Arrangeable wall

The wall where the TV hangs is a tricky one to hang art on - sort of a visual waste of space.  I was inspired by this post at Lovely Life and decided that something like it would be a perfect solution to display coffee table books and album covers - or just about anything.  It's sort of an ever changing wall that you curate.  It really completes the space, don't you think?

Thanks to our friends Daniel and Pat at Autumn Workshop we have our very own Arrangeable Wall.

Stay-cation

I think about 3-4 years ago, I realized that travel during the holiday time is a stress I don't need to put myself through.  Something about the impending bad weather and flying at the same time as everyone else in the world seems like asking for trouble.  Why not see family and old friends during the summer months?

Since my stay-cation has officially started after lazing on the couch for 2 days - I'm making mental notes of the things I would do if I were visiting New York during the holidays.  I find myself taking this city for granted sometimes and need to fall in love again...  Another one of my goals this year is to be more active on this blog, so why not start it now with a mini personal holiday tour in NYC?  Of course now the challenge is to do some interesting things and not revert back to my usual series watching junkie behavior.  It'll be a fun challenge!  I think I'll start with going to the MET today, as I've heard they are showing Matisse's work.  Oh, and the Regarding Andy Warhol, Sixty Artists and 50 Years exhibition looks pretty interesting too - I love Cindy Sherman's work.

Wish me luck... and happy Christmas eve ~! :-*

Images via www.metmuseum.org

My portfolio so far...

Finally got a chance to update my portfolio!  Check it out here.

Naomi Kazama

I'm finally out of jury duty and back to my regular life!  OK, so it's been about 2 weeks since I've been released from my civil duties, but life has been really busy, you know?  My little attempted project to build a cat toy-wall-sort-of-sculpture didn't pan out.  I ended up making one part of the toy and experimenting, see here.  But as you can see, it was sort-of-a-flop.  I was trying to lure the cats into playing with the fancy scratch pendulum (I admit the shape ended up being suspect).  They were more interested in the laser pointer (no surprise there).

Luckily last Sunday, Naomi Kazama showed up on my block to live screen print his art work, and inspired me to stop making such complicated project choices.  Oh ya, and he also got me excited enough to post about it.  I really should be better about this posting business... though {I think} not too many people read this, I enjoy doing it.  Maybe I'm just a record keeper at heart?

Anyhow, back to Mr. Kazama.  He was the coolest!  We brought some of our old plain t-shirts and he printed some of his art on them, using his marble technique.  Immediate art to go, just around the corner from my apartment.  Need I ask for more?  Check out more of his work here.

dotted

I love these dotted ceramics by Matt Merkel-Hess at IKO IKO!

this weekend is about... COLOR!

That is... wall colors to be exact. Usually, I've lived in white and grey. I'm always afraid that I'll get tired of the color I choose for walls, but for some reason, our new place calls for COLOR. Yes, people always say that it's easy to paint over paint, but lemme tell you, it's not as easy as people make it sound. It's sort of a pain.. ok, a real pain. So, I just want to be able to live with the colors I choose for a bit and maybe, just maybe for a looooooong time (forever?). I saw this post on seesaw. with art work by Courtney Price "rectangular objects" that got my eye excited to go color crazy this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to take some photos of the results.

160 Hall St.

In conjunction with my moving process, I'm reading "Just Kids" by Patti Smith. It's probably one of the best books I have ever read, or am reading. Since there's plenty of press coverage summarizing the book and what it's about, I won't do it here. However, I will provide the fact that her and Robert Mapplethorp's first apartment together is just a short walk from Mr. Z's and my new place (what a coincidence!).  So, I took a little bike ride to 160 Hall St., Brooklyn to see their old digs to take in the brilliant history they made together as life partners, best friends, and artistic muses.  The building did not disappoint me, as it's a beautiful brick walk-up that looks almost Gothic. I think she said that they lived on the top floor...


