I’m kinda digging these pictures

Summer of love series by Saiman Chow.  For $100 a pop one of these precious works of art could be yours.  Just think, you’d be well on your way to filling up your own X-Rated art pad like the one we saw Tuesday.

Mom’s in town today, so short post, dudes.  Peace out

via Below the Clouds

Last night a reader left a comment on Erin’s pom pom post with a link to a bedroom she had personally pom-pom-ified.  While I waited for the page to open I anticipated a neuvo pop pom bedspread and maybe a cute throw pillow.  What I got was this:

Holy Awesomeness!!!  Mandy hand made the rug and pom pom installation as part of her larger work at the Bucheon Gallery.

Here’s what fiberarts magazine had to say about the matter:

In December 2008, the Bucheon Gallery of San Francisco invited Mandy Greer to create an installation at the international contemporary art exhibition Aqua Art Miami, Florida, a satellite fair to the annual Art Basel Miami Beach. Whereas Art Basel Miami and its sister fair, Art Basel, Switzerland, typically assign booths to their exhibitors, Aqua Art Miami was presented at the Aqua Hotel in South Beach and used the facility’s individual rooms to display a wide range of artwork. Exhibitors at the Aqua Hotel typically tend to disguise the fact that the rooms are sleeping areas. Not so for Sheila Cohen and Sidney Brown, owners of the Bucheon Gallery, who invited artists to play up the bedroom theme. Greer included (among other works) two pieces from her 2004 installation project the Wolf Prince and the Parrot Princess. In their original incarnations, these pieces—a white rag rug and a chandelier comprised of a multitude of pom-poms—evoked a vast arctic landscape that separated an amorous yet oddball couple. In Miami, they came together more literally as erotic ornament for the boudoir: the soft chandelier hung seductively overhead while the supple coverlet, like swirls of pure white snow, adorned the lovers’ bed.

For a complete view of the installation, check out the flickr gallery, check out Mandy’s blog and recent work here, see a preview of Mandy’s work in the film The Silvering Path Here.

Oh!  And be sure to have a super happy weekend!  xo

Lately life has handed me quite a few lemons:  literally – my husband’s new van stopped working and figuratively – my interwebs are haunted.  I guess I’m supposed to find a way to make lemonade, but with all that sugary tartness I’m not so motivated.

Art duo Ghost of a Dream stumbled upon a bunch of lemons in the form of a pile of losing lottery tickets.  The pair took it among themselves to consider the nature of the lottery, the things we desire, and the anticipation of the win followed by the inevitable loss.  Then, they made lemonade:

Dream Home 2009, $70,000 in discarded lotto tickets, wood & steel

Dream Home Detail

Dream Home Detail

Dream Car 2008, $39,000 in discarded lottery tickets, cardboard, cast plastic, wood, steel, and mirror

This is it 2010 discarded lottery tickets, romance novel covers, wood and found objects

This Is It, detail

Title unknown

For more lotto madness: Ghost of a Dream

G’morning!  I’m back from Vegas and with zero trips planned between now and bambino arrival it’s time to move full speed ahead on kiddo decor.  I’ve acquired most of the items needed to create the world’s most precious and heartwarming nursery, now I just need to give everything a spit-shine and drop it in place.  Ok, easier said than done.

My biggest project?  Curtains.  I got the brilliant idea to use drop-clothes as curtains from the always inspiring AB Chao.  As soon as I saw her post I knew I wanted to cover the window wall floor-to-ceiling with some fab chunky drapes.  I ordered bleached white drop clothes online*  but decided that bleached white wasn’t quite awesome enough for, what is sure to be, the world’s most radical baby.

I’ve decided to paint on my pristine white drapes.

I had a few ideas for prints and patterns but none quite worked (the yellow raindrops were quickly nixed when I considered the allusion to golden showers).  A panicked email to blog BFF Raina quickly subsided my woes when she suggested I emulate the work of scribble genius Cy Twombly.

I relayed Raina’s suggestion to Erin who instantly agreed and reminded me of this Kelly Wearstler entryway.  This is about the time when my heart started beating out of my chest and I knew the curtains had to be made.

Again, this is an inspiration post, so, no curtains today (they just arrived at my house yesterday and painting should commence this weekend).  BUT!  Look at the awesome interior shot above which I found ages ago on Designalogue and have been fantasizing about ever since.  I will be channeling this heavy handed painting while wielding my brush-sword this weekend.

