Aug
14
I’m sorry, but if this isn’t amazing, I don’t know what is. Genius!
Jul
24
Once in a while, I really get hung up on the exact meaning of a word. How to best use a word in a sentence, the subtle differences it has over similar words or synonyms, and just how much of an argument can be strengthened or weakened by a particular choice of word or words.
So instead of being interested in the design of things, I’ve been paying more attention to the anatomy and architecture of things. I’ve been concerned with the making than with the resolving. (Does that make sense?)
Tatting (making lace) has been one of the things that have satisfied my exploration into anatomy and architecture. Particularly, the drawings and sketches used to establish the patterns and process necessary to create such intricate designs. (Doing better?) Read more
Jul
15
Marchesa Luisa Casati has been on my mind lately, particularly the painting of her by Augustus John. (John’s portrait of Casati has been haunting me in my sleep. Why? I just don’t know….)
Usually when I get this kind of “nagging vision” the reasoning reveals itself sometime later, like an answer to something I’ve been trying to solve, or it acts as foresight to a trend or innovation that has yet to surface. (Just call me the “psychic cool hunter.”) For now however, I need to be content with dreaming of Casati’s extraordinary personality (I’d love a copy of the biography!) and how oddly enough, with just the right amount of kohl, Miranda July could pass as an impersonator. (The photograph of July and its similarity to the Casati painting is unbelievable, non?)
If July uses Casati in one of her upcoming works, then perhaps I’ll have the “a-ha” moment my dreams are chasing after! Maybe a trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, post-construction, where the Augustus John painting permanently resides, might be necessary. It might be the only way for my dreams to occupy a reality.
NOTE Couldn’t locate any credit info for the July image. Would love to know if the photographer and stylist had Casati in mind when art directing the shot. Any leads? Let me know.
Jun
13
Last year, I was completely disappointed in myself for missing out on the Gladstone Hotel’s annual Come Up to My Room (CUTMR) show. The 3-day event, which features Canadian designers and artists exhibiting works that are interior or lifestyle based, had many items reproduced for sale, one of which I coveted immensely. Nate Archer’s Timpins, to me, was the best example of taking a Canadian legacy, Tim Hortons, to a whole new level in pop culture.
Nate cleverly converted the Tim Hortons, timbits, into small buttons. So genius! This is art meets commercialism at its best! But it’s so much more! It’s like franchising on the franchise, and the franchise is a comment on who Canadians are and what Canadians are like. It’s about how the Canadian identity is rooted in a very humble history – a hockey player, his hometown roots, a coffee and donut being a reward for an honest days’ work – and how the thing that carved Canadians into their own, was not really the donut, but the donut hole. The negative space. The thing that is usually discarded. The “sweet nuthins” as other donut chains have coined.
Canadians as sweet nuthins. Does that not say it all? Read more
