Image of the Day

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Andrew Moore, Model T HQ, Detroit. [click to enlarge]
(Funny, the colors remind me of this.)

From Moore's 2008-09 photographs of the Motor City, shown earlier this year at Yancey Richardson. See more from this beautiful and heartbreaking series (the result of seven trips to Detroit over a period of two years), along with other work, on Moore's website. A book of Moore's photographs, Detroit Disassembled, can be purchased here. The photographer will be signing copies at the gallery from 12 - 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 24.

(Detroit's struggle against oblivion is also the focus of this week's installment of Dateline's America Now series (Sunday at 7 p.m., 6 Central, on NBC). From the New York Times review: "[Reporter Chris] Hansen, who grew up in the Detroit suburbs and was a local television reporter in the city, uses his knowledge of the territory and some old connections to inject his examination with a personal touch and a heart lacking in other accounts.")

Paper of Record

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Tomorrow is RECORD STORE DAY 2010. If you have a chance, you might consider heading down to your favorite local purveyor(s) of analog audio goodness to pick up releases produced exclusively for the event. Hit up recordstoreday.com for participating stores.

This year for RSD, Light In The Attic is releasing a special Rodriguez gatefold 7" (which I designed). You can't tell from the image but the type and the frame around the photo are silver foil-stamped.

We also did issue No.2 of the Light In The Attic zine. It's 7" square with a cover illustration of Kris Kristofferson by Drew Christie. The page-count is a little lower than issue No. 1, but it's jam-packed with useful info:

Emily interviews Betty Davis about her modeling career and status as a fashion icon (more about that in a later post).

Charles Peterson talks to Jini Dellacio about her photographs of legendary Northwest garage bands such as The Sonics and The Wailers.

Andy Beta interviews Miss Jane B. about her time with Serge Gainsbourg and what that was like. Light In The Attic has a couple Jane Birkin projects coming up that I'm way psyched about.

Kris Kristofferson and Charlie Louvin have a quick convo about old-time country and being, you know, legends.

There's also an excerpt from Andria Lisle's liner notes for the forthcoming Jim Sullivan release, and articles on or by Lou Bond, Gabor Szabo, Rodriguez, Kearney Barton, and more.

So: look out for that at your local record store tomorrow, and enjoy your weekend.

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

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Beats make him fallin' asleep.

Nas "The World Is Yours (Q-Tip Remix)"

Image of the Day

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Announcement poster for the show Get Behind Me Satan and Push, curated by Margherita Belaief, featuring work by Spartacus Chetwynd, Mariechen Danz, Amie Dicke, Kaye Donachie, Iris van Dongen, Dionisis Kavallieratas, John Kleckner, Dorothy Iannone, Alisa Margolis, Ana Mendieta, Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Antonio Ballester Moreno, Maeghen Reid, Agathe Snow, and Andro Wekua.

Opening tomorrow at Peres Projects Berlin.

Meth Heads Stole Our Jeep.

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I got home from work just past midnight on Tuesday and it was there. The next morning I walked out and it was gone. Later that afternoon some cracked-out jackasses ran out of gas in the middle of the freeway, and an officer of the law in the great state of Washington pulled over to help them. Upon doing so he discovered that in addition to being cracked out and jackasses, they were driving a car that did not belong to them on account of it belongs to us. These exceptionally dimwitted car thieves were scooped up and promptly deposited behind bars where they belong. Our beloved ride now awaits assessment by Geico. One of the windows is broken, the steering column is shot to hell, and everything of obvious monetary value is gone.

Luckily they did not think to take our Anchor Bar key buoy or our vintage Brooklyn Lager bottle opener, or the National Geographic road atlas that we bought when we first moved to New York and have relied on ever since, even if it did tell us there was a shortcut to Yellowstone which actually was more like a dirt trail straight up the side of a mountain and a moose was blocking the road anyway. And, oddly enough, they left our headlamps, which actually seem like they could be useful to a meth head, you know... for doing drugs, at night. Jackasses.

THEY LIVE! (aka Mash Hall) "METH HEADS" from Raindrop Hustla on Vimeo.

Image of the Day

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Gloomy old Samuel Beckett sporting his vacation attire
in Tangier, 1978 (click to enlarge).
From photographer Francois-Marie Banier's new book, Beckett.
More info at Bookforum; to purchase, go here.

Image of the Day

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Accidental artowork in the bushes next to Bonney-Watson Funeral Home on my way to work today. Click to enlarge – it really is quite fantastic.

It's totally unrelated but Bonney-Watson probably deserves its own semi-morbid post. Now that the print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has closed, Bonney-Watson Funeral Home is the oldest continuously running business in Seattle, having been founded in 1868 by furniture makers who expanded their repertoire to coffin-making.

So, there's that.

Effortless

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adj : requiring or involving no effort; displaying no signs of effort; easy

Dries Van Noten Fall 2010 RTW
(I am especially obsessed with this last look.
Layering done right is a beautiful thing.)

more at style.com

Bad At Sports?

. Jeffrey Deitch with Deitch Projects director Nicola Vassell

It is no great revelation to say that Jeffrey Deitch embodies the current trajectory of the art world [read his bio here]. His gallery, Deitch Projects, was opened in 1996 and will close at the end of May, when he moves to Los Angeles to direct the Museum of Contemporary Art – an unexpected but all-around seemingly natural next step. In a fascinating podcast for Bad At Sports, Carlo McCormick interviews Deitch on his time in New York and his outlook on the art market. Go here to listen.

The final show at Deitch Projects, Shepard Fairey's May Day, opens May 1st.

Image of the Day

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After a long search, I found a new office, in my favorite building on the Hill. It's a pretty big step up but I signed the lease yesterday and I'm pretty psyched about it.
More photos later....

Image of the Day

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Lace Fence, by Dutch design house Demakersvan, at Droog, NYC.

They're just like traditional chain-link fences but with unexpected patterns built in. They can be used outside, as room dividers, or however else you want to use them.

They reminded me of these wall-sized, back-lit lace patterns we saw at La Perla in Paris several years ago:


I don't really have a use for a fence at the moment but, hey, if I ever do: Lace Fence.

Who Am I S'posed to Be?

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Look At Me, a 1971 painting by Dorothy Iannone (Acrylic on linen mounted on canvas, 74.8 x 59 inches). This and much more of the 77-year-old American-born, Berlin-based artist's work is on view in a new show at Peres Projects, Los Angeles, entitled This Sweetness Outside of Time.

From the press release:

Known for her continuous challenges to contemporary culture and a practice that opens the borders between her art and life, Iannone uses a stylized approach to document the female sexual experience from a singular perspective. The confrontational, open nature of her work accompanies its formal richness and conceptual sophistication in a discomposed alliance that borders on the uncanny.

Click here for info and many more images. The show is up through May 29th and a book of Iannone's work is available from South Willard.

The Visitor Is Present

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Some photos I snapped of Marina Abramovic at MoMA. For her current solo exhibition, The Artist Is Present, Abramovic is sitting still at this table all day, every day, through May 31st, unflinchingly maintaining eye contact with whomever volunteers to sit across from her and look back.

This volunteer was there when I arrived and remained there for the rest of my two-hour visit to the museum.

The energy that seems to radiate from two strangers looking at each other in this way is so intense that to watch them feels almost voyeuristic. At the same time, it made me think about universal love and the transcendence of the physical – about a soul interacting with another soul.

Shit was crazy intense.

Read an entertaining article about this part of the show, and Holland Cotter's full review at nytimes.com (there are also several slideshows and interactive features).

Info about The Artist Is Present, which is up through May 31st, at MoMA.org.