Russell has a rare skin condition, dermatographism, that causes welts to form when her skin is scratched. pretty amazing stuff. the use of color in this series, titled Save Face, is what is so arresting to me. they evoke angry sunburns, or the musculature that lies just beneath skin. combine that with her confronting the camera while she is manipulating her skin? magic.
oh god i know. it's awesome. no i want to go no i want to go. no i want to go but i won't. cry cry cry. Jessi laughs laughs laughs. 08.05.13
my sister is funnier than yours. and we were both born with a healthy dose of schadenfreude.
not only do i find him thoughtful, insightful, and well-spoken, he continues to go above and beyond his role as a mentor and teacher to an "activist" (yes, i know, maybe a stretch) for those who are marginalized in his own industry.
last week, Gunn opened up to HuffPo about the dearth of well-designed plus-size fashion. i couldn't agree more with him, as a lover of fashion who has more around the middle than what can squeeze into a Marc Jacobs size 14 frock. PS: NOT A SIZE 14. while, like Gunn, i do not agree with vanity sizing (re-sizing products so that me, a 12-14, buys an 8 or 10) i can't help but agree that designers are really missing a huge chunk of the market by not catering to a larger audience.
read for yourself, here. this is truly someone who loves, lives, and breathes fashion - someone who understands the transformative nature of it, and what it can do for self-esteem.
then, just yesterday, i was at Nordstrom with my friend, and, like a beacon in the dark, i saw it. Rouge Noir is officially back. here is the photographic evidence:
i don't know if it's back for good, so run out and get it now. i think it's the perfect way to relive the nineties without looking dated. what was the first nail polish you used until it ran out?
apologies for lack of posting - it's summer and i'm ramping up projects. we'll see how they turn out!
it's taken me a few days to digest this piece published in the New York Times on 08.10.13. i have some mixed opinions about it, considering i have a background in the very type of museum she seems to dislike.
i understand her argument that we shouldn't be forced to change the nature of our cultural institutions on a whim, but aren't institutions supposed to reflect the very culture they exist in? and, if that's the case, than it is a natural progression for a museum to engage their visitors in a different way, which can mutually benefit both the institution and the audience? there still is the stigma around museums as academic, unwelcoming places only for those who are highly educated, of a high socio-economic background, and Ms. Dobrzynski seems quite content on keeping them this way. but the democratization of art has been systematically happening for quite some time now, so isn't it time that our institutions reflect that?
there are bigger factors at work here - one of them being that cultural institutions are forced to change their methods because of a lack in funding. the very people she sneers at, stating: "...Even in Europe’s old cities of culture, some people might stop in at the Louvre or the Uffizi, but often just to snap a few pictures on their cellphones to prove they were there..." are people spending money and supporting those institutions. while every museum worker knows that admission sales don't make a dent in operating costs, engaging new audiences, younger audiences, and getting them so excited that they wait in line for your exhibitions can only help garner good-will within that community. so that, perhaps, in twenty years when that obnoxious teenager that engaged in the "gamification" of exhibits, grows up and makes money, they might remember that experience donate money back to that institution.
i admit i'm irked by certain experiences in museums - i don't find it necessary to have touchscreen panels near every work, nor do i find didactical material that helpful. but i'm also a trained artist, and have art history background, so i'm coming at it from a different perspective. the perspective of the people that cultural institutions need to reach are not the educated and well-off, they're aces at that already. how do you get your local community engaged? she even throws that in, stating: "...younger people want museums to connect them to the creative economy. They don’t want to listen to some art historian flown in from New York; they’d rather network with members of the local arts community and take part in a conversation. This is all in the name of participation and experience — also called visitor engagement — but it changes the very nature of museums, and the expectations of visitors. It changes who will go to museums and for what."
and in response to that, i can only say "yes! EXACTLY!" let's engage our local art community! let's realize what a wealth of information, what a network truly exists in every single city you visit. art should belong to the people who are interested in it, and want to learn more about it. if they can help foster burgeoning talent by engaging the local "creative economy" and introducing them to a broader audience, than i think it is absolutely necessary for our institutions to do so. and it should be in the name of visitor engagement. you shouldn't be a passive audience - art is not passive. and if you find yourself wanting that experience, perhaps it's a trip to a white box gallery you prefer?
what are your thoughts? what do you like/dislike about museum going?
so, i have an incredibly talented coworker, Laura Winn, at Smart Design who runs a think tank called Form & Future. she has an event coming up with the founders of Rice Paper Scissors at Makeshift Society, so if you're in SF, check it out!
here are the details:
Rice Paper Scissors
A Vietnamese Cafe
Friday, August 23rd, 7-8:30PM at Makeshift Society
Join us to hear Valerie and Katie discuss starting a business, creating community through food, and how to work hard while enjoying every minute of it. Buy tickets, here.
Rice Paper Scissors co-founders Valerie Luu and Katie Kwan serve up Vietnamese street food at pop ups and events all over San Francisco. Inspired by sidewalk dining in Vietnam, Valerie and Katie are committed to bringing Vietnamese culture to San Francisco, taking over streets with little red stools. You've eaten their food at Mojo Bicycle Cafe every Thursday, read about them in nearly every SF publication, and seen them on Anthony Bourdain's “The Layover”. We're particularly smitten with their feature in VICE's Fresh Off the Boat with Eddie Huang.