Proving herself to be the fountain of pure link magic and knowledge that I knew her to be, Erin also sent me this link via Eye Spy which continues to confirm that Raina’s scribble idea is great and good.

Once I got the scribble bug, I started to see scribbles everywhere.  Yesterday’s post on Desire to Inspire conjured up scribble images when the cord of this lamp formed a lovely 3 dimensional scribble.  Maybe, just maybe, I’ll emulate the cord drape in the little dude’s room for the sake of repetition.  Or not.  I promise to draw the line just before overkill.

For the ultimate 3D scribble I bow my humble head to the appropriately named Scribble lamp by Thout.  I will be conjuring it’s warm glow as I take paint to canvas this weekend.  Wish me via con Dios and, with some luck and all that via con Diosing I will hopefully be showing you some yellow and white scribble curtains next Tuesday.

*If you’re wanting to do drop cloth curtains and you want them to be bleach white, skip home depot and lowes, theirs are canvas color and no amount of bleach on the planet is making them white.  Believe me, I’ve tried.   Buy these instead. You’re welcome.

Art is an undervalued endeavor — it does not create algorithms to invest money, invent pharmaceuticals, or generally further business interests in any way. And so, when the young and ambitious set their sights on the humanities, parents get nervous and friends shake their heads, and the young and ambitious learn to eat ramen and wear black. Street cred is a necessity, but so are clothes that hold up to paint, chemicals, and infrequent laundering. It’s pretty glamorous, the life of an artist is.

Photograph by Tracey Moffatt, via Emmas Designblogg

I have spent 15+ years slaving over a hot darkroom sink, many more poring over art books, and several years teaching, but I still can’t get enough of the photographs that set me on the path to poverty in the first place. Once afflicted, there is no cure for what ails you, save to embrace the disease.

Photograph by Andres Serrano, via NYT

And as much as I enjoy just browsing images on the net, it warms my cold, dirty black heart even more to see some of my favorite artists in the homes of the rich and famous. Thank jeebus somebody can make a living off their work, because who else could inspire the young and ambitious to sacrifice wealth, hygiene, and nutrition, in the name of art?

Vik Muniz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and Christopher Bucklow, via David Netto

Photos by Mark Shaw via Nate Berkus

Images by Rineke Dijkstra via Fox Mahem

Work by Adam Fuss via David Duncan Livingston

Image by Candida Hofer via Richard Powers

Image by William Eggleston in the home of Krysten Ritter

Photos by Thomas Struth and Andreas Gursky via Michael Richman

Photo by Thomas Struth (on the right) via Met Home

Photo by Gilbert and George via OWI

Works by John Coplans (left bottom) and Loretta Lux in the home of Vicente Wolf

Photos by Steven Klein in the home of Nacho Figueras

I got a little obsessed while doing, ahem, “research” for this post, so I hope you won’t be terribly disappointed if I hit you with a two-fer. Back on Monday with another roundup of not quite so epic proportions. In the meantime, I’m entertaining out of town guests, but Karly will be here to regale you with her always acerbic wit.

Have a great week!

Dear AT&T,

I have been spending the last several months awaiting the expiration of my cell phone contract with my current carrier.  My plan was to leave behind the company I have been loyal to for 8 years and convert to AT&T while picking up a snazzy new iPhone.  Plan:  Aborted.

From At&T’s “Blanket” Commercial, released May, 2010

After the release of your “blanket” commercial last may, which blatantly rips off the artists Christo & Jeanne Claude, I wouldn’t consider giving you a dollar of my money, let alone entering into a long-term contract with your company.

Christo & Jeanne Claude: The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979 – 2005

While I find your feeble attempt at appearing artsy nauseating, the fact that you’ve chosen to mimic the artists both in concept and in style is nothing short of astounding.  Did you really have to use Christo & Jeanne Claude’s signature shade of orange?

Christo & Jeanne Claude: Pont Neuf Wrapped, 1975 – 1985

The image you attempt to project:  that we are at the dawn of a new day, that we will all be embraced by at&t’s loving glow and will all be connected is instantly negated by your plagiarism.  This is not a new day:  the artists’ first wrapped monuments in 1968.  As for your loving embrace?  Well, it’s difficult for me to believe a thief when he tells me he’s compassionate.

