PASADENA -- The Los Angeles Art Book Fair, hosted by Printed Matter at the Art Center College of Design, has made a vibrant comeback with over 250 exhibitors, a slight reduction from last year's 300. This year's event features a notable presence of newcomers, with approximately 20% of the exhibitors showcasing their work for the first time. The fair, now in its 13th edition, emphasizes the theme of archives, where publications reinterpret and remix historical media, bridging past and present.
One eye-catching display was a sign held by David Senior, a librarian from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, advocating for the book Inside SINA: The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, edited by Andrew Lampert. This intriguing volume recounts a 1960s hoax by Alan Abel, who created a satirical organization protesting against animal nudity, illustrating a unique form of pre-internet virality.
French publisher RVB Books presented MAN (2025) by Erik Kessels and Karel de Mulder, a compelling collection of vintage photographs that humorously critiques male subjectivity by positioning the male figure in the book gutter, almost disappearing from view.
These Days, a bookstore and gallery from Downtown Los Angeles, shifted focus this year to publications from the Greek publisher VOID. Their standout piece, Fishworm (2025) by Pia Paulina Guilmoth and Jesse Bull Saffire, features a haunting assortment of found images from abandoned homes in rural Maine, creating a poignant narrative of solitude and the uncanny in American life.
Palestinian-American artist Sabri Sundos showcased his cassette mixtape Hand to Hand, which brings together music from Lebanon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, reflecting his childhood experiences in San Diego and the Palestinian Diaspora. This compilation connects listeners to their roots through a shared cultural and musical heritage.
Engaging with themes of translation and cultural resistance, Armenian Creatives highlighted co-founder Caroline Partamian's Khaz Poems (2024), which transforms ancient Armenian musical notation into striking typographical art.
At Taller California's booth, Covers 1 & 2: Annotating the Archives of Heresies by Melinda Guillén revisits a significant feminist art publication from 1977 to 1993, while Evan Apodaca's Insurgent Archives from the Secret City (2025) sheds light on the lesser-known anti-Vietnam War movement within the military.
The fair serves as a testament to the resilience and creativity of the publishing community, with Coloured Publishing planning to open a physical bookstore. In a world increasingly dominated by digital media, they aim to create a "third space" for communal engagement and artistic expression.
This year's LA Art Book Fair not only celebrates artistic innovation but also emphasizes the importance of archives in understanding and preserving cultural narratives, paving the way for future generations to explore and reinterpret their histories.