On July 28, 2010, In furniture, By Wes
On July 8, 2010, In art, By Wes
Howard Finster is my favorite American artist. I was introduced to him by my Dad when I was younger; at first I just loved that he wrote all over his “canvases” and seemed a bit nuts. That he lived and worked in my homestate of Georgia only grew my affection. But, as I’ve grown up, the paintings, carvings and sculptures have come to mean more.
Finster was a deeply religious man convinced in a vision from the lord that he should paint. He created thousands of folk art pieces over his life, including his home, Paradise Gardens, which became an ever-changing permanent exhibit of carving, painting, paint-penning, chalk-drawing, sculpture, agriculture, and architecture. When he died the place fell into disrepair, but it has since been put under the protection of the state, and volunteers are working now to restore it to it’s former glory.
Finster’s un-precious, un-precocious, un-pretentious works of art are the mad, wonderful scatterings of a brilliantly fractured mind and talent. They’re so much fun, they look so good, they’re so honest and American. See them in the Smithsonian or in Northwest Georgia; they’re folk art at it’s purest and least complicated.
On June 21, 2010, In _______vs._______, By Wes
There’s been a hubub recently about the marked similarity between the “look” of Lady Gaga as compared to a performer who’s been around longer and done some of it before; Irish performer Roisin Murphy. Take a look:
Pretty, pretty, pret-ee similar. Eh. For me, it’s the music, and that’s pretty much unimpeachable. As for Roisin, she had this to say: “I respect Lady Gaga’s work as an artist and as a fellow fashion icon. She is a very talented performer, playing the piano, singing live and dancing too. I Don’t Care about Shoulder pads!”
On June 14, 2010, In art, By Wes
I watched the popular 2007 documentary My Kid Could Paint That over the weekend, and I came away very interested, stimulated, and impressed. The story is one of a 4 year old child, Marla Olmstead, who executes beautiful abstract paintings on large (for her size) canvases. They sell for upwards of $20,000. Something funny though; whenever a camera was recording Marla paint, the work she did was sub-par. It looked like what it was, a four year old girl getting dirty and smearing paint over a canvas. The end results were not, seemingly, as good as the other paintings she’d produced and sold. Her parents explained it away by saying she was nervous, she did silly things, etc. Here the plot thickens; the father is an amateur artist himself. 60 Minutes did an expose on the family, essentially declaring Marla a fraud. The Olmsteads retaliated by releasing their own DVD, The Making of Ocean, which shows Marla making a painting from beginning to end, apparently with no help. This was the result:
For a child not yet old enough for Kindergarden, that’s not bad at all. But is it art? One of the more essential questions asked in the doc is: What is the worth of modern art? If “your kid could paint that,” does that mean it’s not art? Is a 4 year old capable of great art, of interpretive genius? Do you measure worth through the value of the paintings?
Look again at Ocean. Notice a few things about it.
The lines on the painting are mostly thick. With a few variations, the lines are thick and unsteady. The colors are unsophisticated in a cohesive sense. We see very little mixing between colors, between “zones.” When color is mixed, it’s not done with a deft or sophisticated sense; it’s merely on top of another color, or smeared. There are no brushstrokes, no clear intermingling of complimentary color. There are Mickey Mouse ears.
Now look at some of Marla’s other paintings; paintings which have sold for huge amounts of money, and which the Olmsteads claim she did herself, with no help or input whatsoever.
Take note of the fine, thin lines. The sophisticated mixing of colors to achieve the muted backgrounds. Note how the backgrounds fade into one another. Notice how the colors are complimentary. Notice how the same symbols are repeated with integrity and reasonable precision.
Here we have a super-advanced sense of blending, color, brushwork, and, again, complimentary color.
Decide for yourself. Decide this as well; how do we judge modern art?
My Kid Could Paint That was directed by Amir Bar-Lev.
On April 8, 2010, In fashion, By Wes
There’s a very minor fashion trend going on at the moment that is perhaps appropriate to highlight as we get closer to prom season; condom couture.
Those dresses, made by designer Emma Kaywin, were inspired by her internship with an HIV awareness outreach group. She realized they were about to dispose of thousands of left-over condoms and decided to keep them useful. She’s worn these dresses in public, and reports they elicit, usually, shock and/or disgust. Part of the impetus for these kinds of projects is to erase that kind of bias. By putting these essential and often life-saving devices in the best (and most visible) possible light, Kaywin and others hope to end the stigma around them. Pretty cool. Our next designer, Adriana Bertini, has made something of a career (and a recycling/health outreach project) out of these dresses. Some highlights of her collection:
Few people have had made their personal appearance such an integral part of their craft, and few have changed so much in so little time. A review of Bowie album covers from 67 to 79, a turbulent time.
Ground control to Major Tom…
Of course, I would be extremely remiss if I didn’t direct you to the superb song from the Flight of the Conchords, Season 1: Bowie.
On January 8, 2010, In fashion, By Wes
So, uh… Frank Gehry, world famous architect, designed a hat. It wasn’t magical.
That hat was designed for Lady Gaga, the unfortunately named but daringly attired pop superstar to wear at a benefit for the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. He designed it on his iPhone, which is just too much.
On December 23, 2009, In Holiday, By Wes
Old, if not particularly jolly.
The grandaddy of the them all, this is the traditional (and increasingly ancient) depiction of the original St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas became known for his generosity toward youth when he contributed dowries to three daughters of a local man, so that they wouldn’t have to go into prostitution. Now, I bet you didn’t know that.
Still not jolly in excess.
Eventually, he shifted to this character. The red robes became more prominent, the beard got approximately ten feet longer, and he now wears bishop’s robes and holds the staff which many Father Christmases in Europe continue to make a feature of their costumes.
Jolly, no longer old.
This depiction comes from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and is a representation of what had become the primary visual representation of Father Christmas (called the Ghost of Christmas Present in the story). The robes are green, the man is featured feasting and excessively jolly. At this point, Americans have not yet created their own aggressively commercial and nationalistic Santa Claus.
Santa Wants YOU.
Here he is. This Santa was illustrated by the famous cartoonist John Nash for Harper’s Weekly in 1863, dead smack in the middle of the Civil War. It features Santa in his now traditional fur lined coat and stocking cap, giving out presents. Here the presents are for United States troops – but the illustration is undoubtedly to bolster the morale of a northern populace growing increasingly sick of war.
Santa wants YOU (to buy).
What would an American Christmas be without product placement? This Santa, featured in the classic (and gorgeous) advertising campaigns waged by Coca Cola in the 50s, has become our national brand.
Holiday travel can be a girldog sometimes. But it’s a lot easier, cooler, and environmentally responsible if you use these re-purposed Jerry Cans as rolling luggage.
Explosively sweet (© Ivorilla)
All in all, a pretty nifty way to get sustainable.