In junior high I thought I was quite the style maven because I had a pair of black and white brogues from the Delia's catalog (nothing beats getting a catalog in the mail when you're thirteen). It was during the period of the nineties when there were all those retro zoot suit wearing bands and schools had swing dancing clubs. Well today I discovered the much cooler (and richer) older sister to my Delia's shoes, Church's Burwood Leather Brogues, which look like the classiest shoe around. Since so few people dress up these days (myself included) it also feels a bit rebellious to wear such formal looking shoes in your day to day life.
Mary Katrantzou's designs remind me of three dimensional op art. The level of detailing in her prints is really impressive and the prints all relate to the body in such interesting ways. I also love the surprises that arise upon closer inspection, who knew spoons could look so chic. Basically I love them all and am willing to date a Russian oligarch on the side if that will get me one of these beautiful dresses.
I happened to read an article about caring for aging parents last week in the Atlantic, and this week I picked up Loosing Mum and Pup, Christopher Buckley's memoir about his parents in their last years of life. In the article, the author's relationship with her father was extremely conflicting. In some respects she was harsh, as she made it clear she considered him to be a large expensive burden and couldn't wait until he passed away, yet she was also an enabler and seemed to acquiesce to his every bizarre whim and financial request.
Christopher Buckley's memoir was a much more interesting read as his parents were more fully fleshed out in the book and his relationship with them thought complicated was ultimately one of love and admiration. It was interesting to read about the shifts in the parent child relationship through the years, culminating in the child's responsibility for deciding the final resting place of the parent. Taking care of an aging parent isn't something I'd given much thought to prior to reading these so I found myself examining my own parental relationships and thinking about how I might act in similar situations.
I've been so dismayed by the lack of decent books for young children. About fifty percent of the books we find for the boys at the library have lame illustrations, text or both. Because of this I'm always overjoyed when we find a book that is engaging for the boys and not maddening for me to read.
I really love David Lucas's illustrations. We got his book 'Halibut Jackson' at the library sale and I thought it must have been about 40 years old since the illustrations reminded me of Andy Warhols early drawings from when he was a fashion illustrator. As it turns out the book was published eight years ago and he has about a dozen other books that I'd love to check out for the boys.
Here's an excerpt that I liked from the NYTimes article about Cindy Sherman and her upcoming retrospective at MOMA.
"She works alone in her commodious floor-through studio that houses her costumes, props and equipment. Women’s wigs dot window sills, and there are shelves of wax doll’s heads and body parts from medical mannequins. It is here that she becomes the subject, the photographer, the director, the makeup artist and the costume stylist.
“Whenever I tried to hire people or use friends or family, even if I paid them, I felt like I had to entertain them,” she said. “When I’m working alone, I can push myself. And I don’t complain.”
I just read Lillian Bassmans obit and looked through this slideshow of her photography. I love the way she highlights the shapes of the clothes using high contrasts.
Here is a great little interview with museum architect extraordinaire Renzo Piano. He just finished up the addition to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and I can't wait to check it out myself someday. While studying architecture during my junior year abroad in Florence I discovered Mr. Piano's work and was completely enthralled. His designs encompass everything I loved about the architecture in Italy. They flawlessly connect to the past while being completely contemporary, the experience of being in the space is so thoughtfully considered and beauty is completely tied to functionality.
Here is his recent addition to the LACMA which during my visit I found much more compelling than some of the art inside.
It's official, everything is better in Italy. The architecture, the cheese, the clothes and now the Big Mac. I've never eaten a Big Mac, the thought of eating some secret sauce is troubling to me, what are they trying to hide. But after reading this article in the Atlantic I may give the Vivace Big Mac a try the next time I'm in Rome.
It looks like we'll be moving out to PA this summer for school. Should we end up in Pittsburgh I can't wait to check out The Mattress Factory. An entire museum devoted to installation art, I'm in heaven just thinking about it.
In honor of the start of New York fashion week, here are a few outfits that I loved from the Celine 2012 Resort collection. Each of these have a great bold minimalist feel with unexpected details. The long shirt peaking out from the slit in the 3rd look and the tucked in double breasted shirt from the 11th look. And finally I love the coat from the 16th look, since it reminds me of an Anni Albers textile.
