lending library

I've been meaning to check out Royal NoneSuch Gallery for a little while now, and I finally made it over to their excellent space on Telegraph last Sunday to see their Lending Library group show.  Curated by Dena Beard and organized around the idea of the library as a place to freely exchange knowledge, the show features source materials from seven different artists.  I predictably made a beeline for Trevor Paglen's section which features a shelf with serious-looking hardbound reports as well as books on Robert Smithson and Walter Benjamin.  Maps of various kinds are pinned to the wall, and a small spiral-bound memo book is open to display his handwritten notes.  For a person like me who loves any opportunity to snoop around people's bookshelves this was heaven.  Desiree Holman also has some of her notes on view as well as a pair of her creepy "reborn" dolls and a monkey face mask, while Anthony Discenza's shelf is almost nothing but DVDs.  Though the originals are not actually available for check-out the gallery has provided a wall of scans and photocopies free for the taking so that visitors may make their own intellectual associations, and I helped myself to one of each page along with a nice manila folder to keep everything organized.  I laughed out loud to see that Paglen's offerings were copies of old ads from Rockwell, the company my dad worked for throughout my entire childhood: "Like Yosemite National Park, Tactical Weapons Systems are a national resource."  I was also drawn to Andrew Rottner's obsessive lists, one of which is pictured here.  Besides gallery shows Royal NoneSuch also schedules music, storytelling, films, and other community events, and on this particular afternoon I stumbled smack into a craft market and BBQ.  Art for me, a catnip felt fish from Boutique Alicia Marie for Richter.