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May 10th 09, 15:15
I love this new British band the Horrors. A garage rock sound. The Horrors actually write their own music and don’t need a stylist to have stage presence. I love lead singer Faris Badwan’s energy. Think James Bond meets Robert Smith. They came out in 2005 but remained pretty low key. Expect a music invasion and Rolling Stone cover soon. “She is the New Thing” video below. “Who Can Say” is beautifully shot- reminds me of Joy Division and Jesus and the Mary Chain. On tour now. COOL stuff.
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May 4th 09, 10:06
Esquire magazine hired Greg WIlliams to use the high tech red one video camera to shoot their current Megan Fox cover. (June issue) The shot looks gorgeous and you would never know it wasn’t a top print shooter. With a resolution of 9.4 megap. and 4096×2304 the still is huge and big enough for a cover output. The video footage will be avail. at Esquire mag online. I look forward to seeing other video covers as content becomes more three dimensional in publishing.
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May 1st 09, 10:43
I had the pleasure of getting Mr. Cartoon to do my most recent tattoo yesterday. For two hours I was treated to his amazing stories about his gang influenced youth, his passion for drawing and how an artistic education and strong family ties created the brand of Mr. Cartoon.
A tastemaker who has elevated Latin streetculture to an artform. Cartoon does graphics, clothing projects (joker), Movie posters, video games, and shoe projects. His car “sculptures” have been featured in museum shows and he has a worldwide following collecting his art. My favorite car was 1980’s Hell’s Bells with it’s own coke mirror in the back. The tour was totally redankulous-I was blown away.
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May 1st 09, 10:09
I thought I would write a little blurb about food given all the hoopla about Michelle Obama and her organic garden. Yes, Monsanto and Dupont are freaking out that the first family is endorsing the locavore and organic food movements. If you are interested in the future of food you have to read Vandana Shiva. She is a scholar, physicist, and eco feminist who has written some amazing books on the subject. 
Her books are about biotechnology, bioethics and genetic engineering in relation to agriculture and food. If you think the holy wars are bad, wait until there is no food or water to feed the world. Vandana offers her expertise. A very cool lady. A list of her books, WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND:
STOLEN HARVEST:THE HIJACKING OF THE GLOBAL FOOD SUPPLY
WATER WARS: PRIVATIZATION, POLLUTION AND PROFIT
SOIL NOT OIL: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN AN AGE OF CLIMATE CRISES
EARTH DEMOCRACY: JUSTICE, SUSTAINABILITY, AND PEACE.
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April 27th 09, 8:06
MOCA and Vuitton get sued by a collector over his prints. It’s spiraled into a bigger thing now that the LA TImes and New York TImes are covering it, and the City of LA wants to collect taxes on the profit of the pop up store. Word on the street is that Murakami is unhappy with how his career is progressing. At some point the collector has to question the relationship each artist has with commerce. Will the Murakami or Hirst age as well as the Richter? No. Maybe all this press will have a positive effect? Does the old adage, any press is good press work for artists too?
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 11:02PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Art
Usually Louis Vuitton is on the
suing end of lawsuits but it currently finds itself as the sued. Clint Arthur, who purchased several works by Takashi Murakami at the Vuitton boutique set up at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, is
suing both Vuitton and the MOCA. Arthur first filed a lawsuit a year ago over a lack of proper documentation in regards to the two limited-edition prints he bought for a total of $12,000 in 2007. But now Clint Arthur considers himself the victim of a fraud after finding out, through
an interview that the show curator Paul Schimmel did with ARTINFO in 2007 tthat the prints are made from the same materials as Murakami handbags. Basically Arthur could have bought himself a
handbag for around $1,000 with the same fabric and some bonus hardware too.
Louis Vuitton says the blurring of art and commerce is part of the Murakami experience. Vuitton points out that Arthur has declined an offer of $12,000 plus interest which Vuitton alleges shows that the suit is just a bid for publicity and profit. Arthur for his part seems to be angry and driven by an urge to get to the bottom of the motives of both Murakami and Louis Vuitton. A hearing is scheduled for Monday on the motion to dismiss from Louis Vuitton.
Posted Oct 20th 2008 7:02PM by Jared Paul Stern
Filed under: Auctions, Art
Has the craze for Japanese artist and
Louis Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami’s work become the latest victim of the looming recession? In May, art world observers were astounded when
Murakami’s onanistic sculpture
My Lonesome Cowboy, estimated at $3 – $4 million, ended up going for $15 million at a Sotheby’s auction. Many expected a similar result Saturday evening when Phillips de Pury put another major Murakami work up for auction in London. However, the 21-ft. sculpture
Tongari-kun (above), estimated at $6 – $7.8 million, did not draw a single bid, Bloomberg
reports.
