Trinie Dalton

This first retrospective monograph of Los Angeles-based artist Sam Falls (born 1984) spans his work from his beginnings in the 2000s to his most recent exhibitions.Following the traditions of minimalism and land art while pursuing a path toward abstraction, his photographs, paintings, public installations and sculptures have undoubtedly been influenced by nature and the Los Angeles environment in which he lives. Previously a student of physics, linguistics and aesthetics, he has long been interested in how natural phenomena such as light, rain and wind might impact his abstract paintings and sculptures. The idea of a controlled change on materials ranging from steel to cloth creates extraordinary time-based hybridities. The book brings together new essays by writer and curator Trinie Dalton, French critic Donatien Grau, and Los Angeles Hammer Museum Curator Aram Moshayedi, as well as a special portfolio conceived by the artist.

Drawing on inspirations ranging from Buddhism and American modernist painting to psychedelia and Amy Winehouse, Brooklyn-based painter Chris Martin (born 1954) "lets the paintings make themselves," with often generously scaled canvases characterized by flat yet textured planes of bright, saturated color, frequently incorporating found materials and highly personal paper ephemera. The emphatic geometries of his paintings, which indicate his attachment to Piet Mondrian, are another signature touch, conveying a genially brash New York energy (Martin's practice came of age in 1980s New York, which saw the explosion of the East Village art scene, led by Keith Haring). This first full overview on Martin collects essays by Glenn O'Brien, Nancy Princenthal, Trinie Dalton and Dan Nadel.

"Trinie Dalton's voice is so charming in these stories and they fly right by so it takes a little time to realize how deftly she is talking about death and sex and fear and love and fur and slumber parties."-Aimee Bender "Trinie Dalton is as radically original a young writer as I've ever come across."-David Gates This riveting collection of stories is told by a woman in L.A. compelled to divulge her tweaked obsessions with native Californian animals, the mythic imagery of Shakespeare, glam-rock icons like Lou Reed, and horror movies. Trinie Dalton grew up in Los Angeles and writes music, book, and art criticism in addition to fiction. The book she co-edited for "McSweeney's, "Dear New Girl, is also forthcoming.