Book club: ARTBOOK opens a sprawling new entity at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel
Last weekend, ARTBOOK unveiled its latest bookstore at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel’s new Downtown Los Angeles space. The store offers around 3,000 titles on contemporary art and culture – including 500 monographs on women artists, and 200 critical texts related to Hauser Wirth & Schimmel’s current exhibition, 'Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947–2016'.
The emphasis on female-focused titles is something the ARTBOOK team feel particularly proud of: ‘It's been nearly ten years since MoCA’s seminal 2007 exhibition, 'WACK!', which traveled to MoMA PS1, where we opened our first bookstore. I have to tell you, when the show was at MoMA PS1, it was difficult to find books on most of the artists in the exhibition. This is truly the first moment in history when a bookstore can stock a wall of shelves solely with women artists. I want to celebrate these books and encourage our visitors to discover them,’ says Skuta Helgason, the mastermind of ARTBOOK, as he set up shop in preparation for the grand opening.
At four times the size than their PS1 store, ARTBOOK @ Hauser Wirth & Schimmel will continue to switch out a portion of its retail space to focus on a theme, updating their displays with new releases and essential backlist titles, overlooked and out-of-print catalogues and rare volumes from a range of publishers, in addition to the gallery's own exhibition editions.
ARTBOOK’s new location brings in some standout features from their existing Walker Art Centre and MoMA PS1 stores to Los Angeles. A wide range of magazines from around the world remains a core component of their thinking, as well as section of contemporary literature and highly relevant books on visual studies and critical theory, alongside stationery items and children’s books. Among the forthcoming spring releases is Alexander Girard: A Designer's Universe (published to coincide with the current exhibit at the Vitra Design Museum) and a limited collector’s edition of Joel Meyerowitz: Morandi’s Objects, which includes an archival digital photograph, signed and numbered by the artist.
Helgason says, ‘We’ve become accustomed to creating book selections that are both tapped into what’s happening nationally and internationally at all the major museums and galleries, as well as locally.’
The store’s flexible design – complete with mobile interior fixtures and bookcases, and moveable sales desks and display tables – has been led by Helgason, who has been developing book retail space for more than 40 years. ‘I ran my first concept bookstore, devoted to artists' books, in Washington DC in the 1980s at Washington Project for the Arts. After that, I spent seven years working as an artist and publisher in Berlin,’ he says. ‘I moved to New York in the 1990s, kept making books myself and working in book design, and then, in 2004, at the invitation of Klaus Biesenbach, who wanted a really deep, European-style art bookstore, I opened ARTBOOK @ MoMA PS1, which has evolved over the last decade from a small kiosk to a deeply stocked contemporary art bookstore with a separate international magazine store.’
When Hauser Wirth & Schimmel invited ARTBOOK to create the in-house store, Helgason drew on those four decades of experience to determine the essential elements needed to meet the changing requirements of their rich inventory. He continues, ‘The size and malleability of the space will allow us a great, really challenging flexibility for presenting books that we’ve never been able to work with before.’
INFORMATION
Saturday–Wednesday, 11am–6pm; Thursdays and Fridays, 11am–8pm. For more information, visit ARTBOOK's website
ADDRESS
Hauser, Wirth & Schimmel
901 E. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Remembering Richard Serra (1938-2024), American art’s man of steel
American artist Richard Serra, whose vast sculptures transformed landscapes around the world, has died aged 85
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Architectural gardens around the world to soothe the soul
From small domestic gardens, to nature reserves, urban interventions and local parks, here are some of the finest green projects that place nature at their heart
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Corfu hotel Domes Miramare redefines beachfront bliss
Make like Jackie O at Corfu hotel Domes Miramare, a property with contemporary luxury and echoes of 1960s glamour in spades
By Bridget Downing Published
-
‘Package Holiday 1968-1985’: a very British love affair in pictures
‘Package Holiday’ recalls tans, table tennis and Technicolor in Trevor Clark’s wistful snaps of sun-seeking Brits
By Caragh McKay Published
-
Who is the future of British art? Hauser & Wirth Somerset finds out
‘Present Tense’ at Hauser & Wirth Somerset showcases some of Britain’s most exciting emerging talents with a group show of 23 artists
By Mary Cleary Published
-
‘Art Exposed’: Julian Spalding on everything that’s wrong with the art world
In ‘Art Exposed’, Julian Spalding draws on his 40 years in the art world – as a museum director, curator, and critic – for his series of essays
By Alfred Tong Published
-
Marisol Mendez's ‘Madre’ unpicks the woven threads of Bolivian womanhood
From ancestry to protest, how Marisol Mendez’s 'Madre' is rewriting the narrative of Bolivian womanhood
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Avery Singer considers 9/11 trauma and corporate anonymity at Hauser & Wirth
‘Avery Singer: Free Fall’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, melding a serene office aesthetic with moments of horror
By Emily Steer Published
-
Frieze London 2023: what to see and do
Everything you want to see at Frieze London 2023 and around the city in our frequently updated guide
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth unite for a sensorial London exhibition and auction
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth are working together to raise money for arts and mental health charities
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Cindy Sherman’s freaky new portrait collages dissect the divided self
We preview Cindy Sherman’s new portraits, on view at Hauser & Wirth Zurich during Zurich Art Weekend – which will see digitally manipulated collages explore the many facets of society
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published