BEAUTY: Fabric Art--Paula Kovarik

These wonderful, intricate, doodle-y images are not paintings but quilts! Fabric artist Paula Kovarik uses the age-old quilting technique to draw new lines and designs and create something entirely unique.

Top to bottom: Aha Moments; Beacons; Chaos Ensues; City; Do The Doodle; Focus On Something Else; I Need A Third Eye; Pollinators (detail); Pollinators; Signals; Stream Of Consequences; Unglued; Worry

http://www.paulakovarik.com/

"All Eyes on You" by Active Child

Here is "All Eyes on You" by Active Child, the nom de musique of Pat Grossi (previously here).
Love it.
And I REALLY love the inventiveness of the visuals, the illusion of a static image. It's unexpectedly powerful.

https://activechildmusic.com/

BEAUTY: Installation--Es Devlin

Extraordinary artist and stage designer Es Devlin (she and her team designed the incredible stage for U2's Experience + Innocence tours) recently exhibited Memory Palace, a large scale, mind boggling gallery installation at the Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery in London.

MEMORY PALACE
ES DEVLIN, 2019

CNC CUT BAMBOO, MIRROR, EARTHBORN CLAYPAINT, 3D PRINTED SLA
17500 X 6500 X 3900MM

MEMORY PALACE IS A NEW SCULPTURE WHICH FILLS THE GALLERY SPACE WITH A VAST CHRONOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE MAPPING PIVOTAL SHIFTS IN HUMAN PERSPECTIVE OVER SEVENTY-FIVE MILLENNIA.

FROM THE CAVES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA WHERE HOMO SAPIENS FIRST LEFT THEIR MARK, TO THE STEPS OF THE SWEDISH PARLIAMENT WHERE GRETA THUNBERG BEGAN HER CLIMATE STRIKE, THE LOCATIONS AND MOMENTS REPRESENT A PERSONAL AND SUBJECTIVE CARTOGRAPHY AND HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY ES TO INVOKE OUR COLLECTIVE MEMORIES/HISTORY, AND ALSO TO PROVOKE DIALOGUE AND DEBATE.

IT IS NAMED AFTER THE CLASSICAL MNEMONIC TECHNIQUE, ORIGINATING IN ANCIENT GREECE, WHICH CATALOGUES MEMORIES WITHIN FAMILIAR LOCATIONS. ES IDENTIFIES THE ROOMS IN WHICH SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS IN HUMAN THINKING TOOK PLACE AND PLOTS THEM WITHIN IDENTIFIABLE FRAGMENTS OF CITIES AND BUILDINGS TO CREATE A PERSONAL ATLAS OF THE EVOLUTION OF THOUGHT.

CONSTRUCTION: DIAGON
LEAD ASSOCIATE DESIGNER: RUBY WAI YUE LAW

PHOTO CREDIT: PETER MALLET

https://esdevlin.com/
https://www.pitzhanger.org.uk/

Take An Interest!

BEAUTY: Interior--Erin Martin

Interior designer Erin Martin created a gorgeous home for an ex-Argentinian couple, now relocated to Beverly Hills. I love how she limited the color palette to black and white yet the end result looks rich and sumptuous (I wish my own interior design clients were not so fearful of saturated hues). The Latin American pieces look exquisite in black and the Mediterranean tile speaks to that California-style vernacular that exemplifies what design is all about here in my state.

https://www.erinmartin.com/

BEAUTY: Painting--Stephen Magsig

Stephen Magsig's small canvases evoke the concept of lights--tail lights, head lights, traffic lights, neon lights--at night in the city. I love the simplicity of these images...and they really do look like such lights when seen through half-closed lids or rain-soaked windshields.

http://www.smagsig.com/

Pete For President 2020!

https://peteforamerica.com/

"Virile" by Moses Sumney

Wow. Just...WOW.

Blown away by this incredible song and video from Moses Sumney. The song is "Virile." Out on his double album "græ"...part one is released this month and part two will hit in May.

Amazing visuals and even more amazing choreography.

Masculinity is a prison.

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!
On a long hike through Blue Ridge mountains
I can feel the earth overtake my skin (Yeah)
And I realize none of this matters
'Cause I will return to dust and matter

Cheers to the patriarchs
And the marble arch
Playin' their part
The gatekeeper's march

Desperate for passing grades
The virility fades
You've got the wrong guy
You wanna slip right in
Amp up the masculine
You've got the wrong idea, son
Dear son
We pick our own prisons, oh ah

To stake dominion over all that one surveys
Is the virile, viral way

Here's to the boys
And the noise
Playin' the part
The gatekeeper's march

Desperate for passing grades
The virility fades
You've got the wrong guy
You wanna fit right in
Amp up the masculine
You've got the wrong "I"
Too much is not enough
Too much is not enough
You've got the wrong idea, son
Dear son
You pick your own prison

You want dominion to make minions of the stars
Made up of what you are
Are, are, are, are, are
You are, are, are, are, are, hey
Oh! Hey!

Desperate for passing grades
The virility fades
You've got the wrong guy
You wanna fit right in
Amp up the masculine
You've got the wrong idea, son

https://www.mosessumney.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week

Here are some details from the Fall-Winter '20-'21 shows at Paris Fashion Week I did not want to miss sharing...

Jun Takahashi at Undercover has taken inspiration in the past from films like "A Clockwork Orange" and the cult film "The Warriors" but this collection's inspiration came from Akira Kurosawa's 1957 adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" called "Throne of Blood." This is the first time Takahashi has made reference to his Japanese heritage and the results are quite lovely. There were some shirts and puffer jackets printed with stills from the Kurosawa film but mostly the looks were interpretations of Samurai armour or Japanese dress rendered in knits and nylon. But it is the combination of color and pattern as well as some of the embellishment that makes these garments stand out...yet each piece as a separate is totally wearable.

The cloud suits designer-cum-conceptual artist Virgil Abloh sent out at Louis Vuitton are fun and light. They feel slightly Dada-esque and psychedelic, like a scene from The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine."

Dries Van Noten made extensive use of faux fox furs in a collection that he said is "about enjoying clothes, dressing: using your sexual power to feel great." The foxes might make one feel foxy, but I really love the platforms, especially the snake pair in the last look below. I know from experience that platforms make one feel sexier...taller, more powerful...and they change your stride into something sexier.

I love a good over-scaled, voluminous scarf like the ones Pierre Maheo showed for Officine Générale:

Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons showed a riot of color and pattern in a show that was a swirl of youthful exuberance. "Color resistance—fighting back with color" were the words Kawakubo attached to it, in an emailed post-release. You get what she means: clothes as a mood-enhancing tool in dark times. But there was an unfortunate backlash against the use of cornrow wigs. Cries of cultural appropriation were hurled at the house. The stylist for the show, Julien d’Ys, said his inspiration was the look of an Egyptian prince, like Tutankhamen. See how the wigs are worn low over the hairline, like they are Egyptian headdresses. D'Ys said the hairstyle choice was an homage to something he personally finds beautiful. I see it...

Gorgeous tall croc boots at Sies Marjan.

And really tall, thigh-high puffer boots at White Mountaineering!

And finally, I always approve of mature and unconventional models on the runway and Junya Watanabe has been an early and consistent proponent of such casting.

http://undercoverism.com/
https://www.louisvuitton.com/
https://www.driesvannoten.com/
https://www.officinegenerale.com/
http://www.comme-des-garcons.com/
https://www.siesmarjan.com/
http://www.whitemountaineering.com/