Saturday, 6 November 2010

Sat 6th Nov: NYC "Six Scents" with Mary Katrantzou










"Six Scents" is an annual project that brings together six artists and six perfumers to invent new fragrances on a theme with proceeds going to a selected charity. In its third year, the latest combination of characters have been asked to cultivate and devise a scent evoking smells reminiscent of childhood memories with "WarChild" as the chosen scheme to receive funds. Mary was teamed with Shyamala Masiondieu - the citrus outcome named "Trompe L'Oeil" captures the fruit aromas of Mary's travelling in a soft feminine yet strong striking scent. I couldn't believe Mary would be in town for the event as she was surely still in Zurich getting her back patted in congratulations for scooping the Swiss Textile Award. As it turned out she skipped sleep and scooted over to NYC to host the evening having only just arrived an hour earlier! Here she is beaming and excited to have a couple of days to herself and enjoy the city after a gruelling shcedule which she said has been more full on than showtime. We toasted to her success with cocktails........... now reading the background, I think we should have chosen Mimosa's as that is one of the heart notes to her fragrance!
As if by magic Casey Spooner came on to perform at the "Boom Boom Room" wearing his Timothy Everest jacket made in Mary's special print for the design. It was an unrelated party we attended back at her hotel (The Standard) so this was a really great surprise to top off the night! The other highlight for me was the bathrooms which are glass walled so you are positioned looking out at the Manhattan skyline as you pee - whoever invented this idea must be a fun guy!!!!!!!!! Brilliant!

Six Scents Series Three - Making Scents of Memories: From Innocence to Experience from Six Scents Parfums on Vimeo.

Sat 6th Nov: NYC "Contemporary Magic: A Tarot Deck Art Project,"








Stacy Engman (contemporary art curator at The National Arts Club) has curated a group project of creatives to conjure up a totally new deck of Tarot Cards . In the past, various artists have had a go at their own version of the pictorial deck including Salvador Dali and Niki de Saint Phalle. Here is Stacy wearing a special Philip Treacy hat - one of the featured artists you can see above. I also snapped Nick Knight's card as it was so impressive and really captured the essence of the concept - painting in blood! Stacy selected 78 iconic creatives of our time to compile this unique collection of iconography including:

Agathe Snow, Catherine Opie, Christian Louboutin, Gareth Pugh, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Karl Lagerfeld, Kenny Scharf, Marc Jacobs, Nan Goldin, Knick Knight,m Philip Treacy Ryan McGinley, Ryan McGinness, Steven Klein, Terence Koh, Terry Richardson, threeASFOUR, Tim Nble & Sue Webster, Tracey Emin, Vivienne Westwood, Yayoi Kusama, Yoshitomot Nara......

to see more of the works, click here

Friday, 5 November 2010

Fri 5th Nov: NYC - "VPL" store opening










Congratulations to Brit born Victoria Bartlett for getting her visible panty line (VPL) on Broadway............ or just about, as the view of the vast store front of her brand new retail space is totally visible thru the the wide intersection of Howard Street. Its so exciting to have seen the label grow and now have its own outlet in such a major location on Mercer street - beautifully kitted out with trademark gym hoops and ropes. Vicky's extended network of NYC friends turned out to toast to her brilliant milestone in bringing lingerie to a totally new level! To see the whole collection and buy online, go here.

To see Jessica Mitrani's film of VPL on dancer Maria Hassabi, click here.

Fri 5th Nov: NYC - Yoshitomo Nara "Nobody's Fooll"









I'm a massive fan of Yoshitomo, so its nice to see the work elevated from the small galleries I'm used to an entire retrospective at the Asia Society Museum. "Nobody's Fool" a life story complete with drawings from the early 80's which Ive never known about from when Yoshitomo moved to Germany. The best part was a little room dedicated to a selection of his vinyl collection which he has put together to illustrate his love for music and the artwork of vintage record covers that have equally combined to inspire his work. Bulbous ceramic pots painted to look a little like Russian Dolls were also VERY CUTE and covetable!!!!!!! I hope this show travels the world so that everyone can get a good glimpse at the 100+ works featured including this massive installation of a tiny tree hut set up like his dream work space.................. DREAMY indeed.........with spectrum painted circular steps.........(head over to the website to see a behind the scenes film of the curator)

