Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I Will Never Forget You. Frida Kahlo and Nickolas Muray.







Above images from "I Will Never Forget You. Frida Kahlo and Nickolas Muray." Photographs by Nickolas Muray. Text by Salomon Grimberg. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2006. 264 pp., 56 color and duotone illustrations, 9x12"



"In the '30s and '40s, photographer Nickolas Muray was Frida Kahlo's friend, lover, and confidante. He continually photographed her over the course of their relationship, creating dozens of iconic portraits. Largely unpublished until now, the images reflect Muray's love of his subject. An early adopter of color photography, he could hardly have wished for a more vibrant and compelling model. Having made self-portrait the key topic of her existential paintings, Kahlo staged herself before Muray's camera with the same virtuosity she brought to bear on her own paintings—in traditional costumes, heavy jewelry, and hairstyles replete with flowers—and the portraits became a joint endeavor tantamount to a record of performance art. I Will Never Forget You tells the story of their relationship in image and word, drawing on the pair's poignant correspondence and artistic collaboration to paint a fresh portrait of a most beloved artist."

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Beautiful evocative fashion imagery










Fashion by Lyelle. Found via the very great newsletter from Refinery29.

Monday, January 29, 2007

What have you done for me lately

Saw some great Chris Rock stand-up and made us talk about Raw (Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy being the only stand-up I've ever found funny - and really funny!) and especially this clip:


(Hope no one is offended as I know he's little bit shockingly racist/sexist, but obviously he's not)

Made me think of the video for Janet Jackson's video "What have you done for me lately?" (which Eddie Murphy is referencing) - found it on you tube - fantastic!(:)

Sunday, January 28, 2007

More mobiles



Found these great mobiles from xandl via Bloesem's weekend read. Enjoy!

Friday, January 26, 2007

Art Deco books

Art Deco Textiles. The French Designers. Alain-René Hardy. 9 3/4" x 10 1/2", 310 color illustrations, 352 pages. (click the title to go to publisher's description)

I saw this book (Art Deco Textiles) on Cheeky Beaks (the great blog from Kristen Doran Design) and was immediately intrigued (check out her post for a look at a couple pages...). Going to the publisher's site I also saw a number of other titles dealing with Art Deco.
The one's below are my favourites based on cover and subject area (especially love the graphics cover!). Hopefully I'll come home with a few of these the next time I visit the bookstore!

Art Deco Graphics. Patricia Frantz Kery. 10" x 121/4", 476 illustrations, 248 in color. 320 pages. (click the title to go to publisher's description)

Art Deco Interiors. Decoration and Design Classics of the 1920s and 1930s. Patricia Bayer. 9 1/2" x 11 5/8", over 300 illustrations, 151 in color. 244 pages. (click the title to go to publisher's description)

Art Deco Jewelry. Sylvie Raulet. 9 1/2" x 13", 792 illustrations, 261 in color. 344 pages. (click the title to go to publisher's description)

Thursday, January 25, 2007

This girl is just crazy


broken kitchen robot


morning


go go superhero

But I do love her photography. Definitely visit her flickr! (her favourites are equally great) Found via a spread she did for N.E.E.T magazine...

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Pattern by Tricia Guild



I was not alone in noticing this wonderful book when it came out (here in Stockholm it was referenced in almost every interior magazine).

I finally got hold of an English copy (which was really my Christmas present) and even though it was perhaps catering to too broad a taste for it to be as perfect as it could've been to me it definitely is very inspiring!

What I really really did like was how well and cleverly produced the book is! It's rare to see - and it definitely gave me no end of inspiration for some Rare Autumn books!



Tricia Guild founded Designer's Guild in London in the 1970's and has since been known for her amazing wallpapers, fabrics and interiors.

