One of the things I love most about the online version of Juxtapoz is when they feature reader art. This week, the art of Quyen Dinh especially caught my eye. With paintings featuring such subjects as wolf-faced boys and pet death, her art is touching and universal without being overwhelming or saccharine. Here's a little bit from her bio:
"When it comes to art, there’s just something about the unadulterated colors of acrylic paint on canvas that is so visually titillating, visceral in effect, making it my favorite medium to work with. I suspect I never left that certain phase of childhood when bright colors, simple shapes, and outlines of Saturday morning cartoons and coloring books were the only images that captivated children for hours. Naturally, it is this love for simplicity and color that has found it’s way into my paintings. Making art for me has always been pure catharsis."
The new Taika dish collection from Iittala is designed by Finnish artist Klaus Haapaniemi. His designs are this wonderful mixture of myth and folktale and imagination, all with a modern feel. It's safe to say that I covet this dish set hardcore--I can't seem to find them for sale as a set yet, though Amazon seems to come closest to offering the whole assortment. Glorious little owls and peacocks!
Jill Antonishak's jewelry pieces from her Etsy shop Finch Metal have such a sweet simplicity and whimsy. Beautiful and elegant, yet also unusual enough to set them apart and make them stand out from the crowd. My favorite piece is this flying kite necklace, but I'm also crazy about this pinwheel design and the tree complete with tire swing. Because a tree IS incomplete without a tire swing, naturally.
And you can read a great interview with her on Indie Fixx here.
(An extra-special thank you to Jen from Indie Fixx for allowing me to write a three-part indie shopping city guide for Portland! It was loads of fun and the first time I've ever written anywhere besides here. So thank you!)
I hadn't realized just how much we have previously written about artist Kent Williams until I did this search, but he is worth every bit of ink or type or computer words we have spent on him, and then some. His work with light, composition, and the human form is stunning, so I'm glad we'll all have the opportunity to see his work again in his newest exhibition coming up at the end of this month. It's called Swim in the Deep Water and it runs from September 27 through October 25 at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery in LA, with an opening night reception from 8-11 PM September 27.
The above is a detail from one of the pieces from the exhibit, "Icarus." I can't find any other previews of the show, but Kent won't disappoint. It'll be worth it.
Oh yeah--and that exhibit title? Damn good advice.
This has been around for a while, but it's new to ME, so maybe it's new to some of you, too. The Totally Kid Carousel in New York City is a carousel with thirty-six rideable fiberglass animals designed entirely based on children's drawings. Also, it is my new number one reason to visit New York City.
We just got the new Of Montreal album, Skeletal Lamping, in the mail today. Anyone who is paying attention at all knows that Of Montreal is one of my favorite favorite bands, especially to see live. Which is good and grand and wonderful, because they just happen to be on tour now. The whole thing is a bit like the Grateful Dead for me--I keep planning trips and vacations around where and when they'll be playing, attempting to see them as much as possible without just completely giving up my life altogether and stalking them.
The title of this album refers to a hunting technique whereby THIS happens to little animals out in the forest, to either be captured or killed. So in effect Kevin Barnes is using this album to hunt, and spotlight, the skeletons in his own closet.
And boy howdy, does he. The lyrics are as literate as always, and sonically, the band grows increasingly complicated and interesting with each passing record. And what is especially wowing me is the package design for this CD, with seven different packages to choose from and wall decals and T-shirts and this crazy poster and a freaking paper lantern. What more could I ask for? Stuff to wear, stuff to hang on my walls, and illumination, too! Not to mention a sensationally weird and wonderful musical experience.
The new Times bookstore in Indonesia is a perfect storm of optimal reading conditions, ironically best communicated in pictures. With 100,000 books in-store, an indoor garden, pod-shaped hanging structures filled with pillows to nest in, gigantic wall murals, and a fantastic cafe (with polka-dotted tables!), even the most discriminating reader or design buff will be satisfied.
By now I think my love of paper cut-out videos and art and such is well established. So just lay back and enjoy this one, a video for The Lovely Sparrows' song "The Year of the Dog" from their new album, Bury the Cynics. The video is directed by Eric Powers from Clear Productions, and you can view more of his incredible work on his YouTube page here. Careful: Once you click, your next few hours are spoken for.
TV on the Radio has their third album, Dear Science, coming out on September 23. To prepare us, here's the video for their new song, "Golden Age," complete with dancing police officers, band members in white robes, and a thumpin' disco beat. Please stay tuned to the end for the topless men with animal heads transforming themselves into a giant totem pole leading up to the sky. While rose petals rain down. Yeah, I know.
PS: I saw this band in concert a couple of weeks ago, so I can now speak with authority when I say you have NO CHOICE but to check them out while they're on tour. NO CHOICE! They are that good.
Spanish artist José Manuel Ballester has re-painted some of the most famous paintings in the world, with one slight alteration: He has removed any sign of human life. To contemplate these settings, now devoid of people, is to consider context from a whole new angle.
This project reminds me of Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Eclisse, which contains a famous seven minute-long montage at its end of places from the film, now stripped of any people. It forces you to contemplate the passage of time, the importance (or unimportance) of human drama, the value of your surroundings. Are they just incidental, or do they deserve a more starring role than the characters themselves?
I can't read Spanish, so hell if I know if that's the point of Ballester's exhibition "Espacios Ocultos" at the Distrito Cu4tro in Madrid. But that's what it made ME think of.
washthis on 