I used to feel a little weird looking at Style.com every week since everything in my closet definitely falls into the functional category (I'm talking to you maternity jeans). But I've decided it's just like looking at things in an art gallery, since no one actually buys things from galleries, right? Well at least not any I've shown work in. So I can just appreciate these images comfortable in the knowledge that I will never cross paths with the twenty people who actually have these rarefied items in their homes.
Cameron gave me this book for Christmas and I'm just getting around to reading it. Art essays are not something I can usually crack into during the day. The house has to be marginally peaceful in order for me to make it through any dense reading, which is to say that it doesn't happen very frequently. Thankfully, my mom is in town for the week helping with the kiddos so I've managed to sneak in a few minutes of quiet reading.
I love this description from the preface:
Brush Head, Body Object Series #5, Ann Hamilton
What matters for me in Hamilton's work is that she offers the very small, such as thousands of gestures that we ignore, the thoughts evading us, the dreams we forget, the words we mumble, everything that actually constitutes us.
I just read an interview with the photographer Deborah Turbeville about her new book of fashion photography. Here was her response to a question about whether she has a particularly feminine point of view.
"There is a certain approach that women have. They do get into some kind of inner thing more than the male photographers do. It’s a more personal approach."
This focus on trying to convey an inner person through film is pretty rare in a lot of recent fashion photography so it's nice to be able to look back at some of her work.
I'm always fascinated by homes that are true expressions of their owners. I'm all for bizarre architecture when it's on a grand scale, not in terms of size necessarily but in terms of effort or complexity. Reading about this home in Wyoming was pretty fascinating and I love that the home has become a legend within the town.
Tomorrow we'll be watching the Superbowl and in honor of the fact that I once had my hair cut by Teddy Bruschi's barber, I'll be cheering for the Patriots.
I've been looking at the work of architect and designer Alexander Girard. At least half of the graphic designs I've seen on etsy seem to be based on his folk art aesthetic. His work also reminds me a bit of this video.
Yowza, with a price tag of $85,000 dollars this chair definitely calls for a little DIY with some upholstery needles, stuffed animals and a craigslist butterfly chair. I love Estudio Campana, but that price is just loco.
Hoarders see patterns in objects, and are both delighted by those patterns and trapped in them.
I liked this quote from an article about design perfectionists. Not that I want to advocate hoarding, but it is interesting to look at the visual patterns in these spaces.
Today I'm starting David McCullough's latest book, A Greater Journey: American's in Paris. It didn't get the best reviews but I love his other books and I love Paris so I figure it can't be the worst way to spend my time. Plus Mr. McCullough seems like such a wonderful man. I saw a PBS interview with him a few years ago and they showed him singing joyfully at the piano with his wife. It was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. He's also not without a sense of humor, just thinking of his interview with Steven Colbert makes me smile.
I've been on a bit of a foil tape kick lately. I bought a big box of the stuff for my show at the Saranac and the left over rolls have been used to create Chinese lion costumes and space ships for the boys. Based on my current affinity for the material I was really drawn to these foil sculptures by Dean Millien at the LAND gallery in NY.
I'm just finishing up Mindy Kaling's book that I finally got from the library (I was the thirtieth person on the waiting list so I was anticipating reading it in 2014). This book is pure gold. She comes across as such a nice, happy person who happens to be funny and intelligent. It's been a relaxing read, which I definitely need at the end of the day, but it's not some chick lit book where you can feel your brain cells shriveling up while reading it. Also she loves her parents and talks about how great they are, which I love. Basically she is my Oprah, if she told me to read a book I would go out to the bookstore and buy it, now that is power.
Here's one of my favorite passages:
A note about me: I do not think stress is a legitimate topic of conversation, in public anyway. No one ever wants to hear how stressed out anyone else is, because most of the time everyone is stressed out. Going on and on in detail about how stressed out I am isn't conversation. It'll never lead anywhere. No one is going to say, "Wow, Mindy, you really have it especially bad. I have heard some stories of stress, but this one just takes the cake."