Editor review of "Pattern" from amazon.com:

"Tricia Guild is known for her bold fabric, wallpaper designs, and an extraordinary sense of color and pattern. Following the success of her books on color, she now shares her skills with patterns. The book draws on historical and global patterns. Woven or printed or embroidered, patterns inspire Tricia Guild as she uncovers their origins and explores the exotic. Any pattern can be appropriate for the right room—European checks and stripes, Asian silks and damasks, the Caribbean's vibrant ethnic prints, as well as contemporary abstract and geometric patterns. The book is divided into style sections: floral, painterly, geometric, classics, silks, and tropical. The author draws on examples from her own designs to demonstrate the impact pattern has on the energy and mood of a room and how to use pattern with confidence. Included at the end are colorboards with hints and tips for designing. With stunning, original photography and a text rich in insights from the designer's own experience, this is a must-have compendium for anyone interested in contemporary interior design."

PS. Googling Tricia Guild I also got the added bonus of finding a great blog called print & pattern

Monday, January 22, 2007

Somewhere There's Music






Above pictures from "Somewhere There's Music" Photographs by Larry Fink. Essay by George Panichas. Damiani, Bologna, 2006. 160 pp., 80 duotone illustrations, 9½x11".

Photo-eye is a bookstore, gallery, auction site for books, and a book related magazine - and it's absolutely fantastic! It deals with photobooks only and it's content is vast, inspiring, thought through and spans many different areas within it's chosen medium.

What's so great is both the knowledge and in-depth feel for what's out there (I'm always pleasantly surprised finding books I otherwise would've missed) and the possibility to look through the before mentioned books on the site (thereby being reminiscent of seeing the actual book in a bookstore).

Besides this the photo-eye booklist (the international magazine for photography books), published four times a year, is an inspiration and invaluable guide to photography books.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Mielo + Kristen Doran Design




Illustrations from Mielo holding page



Illustrations from Mielo holding page

Fantastic aren't they?! Both found via Bloesem...

Friday, January 19, 2007

Library issue of the All This is Mine zine

Submissions is still being accepted for the Library Issue. They are "looking for stories, essays, art related to libraries, librarians, books, or reading. ... "almost anything related to the broad theme -- the more variety the better."


Back issues of the All This is Mine zine

Deadline is ongoing, for more info go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Also check out the shop for a number of different zines, stationary, bags, thrift and other...

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Installations by Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzliner + Wallpaper by Nama Rococo

Amazing installations by Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzliner:





Absolutely fantastic wallpaper from Nama Rococo (and a really, really great website):




Think I first got alerted to Nama Rococo by Design* Sponge - but also saw that Oh Joy!'s written about them both...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Hanging sculptures

I absolutely love mobiles - but it's hard to find ones that are what I think they should be (free hanging sculptures) rather then novelty items. These ones are from Flensted mobiles and are absolutely fantastic!


BLACK RHYTHM.
Designed by Christian Flensted in 1967


FUTURA.
The first mobile designed by Ole Flensted in 1970



TURNING LEAVES


FLOWING RHYTM


TURNING LEAVES

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The girl's got it!



Video to "Rehab" with Amy Winehouse, off the album "Back to Black". Also check out her first album "Frank". If there's any justice most things she's done should be future classics...

Monday, January 15, 2007

Avantgarde Cinema

The newsletter from Secret Cinema used to be my best kept secret when I lived in London. Don't know how they did it, but anything to do with the medium of film that you could possibly be interested in was in it!

Now I don't live in London anymore, but their newsletter still gives me as much inspiration as ever!

When I realised they now have a blog too it just seemed unfair not to let people know about it, so: Secret Cinema blog (if you want to receive the emails instead/also click here)

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Have a nice weekend

In New York I got a little bit addicted to pancakes for breakfast at the weekends (frankly they are just fantastic wherever you go) so guess how happy I got when we found Sirap here in Stockholm!
The brunch is great, but I'm afraid we always have the same thing (the blueberry pancakes are mine)...


