Dark Days

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Marlene Dumas, The Blindfolded Man, 2007. Oil on canvas.
Via David Zwirner, NYC.

Marlene Dumas is one of my favorite painters working today. Her technique and color palette are stunning, and in combination with her often macabre subject matter, create an irresistible, almost physical pull when seen in person. It's hard to describe – there is an inscrutable quality about her work that demands close attention but always keeps you at arm's length. I imagine that if you lived with one of her paintings you would find something different in it every day.

The Teacher (sub a), 1987. Oil on canvas.

Jule – die Vrou, 1985. Oil on canvas.

Dumas's first show since joining David Zwirner in 2008 is on view now through April 24. Titled Off the Wall, it features all new paintings from 2009 and 2010 and marks the first time since 2001 that she has presented new work in New York. (The painting immediately below is from this show; those above were part of Dumas's retrospective last year at MoMA.)

Wall Wailing, 2009. Oil on linen.

David Zwirner is at 519 West 19th Street, NYC. If you're there be sure to also check out R. Crumb's exhibit, The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb's Book of Genesis, which closes April 17.

Good Fortune

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Living Underwater

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Rodarte x Maggie Cheung

[ via Dazed & Confused ]

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The cover for Karen Elson's forthcoming debut album The Ghost Who Walks, available May 25th from XL Recordings. Visit karenelson.com for info, and click here to read a good article about Elson from this past Sunday's New York Times.

Hell, Yes!

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Architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the Japanese firm SANAA have won the Pritzker Prize, their field's top honor. Among other things, the duo designed the New Museum in New York (pictured above), one of my favorite buildings of all time.

When I first started this blog and the New Museum had just opened, I was going to do a post about the ads they were running at the Broadway/Lafayette subway station.

You can't tell from here, but that's just a flat poster – it's not actually built into the wall.

These stickers were also popping up all over the city.

The logo is a smart, simple anti-brand, using the outline of Sejima and Nishizawa's stacked boxes and hinting at the idea of a museum as container of art.

Click here for a great interactive tour of the New Museum by Nicolai Ouroussoff of the New York Times, and here for an article about the Pritzker Prize winners.

[Photos by me except the bottom one from the New Museum's website]

Image of the Day

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Lou Bond, from the cover of his self-titled 1974 record on Stax/We Produce – photo by Tom Nixon. (I designed the re-issue CD and vinyl for Light In The Attic, released a couple weeks ago.) Here's what Other Music had to say about it:

Awesome reissue of a heavily atmospheric and fairly weird obscure soul LP originally issued in 1974 by Stax subsidiary We Produce. It's picked up a bit of a cult following over the years, but it's still not nearly as known as it ought to be, hopefully this Light in the Attic release will change that. String-laden, yet still strangely sparse sounding, with long, slow-burning tracks that gain in heaviness and momentum, you'll hear shades of Terry Callier and Isaac Hayes, but with a more string-of-consciousness bent. Definitely one of the more idiosyncratic soul LPs that I can think of, with a lovely soft folk edge to it considering the nice finger-picked guitar and mellow flute and string arrangements. Late night vibes for days on here people, pretty sure you'll love it.

Visit the (also newly re-designed) lightintheattic.net for info and clips.

Hail Mary

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I wasn't sure at first, but upon further reflection I've decided that I really like the flavor of Stefano Pilati's fall collection for Yves Saint Laurent.

He's insisted it has nothing to do with religion (come on. Really? Like with art it's sometimes best as a viewer to run with your own interpretation). Anyway, I really like the clothes' suggestion that a mood of spareness and denial can serve as its own kind of ornamentation (small flourishes aside).

...Not because I think that's the way we're supposed to behave because we're working our way out of a recession or something, but because it seems like a contrary little rebuke to excess and it feels fresh. Also, I just like the look.

It reminds me of this dress I used to wear when I worked at the watch counter at The Bon Marche in downtown Seattle. I found it in a thrift store – it was all black, one of those grandmotherly woven numbers from the early sixties with a zipper up the back and a plain front with a point collar. At one point I remember the handbag girl telling me that I needed to wear a scarf with it or something, because it made me look like Maria from The Sound of Music. (I guess she meant it made me look like a nun? I've never seen The Sound of Music but I gather that Maria wore a lot of black.)

Because that was pretty much the whole point of the dress, I ignored her advice.

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Whaaaaaat

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Manhattan Records presents DJ Premier VS Pete Rock – A Legendary DJ Battle

[ via the neverending cultural minister that is DJ Suspence ]

Skipping Town

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Last weekend for Emily's birthday (!) we went up to Orcas Island. It's kind of hard to believe that I haven't posted about the San Juans before, considering I was a camp counselor up there for many summers and used to lead kayak trips all throughout the islands. It is a place that means a lot to me in ways that could not be properly explained on a blog.

I'm sure that will not stop me from posting about it in the future.

But right now I'm too busy – as demonstrated by my dismal lack of posts recently. It's weird, we moved back from New York to have more leisure time in the outdoors, and I've never been more busy in my whole life. I'm not complaining – I'm thankful for the work, I feel lucky – but it makes for somewhat detached and sparse bloggery. Anyway – for now – here are some photos from our weekend....

Image of the Day

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One of my favorite album covers in recent years.
Scout Niblett plays the Sunset Tavern Saturday night.

Tiny Dancers

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I happened to catch a great episode of Nature on PBS last night called Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air. It was almost magic – the color and footage were hard to believe.

Apparently there are over 8,000 species of flowers in the Americas alone that are pollinated solely by hummingbirds. How can you not love an animal that has evolved in perfect symbiosis with something equally fragile and beautiful?

Also, is it just me, or do the colors of the birds and the flowers seem perfectly complementary?

You can watch the whole episode here and decide for yourself.

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

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Down here on the ground

Grant Green "Down Here On The Ground" from Alive! (Blue Note)

Image of the Day

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A telegram from Dennis Hopper to Kris Kristofferson, one of many interesting artifacts featured in the forthcoming Kristofferson release from Light In The Attic, which I had the great pleasure of designing.

Give 'em hell Dennis.

Mend & Measure

. Nicole Miller, owner of the Seattle shops Blackbird and Field House, is offering free Sunday classes on repairing clothing starting this weekend. Here's the description:

In the old U.S. Navy, sailors had one day a month called Mend & Measure where they were excused from their duties to launder and repair their clothes. Wouldn't it be great if times were different and this was a priority again?

Times is different and I think it's cool that someone in the business of selling clothing is also in the business of helping her customers maintain what they have. My best Filson coat has a bullet hole in it that needs to be repaired* and I can't make it to this Sunday's class but maybe I'll bring it in another weekend.

Click here for info.


*hole in coat possibly caused by evil moths

Perfect Proportions

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Stella McCartney Fall 2010 RTW

More at style.com.

You Know You're Gold,You Don't Gotta Worry None

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Beach House on La Blogotheque

Previously:
Phoenix on La Blogotheque
Fleet Foxes on La Blogotheque

Visit La Blogotheque for many more

Spring Green

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Is there a better color?



I think not.