Moreover, Murakami himself was in the auction audience, no doubt wanting to witness the windfall in person. He took the snub well, however; as nothing but silence answered the auctioneer’s calls, the artist burst out laughing. Some insiders said Murakami had been considering staging a big bucks solo auction like the one so successfully run by Damien Hirst, but he may rethink that now, at least until the economic picture improves. Hirst of course looks even more brilliant for staging his $200 million sale right before the financial markets really went to hell in a handbasket.
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April 19th 09, 9:26
Director James Toback creates a tour de force with Tyson. Honesty, sex, madness and greatness all wrapped in one. Mike Tyson’s tragic story. I’m a boxing fan and remember the notorious ear biting incident, so hard to forget. The reviews are stellar.
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April 17th 09, 15:23
Saw Adventureland yesterday. Loved it. A lot of really high waisted pants, bad hairdues and Lou Reed love in this film. Written and directed by Greg Mottola. Kristin Stewart from Twilight stars as the love interest, but the supporting cast steals the show. I think a lot of young stars will be lauched here. If you liked Fast Times or Reality Bites, check it out.
A comedy set in the summer of 1987 and centered around a recent college grad (Eisenberg) who takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park, only to find it’s the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world. (IMdb)
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April 15th 09, 12:22
A book other work-a-holics might appreciate. Freud believed that work and love led to satisfaction. Is he right?
We spend most of our waking lives at work – in occupations often chosen by our unthinking sixteen-year-old selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got there or what it might mean for us.
Equally intrigued by work’s pleasures and its pains, Alain de Botton here heads out into the under-charted worlds of the office, the factory, the fishing fleet and the logistics centre, ears and eyes open to the beauty, interest and sheer strangeness of the modern workplace. Along the way he tries to answer some of the most urgent questions we can ask about work: Why do we do it? What makes it pleasurable? What is its meaning? And why do we daily exhaust not only ourselves but also the planet?
Characteristically lucid, witty and inventive, Alain de Botton’s ’song for occupations’ is a celebration and exploration of an aspect of life which is all too often ignored and yet as central to us as our love lives.
http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780241143537,00.html
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April 15th 09, 12:16
Hey is there a reason why the billionaire shipping conglomerates can’t clean up there own mess? Am I the only one wondering why Mersk, CMA CGM and the cruise companies don’t patrol the Gulf of Aden, it is French, Italien and Dutch ships that are getting hit the hardest. Thank god for the stealth and fabulous NAVY SEALS, but at some point those companies need to get off their ass, cut their profits and police.
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April 9th 09, 16:14
bling bling. I love this little Canon powershot camera. 12.1 megap., super small and slim (like a gold Amex) with a zoom. Fits right into my evening bag. Avail. in black, gold and silver. HOT HOT HOT. Had to switch out my little Leica cause I thought it was too cute. I love it. under $300 bucks. a lot of bang for your buck!
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March 31st 09, 21:59
I can’t wait to see this. Valentino is a pug lover and a design legend. I haven’t seen it yet, but heard he totally is “out” in the movie. Anyone in fashion knows that out is the new in -so good on ya Valentino.
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March 31st 09, 21:55
I found this gorgeous little florist on Sunset in Hollywood. Check out Floral Rush. I was very inspired by the feel and presentation of this minimal gem.
Under the creative direction of Nelson Hiltner, this shop is more gallery than store.
7525 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
ph. 323.876.8358
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March 24th 09, 2:24
I love this video Plainsong by Slippy and Molly McAleer for Lacma. The sculpture is by the iconic Chris Burden in front of Lacma on Wilshire. The video is for Lacma light sculpture contest.a>.
A friend who knows them told me he shot the whole video on the Canon 5D and had it edited together to make the video. Love the 5D-the new one can shoot up to 1000 iso and be sharp as a tack with no grain.
more about it:
Lacma blog
For the main event, if you’re one of the thousands who’ve taken photos or shot video in front of Urban Light, submit your images to Flickr (photos) and YouTube (videos). The best of the best will go on view online February 25 as part of a digital exhibition curated by photography head Charlotte Cotton, and will be published in a print-on-demand book; selected creative writing inspired by the work will be included, too. Charlotte will also choose one winning photograph for the publication’s cover, which will be announced right here on Unframed on February 23.
Along with this call for submissions, we’ve got lots of other Urban Light projects going on. Check out Urban Light’s Facebook and MySpace pages for discussion, back story, and news, and follow our Twitter for little-known details about the object. There’s an Urban Light PDA tour on the way, and much more.
We look forward to seeing how Urban Light has inspired you. Just be sure to get your submission in by the deadline–Valentines Day–and don’t forget to check back here on February 23 for the winning photograph.
Allison Agsten
http://www.vimeo.com/1127297
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March 17th 09, 9:17
I really like many of the Team Gallery artists. Jakob Kolding is one of my favorites. Kolding’s collages, which have been exhibited extensively throughout Europe, take as their subject the cultural collisions inadvertently set up by the contemporary city. Kolding’s work celebrates a number of urban cultural, synthetic emanations (hip-hop, graffiti, skateboarding, electronic music), as well as the aesthetics of urban studies. Team gallery
Hybrids of invention and documentation, renderings and diagrams, his work depicts processes and events, historical and futuristic narratives pointing to propositions and effects of urban economics, planning, architecture, ecology, transportation systems, politics, and social relations. Text and images courtesy of Jakob Kolding and Team Gallery.
