Good Living

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When we were up in La Conner a few weeks ago, we stopped in at Nasty Jack's Antiques. I found a stash of old Gourmet magazines from the late 60s and early 70s, and snapped up a few. (Click any of the images to enlarge.)


I love old food photography. Not just from a purely aesthetic perspective – although there's that too – but it's also fascinating to me that what we eat is no less subject to trend than the clothes we wear.


Instead of fabric and silhouette, it's ingredients (celery salad with mustard cream, anyone?) and presentation.



This story makes me want to revive the Sunday picnic:


The old car and liquor ads are also a bonus.


7 pm. Time for dinner and a drink.

Words and Verbs

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It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944)

Image of the Day

. Chair by Roy McMakin from five chairs & ten tables, a great exhibition of McMakin's recent work at Ambach & Rice through December 5th.

The More You Keep

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Barbara (habitat), a photograph from "Parameters," a series on agoraphobia by the excellent Brooklyn-based photographer Corinne May Botz.* Read Penelope Green's terrific article on Botz, "Accumulation and its Discontents," and see a slideshow at nytimes.com.**

*You may know her from such books as The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, which deserves its own post or entire blog.

**Also check out Botz' website, and the blog for her new project, which is called "The Secret Life of Objects"

Why Don't You Make Me A Sketch

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A video on the classic Gastrotypographicalassemblage and other work by long-time CBS design director Lou Dorfsman, who was recently celebrated in a month-long exhibition at Kemistry Gallery in London.

Creativity is essentially a lonely art.
It is in reality the ability to reach inside yourself ...and drag forth from your very soul an idea
–Lou Dorfsman (1918–2008)

See also:
Steven Heller's obituary of Lou Dorfsman at The New York Times; Michael Bierut at Design Observer on The Four Lessons of Lou Dorfsman.

[via Man Made Lakes, the blog of Seattle-based artist and designer Jesse Brown]

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

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Dearest Reader:

The honest truth is that my main computer is in the shop with a bum ticker and I don't have any new photos of Mr. Littlejeans (a/k/a Scruncho, Fang, Mr. Science*, Munchy, Bobo, Jinx, Jynx, Oscar**) to show you this week. Please accept this invitation to peruse the archives in the category of CATS, which also serves as a catch-all for posts about tiny animals of all kinds.

With the utmost respect, I remain, ever your obt svt, &c., with warmth and kindest personal regards,

Strath Shepard


*Not a doctor
**Mr. Littlejeans' real first name, from when he lived in the Bronx

Image of the Day

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Bella Foster: Megan Pflug (Watercolor on Paper).
A solo show of Bella's work, Interior, opens tomorrow at Art Since The Summer Of '69, 195 Chrystie Street no.303 (Stanton/Rivington), NYC, and runs through December 19.

Opening reception tonight, 6–9PM.

Visit artsince69.com for info and images and go to bellafoster.com for more.

Uneasy Anticipation

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Chanel Spring/Summer 2011 details in a short video by Karl Lagerfeld. I like the shots of water, sunlight through trees, and other natural textures between shots of somewhat eerily still people in a big house.

Guest Cat

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Remember Gus? She now lives with my mom in Seattle and is loving life in the big city.

Best Foot Forward

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I'm planning to pair these with something right above the knee for a night out.

Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star in cream,
$45 at converse.com

...But if you happen to be in the market for something a little dressier for your upcoming holiday festivities, the sale at Bergdorf Goodman started today. And lest you hesitate only because sandals are impractical in winter, pull out your tights and traveling boots and remember that it will be spring before you know it!

Balmain chain mesh strappy sandal,
$557 (originally $1,395) at Bergdorf Goodman.

Balmain lace-up chiffon bootie,
$429 (originally $1,075) at Bergdorf Goodman.

Elizabeth and James beaded T-strap sandal,
$284 (originally $425) at Bergdorf Goodman.

More here.

Image of the Day

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Robert Mapplethorpe: Iris, 1982 via mapplethorpe.org. Robert Mapplethorpe was born on November 4th, 1946 in Floral Park, Queens.

Maria Callas & Mick Jagger

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In honor of Patti Smith (today is notable for her in that it was Robert Mapplethorpe's birthday, and also the day her husband, Fred Sonic Smith, died), The Stranger posted this video of her appearance on an early-'80s show I had completely forgotten about, Kids Are People Too.

1. I remain in total awe of Patti Smith.

2. Not to bring the room down or anything, but damn, mainstream society has become so conservative that with a few notable exceptions, it seems almost inconceivable that a kids' show today would have Patti Smith as a guest.

