1:09 PM

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Bob Dylan, "Jokerman" from Infidels (1983)

[photo: Red Hook, Brooklyn, May 2007]

You Can't Take It With You

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Photos by Massimo Vitali [click to enlarge]

Apropos of a conversation I had last night, I love these photos of Yves Saint Laurent's bookshelves in the Paris apartment he shared with Pierre Bergé. (They were part of a story last year in the New York Times Magazine about Bergé's decision to auction off the treasures – art, furniture and other items – collected by Bergé and Saint Laurent during their many years together.)

Looking at these makes me feel better about lugging our own books and other things across the country ... twice. Material possessions are obviously far from the most important things in life. They weigh you down, and most will just go "back into the slipstream" when our time's up. Sometimes I think we'd be better off if we simplified more. But the things we've chosen to surround ourselves with also make me happy. I'm guessing Yves felt the same way.

If you missed it, or want to review, the article and an accompanying slideshow can be found here.

Image of the Day

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Rirkrit Tiravanija, Less Oil, More Courage
(on view at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in 2009).

Tiravanija explained about the piece in 2007:

Some years ago I received an invitation card in the mail from a gallery in New York, (Matthew Marks); it was an invitation to an exhibition by a young artist by the name of Peter Cain. Peter was a painter known for his anamorphic splicing of cars; they were coolly painted with the brushes of oil paint thickly applied to canvas. They were the marks of a realist (almost graphic) with the narrative of a surreal world; it was the world of surfaces and the surfaces of the metallic baked enamel of cars. . . . Peter’s life was cut short and he did not see beyond the age of 37, and the invitation I received was for an exhibition five years after his death.

On the front of the invitation card was a reproduction from a page of Peter’s artist’s notebook: a text that read “More courage less oil”. Taken in context, that message was clearly a note to himself about the dilemma of being a painter and the moral choices one faces in executing a painting. I kept the card on my wall all these years for what I thought was a very inspired thought, not just for a painter but also perhaps for all artists.

Today, in the present context, we face a different dilemma altogether. The question of courage and the thoughts facing our present condition come ironically from the turn of Peter Cain’s inspired message. . . . .

The artist is currently showing at Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris; more info here.

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

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-How many times a week the old man got you working out Jeans?
-16 times.

Your Weekly...WHAT THE F??!!!!

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Our good friend Natasha was making plans to stop by the studio the other day. She said she would give me $5,000,000 if I would bring Mr. Littlejeans to work so she could see him. Jeans is not big on travel these days, having lived in 3 of the five boroughs of New York City and then being carted all the way across the country. I told her that he doesn't get out of bed for less than $5,000,000,000.

Which prompted Natasha to send me this:





Deeply, deeply disturbing.



Previously in Your Weekly...WHAT THE F??!!!!, this.

Image of the Day

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Two images from a story styled by one of my long-timest and favorite clients, Brooklyn-based stylist April Johnson.

Much more at her website.

Summer Heat

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Las Robertas is a 3-girl band from Costa Rica. The associations may seem obvious, but if the quality is there, who cares.
Download their entire album for free right here.

Best Foot Forward

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Maison Martin Margiela peep-toe leather boots,
$1045 at net-a-porter.

[click to enlarge]

Image of the Day

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Kurt Cobain, 2006, by Scott Fife – American, b. 1949. (Archival cardboard, ink, glue and screws, 22 x 18 x 20 in., Collection of Theodore M. Wight, Courtesy of the artist, © Scott Fife, via SAM)

On view at the Seattle Art Museum as part of the Michael Darling-curated show Kurt, which opens tomorrow. It's a safe bet that this will not be the last you hear from us about that. Visit seattleartmuseum.org for info

And hey, while we're at it:


Kurt & Courtney: required viewing no matter your opinion on the matter. (Mine would take too long to go into at this juncture.)

Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

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One princess-worthy dress
[Marios Schwab for Halston, Spring 2010;
approximation, $895 at Bergdorf Goodman]

+

One functional jacket with pockets for essentials
[Combat field jacket with liner,
$49.95 at Uncle Sam's]

+

One pair of sensible shoes, to swap for your heels
[Lacer work boots, $124.99 at Georgiaboot.com]

+

Your portable beverage of choice*
[photo by fredabercrombie via flickr]

+

A good supply of matches, for the campfire
[via the matchbook registry]

=

Prom night, Northern Idaho style.

*Just by way of example. Pacific Standard does not endorse underage drinking.

It's Anything Can Happen Day

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I think I've seen Angel Heart about 30 times, but it's been awhile, and for whatever reason lately I've been wanting to see it again.

6:48 AM

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Slowdive "When the Sun Hits" from Souvlaki (Creation, 1993)

[photo: Capitol Hill, Seattle, March 2010 ]

Need vs. Want

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Emily and I (independently of each other) spotted this Porter chair in the window of Area 51.


These ones are cool too...

...but I like the potato sack burlap of the top one. However:

No room for a new chair
+
$1495 price tag
+
Cats would destroy it inside of 8 seconds in the apartment
=
Want.

Image of the Day

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At The Moment, Steven Heller eloquently reviews the previously unheralded career of graphic designer Don Ervin, who died earlier this year at the age of 85. "Until his death," Heller writes, "I had never heard Ervin’s name. Yet I have certainly seen and admired his work. This is the paradox of most graphic designers’ legacies: Their work is seen, but they are not heard, or heard of — even by some of the people who write about the work, like me.... Designers’ personalities sometimes get more attention than their work. But Ervin was old school. He just did the work."
Click here to read the rest.

Above, a print advertisement by Don Ervin for Herman Miller.

Here They Come Now

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I'm looking forward to seeing the impossibly titled love fear pleasure lust pain glamour death, the Seattle Art Museum's upcoming exhibition of Andy Warhol's polaroids, Screen Tests, and other media works.

The show opens this Thursday, May 13. The members preview (in conjunction with the same-day opening of Kurt) is on May 12 from noon to 8. More info here.


To complement the show, SAM will be screening Chelsea Girls in its Plestcheef Auditorium on Friday, May 21 (7:30 – 11 p.m.).




Nico "Chelsea Girls"

Old World

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Photographer Rachel Sussman is traveling the planet photographing the oldest continuously living organisms (2000 years or older). More info at her blog.

Image of the Day

. I don't know what this is but I would like to be a member, please.

...

UPDATE:

Members of the Strath Art Group (Sydney, Australia, 1948) pulled from the link in comments below. Seems like a fun-times bunch.