Published 02/21/2024 | 10:10 am PST

Claremont, CA—The Benton Museum at Pomona College and The Arts Area are pleased to present for the 3rd year, Print Pomona Art Book Fair (PPABF) on Saturday, March 2, 11 am to 7 pm and Sunday, March 3, 11 am to 5 pm at Pomona College’s Edmunds Ballroom located in the Smith Campus Center. PPABF will bring more than 70 national and international exhibitors where San Gabriel Valley meets the Inland Empire to provide a forum for independent booksellers, distributors, and publishers to showcase artist’s books, art catalogs, photography monographs, drawings, and other print ephemera.

The two-day fair will also serve as a meeting place for creatives, book lovers and publishers to discuss and exchange ideas about art making, publishing, and other related topics.

Admission to this event and PPABF are free and open to the public.

Print Pomona Art Book Fair (PPABF) is a 501(c)(3) sponsored by The Arts Area and hosted in partnership with the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College. PPABF was founded in 2018 by photographer and co-founder of Mirrored Society Books, Julian Lucas with a goal to promote the recognition, distribution and awareness of artist books and other publications by artists within the region of the Pomona Valley and beyond.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday March 2, 2024
Amalgam #4 Journal contributors
(Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and Alec Mapes-Frances)

Print Pomona Art Book Fair
Saturday, March 2, 11 am–7 pm
Sunday, March 3, 11 am–5 pm
Edmunds Ballroom in the Smith Campus Center, Pomona College
170 E 6th St, Claremont, CA

ADMISSION IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The Benton’s main parking structure is located at 295 E. First Street. Additional visitor and handicapped parking is available in the Alexander Hall lot (N. College Avenue and Sixth Street). Limited street parking is situated along College Avenue.

About Print Pomona Art Book Fair
Print Pomona Art Book Fair is a 501(c)(3) sponsored by The Arts Area and hosted in partnership with the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College. PPABF was founded in 2018 by photographer Julian Lucas with a goal to promote the recognition, distribution, and awareness of artist’s books and other publications by artists within the region of the Pomona Valley.

PRINT POMONA ART BOOK FAIR
www.PPABF.org

About The Arts Area
Working at the intersection of economic development and the arts. The Arts Area, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, provides fiscal sponsorship, professional development, resource support, and civic advocacy to develop and support economic sustainability and equitable access in the creative industries of San Bernardino, Riverside, and East Los Angeles Counties. Learn more about the fiscal sponsorship and professional business services provided by The Arts Area and join the inland region’s largest professional arts network at TheArtsArea.org.

THE ARTS AREA
2910 S Archibald Ave #A145
Ontario, CA 91761
contact@theartsarea.org
www.theartsarea.org

About the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College
Now housed in the new Benton Museum of Art designed by Machado Silvetti and Gensler, Pomona College’s collection of art numbers 17,000 objects, including Italian Renaissance paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation; works on paper, including a first edition print series by Francisco Goya given by Norton Simon; and works in various media produced in Southern California in the twentieth century. In keeping with Pomona College’s reputation as a leading center of the visual arts, the collection also includes works by such esteemed alumni as Chris Burden ’69, Marcia Hafif ’51, Helen Pashgian ’56, Peter Shelton ’73, and James Turrell ’65. Recognized globally for its commitment to contemporary art, the museum is the home of The Project Series, which has featured more than 50 contemporary Southern California artists since it began in 1999. Through its collaboration with students and faculty, the museum encourages active learning and creative exploration across all disciplines of study within the liberal arts context.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact
Print Pomona Art Book Fair
Julian Lucas
Julian@ppabf.com

Media Contact
Benton Museum at Pomona College
Caroline Eastburn
(909) 607-2291

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Arts Area
Media Contact

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This Article was Produced by Mirrored Society, A Bookstore on the Arts. The Pomonan is co-publishing this article.

