Esoteric Survey

If you haven't seen  Gaps in the Record: Vanguard Print Culture in San Diego, your time is almost up. It closes on September 2nd. 
Gaps in the Record: Vanguard Print Culture in San Diego documents the overlapping literary and visual art practices and independent publishing activity within San Diego’s mid-twentieth century creative community. The exhibition centers on a small group of painters who were also writers: Don Dudley (1930), Guy Williams (1934-2004), Richard Allen Morris (1933), Malcolm McClain (1923-2012), John Baldessari (1931), and Fred Cooper (1939).
Curated by Dave Hampton





The show is deep, so even if you have been, you should probably go back again.

Landes Mfg. Company of California
Smalls - Soleri bell and Robert Maxwell
Ephemera stack
Tony Hill catalog 

Living with Clay: California Ceramics Collections August 25 – November 17, 2018 Opening Reception: Saturday, August 25, 2018, 5–8 pm
California State University, Fullerton presents Living with Clay: California Ceramics Collections. Curated by Rody N. López, this exhibition pays homage to distinguished collectors that have amassed impressive collections of ceramic artworks from some of the most respected artists in the field, all reflecting an insatiable passion for clay. 
The exhibition includes: Jerome Ackerman, Rudy Autio, Ralph Bacerra, Tom Coleman, Josh Deweese, Carmen Dionyse, Betty Davenport Ford, Viola Frey, David Furman, Julia Galloway, Shoji Hamada, Robin Hopper, Jeff Irwin, Sergei Isupov, Tony Marsh, Beverly Mayeri, Alleghany Meadows, Gertrude and Otto Natzler, Vincent Palacios, Don Reitz, Kevin Snipes, Paul Soldner, Robert Sperry, Jindra Vikova, Peter Voulkos, Patti Warashina, Varda Yatom, Ward Youry, and many more.
While on campus, don't forget to check out the architect…

Eames with a pink bikini and a Cees Braakman TM-03
Herman Miller Textiles-Objects, Alexander Girard
Charles Counts

When thinking of Bordeaux, futuristic modern architecture probably isn't the first thing to come to mind. Similar to the slum clearance movement that was happening in the United Staes in the 1960s,  Bordeaux city leaders, under a plan by city architect Jean Royer (not that Royer), began creating a series of high rise residential and commercial buildings in the working class neighborhood of Mériadeck. Although some building happened in the early 1960s, substantial construction under a modified plan by Royer did not start until the 1970s.

Allianz (Originally AGF) SCPA Arretche-Karasinki and Marcel Nouviale  (1983)
 Joël Gourvellec and Victor Maldonado (1983)
There is a network of pedestrian bridges over the streets connecting the buildings. This modernist scheme turned out to be a great way to effectively kill street vitality.  Compared to almost everywhere else I visited in Bordeaux, Mériadeck is dead.
Le Ponant by Jacques Salier, Adrien Courtois and Patrick Fouquet (1979)

Caisse …

The Cotton House by Philmer J. Ellerbroek. The chairs and table were designed by Dan Johnson.
Source: Maynard L. Parker, photographer. Courtesy of The Huntington Library
Ad from 1951 showing the Dan Johnson-designed chair. 
Source: LA Times, 1951
leslie's, which was located in the Wilshire Center/Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, advertised a variety of Johnson's early pieces. Many were designed exclusively for leslie's. 
Source: LA Times, 1951
1954 ad in a trade magazine with the best name, Metal Furniture. It's introducing a new lounge chair, by Selig. There is no mention of the designer. This is where things start to get dicey. This is obviously the 1951 Dan Johnson chair with wood arms instead of brass ball caps. Selig also didn't credit him in their own advertising.
Source: Andy Hackman (A legend in California Modern)
Recently, some people have been claiming that Lawrence Peabody designed the chair for Selig. 
Source: The Gazette and Daily, 1955
The confusion might…