Catch A Star

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Ethan Murrow: Will Be Snaring Meteorites - And Be Devoid of Rivals, 2010 (Graphite on paper, 48 x 48 inches) – a piece from Murrow's second solo exhibition at Winston Wachter Fine Art in Seattle. From the press release:

Murrow collaborates with friends and family, donning costumes and enacting fantastical stories before creating films that capture the tales of his unusual characters. Photo stills and on-set photography are then used to transform his story into a series of expressive drawings.

Will Be Snaring Meteorites opens tonight and will remain on view through January 6. More info and images at winstonwachter.com

Bookshelf Adjustment

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New Ryan McGinley book coming out later this month:
Life Adjustment Center, published by Dashwood Books in association with the exhibition running through December 11 at Ratio 3 in San Francisco:

Image of the Day

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We went out for a quick trip on the boat Saturday afternoon and saw this Sea Lion hanging out on a buoy between Everett and Mukilteo.

He seemed kind of happy to see us and overall very content with his position.

Breaking Glass

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Glasser (aka Cameron Mesirow, pictured) is performing at the Crocodile this coming Sunday night, November 6th, with Beat Connection. Here's her new video, for "Mirrorage":


Get info and tickets for the Crocodile show here, and more tour dates at glassermusic.com

Glasser's latest release Ring is out now on True Panther Sounds, with album cover design by frequent collaborator and PS favorite Tauba Auerbach.

Form and Function

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Left: the undeployed Hövding. Right: the deployed Hövding – kind of a cool hat, no?

Biking around the city is great and everything, but wearing a helmet sucks and always will suck. With that in mind, Swedish industrial designers Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin have come up with an innovative new solution: the Hövding is a simple, unintrusive, unisex collar – almost like a scarf – with a folded airbag tucked inside. When some jerk in a town car ignores the bike lane and crashes into you, built-in sensors in the Hövding recognize the abnormal flailing of your body and instantly deploy the airbag. Here's the Hövding in action:



The Hövding was just introduced this week and so far is only available in Sweden, but global expansion seems imminent. More info and images at hovding.com

[ via Grist.org ]

12:25 PM

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No Age "Sorts" from Everything In Between (Sub Pop, 2010)

[Photo: That's me, building a miniature structure for some Fischer-Price Adventure People, Sequim Bay, WA ca.1979]

Everything is Everything

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Pretty Much Everything 1985–2010: The Newspaper Collector's Edition is a large-format, loose-leaf newsprint book featuring 25 years of work by photographers Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin – designed and published by by M/M (Paris) and printed on the occasion of Inez & Vinoodh's exhibition at Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. In the US it's available in limited quantities from my favorite bookstore in New York, Dashwood Books. (You can also order and get info from mmparis.com.)

One Person's Trash

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I cannot wait to see this. Waste Land, which opens today at the Angelika in NYC, is a documentary about the catadores (garbage pickers) who live and work in Brazil's Jardim Gramacho, one of the world's largest garbage dumps. The film chronicles their lives and recent collaboration with the artist Vic Muniz (now based in Brooklyn but born in São Paulo) in the creation of his latest series, Pictures of Garbage.



Read the NY Times movie review here, and an article about Muniz here.

More Women

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Design on the front of a Women t-shirt available from Flemish Eye Records, $20.

Women played a phenomenal show at the Vera Project in Seattle a couple nights ago to a crowd of about 30 people. My level of appreciation of their second album, Public Strain, is reaching semi-obsession – I was saying to my brother that if I listen to one of the songs by itself I feel like I'm cheating the rest of the album out of its cohesiveness. It's like playing Jenga, The Ultimate Stacking Game©, with songs. I still do it – I listened to "Eyesore" about 8 times yesterday – but the point is that the album holds together so well as a whole that if you have time to listen to the entire thing, it's a very full experience.

Public Strain is out now – get it at your local record store, or directly from Jagjaguwar or Flemish Eye.

...
Update:
OH NO! From Pitchfork:
Women Cancels Tour After Clashing Onstage

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

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Fall weather = cold nose

Watashi wa Josei Robotto Desu

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Watashi wa scared-to-go-to-sleep desu.

Need vs. Want

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Want. I don't know exactly why, because it's not really my style, but I love this dress. It makes me want to host a fondue party or something.

Thread Social polka dot long dress,

$616 at shopbop.com.

