Pacific Standard

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Future Present

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Not that I don't love a lot of this totally wearable collection, but I feel like Manish Arora could be doing a little something more with Paco Rabanne. Just a small criticism and just my opinion...can't be easy to tackle this kind of legacy.

Paco Rabanne Fall 2012 RTW

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Then:

Bottom photo:
Donyale Luna (also at top) shot by Richard Avedon

Image of the Day

Sara Cwynar: Printed Matter Window Project (Read about it here.)

Photo by Jackie Linton

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Blurring

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Trailer for Brief Encounters, a documentary on photographer Gregory Crewdson. More info here.

Negative Space

Joan Mitchell seems to be having a moment lately.

I was lucky to have caught a show of her late paintings at Cheim & Read this past December, the first time I've seen more than a small few of her works together.

Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1992 (detail)

Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1992

It was a fantastic show: huge canvases – I always have a weakness for those – amazing color, and the energy of raw and unapologetic brushstrokes (and their aftermath).

Joan Mitchell, Sunflowers, 1991

Joan Mitchell, Sunflowers, 1990-91

Joan Mitchell, Trees, 1990-91

But what struck me for the first time is how the white space in Mitchell's paintings – so much of it, at the perimeter of the canvas and between the brushstrokes – holds so much power. It's almost as if the pristine nothingness of the canvas underscores the importance of the positive world, and vice versa. In person the white space itself is a beautiful thing to see, strangely feeling like looking into infinity...or so I imagine. It has an intention all of its own.

Joan Mitchell, Merci, 1992

That got me to thinking about how lately I've been so drawn to art that perhaps purposely says nothing, that's empty and sometimes cold – and in that, pure. Almost exactly a year ago, Mary Boone had a show by Terence Koh. I didn't see it in person; I only read about it in the Times (the review was by Roberta Smith, as my favorites tend to be). But for at least two months I couldn't get it out of my head...I literally thought about it constantly. I would sit on the bus and look out the window and just exist in it, like an actual, physical space. Truly, I was obsessed.

Terence Koh, nothingtoodoo, at Mary Boone Gallery, March 2011

As described, the sole performance piece consisted of a mound of salt in the middle of the gallery. Koh, dressed all in white, circled the mound on his knees for all of the hours the gallery was open, over the course of the month-long show, sometimes prostrating himself on the floor for physical relief. (Apparently he put on knee pads after the show had been up for a week to avoid grinding his knees to dust.) A piece that suggests penance, but more than that, to me, pointlessness. I've never considered myself a fan of Terence Koh, but that may have made me one.

Robert Ryman, Twin, 1966

I'm not sure why I'm drawn to that purity and pointlessness and nothingness right now. It's so strange...you want one thing, and the next day comes, and you want another. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my day job is about information...that's ALL I think about, while I'm at work (okay, well, mostly). And maybe it also has something to do with our present-day condition of constant movement and adaptation and the pressure of needing to absorb and navigate an ever-accelerating existence. The void feels like a relief.

Robert Ryman, Surface Veil, 1970-71

Finally, as a postscript, who knows what I would have thought of Koh's piece in person? Roberta Smith had her reservations ('Is it art?'). But her description made it live in my mind as if I had experienced it, and for that reason I can't think of a better example of just how powerful a good piece of art criticism can be.

I also think that it doesn't really matter how I would have responded to the piece in person. Relational aesthetics aside, to me what matters is my own, one-on-one relationship to (with?) something I grasp or feel in an artist's work – whether as a whole, or just a part that resonates – and that relationship alone. Meaning gets created there.

Joan Mitchell, After April, Bernie, 1987

Dark and Getting Darker

Stefano Pilati's last collection for Yves Saint Laurent.

middle right, above: that jumpsuit
(if that's what it is) is sick.

Yves Saint Laurent Fall 2012 RTW
[click to enlarge]
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Valerio Mezzanotti / The New York Times

Monday, March 5, 2012

Cities in Dust

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Savages "City's Full" (live at the Shacklewell Arms, London)

h/t DJ Suspence

Details

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Those boots !! at Givenchy.

(black, please)
Givenchy Fall 2012 RTW
[click to enlarge]
style.com

Image of the Day

Circa-1969 photo illustration from a publication by Seth Siegelaub.

Seth Siegelaub is an independent curator, author, researcher and art dealer who is widely known for his impact on the Conceptual Art movement. In addition to having a gallery in New York in the 1960s and curating outside exhibitions, Siegelaub edited and published books which functioned as exhibitions in and of themselves, thus helping to formulate one of the tenets of the contemporary artists' book.

A selection of Siegelaub's books has recently been made available for free PDF download by the online archive Primary Information.

Let's Build a Rhythm

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AB/CD/CD: On Hold via Nowness

Friday, March 2, 2012

Sweet Violence

I really want to see this show.

(video still)

Sanja Ivekovic.
All showing at MoMA as part of the artist's career survey, Sweet Violence.
Through March 26, 2012. More info here.

Image of the Day

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Haven't been able to get this Tommy Ton photo of perfect chicness out of my head since I saw it a while back. So unfussy, and so exactly right.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Best Foot Forward

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At this price and with synthetic materials the quality might not be any good -- hard to tell from the photo. But from afar, this is a really nice, barely-there black sandal for summer. You'll need to use the money you save on a reeeeally good pedicure though!

Aldo Corre sandal, $55 at aldoshoes.com.

Fine.

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The finale of Raf Simons's beautiful, last show for Jil Sander. Such a shame – even if I am interested to see what Jil does when she returns to her namesake.

Cathy Horyn:

The scene at the end of the Jil Sander show — Raf Simons’s last for the house — was moving and spontaneous, and certainly not like anything I’ve experienced in 25 years of covering the industry.

At the end of a remarkable collection that quietly evoked the hours in a couple’s domestic life, from a woman’s morning lingerie to gorgeous wool coats and black cocktail dresses, the audience gave Mr. Simons a standing ovation. He acknowledged the gesture with a smile and wave and then disappeared backstage, which was closed to guests because he wanted to avoid a heavy emotional scene and questions about his departure.

After Mr. Simons ducked out of sight, the audience gathered on the low, rectangular stage and moved toward the backstage entrance, applauding the entire time. The German press section was particularly loud. People stood on the runway and kept applauding for about a minute, and then Mr. Simons came out again, his face streaked with tears.

Giuseppe Cacace/Agence France-Presse

Image of the Day

John Wood: Monument: Ocotillo Cactus, 1991 (Collage, 13 1/2 x 8 3/8 inches). From selected works on view at Bruce Silverstein Gallery through April 21st. Opening reception tonight, 6–8PM, if you're in New York.