This was a good-natured reminder to me to keep my stress thoughts to myself.
I'm just finishing up Eleanor Dwight's biography of Diana Vreeland and I've been really inspired by her interior designs. The thought of having an office with lacquer red walls sounds pretty fantastic. I'm thinking since making art has been so difficult for me due to my complete mental and physical exhaustion at the end of the day, perhaps a nice jolt of red in my studio might be just what I need to get going.
I love watching clips of Portlandia on Hulu when I need a quick laugh. However, I've been so impressed with how consistently funny the clips are that I'm afraid to actually watch 30mins and have it not be as funny. This is clearly a life threatening decision that I'm battling with here. So anyone seen the show? is it actually as funny as the promos?
I just read this biography of Grant Achatz the chef of Alinea in Chicago. It was a really interesting look inside one of the best restaurants in the US, though reading about incredible food did cause me to constantly bemoan my non dairy and soy diet. I'm sure that delicious vegan food exists, I just don't have much knowledge about it so I've ended up eating a lot of steamed veggies and rice, ie the most boring food known to man.
Byron Co. Collection/Museum of the City of New York
Two of my favorite things, Edith Wharton (The House of Mirth is one of my favorite books) and Downton Abbey (the english language version of an addicting telemundo novela) in one article.
In honor of my best friend Suzanne's birthday yesterday here's a link to her incredible attic apartment that she renovated. I have such fond memories of climbing through the window in the living room to sit on the roof and lay out. We would listen to Bob Marley and drink Mountain Dew in one of those cups that can be frozen to keep your drink cool without watering it down, good times! In retrospect it wasn't the healthiest of pastimes but it was great none the less. (And speaking of talented high school friends this photo was taken by my volleyball co-captain Meikel Reece aka Muckaluckaboomboom.)
The bounty of Netflix documentaries continues to provide. Last night right before bed I started watching "Bill Cunningham, New York" a documentary about the street photographer for the NYTimes and it was so good I couldn't turn in off. Cameron even joined me for the second half and remarked that he is such an honorable guy (not the typical reaction to a fashion documentary). The scene at the end of the film where he discusses religion is really heart breaking and I came away from the movie completely amazed at what a unique individual Mr. Cunningham is.
I like this monochrome look from Giambattista Valli's Pre fall collection. I also thought the cork heeled wedges with dark tights was a nice unexpected touch.
I just read an interesting article about the relocation of this giant rock for an installation outside of the LACMA. I can sympathize with Michael Govan since I'm also having a hard time getting my show together in time for the January opening, but in the spirit of getting things done I'll stop posting things on line and get to work.
The nights of Netflix continue. We just finished watching this great documentary about the Brazilian formula one driver Ayrton Senna. The driving footage from inside the cars is incredible to watch and it definitely made race car driving seem like an exhausting physical sport. And as a bonus to all "the office" fans he's a dead ringer for Jim.
Cam and I just watched Cameron Crowe's documentary about Pearl Jam and loved it. The footage from the early nineties was pretty priceless and it certainly made me feel better about my worries that Hamilton's hair was getting too long (see below).
I have a goodreads account but I've come to accept that I just don't have the time to update multiple sites at the moment (much to the sadness of twitter readers everywhere it may be quite a while before I jump on that bandwagon).
So here is my latest reading update! I just read two books this week, which upon further consideration makes me think I must actually have more free time than I think I do. Anywho, today I finished up Half Broke Horses which I really enjoyed. Nothing beats a no nonsense female protagonist who knows how to get things done. I enjoyed this book so much that I promptly went out and bought a copy for my mother in law for a Christmas present. She is the epitome of a no nonsense, get things done kind of lady and she is a horse lover to boot so it was a perfect match!
The other book I finished up was Tina Fey's bio, Bossypants, which deserved to be read on the merits of the title alone. It was funny though not quite the laugh fest that I was expecting. I mainly came away thinking, "man she has such a completely jam packed hectic life" and also "I'll never write anything bad about her online because she may spend an entire chapter of a book verbally taking me down to size." Being a mother and having a successful career is tough or so I gathered since alas I have not had my retrospective at the MOMA yet.