I'd like to make this post a homage to Patti Smith for... just being, Patti.

images found here

Idea fest

So, I did make it to the Festival of Ideas but really I was more inspired to hang out with friends, have a few drinks, and enjoy the Saturday.  Here are some pics to sum up my particular run through. I found that there were much much better photos on the Gothamist, than the ones I took...

Some links of exhibitors and vendors to note:
*Bus Roots
*Agata Olek
*Brooklyn Soda Works
*Ari Tabei
*Space Buster

Got an idea?

Today I'm headed to the Festival of Ideas. It started a few days ago, and the list of exhibitors, seminars, and vendors is pretty intense. The freakish organizer in me wanted to make a check next to each item I am interested in... but I realized very quickly that I should just pick a day and throw myself in it. I will definitely post the ideas that get me (the most) excited. Would love to see your thoughts and ideas in the comments! Comment here on my blog page.

If you are in NYC, hope to run into you! Happy Saturday!

Peeking at Tim

Tim Walker's Pictures makes me want to start a scrap book of my own... check out more of his work here.

S O F A

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend the SOFA New York Expo for the first time, thanks to a ticket from Charlene (thanks girl!). I left the place completely inspired, with gears working extra hard in the 'ol brain. I also felt a little under productive... but am glad to have peeked at such talented artists' work! Here's a summary of my little day trip to the Upper East Side. I say day trip, because when you're coming from Brooklyn, it's sort of a hike. The day was sooo beautiful and sunny that the UES seemed like a perfect little suburb away from the grime, complete with a boutique plastic surgeon's office ;-)

Ooo... color...
1. Natasha Daintry
2. Stone That Flows
3. Charlene Foster
4. Joanne Teasdale

Before I die I want to...

This caught my eye this morning... Interactive installation art!

DM

Noguchi

Mr. Z and I took a little bike trip over to Queens this past weekend to eat some Middle Eastern food and check out the Noguchi Museum.  I must admit, I only associated Mr. Noguchi with his famous coffee table (pictured below).  Little did I know that most of his work consisted of stone and metal sculpture.  I did however, see the correlations of his simple geometric aesthetic and perfect function through all of his work.  The museum space was amazing!  It incorporated concrete and wood interiors with an outdoor rock garden.  Hopefully sometime in the near future I can snag one of his tables.... and plant a birch tree.  Hmmm...

Other worldly yet so down to earth

You know the feeling when you are floored by an artist's work? Well that's just what happened to me when I took a look at Digna Kosse's website. She takes every concept I've ever loved and effortlessly combines them into her body of work. She had me hooked with her minimally threaded dresses in her sustainability project, by saying "save the earth, dress less," literally. Not to mention the perfect use of minimal lines to create subtly dynamic garments. Then she stunned me with her gridded illustration on the index page of her site. Then repeatedly jolted me with her "Human Measures" and "Library of the Future" projects.







Human Measures is about consuming according to your body's volume. Measuring her own body in liters, she created a series of flesh-tone ceramic tableware. Each piece is labeled with the liter equivalent of each body part. The piece is accompanied by a beautifully colored graphic book.






I think New York could certainly use less paper. Newspaper and magazine waste litters the subways and streets, as in many large cities. The Library of the Future suggests a network of digitally viewable books (maybe magazines and newspapers too?) at public transport locations. These readables can be viewed on portable devices while waiting for the bus or subway. Brilliant!

Knitta Please!

I've posted bits about Magda Sayeg before on various outlets of the Internet. I think it's safe to say her work has grown into a little obsession of mine. Some of you may have seen her work at the new Standard Hotel in NYC. She gracefully combines the granny craft of knitting with street art (wow!). The term "tagging" usually doesn't mean embellishing a surface in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and graffiti has a very masculine tone. Ms. Sayeg seems to counter act several connotations city by city around the world. I've been "stalking" Knitta Please's URL for the new site to appear, and finally my efforts have paid off. She is one über talented artist, and hopefully I can volunteer to be one of her guerrilla taggers. Check out her scarves too!