Material Archive

Nice little video about Wayne Thiebaud

 

Love this man.

Backstage by Michael Carson

Still one of my all-time fav music videos

 

Tape Artist Aakash Nihalani

Everytime I see this work, it makes me sooo happy. Love it. 

Two Weeks in New York City: Quickie Intro

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I recently spent 2 glorious weeks in New York shooting an upcoming campaign for a client. During my "free time" there, I took the opportunity to indulge in two of my favourite past times – shopping and eating – and what better city for it!

This post is just a little preview of some fun stops. In later posts, I'll get into more detail about the specifc restaurants I visited.

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I have literally seen Ghostbusters enough times to actually recite the majority of the film from memory. Heck, my Mr. Stay Puft action figure is watching over me right now as I compose this post! So, you can imagine the unique childlike thrill MB and I had when we randomly walked by the original fire station from the film, while strolling through Tribeca. :)

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The new Uniqlo flagship store on 5th Avenue is ridiculously big. So large, that I actually was overwhelmed and felt lost on more than one occasion. Despite that, I still managed to find several great items to bring home. One of particular note was a great wool and cashmere trench coat.

Their prices are so reasonable, I really had to calm myself to not buy a whole other suitcase's worth of clothing.

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Wow – the Christian Louboutin store on Madison Ave is intense! When I arrived at 5pm on a Friday after work, I was greeted by a line-up of other patrons and a massive body guard! According to Mr.Big, a wait time to get into the store is a normal daily occurence. I noted that no other luxury retailer on the street had the same traffic.

When I got inside shortly after, I was met with an unusal scene. Picture: upper crust ladies who lunch, sitting next to hardcore rapper type dudes (all trying on majorly tricked out sneakers I have never seen the likes of before) and then working girls like me. A very odd mix indeed!

Regardless, all were very happy – especially this girl! Why? I had called ahead and secured the last brown Simple Bootie in size 40 anywhere in the whole bloody world after weeks of looking, calling and visiting every retailer that carries CL  – major shopping victory!

The staff were really great too and recommended that I get my soles reclad in red rubber – see below. That's one of them holding his colleague's boot to show the non-slip red rubber add ons. It's a brilliant idea, as the signature red does wear off pretty quickly in my experience.

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I had a pretty productive visit at Prada as well. A new winter coat, bag and wallet were amongst my newly adopted cohorts. :)

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Some random snaps I took during breaks while working at the photography studio...

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A quick visit the to the MET on the weekend recharged my creative inspiration batteries!

...

Coming up over the next several posts: reviews and photos of Jean Georges, Corton, Del Posto, BLT, Gramercy Tavern, Nobu, Lucali – amongst others!

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James Nares

James Nares does these in one brush stroke while hanging suspended in a harness above the canvas. – Beautiful!

Julia Dault's Mega Brush

Untitled (mega brush), 2011
Oil on canvas
72" x 60"

By Julia Dault

Reminded of my love for Parra today:

Just ordered this print as I have loved it for ages.

Am a fan of huge Parra's work and hope to collaborate with him one day on the right project.

Alexander McQueen : Savage Beauty

With an absolutely eerie and haunting cover of McQueen morphing from portrait to skull, Savage Beauty is a must own for any lover of fashion – a beautiful book.

Hanging with the Abstract Expressionists (& General Idea) at the AGO

Spent a fun afternoon puttering around the Abstract Expressionist exhibit at the AGO today. Took in a little General Idea too.

Last night I saw: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the result of Herzog's exclusive access to the recently discovered Chauvet caves in the South of France, and their extraordinary cave paintings, dating back 32,000 years."

 

Bompas & Parr Jelly Mongers

 

 

 

My darling @itbitme introduced me to Bompas & Parr a couple of years ago – here are some videos that capture their approach to all things jelly related.

 

 

 

So if macaroons are already over and cupcakes are super passé, could the artisan jelly take their place as the must-have dessert du jour to serve at your next soirée? I say yes! BP will make you a custom mold for only £800.

 

 

Adieu Cy Twombly

See more of his work here.

Michelle Armas Paintings

See more here.

Elephant Ceramics

 

 

If you read this blog with any regularity, you already know I am obsessed with ceramics. Design Sponge featured Elephant Ceramics this past week and I am smitten. The simple shapes, transparent washes and textured surfaces are so restrained and perfect.

Leanne Shapton's Wednesday Patterns

 

A month of patterns by Leanne Shapton in the New York Times.

