Oct
31
Blessing in Disguise
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The Night’s peace, disguised
as Madness; In spiritus,
Hallow, Hallow, ween.
Happy Halloween everyone!
IMAGE + POEM | ANS | Peace Squashed + Blessing in Disguise | 2008 | Adobe Illustrator and magazine cutouts from Report on Business. (How’s that for irony? I do read the mag by the way, and enjoy it a lot.)
Oct
30
Paging Palmano
Filed Under New Obsession | Leave a Comment
Does anyone have any information about photographer Cindy Palmano? Any examples (preferably in book form) of her works? A Google search doesn’t quite land me to any references, worthwhile.
I feel like Palmano is the missing piece to something I am working out in my brain, but not exactly sure of yet. Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Please provide comments below. Thanks.
IMAGE | Cindy Palmano | Alan Reinl | 1994
Oct
27
Under the Pink
Filed Under Art Fart | 4 Comments
Former Canadian fashion designer, Sunny Choi, has moved onto the visual arts. Choi’s impressive fashion illustrations are on view at her Queen West gallery. The works are ethereal, romantic, layered, and full of narrative.
Working with oils on canvas, Choi’s brushstrokes around her female models feel like the running thread between her paintings, context coming out of focus, life taking on some activity–almost as thoughtful (and bold) chaos.
Choi’s portraits and profiles capture elusive expressions. There is an element of seduction and beauty behind the Cover Girls portrayed, without making them too pretty or relevant on the surface only.
Surrounded by the threads, wisps and spots of paint, the Girls take on a myth like quality. The female models come to life as believable-fictional characters. In some instances they are the nymph in the forest, among flitting butterflies, and in others, attending a very VIP cocktail party, aglow, creating metaphorical butterflies in their presence.
In all, Choi’s works are a celebration of the female form, colour, and painting–the sections where Choi allows the paint to “be the paint,” framing areas where Choi controls the paint to create form. The very places where clothing melds into the environment and the environment melds into clothing. More than Choi’s world (depicted and lived). More like Choi’s infinite creative sensibility.
This December will mark Choi’s one-year anniversary in the art world. Judging from the works made, and the new collections she is dreaming up, I’d say that Choi has had a pretty good year. May she have many more. Congrats.
IMAGE | Sunny Choi | Cover Girls | 36″ x 48″ | Lacey in Mauve
Oct
22
Promsises, Promsises
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The BBC Electric Proms starts today. In its third year, the Proms is a music festival “dedicated to creating new moments in music.” (What does that mean exactly?)
The Prom runs for five days and features musicians such as, Keane, Goldfrapp, The Streets, Chaka Kahn and Burt Bacharach. (Who can forget Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello in Painted from Memory?!)
Other performers completely foreign to me include Bashy, XX Teens, and Rolo Tomassi–the fictional name given by Detective ‘Ed’ Exley–played by Guy Pearce in the movie LA Confidential–for his father’s, unknown, murderer. (Great. Just what the masses were awaiting. Another group with a name bolstering hipster highbrowness. Without question.)
Regardless. If the music is as good as the clever-gimmicky names of some of the newer voices, then this Festival just may be more than promises, promises. Attendees, please comment!
Oct
21
You Lyses
Filed Under Inside Out | 1 Comment
Years ago a friend once told me to never be apologetic for what I do, or who I am. He said, if anyone pressed me about my success, work, or livelihood at one of the many social gatherings I avoid at all costs, that I should just tell them I’m a writer, or a painter, or a baker, or whatever it is that I do. Just like that. No thinking, no holding back, no nothing.
He told me, for anyone interested, he would simply tell them he was an artist. No apologies. No way. If after that, the person didn’t know what to do with his response, then they were absolutely free to excuse themselves from the conversation, and find their investment banker, broker, IT manager friends, they came to the party with and re-enter the safe haven of the narrowed perspective (Happy hour Fridays, cottage weekends, training for marathons, house renovations) of their own making.
My friend’s response is obvious is it not? Nothing to argue with there except for maybe the not-so-obvious declaration an artist’s statement entails. Confidence. Read more
Oct
17
Fashionably Slate
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Taschen’s Fashion Now 2 is pages and pages of designer interviews and fashion photography. Full colour and written in three languages: English, French and German. Insanely affordable! A must!