Christo & Jeanne Claude: Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72

I’m not sure why you think that airing a CGI, 60-second spot that steals the life work of a well-known &  beloved pair of artists will help you sell cell phone contracts.  Or how you sleep at night.  But I’ll go ahead and tell you, this:

does not absolve you.  Furthermore,

Christo & Jeanne Claude: Wrapped Trees, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997 – 98

no crappy ad agency-created commercial will ever, EVER, look as stunning as the real thing.

PS.  Dear Apple, I got a droid.

Hey Dudes, I’m running late for a flight so I have to bid you adieu for a few days with little more than a reminder of what some planes look like sometimes:

But none to worry, Erin will be here tomorrow and Monday and Tuesday we have an extra special magical guest post, so you should only be crying tears of joy.

PS for more info on the 3′ plane made of used keys, go here.

As you can imagine, the largest decor undertaking in my house right now is la bambino’s room.  In fact, I was more stressed about how to decorate it then I was about whether he’d be a boy or a girl (I figured I had no control over that).  Over the last few months I’ve already picked up quite a few prints that will eventually form the little dude’s first cluster art wall.  Don’t you just think he’s going to be so excited to come home to all this:

Since he’s going to be born in the year of the tiger (as was his father, uncle, grandfather, great grandfather and great grandmother) I thought we should pay homage with a few pieces of tiger art.  Note: THIS ROOM IS NOT TIGER THEMED, just tiger friendly.  This print, rock candy, was found by Erin and purchased by me in approximately 2.2 seconds.

Continuing the tiger non-theme I also grabbed this year of the tiger print from the same shop.

And finally, I picked up Tiger Phone from the Two Rabbits Studios booth at the Renegade Craft Fair.

In fact, all the remaining prints were picked up at renegade.  If you have one happening in your area, I highly suggest you go.

Because I am having a wee little baby, I thought I should get a few little-kid friendly prints too.  Not just a bunch of insane tigers.  I grabbed this beep beep bike print from Tad Carpenter.

This 2-part pink monster is also by Tad Carpenter, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find it on his site and I think he’s sold out.

And because I bought so much at his booth, Tad threw this tiny bird print in for zero dollars.  Thanks, Tad!

Having stocked up on some baby goodies, I felt like I could return to my crazy art comfort zone.  I bought this Will Bryant print at the Public School booth.

And finally, because babies go goo goo ga ga over black and white prints, stimulating their little brains straight into mensa, I picked up this crazy eye print for the little dude.

Don’t be scared if you feel like some of these don’t go together, remember we have several walls to work with here.  Anything that doesn’t make the baby’s room cut will land in my office, but overall I’m feeling good.  I think he’s just going to swoon when he comes home!

It’s official, la horse print is sold out forever until the end of time.  Thanks to everyone who bought one, I’m beyond flattered to have my work around the world and in your homes.  Seriously, you’re awesome.

For those of you who were on the horsey fence but were hoping for a bit more metallic gold, might I remind you that lasers in general is still available

The general is ready to give marching orders HERE.

In other news…

The Oasis has landed.  And yes, it is the beacon of comfort it represents itself to be.  Why, I accidentally fell asleep mere minutes after laying my head on one of it’s downy soft pillows last night.  I’m not even kidding.

Styling it is another issue.  I can’t seem to find the right combination of pillows and or blankets to casually toss about it’s feathery mass as evidenced by the pillow graveyard across the room:

In the photo it looks great without any pillows or blankets, but it person it’s a bit too barren.  I’m totally and completely open to suggestion.  In the meantime, it doesn’t have to have a single accent upon it to be the perfect spot to nap.

I love documentaries.  I will (and have) watch a documentary on just about every subject.  However, the perfect storm of captured moments, interesting characters, untapped subjects and social commentary combined with humor and a bit of street smarts to make a documentary that plays like a screenplay labored over for years only comes along once in a decade or so.  Exit through the gift shop, a documentary within a documentary wrapped in a riddle, that explores art as commodity, is one of these rare gems

I’m the type of person who doesn’t really like to know much about a movie before seeing it, so the above is a short trailer. If you’re up for more, watch this:

And if you MUST know even more, check out the reviews here here and here

but honestly, the thing is genius, hilarious, and SMART. Just go see it. It’s playing for a limited time in these cities. If you miss it on the big screen, you can toss it in your netflix que.