Friday, January 12, 2007

Bookmarks - annual project

The project Bookmarks: Infiltrating the Library System was set up - in the format of bookmarks - in 2004 to encourage interest and appreciation of bookart and artist's books and visits to libraries and places housing, teaching and promoting artist’s book.

selection from Bookmarks IV

"Since May 2004, the Bookmarks series of free, international artwork distribution have been at 46 venues in Italy, The Netherlands, UK, Germany, Poland, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Cyprus, Australia, and the USA.
Over 150 artists have contributed more than 15,000 bookmarks to the four projects so far.
Bookmarks: Infiltrating the Library System's aim is to get more people to appreciate work in the format of the artist's book.
Participating artists who work in this format, have each generously produced an edition of 100 bookmarks to swap and give away."


selection from Bookmarks IV

The bookmarks have been made with a range of different methods such as hand drawing, photocopied, rubber stamped, folded, cut or sewn - and using mediums such as painting, photography, embroidery, knitting or digital print.

"The bookmarks are collated into sets, with one full set sent to each artist, and the rest divided and sent in these boxes to participating galleries, bookstores and libraries for free distribution. All of the bookmarks are archived in the gallery sections of the bookmarks websites, with contact details of the contributors."


selection from Bookmarks I

For participating artists for Bookmarks IV 2006-7 click here. For where you can pick up the bookmarks for this current project (until 20th February 2007) click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

If you want to take part in Bookmarks V (submissions by
15th July 2007) click here for more information.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The march of folly is to continue...

I never thought I'd quote the words of Pat Buchanan on these pages, but as Robert Fisk says in the Independent this morning (Robert Fisk: Bush's new strategy - the march of folly. So into the graveyard of Iraq, George Bush, commander-in-chief, is to send another 21,000 of his soldiers. The march of folly is to continue...) "the words of the conservative politician Pat Buchanan deserve to be written in marble":

"We will soon launch an imperial war on Iraq with all the 'On to Berlin' bravado with which French poilus and British tommies marched in August 1914. But this invasion will not be the cakewalk neoconservatives predict ... For a militant Islam that holds in thrall scores of millions of true believers will never accept George Bush dictating the destiny of the Islamic world ...
...
"The endeavour at which Islamic peoples excel is expelling imperial powers by terror and guerrilla war. They drove the Brits out of Palestine and Aden, the French out of Algeria, the Russians out of Afghanistan, the Americans out of Somalia and Beirut, the Israelis out of Lebanon... We have started up the road to empire and over the next hill we will meet those who went before.
...
"The only lesson we learn from history is that we do not learn from history."

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

NPR Books podcast

I've only recently found this podcast and am really really enjoying it!
It's the only book-related podcast I've found that is both interesting and engaging - and trust me I've looked! (not to say I wouldn't be very happy if someone can give me another tip...)

Recent topics has ranged between an engaging interview with Rain Pryor about the book she's written about her father Richard Pryor, a look at this year's changes to publishing, as well as reviews and talks on a number of different books such as for example Calvin Trillin's novel "About Alice" and historian Jason Sokol's "There Goes My Everything" (a look at the impact of integration on the white south).

Go to their website for a complete look at what to expect - or here to download/listen (or search NPR books under podcasts on iTunes).

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Esquire's visual and literary impact

"Hayes's Esquire would identify, analyze, and define the new decade's violent energies, ideas, morals, and conflicts—though always with an ironic and, occasionally, sardonic detachment that kept the magazine cool as the 60s grew increasingly hot."



This article is really really excellent

Monday, January 08, 2007

Beautiful paper shop

I love shops that sells paper, books or any kind of binding material so you can understand my delight when we found this lovely shop selling a wide selection of papers just around the corner from our flat.



The shop is called Papper för konstnärer (Paper for artists).
They sell a wide range of paper from around the world as well as paper for for example book binding, calligraphy and conservation/restoration. It's well worth popping by just for inspiration! They are also very knowledgeable - as well as kind and helpful - if you're looking for something particular. Below is some selections of paper - or you can go to their website - but for the full experience come by if you have the chance.


Selection of papers


Hand-made paper from France. 100% cotton

Paper from Thailand - Mulberry (comes in 35 different colours)

Papper för konstnärer is located on Upplandsgatan 37 in Stockholm (corner of Upplandsgatan and Observatoriegatan).
Tube stop Odenplan or bus 65 or 40.
Opening hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm ; Sat 1oam - 2pm