That's When She Got Hyper / Flippin'

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Diana Ross + Nas x Bean One = "Can't Hurry (1) Love"

Best Foot Forward

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A good ankle keeps things interesting.

Camilla Skovgaard Ankle Cuff Sandals, $420 at shopbop.com

Aim High

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Sadamitsu Neil Fujita, who designed the iconic original book covers for Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Mario Puzo's The Godfather, among others, as well as classic album covers while in the position of art director for CBS Records during the formative years of modern jazz, died last weekend at the age of 89. In addition to being a distinguished designer, Fujita made it through the internment camps and enlisted in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which consisted almost entirely of Japanese-American volunteers and became the most highly decorated unit of World War II.

Read more about S. Neil Fujita's extraordinary life in William Grimes' obituary at the New York Times; Steven Heller wrote an essay for Design Observer earlier this year on Fujita and his book Aim For A Job In Graphic Design/Art which also serves as a fitting remembrance of this relatively unknown but truly great designer.

My Work As A Surrogate For Me

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John Baldessari: Heel, 1986

John Baldessari: Pure Beauty, an excellent-looking retrospective of the 79 year-old artist's work, recently opened and runs through January 9th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Here's a great video on Baldessari, produced by the Tate Modern, who put the exhibition together with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art:


Get info and see more images at metmuseum.org, and read a great review of John Baldessari: Pure Beauty by Roberta Smith at the New York Times.

Trickster

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Bike tricks in Senegal

[via Reference Library]

Image of the Day

Hans Hartung, T1989-L14, 1989 (acrylic on canvas, 76 x 51 in.)

Cheim & Read's posthumous show of Hartung's work, opening this Friday, is the first in NYC since a poorly received exhibition at the Met in 1975. (What did anyone know back then anyway?) This show features work from the last 2 years of Hartung's life. From the gallery's press release:

In the last year of his life (Hartung died in December 1989), he produced 360 paintings [ed. what!] - a monumental accomplishment, especially given his restricted physical condition. Confined to his wheelchair, he seemed to focus entirely on his creative output . . . . His spray paint technique facilitated productivity – the sensitivity of the sprayer allowed Hartung to exercise control over the canvas without physical strain. . . . These works hint at the natural world, the qualities of light and shadow, and the infinitude of space, while remaining distinct artistic entities, anticipatory of contemporary concerns.

The show closes out the year at Cheim & Read; more info here.

This One Goes to 11

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Kanye West "Runaway" – is anything being said here that could not be said in a normal-length video?

Puget Soundings

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Photographs of poles and wires, icons of Seattle streets, by the great Mary Randlett

Select covers of Puget Soundings. I first learned about the magazine, which was published by the Junior League of Seattle from 1929–1983(?), through Javas Lehn, and then found a big stash of them through Abe Books. The art direction throughout is pretty great.

Silk screen by Jim Dine

Photograph by Mary Randlett

Uncredited sketch of the schooner Exact, which brought the pioneer families of Denny, Boren, Low, Bell, and Terry to Alki Point on November 13, 1851

Untitled Nancy Genn mixed-media piece from a 1976 show at Linda Farris Gallery called My Neighbor, the Stadium

Photography by Ed Cooper

Photograph by Mary Randlett

Pike Place Market by Lauri Olin

Cyanotype photograph by Chris Rendina

Madison Park, late 1890s

On the Move

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Artist Tauba Auerbach (center) with Ohne Titel designers Alexa Adams and Flora Gill

MOVE! is a two-day event this coming weekend at PS1 merging art and fashion through collaborations between designers and artists. Organized by Visionaire co-founder/editor Cecilia Dean and journalist David Colman, the two-day event features collaborations by Tauba Auerbach and Ohne Titel, Kalup Linzy and Diane Von Furstenberg, Rob Pruitt and Marc Jacobs, Terence Koh and Italo Zucchelli (Calvin Klein Collection), Brody Condon and Rodarte, Rashaad Newsome and Alexander Wang, Dan Colen and Proenza Schouler, David Blaine and Adam Kimmel, and Jonah Bokaer and Narciso Rodriguez, among others. Here's a preview of a collaboration between Olaf Breuning and Cynthia Rowley:



MOVE! runs October 30 and 31st at PS1 in Long Island City (NYC). Visit PS1.org for info.

Need vs. Want

LL Bean sweater, made in Norway with naturally water-repellant wool, $129 at llbean.com. Kind of the sweater version of this shirt. On a day like today: Need.

The Return of Bruno

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Between Two Ferns with Bruce Willis