Linda Zhengova
Published 12/21/2021 3:40PM PST

Photobooks are a great resource, especially during the pandemic as they provide a space to immerse ourselves into someone else’s world. Like a small-scale intimate exhibition that is available at a particular moment only for us to see…

I was invited to curate a selection of photobooks that caught my eye during the course of 2021. As an editor and photographer, I came across many books throughout the year, yet there were only a few that genuinely moved me. I have, therefore, decided to select my top 5 photobooks that I thought not only showcase aesthetically beautiful images but rather pursue something stronger, be it emotional intensity, existential quests, or just unconventional representations of daily life.

I will not prolong this further and delve into my favourite photobooks of 2021.

Theo Elias – Red/January 2021 (Self-Published)

Elias’s self-published monograph captures the secluded Swedish landscape during the coldest month of the year – January. There are apparent contrasts and metaphors present in the book and the colour red tends to predominate. Submerged in these intensive hues, one immediately gets to feel the atmosphere through the images. Through his use of experimental analogue photography processes alongside thermal and trail cameras, he manages to compose an intriguing publication dealing with the themes of intimacy and existence where both personal and universal narratives intertwine.

Figure 2 - Courtesy of AKAAKA-sha and inri

RongRong & inri – Symposion About Love 1996-2000 (AKAAKA-sha)

‘Symposion About Love 1996-2000’ is a comprehensive collection of inri’s works composed from four series prior to meeting her partner RongRong – “Selfportrait”, “Maximax”, “Gray Zone” and “1999 Tokyo” that are now conceptually connected by the theme of love. The photographs presented are dark, yet colourful having both grotesque and performative elements. Her representation of bodies in alien-like poses and greatly expressive gestures in combination with flowers and flowy kimonos provide a great insight into Inri’s innovative approach to the medium.

Figure 3 - Courtesy of Art Paper Editions and Rita Lino

Rita Lino – Replica (APE)

‘Replica’ presents a futuristic vision that aims to showcase the body and the model as a pure image without any prescribed inherent identity, escaping the expectations of the self today. The publication can be considered as a detailed study of the female body which is liberatingly de-sexualized, rather its form and shape are put into the forefront, having an almost dehumanizing effect. Lino’s self-portraiture is controlled, her body is presented in a machine-like manner, exposing the questioning of her role in front and behind the camera.

*Figure 4 - Courtesy of Dienacht Publishing and Dinaya Waeyaert*

Dinaya Waeyaert – Come Closer (Dienacht Publishing)

Waeyaert has now published her second photobook ‘Come Closer’ which presents a love story of two women – Dinaya and Paola. The combination of Dinaya’s photographs with Paola’s written notes create a deeply intimate and diaristic publication, showing both the couple’s ups and downs. ‘Come Closer’ additionally includes numerous hand-made elements which add up to the book’s authenticity and personal nature. Through the presentation of their four-year relationship, we get a glimpse of their close-knit world.

*Figure 5 - Courtesy of Stanley & Barker and Jim Goldberg*

Jim Goldberg – Fingerprint (Stanley & Barker)

Jim Goldberg is known for his seminal project ‘Raised by Wolves’ in which he documented the troubled youth of California between the years 1985-1995. Goldberg not only portrayed their harsh reality filled with addiction, abuse, and violence, but also invited his subjects to write their thoughts, dreams, and desires on top of the photographs, giving voice to those who often remain on the fringes of mainstream society.

Now, after 26 years, the photographer decided to publish previously unpublished Polaroids from the project which were originally gifts for the people he photographed. In the end, the combination of text, imagery, and way of printing function as vehicles to arouse emotions and empathy in the audience – something quite rare to witness…

Linda Zhengová is a Czech photographer and writer currently based in the Netherlands. At the moment, she is editorially contributing to GUP Magazine and Discarded Magazine. She is also the curator of XXX - a new section of Discarded Magazine showcasing the vision of contemporary erotic photography. In photography, she uses the medium to challenge the existing boundaries and taboos surrounding the themes of gender, sexuality, and trauma.

The Arts Area and The Benton Museum Present the 3rd Annual Print Pomona Art Book Fair

Mirrored Society Books: Photobooks of 2021 by Linda Zhengová