual jokes, explicit watercolor scenes, and drawings on mimeograph paper.Clues to the identity of the artist and the timeframe in which the works were made are embedded in the materials. The ledger paper and safety protocol forms that presumably he used as a support bear the letterhead of the well-known Philadelphia chemical manufacturing company Rohm & Haas, established in 1909. A partially affixed mailing label on the back of one of the drawings gives a Philadelphia address and indicates “foreman” as the addressee. The date 1955 is written on the back of another drawing. The clothing and hairstyles depicted seem to date from the 1940s and 1950s. A search in the company’s archives turns up a staff photograph from 1931 listing numerous foremen who might be the author of this erotic cache.Almost certainly made for his own personal amusement and titillation, the Philadelphia Foreman’s erotic drawings are a rare and fascinating time capsule of American folk porn.-Excerpt from Mousse Magazine Folk Porn, Sexual Anxiety and American Masculinity: The Philadelphia Foreman by Alison M. Gingeras

Tragic and beautiful, ridiculous and sublime, these photographs are a record of the branded proprietary names of street drugs of The Bronx in the years around the Crack and AIDS epidemics. Heroin brand names were mostly associated with trouble and cocaine brand names were mostly associated with good living/the high life. These images tell stories, provide cautionary tales, sell through sex appeal, reference topical issues and engage in Truth In Advertising. Told through the photographs of New York based photographer, Thatcher Keats. Branded Bronx Bags 1984-1994 is part of Blurring Books' new series of publications, Limited Slim Publications.

Photographs of 30 ecstasy pills from the years 2000 and 2001Highlights the DIY branding of clever drug dealers of the time, usually based on well-known corporate logos Shot on slide film with an extreme macro lens

A visual retrospective of the turbulent year that was 2020 through the eyes of the New York-based multi-disciplinary artist Erik Foss. TWENTY TWENTY A Year in Pictures is a snapshot of Foss’s psyche, and also of one of the most turbulent years in recent American history. A lot of the events and changes of the past year directly influenced Erik’s work, depicted in this remarkable and expressive collection of imagery, bound together in a hardcover time capsule. 2020 was a horror show, but in many ways, that very horror has been the muse for Erik’s most artistically successful year.In a year that struck fear and insomnia in the hearts and minds of millions, we, as a culture, have undergone grave interruptions in our progression towards diversity, and global health.The onset of COVID-19, in combination with the political turmoil that ensued, we have been forced to re-examine our values, practices, and authority. In the early months of this pandemic, many Americans and global citizens faced an uprooting of lifestyle, unemployment, loss of family, experienced fear and anxiety, as well as witnessed the demonstration of violent and non-violent protests as a result of the BLM movement.If you’ve grazed the streets of downtown NYC at any point in the past decade, you have likely been confronted with the guttural, and expressive style of Erik Foss. After moving to New York in 1996, Erik quickly established himself as a figurative kingpin within arts and downtown culture. Having been privy to a vastness of experience within the realms of music, art, and gallery production has ultimately added to the depth, honesty, and complexity of his work. If nothing else, Erik is a prolific artist. In the first four months of 2020, he created:Several Portal paintingsA slew of street photographyGoogle paintingsToon drawingsAbstract trompe l’oeil works made with oil and acrylicsA large street muralHis first bronze sculptures

"The sticker may be the most efficient art medium ever invented." - Jeffrey DeitchThe name says it all! Considered the authority on the history and culture of adhesive art (known as stickers) DB Burkeman wanted to offer people whatthey really want, which is amazing stickers themselves. There has never been anything like this peel-out sticker book with the list that includes someof the most iconic names in contemporary art.Includes stickers from Allan McCollum, Andy Warhol, Ann Craven, Anthony Coleman, Baraulio Amado, Chapman Brothers, Daniel Johnston, David Jien,DAZE, Devin Troy Strother, Donald Sultan, Elmgreen & Dragset, Erik Foss, Fred Tomaselli, Hank Willis Thomas, Jackson Pollock and many more.

A selection of works spanning more than 10 years, highlighting some of author Anthony Coleman's favorite characters from cartoons to pop stars. I Like Drawing is part of Blurring Books' new series of publications, Limited Slim Publications.

I Left a Note is a collection of street photography, focusing on and highlighting one of the masters of what’s known as “fire extinguisher” graffiti, PORK. PORK is a legend in the world of street art in New York City, as well as an in demand fine artist, showing in many galleries in the city. The city itself is truly his canvas. He is currently working out of his studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn. I Left a Note is part of Blurring Books' new series of publications, Limited Slim Publications.

The Sm;)e Book is for anyone who appreciates the most iconic image of joy - the smileyFor those who love cheeky culture jamming and logo flippingShowcases works by fine artists and graphic designs by bringing together an extraordinary collection of art in the form of the smileyThe two creators of this book come from very different worlds and backgrounds, but found a common bond though their love of art & designBoth the author and designer of this book have deeply rooted cultural backgrounds in DJing, subcultural production, and visual art where the smiley has held personal significance10% of the proceeds from the book’s sales will go directly to the charity Skateistan to empower at-risk children through skateboarding and education

Due to the success of The Sm;)e Book and demand for more, authors db Burkeman and Rich Browd invite you to celebrate the smiley face's 60 year impact on art, music, pop and counter culture with the second book in the series, Sm;)e again... In the history of graphic design, there is no other symbol that has ever held such a duality-used simultaneously as both a positive mainstream driver and a counterculture subverter of that very mainstream. Sm;)e again... showcases an even more impressive collection of the world's most potent visual communicators! Introduction from the legendary Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim. Artists featured:Aurel SchmidtBANKSYBarry McGeeChapman BrothersChris JohansonDestroy All MonstersDavid ShrigleyErik Foss Fred TomaselliGerhard RichterJames JoyceJim JarmuschJosh ReamesKenny ScharfLucas PriceMarilyn MinterMaurizio Cattelan/Pierpaolo FerrariMisaki KawaiNate LowmanRichard PhillipsVelvet UndergroundRob PruittScout ZabinskiStephen PowersStuart StempleTalking HeadsWendy WhiteUgo RondinoneUFO

Before db the DJ became DJ DB, he was attempting to launch himself as a photographer. These never before been published photographs capture the punk rock spirit of London in the late 70s. Some notable appearances include Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen leaving court, the Sex Pistols final show in the UK, the Ramones in intimate New York clubs, and Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart pre-Eurythmics. Author db Burkeman is based in Brooklyn, New York and is an avid collector of all things punk rock.