My small criticisms of the book? The text is impossibly small. (See above regarding three languages.) My young eyes may help me now, but later, I may have to hunt for the “large print edition.”
Also, the tome is missing a few names I would have liked to see included–Heatherette, Isabel Toledo–at one point for Anne Klein, doo-Ri, and others. However, the 160 international profiles that are featured is a definite opportunity to learn about many designers I know nothing about.
i-D is responsible for the book’s select designer overview. Entirely different than the 20th Century Fashion: 100 Years of Style by Decade and Designer, in Association with Vogue. Although both books are good, i-D’s take on fashion is brave, unpredictable, discerning without being judgmental. Vogue’s view is in keeping with their mag: a bit high brow, a bit conservative, and maybe more classic than cutting-edge. (Oof! I know a lot of people are going to hate me for that comment!)
Fashion Now 2 has officially become my bedtime reading book, but my all-time reference. I can’t help it. The couturiosity is killing me!
Oct
14
Ceci, n’est pas une pochette.
Filed Under Vogue Rogue | Leave a Comment
Many magazines today include articles about interpreting fashion to their reading audience. The articles are often titled things like “Runway, Our way,” or are simply a category heading like, “ATM, “Gold,” and “Platinum.” Some articles are disguised as DIY instructions on creating similar designer goods and looks. A cut T-shirt here, an elastic there, and voilà! Your very own Doo-ri look-a-like tank. (In some cases, a tutorial authorized by the designer himself.)
A word of caution to fashion mags everywhere. It’s a bit dangerous to walk into copycat territory. The reason is based on assumption. The publishers’ assumptions actually. In the long term, at the expense of the magazine’s editorial credibility. Read more
Oct
10
f-Stop
Filed Under Art Fart | 2 Comments
One week remains to see the spectacular, Florian Böhm show, Wait for Walk, at the Cohen Amador Gallery, New York! You know what that means? It’s time to go, go, GO!
Wait for Walk contains photographs of people, stopped at crosswalks, in
The images touch upon many visual and idiosyncratic characteristics. Each photo acts as a composite of two orders contained within. One, the way the pedestrians have arranged themselves at the corner of the crosswalk. Two, the way the crosswalk divides the pedestrians with the viewer–who observes Böhm’s works from the “other side.” (The side where the pedestrians’ intend to cross over to.) In this way, the photos provide a four-dimensional perspective, with the cityscape set as the background, the pedestrians as the middle-ground, the viewer’s spatial relation to the work as the foreground, and the pedestrians’ notification to advance as the element of time. Read more
Oct
9
Primal Scene
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Art, adult content, and beer. What more can anyone want? (I encourage comments.) But, keep it clean people!
Tonight only, Keep 6 Contemporary celebrates the opening of their latest exhibit, Explicit Fantastic: sex(y) in contemporary culture.
The show has sex and sexuality-based works in the visual arts, film, and literature. Artists included are from around the world. Shary Boyle, TILT, and Tomori Nagamoto to name a few.
A screening and reading series runs concurrently with the show, which is up from 9 October 2008 to 30 November 2008, at Keep 6. Exhibiting artists’ merch will be for sale. A catalogue of the works should be available too.
Look for my small contribution to sociology and art theory at the show. (Here’s a clue for you. You’ll likely find me “in between the lines.” That’s all I’m saying for now. Good luck!)
Oct
6
Relationsham: Texting Milton Glaser
Filed Under Relationsham | 3 Comments
Not too long ago, a friend of mine was telling me about a text he received from a woman friend who was starting to put her feelings “on the line” (the wireless kind) about their relationsham relationship. Never one to have entered the dating scene, I asked my friend what form chivalry takes on in relationship 3.0. (2.0 is so Canterbury Tales). He told me that her romantic confession was unadorned (who needs details?), to the point (who has the time?), and paired down to the absolute essentials (who needs excuses?). Most of all, it was serious, which started to concern him. The text message read “I…U.”
Call me what you will–and don’t bother starting with old fashioned because I date somewhere between Darwin and DOS so reach back into your arsenal for something clever; I’m game–but, excuse me?
Of course. Why didn’t I see this before? A commitment of the heart that resembles a Milton Glaser mad lib at best. Why would there be any confusion? Read more