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March 16th 09, 11:17
I guess my interest in true crime got me into this story. This kid, Kevahn is currently at Rikers Island for being a serial shoplifter. Rocking Gucci, Prada and robbing Barney’s, Bergdorfs and H&M all for the sake of looking fly. I guess taking “mad tshirts” got his ass incarcerated eventhough there is “no hood in him at all” and he “wants to go to Harvard”.
Here is the article from NY Magazine by Jessica Lustig……
Sometimes he likes to perform what he calls “the Outfit Check.” Coral J. Crew cashmere V-neck sweater—check. Gucci charcoal skinny jeans—check. Gucci double-G logo belt—check. Spotless brand-new cream-and-gold Louis Vuitton Damier checkerboard- pattern sneakers—check. Blue Fendi glasses frames with the FENDI sticker still stuck on the lower corner of the lens—check. When he’s dressed like this, he says, “I feel high-class—like nobody can tell me nothing.”
But the outfit loses its protective aura when Kevahn Thorpe is wearing it, as he is on this June morning, before Judge Gregory Carro in State Supreme Court in downtown Manhattan. And Carro is, in fact, about to tell Kevahn something. At a word from the judge, the court officers can step forward to handcuff Kevahn, in all his finery, right there in the courtroom, shouting, “One comin’ in!” as they escort him to the holding cells and eventually to Rikers Island. Kevahn is a slight 17-year-old standing no more than five foot seven, but if this is what Carro decides to do, it won’t be his first trip to the Island. This arrest is the latest in a long series of thefts of high fashion from Gucci and Prada to Bergdorf and Barneys, and even though he has never been convicted of anything more serious than possession of stolen goods, a misdemeanor, Kevahn is now facing a one-to-three-year sentence in prison upstate for repeated offenses.
The first time he tried shoplifting, at 16, “I was in Macy’s, the one in Queens Center Mall,” says Kevahn, who has a handsome, angular face, a black-velvet complexion, and a cool, watchful gaze occasionally undone by an irrepressible, wide smile. To a kid who lived with his single mother in the Queensbridge Houses projects, the department store offered an irresistible array of all the things he couldn’t have. He was with his brother, Jovahn, who is one year older. Almost as a game, Kevahn says, the boys “took mad T-shirts”—meaning a lot. The brands were American Rag and Buffalo, which Kevahn now derides as “those cheap shirts.” But the boys got away with their caper and decided to repeat it. “We thought we could just go back there and do it anytime,” he says. “So we got caught.”
These were kids who displayed some of the classic warning signs of juvenile delinquency. Their father wasn’t around much, and their mother was overwhelmed. When Kevahn was 13, he was arrested with two classmates for the theft of a teacher’s credit card and spent six months in a Department of Juvenile Justice facility. But now he was an honors student at Long Island City High School. Calculus was his favorite subject. He could slide between street syntax and proper English. The MySpace page he had set up the year before featured ice-cream-cone graphics and paeans to The Simpsons, listed award-winning children’s and young-adult books as his favorites, and announced that he wanted to go to Harvard Law School. “He got no hood in him at all,” says his brother.
“I think he should’ve been from Beverly Hills,” says his classmate Monet. “When I first met Kevahn, it was in a science class. He wasn’t into fashion. He was into Jordans. He’d just wear regular, like, Akademiks pants, like somethin’ you could get off Jamaica Avenue, and some T-shirt, like what normal kids wear—something he wouldn’t be caught dead in right now.” She and her twin sister, Melisa, became Kevahn’s best friends. “He was smart,” says Melisa. “Kevahn’s mind is not like an average kid’s mind.”
Kevahn was anything but average. By the end of freshman year, he had posted a photo of himself in Christian Dior glasses. The next year, he started a new MySpace page and wallpapered it in Gucci logos. It hadn’t yet occurred to this Queens kid with nothing that he could simply cross the East River and step right into the world conjured up by these labels. But that was about to change.
Kevahn’s epiphany came when he found himself at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, trying to find the train station with his mother. “I saw Dior, Bottega, everything there, and I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s right here, right near where I live!’ ” he says. It was like going from Kansas to Oz. “Kids around where I live can’t be buying there,” he says. But buying wasn’t the point. After the Macy’s bust, he says, “my friend showed me where Barneys is at.” And when he walked through those doors on Madison Avenue, he gained entrance to a glittering realm in which the luxurious trappings of his dreams were literally within reach. “I was like, ‘Oh, Barneys don’t have alarms? Why should we be taking this cheap Macy’s stuff when we could just go to Barneys?’ ”
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