Click here to see a previous post about Leanne.

Words to live by:

Joel Penkman: Paintings of Sweets (and some meat & cheese)

Yes, another painter that has taken a cue from Wayne Thiebaud and done a lovely job of it.

See more of Joel Penkman's work here.

Q and A: James Rosenquist

James Rosenquist’s works are on view at both the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Hirshhorn. The pop artist spoke with the magazine’s Courtney Jordan.

When you were starting out, you worked as a billboard painter in New York City?
I painted the Astor-Victoria sign seven times, and it’s 395 feet wide and 58 feet high. I dropped a gallon of purple paint on Seventh Avenue and 47th Street from 15 stories up and didn’t kill anybody. I dropped a brush at Columbus Circle. It fell on a guy’s camel-hair coat. He never noticed it, and down his back was a dark green stripe. I brought artistic skill to my sign painting. I made movie stars look better. I made them real. That experience helped my fine art.

You paint on a huge scale not unlike Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel. Are you giving him a run for his money?
I’ve wondered if during the Renaissance, I would have been good enough to be an assistant to Rubens or Michelangelo. They were some good old boys. But you couldn’t get a job back then unless it was painting St. Sebastian or Jesus.

You paint bluejeans, nails, bacon, beer bottles, drill bits. What’s the attraction?
I’m not like Andy Warhol. He did Coca-Cola bottles and Brillo pads. I used generic imagery—no brand names—to make a new kind of picture. People can remember their childhood, but events from four or five years ago are in a never-never land. That was the imagery I was concerned with—things that were a little bit familiar but not things you feel nostalgic about. Hot dogs and typewriters—generic things people sort of recognize.

Pop Art is often characterized as frivolous, but you have addressed nuclear war, Vietnam, the environment, AIDS. Are you the conscience of Pop Art?
That is a silly question. I’m just a painter. All my life I just do any damn thing I feel like. Lo and behold, some people like it and pay a lot of money for it. I’m not anything. I’m just curious. Doesn’t everybody do that? Picasso did Guernica. Goya’s paintings—incredible. I think Roy [Lichtenstein] and Andy Warhol were serious. Warhol was questioning the capitalist society. Certainly I have made comments on American society with the various pictures, and have done about nine antiwar paintings. But I did them because I was incorporating my feelings into my work.

Is it hard to let your work go?
When I started out, I didn’t want to sell anything because I was developing my ideas. I was trying to gather strength by putting a number of pictures together. I also kept my union card for billboard painting, so I didn’t care. But I thought to myself, I have empty pockets. I could buy more paint and canvas. Now, the works are spread out all over the world, Singapore to Cologne, Germany. But I never let anything go out of my studio if I don’t think it has something, an essence, because it could wind up in a museum.

From smithsonianmag.com

 

Maria Kristofersson's Ceramic Art

I want every piece. I love the illustrative quality to all the items – as though they are drawings of dishes made real.

See more here.

Clare Grill Paintings

See more here.

Suzie Smith's Celeb Dolls

 

 

Several years ago, at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, I bought a Courtney Love doll that sits on the ledge of my bed. She has a tag that reads: "Don't date the captain of the football team, be the captain of the football team." --- Courtney Love

Needless to say, that quote makes me smile everytime –

Last week, I was super excited when I came across Tina Turner in similar form at The Drake General Store – another "Action Figure" from Suzie Smith. Below is a exerpt from her site on the series:

"Action Figures is a series of screen-printed dolls of famous people who I find iconic and inspirational. In the series I created dolls of Yoko Ono, Tina Turner, Courtney Love, Frida Kahlo, Johnny Cash, Jean-Michael Basquiat, Nina Simone, the Guerilla Girls, John Waters, David Bowie, Missy Elliott, John Lennon, and Stompin’ Tom Connors. The installation was from an exhibition entitled Supernovas held at the Winnipeg art gallery in 2007. The exhibition was curated by Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan."



 

Lovin' Wayne White

(aw cmon)

(no you cmon)



(boo fucking hoo)

See more of Wayne's work here.

Jonna Pedersen Paintings

 

I love food. I love packaging. I love paintings of food packaging.

See more of Jonna Pedersen's work here.

