Image of the Day

.Nealy Blau: Trillium, Bell Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis, 2008 (Chromogenic print, 20 x 24 inches, edition of 20). Blau's photographs of natural history museum dioramas are on display in an exhibition at G.Gibson Gallery, Seattle, through December 30.

Perhaps because I used to work at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and often walked around among the dioramas on my lunch hour, I find this series completely beautiful and transporting. Click here to see more.

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

.mr. manager

Image of the Day

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Photograph by Guy Bourdin from British Vogue, September 1975 – part of an exhibition of rarely seen Bourdin photographs on view through December 10th at the French Embassy in New York. The exhibition coincides with the long-awaited (at least around here) arrival of a new book of Bourdin's photography, In Between, edited by Shelly Verthime and published by Steidl Dangin.

In Between, pictured above, is available now from your favorite bookstore, or directly from steidlville.com (click for more info and images).

Best Foot Forward

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The styling options for these are endless.

Yves Saint Laurent Palais Mohawk suede pumps,
$935 at net-a-porter.

Urban Embrace

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As someone who lives directly above I-5, in all its ugliness and glory, I felt an instant kinship upon seeing photos of architect Ronnie Self's home. (Self chose to build in Houston's Third Ward, raising his house up one story from the ground but otherwise situating it directly adjacent to 20 lanes of traffic, with a – partially thanks to said traffic – expansive view of the downtown skyline.)


via The Moment

Anglo Files

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Shots from British designer Margarett Howell's Fall/Winter 2010 lookbook, styled and photographed by Venetia Scott. (Click to enlarge.)

Very simple but creates a mood and a story.
I really like it a lot.

Pleased to Meet You

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Trailer for Jean-Luc Godard's One + One: Sympathy for the Devil (1968). Never seen it – adding it to the queue.

(via Purple Diary)

Made for Walking

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Vintage Double-H outfitter boots,
rummaged up at Pacific Galleries this weekend.
To be paired with (among other things):

Image of the Day

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Shower curtain by artist Lisa Yuskavage, up for auction starting today at P.P.O.W. Gallery in New York as part of Girls Just Want to Have Funds – an exhibition of works by women artists in support of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation. A panel discussion "concerning gender and representation in the visual arts" is tonight at 6:30PM and the auction concludes with a party this coming Friday night – click here for more info and images.

You Are Not Alone

.You Are Not I still photograph by Nan Goldin

Saturday's New York Times had an great short article about the long-lost Sara Driver film You Are Not I. Driver had thought that her own badly beat-up copy was the only one in existence, but a clean copy was recently found in the Morocco apartment of Paul Bowles, who wrote the short story on which the film is based.

The movie – shot in six days near her parents' house in western New Jersey, with an unlikely cast that included two friends, the writer Luc Sante, little known at the time, and an equally unknown photographer, Nan Goldin — developed a following.... The film was named one of the best movies of the 1980s by a critic in Cahiers du Cinéma. For Ms. Driver, the film’s rediscovery has been like opening a time capsule of the No Wave independent-film scene, which flourished in New York in the late 1970s and early ’80s. It included directors like Jim Jarmusch (Ms. Driver’s longtime romantic partner and the cinematographer and co-writer for You Are Not I), Amos Poe, Eric Mitchell, Bette Gordon, Susan Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan) and even Kathryn Bigelow, of The Hurt Locker fame, who made her first short in New York in 1978 (featuring the odd pairing of Gary Busey and the French semiotician Sylvère Lotringer). It was a tiny film world where favors and friendships often stood in for the money no one had.

You Are Not I has been screening at festivals and hopefully will be on DVD soon. Here's the only short clip I could find on the web:

3:07 PM

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Idle Times "I Found A Reason" (Velvet Underground cover) from Fader TV via HoZac Records.

The release party for Idle Times' new self-titled record (pictured below) is TONIGHT at the Funhouse in Seattle. Stream the whole album here.

(hat-tip to Charles Leo Gebhardt IV)

Image of the Day

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Liz Markus, Basquiat 2, 2010
(acrylic on unprimed canvas, 83 x 53 in.).
On view as part of Markus's third solo show,
Are You Punk or New Wave? at ZieherSmith in New York.
Nov. 18 - Dec. 18; opening reception
this Thursday, 6-8 p.m. More info here.

Windows of Another World

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I love a city during the holidays: Lights, parties, old-timey decorations, and good, festive craziness everywhere. While all cities have their visual attractions this time of year, anyone cataloging NYC's would have to include the windows at Bergdorf Goodman, which are always a highlight of the season.

Holiday 2008

Bergdorf's displays – the work of designer David Hoey and his longtime collaborator, Linda Fargo – are spectacular no matter the month...

Two from Fall 2006

...but they're particularly over the top this time of year: unbelievably intricate and fantastical universes worthy of all the myths of the season. They turn window shopping into a destination event, and Strath and I always looked forward to seeing them unveiled.

Holiday 2008

Holiday 2009

I had hoped to be back in NYC starting this month to catch them in person, but a last-minute change of plans postponed my trip till spring. So I was happy to hear that Assouline has a new book honoring the displays, holiday and otherwise, in the works. The 144-page, 11 x 17 in. volume, very practically titled "Windows at Bergdorf Goodman" is scheduled for release in January. It's to be printed in a limited edition of 1000, priced at $550 each. A little pricey, yes, but all things considered a not-unreasonable sum to pay for a dream world at your fingertips.

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How wonderful! The light upon her face shines from the windows of another world. Saints only have such faces.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), from Michael Angelo. (I am newly obsessed.)

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Update: The Moment provides a sneak peek at this year's holiday windows, which make their debut later this week.