4 images, RJ Schaughnassy.

RJ Schaughnessy

Your Golden Opportunity is Coming Very Soon – Limited edition book, 2009

This book has already had several reviews and blog postings, but I want to do my part in passing it along.

RJ Schaughnessy sent me this book without much warning. I get alot of stuff in my mailbox (real mail) and though I catalogue all of it, only a fraction of it makes it to the Buffet, not necessarily out of quality reasons, but sometimes I just don’t find the right take on it at the right time. Its always great to get something that not only immediately catches my attention and stays with me all day, but that also fits well into the parameters of what I want to try and keep the Buffet situated in. This is a self-published book with a limited print of 500, which isn’t necessarily small, but when you add that to each one signed and numbered and a distribution which seems to be very narrow, this might be your “golden opportunity” to get something special.

This book is cryptic  from the start. The title suggests nothing of what is inside and I have seen it spelled 2 ways; with the misspelling as it is on the cover (comeing) as well as the so called “correct” way, (coming). I somehow don’t even want to know the story behind the title. I’m afraid I might find out it alludes to some piece of pop-hip-youth-sexy-cultural phenomenon that I should know about, but don’t.

That said, the pictures are a great collection of what appear to be accident sites and they all seem to be in Los Angeles. There is so much done about cars, especially in LA, but this one is a refreshing dark-humor look at things out of control. With each picture, though not hoping bodily harm, I can’t  help but imagine a BMW wrapped around a lamp. They are always at night and one can just imagine a young Weegee roaming the streets with a strobe, arriving just a bit too late.

When you see RJ’s homepage, he seems to do alot of advertising work; colorful, flashy, expected, but this seems to be a meditative, typological study of beautiful yet disturbing still-lives.  Although Deathcamp is now on my wish list, I appreciate the “one-step-back” which RJ has taken with this work. 

RJ lists only 2 places to order the book, Dashwood and Colete. 

Thanks RJ.