MIA

I'm here right now.

AROUND THE HOUSE

Happy Sunday.

STREET LEVEL

Originally a city of merchants, what seems to remain in Amsterdam is a culture of storefronts. As was pointed out to me on a recent visit there, many people living in Amsterdam make their homes street-level. In the 17th century flat glass was difficult to make and very expensive, so one can only assume the luxuriously large windows were afforded by trade wealth. Interestingly today these windows are not always covered, allowing one's life to be lived in the open, visible to any passerby. By extension, this openness could be what underpins the storefront prostitute -- women standing comfortably out of the elements yet still visible from the street. Photos: storefront houses built in the 17th century. I didn't intentionally try to include bikes in every photo btw, they're just everywhere.

FIRST EDITIONS

Vanessa Bell, sister to Virginia Woolf, designed all her first edition dust jackets for Hogarth Press. More can be found here. 

WEDNESDAY TUNES

A little Donovan for a hazy summer morning.


Sunny Goodge Street

Bert's Blues

Wear Your Love Like Heaven

TUNES FOR A GOLDEN AFTERNOON

A friend in Amsterdam recently gave me a ton of new music, here are a few of my favorites so far from Turkey, Ethiopia, and Brazil.

Erkin Koray, Mesafeler

 

Alemu Aga, Abatatchen Hoy Peter Noster

 

Milton Nascimento, Um Gosto de Sol

 

A WEDNESDAY GEM

My friend Phil just posted this album cover, and I love its simplicity. Created in 1981 for Scottish band Altered Images.

EVERYBODY

Surprisingly, this is from the Fall '10 Levi's campaign from Wieden + Kennedy. Apparently it was first an installation shown in a gallery in New York, and now in San Francisco where this photo was taken, they've turned a storefront into a 6-month pop-up print shop. Interesting that they brought the vandalized wooden construction wall inside and are using it as an art installation. I wouldn't put it past W+K to have embellished the wall a bit themselves in addition to the locals. Anyway, I like the sentiment of the sign and of course, everybody loves neon. Photo by friend Michele Janezic.

ELAD LASSRY

LA-based conceptual artist Elad Lassry. 

HERE SOMETIMES

I think I can honestly say that I'll always like Blonde Redhead. Sometimes I forget about them, then they resurface at just the right time. 


New: Here Sometimes

AUTHENTICITY VS. KITCH

Recently Thinking for a Living blog posted The Ultimate Toy for Boys, featuring 24 carat gold miniature soldier figurines by Partners & Spade in collaboration with Chandelier Creative (side note: Chandelier's use of video as background for their site is not something I see around very often, however the content, which opens with three models in jeans walking away from the camera, is incredibly cheesy). I'd heard of Partners & Spade but never looked into it, and in light of the ridiculous 24 carat soldiers (what kind of statement does this make?) I thought I'd better check out their website. Despite the logo looking like Prada's engraver's font, I could immediately see where the soldiers came from -- P&S have this Holden Caulfield aesthetic down pat and of course, in the 50s, soldiers had an entirely different meaning than they do today.

Most surprisingly, their blog, curated as an inspiration board, is actually quite good. Images they've found from top, include imagery from Socialite Inept, artist Hollis Brown Thronton, and photographer Phyllis Galembo. They also publish books of collections of everyday objects and observations (à la J & L books or Daniel Eatock) which I was happy to find, in that I imagined P&S had much more commercial aims given they are mainly a branding firm. 

I almost wish there were more of a separation between their conceptual and commercial work, but then again the combination is sort of what saves them. Even if it's well executed, the obsessive and ultra-stylized throwback gender aesthetic used in their commercial work (see also: Kate Spade) isn't interesting at all unless looked at as purely kitch, so mixing other works highlighting the mundane lends authenticity to their practice. It's as if they dissected a Wes Anderson movie, putting kitch on one side and authenticity on the other -- but it's all still very considered. Is the mundane by nature authentic in the first place? Below, images from their books published in-house and by Harper Collins. 

OXFORD

SUNDAY TUNES

More tunes, this time from San Francisco friends the Sic Alps.

Love is Strange

Who Has Time to Protest

SUMMER

Is here. Have a listen and see what I mean.

Arch M, 21st Union

DENNIS HOPPER

Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) began taking photographs in 1955. Above, portrait of Andy Warhol from his monograph Dennis Hopper: Photographs, 1961-1967 published in 2009 by Taschen. More photos can be found here. 

ANOTHER GEM

Hoping for Happy Accidents is a blog on the theme of interiors and modern artifacts. All culled into one place, from top: A Viennese Attic Apartment (via NYTimes), Carl Auböck (via Reference Library), McCobb furniture (via Treadway Gallery), and that is only the first page. Found on Door Sixteen.

MEN'S MOOD

http://thedayafteryoudie.blogspot.com
Tasteful babes, modernist architecture, the rugged outdoors, minimalist typography experiments and some grafitti/skaterisms here and there must be universal across arty dudes. see also: haw-lin.

VAGUE PAPER

My favorite magazine. http://vaguepaper.com/

JULIA BORN

Graphic Designer Julia Born has an interesting website. Instead of showcasing her professional work it's more an overall tribute to herself, which is awesome. The style is 90s animated gif, or paper rad with a little less neon. The tunes make it. Found on ManyStuff.

IN CONVERSATION WITH

Vivienne Westwood chats with the New York Times. 
See also: Other Latest Crush.

NOKO JEANS

Recommended site of the day: Noko Jeans, a company apparently making the first jeans to come out of North Korea. The site features their original two styles of jeans (only 1100 pairs have been made so far) and also has interesting photos of North Korea, as well as a few videos. In addition to making jeans, Noko also curates a traveling museum which just left Stockholm -- a cool way of taking pop-up shop to the next level.

KATE O'CONNOR

http://www.kateoconnor.ca/

THEME AND VARIATION

A battalion of zebra and mint make up Claridge's rebrand, brought to you by Construct here in London. Love the theme and variation stripes. Found on CR blog.

REQUIRED VIEWING

Ways of Seeing came out in the 70s, and the series was so popular it was then turned into a book. In this episode, John Berger takes us from the beginning of the European nude -- depictions of Adam and Eve -- to the modern day, relating exactly what kind of cultural baggage we're dealing with. 

IN VIGILAIRE

MOOD. http://invigilare.tumblr.com