The La Art Book Fair Returned this weekend with a new location and a renewed sense of intention. Now in his eighth edition, the stock market took over ArtCenter College of Designs South Campus in Pasadena, California, transforming classrooms, courtyards and even the Roof of a Subaru Outback In lively hubs of independent publication. Remotely produced by the New York team of Printed Matter, the stock market was made possible through deep collaboration with the creative community of LA. Still staggering from the forest fires in January, the small press scene of the city appeared with resilience and goal, supported by mutual aid efforts and exemptions for reliable publishers for affected publishers.
At a time when book bans, cultural conservatism and generative AI reform the creative landscape, Laabf 2025 was a celebration of subculture, radically publishing and the lasting power of print. In more than 300 exhibitors from 26 countries, LaABF offered hand -bound phrases, risographer prints, speculative fiction, surrealistic artists’ books and design peeemera, and was a welcome counterpoint for the algorithmic flattening of culture that we are currently viewing through our screens. Here is an overview of our favorite finds from Laabf.
[Cover Image: Hat & Beard Press]
In Dream’s start responsibilities: a Jonathan Rosenbaum readerPublished by Hat & Beard Press
Tension film, literature and jazz, this radical retrospective brings together 100 from Jonathan Rosenbaum’s sharpest essays of almost six decades of cultural criticism. Published by Los Angeles -based Indie Press Hat & Beard, the collection reveals how these three art forms are interwoven in Rosenbaum’s unique worldview.
Rosenbaum, the best known for its influential film writing with the Chicago reader, also weaves deep reflections on music and literature and builds a kind of critical manifesto. Expect essays about Stanley Kubrick, Chantal Akerman, Thomas Pynchon, Duke Ellington and further, all filtered by the Iconoclastic lens of Rosenbaum.
[Cover Image: Cult Classic]
Cult Classic Magazine: 06 Magnetism
Cult Classic Issue 06 investigates the unseen threads that bind the creative culture. Centered on ideas about reflection, manifestation and momentum, the problem reflects on what brings us together and what keeps us ahead. With three cover variations to choose from, readers will find conversations with artists, musicians, designers and writers who form the future of culture. From underground music to Indie -fashion, cult classic continues to document the wrist of creative communities with depth and eclectic vision.
[Photo: Secret Headquarters]
The dome: throat heart mouth earthBy Carly Jean Andrews; Published by Secret Headquarters
Secret Headquarters defines the comic book shop again with a sharply compiled, design-forward approach for graphic stories. Known for its focus on comic book culture, the store shows an exceptional selection of graphic novels, trade backs and monthly titles.
A must-see title to debut in Laabf was the Dome: Throat Heart Earth by la-based illustrator Carly Jean Andrews, a kaleidoscopic, spiral collection of self-portraits that combine vintage maximalistic aesthetics with the characteristic explorations of the female form of the artist. Each copy is supplied with a sieve limited string printed with one of Andrew’s original drawings in a surprising color.
Time, myth and matterby LD Deutsch; Published by Sacred Bones
Combining science, speculation and stories, time, myth and matter is the debut-essay collection of LD Deutsch, published by the Brooklyn-based record label Sacred Bones. In five extensive essays, including revised versions of its cult vessels and one never previously published, Deutsch investigates how we use both technology and myth to understand reality. Deutsch moves between cosmic and personal, makes unexpected connections between consciousness, physics and story. It is a genre-rating lecture that is comfortable between philosophy, pop culture and futurism.
[Cover Image: Draw Down Books]
A toolkit to collectBy Rachel Berger, with Meg Bisenineer, Sara Dean and Janette Kim; Published by Draw Down Books
Tired of the same old conference formats? This inventive guide, made by Rachel Berger with Meg Bisinate, Sara Dean and Janette Kim, offers a new view of how artists, designers and thinkers can collect with more goal and creativity.
Originally developed during a two -day stay in this, time will cost and later formed by the uncertainty of the early days of the pandemic, the book is full of tools, prompts and strategies to make professional encounters more meaningful and much less boring. Think of poetic ice breakers, alternative structures and replicable ideas to reconsider how we get together.
Newly updated with a preface by the founders of books, Christopher and Kathleen Sleboda, to draw, this slender, beautifully designed volume is both practical and inspiring.
[Cover Image: M12 Studio]
Land lines: San Luis Valley (Journey Into the American West)by M12 Studio; Published by Spector Books
Landlines, a four-year involvement of M12 Studio, is a volume of 400 pages that explores the San Luis-Valley from Colorado, a huge Alpine Bassin formed by different landscapes and layered histories. Located more than 10,000 feet above sea level between the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountain Ranges, the valley has long been a crossroads of crossing worlds: indigenous countries, Spanish and Anglo settlements, and a surprising series of religious communities, from Catholic to Amish to Hindu. The landscapes bear traces of Adobe architecture, old waterways, potato and cannabis farms, volcanic remains and folklore swirling with cryptides, UFO observations and folk music. Land lines combine research -driven stories with suggestive images and offer a rare and versatile portrait of the rural southwest.
[Photo: Current Editions]
Organizational power: Volume 1By Jessalyn Aaland with Ana Fox hodes and wet Naylor; Published by current editions
Organizing strength: part 1 is a Pocket-Size guide for starting a union in your workplace. Made by Jessalyn Aaland with Ana Fox-Hodess and Nat Noylor, this manual in Zine-Stijl employees has already helped to organize institutions such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Wexner Center for the Arts.
Originally developed during Aaland’s Fellowship in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the saddle -stitched booklet adapts trusted labor organizations with extra insights from the authors. The risographer cover design gives a nod to the entire aesthetics of the earth catalog, so that the project is based on an inheritance of Doe -Te -self -empowerment.
[Cover Image: Caboose]
Bugue – Number 1by Liana Jegers; Published by Caboose
Share field guide, partly personal zine, Bugue is a tender love letter on the overlooking wonders of the back garden. Made by Liana Jegers, this debut number zooms in on the Flora and Fauna just outside her door and offers meditations to the hidden world under our feet. Printed on soft newspaper and filled with lush photography and hand -drawn illustrations, Bugue brings a slow, observational approach to nature writing, based on the hyperlocal and everyday.
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