Fri 5th Nov: NYC - "Japan Fashion Now" at FIT






Its funny that I was wearing my Kimono when I went to see this exhibition "Japan Fashion Now". It is a kimono that I bought in Japan 9 years ago when I visited Tokyo to research subcultures for my dissertation. I actually travelled to Tokyo from NYC after my internship with threeASFOUR so it was all rather strange to have come full circle and be back in NYC. It was also very bizarre seeing the "Gothic Lolita" style represented in a major exhibition (the 1st of its kind) when this streetstyle was only just emerging when I discovered it in Harajuku the time I went. My voyage was to capture the "Gangaro Girls" but sadly I found that they had moved on and the new "Gothic Lolitas" had taken over. As Im all about bright colour kawaii it was disappointing but I as I had no option but to research how it had happened, it was infact fascinating! One of the main sources I referenced was Sharon Kinsella's book "Adult Manga" and she was a guest speaker taking part in the symposium with the exhibition yesterday! I think that she may also be on the events schedule for "Future Beauty" at The Barbican so have a look.
This show had a couple of gorgeous silk cartoon print silk jumpsuits by Kansai Yamamoto but photography was forbidden so I'm a little bit naughty in squeezing in these quick snaps! You'll have to try and go for yourselves to see the array of current styles from Undercover and recent history of Comme Des Garcons pieces by Junya Watanabe and a divine flesh mesh shift that conceals a 2nd pearl embroidered dress inside by Rei Kawakubo...........

Thursday, 4 November 2010

Thurs 4th: London - "Small Things" group show - Annie Collinge





Amy Gwatkin
, Anna Leader, Annie Collinge and Bella Fenning are opening the doors to their group photography show in London this evening "Small Things". As I am in NYC and not able to attend, I met up with Annie Collinge who is based in NYC to find out about her contribution to the exhibition:

"These portraits of American teenage girls were taken at a comic book convention in New York City this year. Sidestepping the temptation to photograph them at full length in their homemade costumes, I instead chose to focus on their faces. I was less interested in the portrayal of their favourite characters and more interested in making intimate portraits of their embellished features. Hiding behind this new identity seemed to somehow empower them, young women that would not get a second look in the lunch hall suddenly took on a new allure with their male comic book counterparts. The project borrows its title from the controversial graphic novel “Lost Girls” by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie."

So sorry we can't be with you ladies! But for everyone in Hackney, head to:

sixtysevena
city studios
67a dalston lane
london E8 2AH

Openings: 04.11.10-28.11.10

Thurs 4th: NYC - Brooklyn with Annie Collinge




I got to see Manhattan from Brooklyn! From the peace and calm of a little park and beach right by Annie's flat I could see the sky-scraper skyline with the Empire State and Chrysler reaching high above the mayhem and merging metropolis. Thanks Annie for capturing the moment!
Annie is regularly taking snaps around town for her blog which you can keep up to date with here

Thurs 4th: NYC - Beacon's closet










Over the years I have got to know NYC thru the eyes of Manhattaners and never really ventured off shore! I have occasionally taken a subway over but always ducked back down and back again as I feel like a duck out of water. So, on this trip Annie Collinge offered to be my chaperon to her neighbourhood and take me to the mecca of vintage clothes that is "Beacons Closet". Ive heard this name bounded around but never locked down a plan to make the pilgrimage. Until yesterday..........
I totally greened out in the green section and whited out in the white section.........there is so much to look at and its all split in colour block sections. Its a whole store like my wardrobe. Its a melting pot of the most colourful and patterned pieces which totally spun me out. I wanted so much stuff - I can't think of a comparison to this in London at all (not since the fire and demise of Camden stables). So - for anyone who ever holidays or works in NYC and hasn't made this well documented discovery yet WRITE IT DOWN - Beacon's Closet.

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Weds 3rd: NYC - Kenny Scharf vs. Dearraindrop at The Hole













"Hot Glue Hullabaloo" is a collaborative exhibition between Kenny Scharf and Dearraindrop who have been exchanging and combining artwork through the mail since 2004. They first gravitated towards each other at the Dearraindrp Art Basel Miami exhibition and bonded over thier joint love for cartoons & comics, thrift stores & street junk, graffiti & technical painting, customizing clothes & collaging .......and hot glue gunning! The Virgina Beach art team known at Dearraindrop have worked with Keeny on this show combining shared skills to turn out boombastic sculptures and canvases. Each little plastic piece of paraphernalia and scrap of paper pasted down has been carefully collected and assembled to make the grander greater psychedelic scheme. I got totally lost zoning out in these details and was so impressed at the singular attention to detail to have accumulated this perfect combination of cosmic schnickle schnackles. The fact they use the word "cosmic" is totally cosmic to me as its my most used descriptive noun too! COSMIC!!!!
Check out their online store here