 

Jim Lambie : Zobop

   

Jim Lambie: Zobop, Vinyl tape, MOMA, 2004

Romance Novel Covers Recreated

"Sometimes we sit for hours staring at a sea shell. Other times he'll hold me by the neck in front of the Pyramids. But there's nothing we like more than NEARLY kissing each other near some horses. I always try to look hot in front of him so he doesn't leave me."

See the series here.

Soojin Kim Paintings

If you love Wayne Thiebaud as much as I do, you'll love Soojin's work as well.

Carly Waito Paintings

See more here.

Grant Hamilton Polaroid Art

 

 
 





See more here.

Commute Home

 




 

Some of my favourite pieces at home are from Commute and so I must confess that I'm a little sad that they've moved away from my hood in Queen West – they are now at a bigger space at Bathurst & Dupont. They've also updated their website to showcase some really beautiful custom installation work – have a look.

Miller Goodman's Playshapes: The Perfect Children's Toy

 
 








As a newly minted auntie to my dear nephew Alek, I am still navigating through the rich and complex world of understanding children's toys. There's just so much to choose from and so many routes to explore. For my money, any toy that puts learning and the child's creativity center stage is ideal. Miller Goodman's Playshapes is one of the most lovely block sets I have come across yet. Beautifully crafted, the set yields endless charming possibilities. There's even a Flickr group where users can post new configurations. If you're in the TDot, buy yours at Magic Pony!

Andrew Yang's Dolls of Anna Wintour & Grace Cottington

I have a Courtney Love doll that I just love – it's a bit rougher than these "couture" versions but the idea as a whole amuses me.
These dolls by Andrew Yang are so fun – but if he had wanted to be a bit more accurate with Grace, he would have left off the eyebrows! ;-) See the whole collection here.
 

What I wish I was wearing for NYE:

 

Image by Pierre Dal Corso

Stuff I'm liking today:

Shot by Colin Angus.

 

I don't know what this means but I love how the purple smoke looks – esp. against that blue tile. Wouldn't it be nice if it smelled like grape?


This is a Christmas garland from TOAST. Wish it was a necklace instead.






This is an awesome mural from the Ace Hotel.

 

  

This is Melissa Auf der Maur and Olivier Theyskens during their collaboration. He reminds me of Trent Reznor in this outfit and haircut.

This is a brilliant fucking idea. I'm mad at myself for not thinking of it sooner. Why isn't everything this good?

 

  This charming illustration is by Ben Weeks. I met him recently at the Design Thinkers conference.

This is a detail from a dress I want to buy from Urban Outfiters. It looks very similar to one I fell in love with last Spring from Jonathan Saunders.

 

The necklace and dress are both Lanvin.

 

Some lovely packaging design for Merchant & Mills. Have you ever seen a more beautiful pin?

 

I don't know where this is but I want to go there and never return.

Gregory Thielker: Oil Paintings

See more here.

Ensemble: The Style of Music – Iconic Outfits

Buy the main poster here and see the other individual looks here.

Dentsu: Paint Sound Sculptures: Making of Canon Pixma’s Campaign

Some pretty projection mapping

 

Ai Weiwei's 100 Million Ceramic Sunflower Seeds at the Tate

 

Amazing.

Love Courtney

       

Say what you will about Courtney and her "kook" but I still think Hole's Live Through This was a great album. This video kills me...""It's not TAUPE! It's fucking Caramel!"

What to focus on:

 



Yes.

This is Fig

 
 


By Melinda Josie of my friend Char's cat Fig Newton – quite possibly the cutest cat that ever lived.

I heart Jeff Bridges

If you like Jeff Bridges, you'll love him after you see his website. Everytime I look at it, I wish I was friends with him.

Jamie Isenstein's Armchair

Read the New York Magazine article about her here.

The Beauty of Envelopes

 

Again by Andrew Bush.

66 Drives By Andrew Bush

"Andrew Bush (b. 1956) examines this tension between private and public in his remarkable series of photographs of individuals driving cars in and around Los Angeles—a city famous for its car culture. By attaching a camera to the passenger side window, Bush made these pictures while driving alongside his subjects—often traveling at 60 mph. Taking notes on the speed and direction he was going, Bush created extended captions for the images and called the series Vector Portraits."  See the whole series here.

Xavier Barrade

Love his visualization of statistical data as installation art. See more from Xavier Barrade here.

Josh Blackwell elevates the humble plastic bag to art

 



See more here.

One Minute Portraits

 

Submit your photo and get a snappy illo you can buy. See more here.

Luxe Lucite by Ted Noten

See more here.