Valerie and Katie run every aspect of their business with tact: organizing pop ups and events, catering lunches, writing, staging photography, and managing interns. In the past two years, they've grown their scrappy startup into a legitimate business–and they're just getting started. Join us to hear Valerie and Katie discuss starting a business, creating community through food, and how to work hard while enjoying every minute of it.
Refreshments will be provided. Doors open at 6:15. Interview is from 7:00 to 8:00, with Q&A at the end.
read about British photographer Mishka Henner, and her photos of dutch landscapes and why these photos are unique, at gessato.
Sleigh Bells, Crown on the Ground
Azealia Banks, 212(feat. Lazy Jay)
Andrew Bird, A Nervous Tic
Bloc Party, Better Than Heaven
Bright Eyes, Loose Leaves
LCD Soundsystem, New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down
Rilo Kiley, Silver Lining
Lana Del Rey, Yayo
Underworld, Born Slippy (Nuxx)
Fiona Apple, Hot Knife
this is not some new fancy gin. this is water. i'm currently blazing my way through season 7 of the o.g. BH90210, so i think i might need this to drink whilst i watch.
i've featured Marina Abramović performances before here on the blog, and she's back with another inspiring project. this time, it's the Marina Abramović Institute, a space being incubated right now, which will be dedicated to performance, long durational work, and the Abramović Method.
from the MAI site:
MARINA ABRAMOVIC INSTITUTE IS DEDICATED TO THE PRESENTATION AND PRESERVATION OF LONG DURATIONAL WORK INCLUDING THAT OF PERFORMANCE ART, DANCE, THEATER, FILM, MUSIC, OPERA, AND OTHER FORMS THAT MAY DEVELOP IN THE FUTURE. MAI WILL FOSTER COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN ART, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SPIRITUALITY, BRINGING THESE FIELDS INTO CONVERSATION WITH LONG DURATIONAL WORK. MAI WILL PROVIDE AN EDUCATIONAL SPACE TO HOST WORKSHOPS, LECTURES, RESIDENCIES, AND RESEARCH
what is even better is we, the audience and users, have the opportunity to help build this unique institution, via Kickstarter. i haven't decided what to donate yet - i keep waivering at the lower levels - but i'm certain i'll contribute in some way. MAI sounds like a place i'd like to get lost in.
need more convincing? AnOther Magazine outlines five reasons to support the project.
on the memory of seeing the Monet's at the Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima, 2010
08.05.13
Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin stands guard
Go'o Shrine, Art House Project
Haisha, Art House Project
AMAZING heated and fully-electric yurts where we stayed on the island
my dinner is looking at me: i look back at it
haunting and truly modern Japanese literature. if you think Japan is all subservience and kimonos, read this.
yes, i'm attempting this daunting task.
it's hard to describe the experience of standing in front of Jay DeFeo's The Rose. it's imposing, vast, and intimidating. a friend and i went and saw it during the Jay DeFeo retrospective at the SFMOMA, and stared at it for over a half hour, maybe even an hour. i have no idea - we lost all sense of time studying it. we walked around it, as much as we could, squatted in front of it, leaned towards it, tried desperately to get as close as possible to it without touching it. people came and went. we stayed. we talked about it - at length. we couldn't find the words to describe what was happening, how we were feeling. we talked to the guard, who had the same experience we had - he was just drawn to it. though he had been "guarding" it for the length of the retrospective, he felt compelled to stare at it every day he worked.
it's easy to breeze through galleries and museums when you do it a lot. it's not often that something is so arresting that it compels you to stare for over a half hour. it was like watching an amazing piece of dance, but it didn't stop. the song never ended. the performer, The Rose, never got tired. it continued to unveil secrets, and rearrange itself to hide others. nothing i say here hasn't been said before, by people more eloquent, and erudite, than i. it's something that is meant to be experienced.
here is a video of the conservation effort of The Rose by the Whitney.
pretty, non?
so, i'm not much of a fan fiction person. in most cases, i prefer to just reread the real deal, and go on with my life. i generally tend to look down on fanfic with derision, and the attitude of "can't you just write a NEW story?! be creative!!" i was recently proven wrong with the James Potter series by G. Norman Lippert.
these stories are old news, i'm sure, in the fanfic world - they were released not long after the seventh Harry Potter book. i only found them a month or so ago, and i have to say, i'm delighted by them. Lippert takes a robust, fully developed universe that J.K. Rowling so eloquently set up, and works within that universe to create exciting, and ultimately plausible, plot lines. it's like visiting an old friend, reading these new stories, and where i think Lippert succeeds is that he's not re-writing the stories, he's creating brand new adventures with a brand new set of characters. Ron, Hermione, and Harry still pop up, and i have to say i cherish every moment that they do. he also stays very true to the tone of the original series, and the complexities of "good" versus "evil" in that good is not always good, and not everyone is completely evil. a moment in reading the second book of the series i was reminded of a quote from Sirius Black: "We have all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the power we choose to act on. That’s who we really are."
if you love Harry Potter as much as i do, i think you might really enjoy these books. other great part? all can be found free on the internet.
Book One:James Potter and the Hall of Elders Crossing
PS: i feel like i'm Levar Burton on Reading Rainbow. NERD ALERT. someday, i will tell you about my encyclopaedic knowledge of the Harry Potter series. books and films.
UPDATE: i didn't realize when i wrote this a few days ago that i had scheduled it in the queue for Harry Potter's 33 birthday. happy birthday, Harry! auspicious, no?
