New Art Book Acquisitions

Hover over the image for more info.

The Chi-town Download

Ok, finally here's the download from my Chicago trip. All the images (except the Miller's Pub cinemagr.am – click through to the album to see it in action) shot with my trusty Mercury II CX.

Morbid Curiosity: The Richard Harris Collection at the Chicago Cultural Center was a really great show. Skulls and bones and more skulls, oh my. Some really amazing work by Otto Dix, Dana Salvo and James Ensor to name but a few.

Meals taken at Moto and Xoco. Gold Coast Chicago dog at Midway Airport. Runaway favorite course at Moto was gazpacho with grape. The grapes were somehow carbonated and it included the best rabbit I've ever had. Period.

New Collage

New collage series, "A Week of Kindness," made entirely of paper including gold medallions via a special gold leaf/embossing process. One medal for each day of the week because you know you put up with some kind of crap everyday. You know you deserve it.   

New Orleans Voodoo

Back to New Orleans again for work but also plenty of play. First I have to give a shout-out to my favorite hotel down there, the International House. Close enough to the Quarter, and yet just far enough away, they're always friendly and have a great little bar downstairs. Also, in celebration of All Saints Day/All Souls Day, artist Linda Sampson had installed in the lobby an Immortelle exhibition which is worth a stop-in if you're in town. Immortelles are a tradition of beaded memorial flowers to be hung on tombs on All Saints Day, then removed and stored at home until the next year. On to the food.

First stop, Lüke. I've talked about them before, but the thing I go back for again and again is the Rillette of Berkshire pig. And again. And again.

Next stop, Katie's Restaurant & Bar in Midcity. As soon as I gave the cab driver the address, he asked if we knew a local. No tourists here at this place deep inside a neighborhood. Fine by me, I'll keep the po-boys and hamburger steak all to myself. By the way, if you need a cab in New Orleans, always call United Cab.

Last stop on the food train, the Green Goddess. An amazing meal cooked with love by Chef Paul in a tiny (cozy) restaurant on Exchange Alley in the Quarter. Not looking to define a "type" of cuisine, they seem to concentrate on flavors that just taste damn good together. Started off with a bacon smoked duck soup with red wine and mushrooms, and things only got better. Fresh crab with pickled vegetables and wasabi roe. Black sticky rice and coconut milk rice pudding (the "Saturn Calling"). Oh, and did I mention that I had an heirloom tomato bloody mary? Green Goddess (pictured above), I'll see you again.

24 Hours in New Orleans

Just got back from the Big Easy, and it's the only place hotter than here. But good friends and good food make it all OK. All the places I ate were new for me which was fun. So here's the rundown.

Cochon Butcher Little sister of perennial Monkey favorite Cochon, Cochon Butcher serves sandwiches, small plates and wine, but the real meat is, well, the meat. Everything from head cheese to duck pastrami to salami and chorizo is made in house and delicious. The pickles were awesome too.

Hansen's Sno-Bliz A definite for summer in New Orleans, Hansen's has been around since 1939. Ernest Hansen actually patented his machine for shaving ice which makes a particularly delicate flake. I got the Banana flavor, and apparently, the locals can tell whether or not you're a local from the flavor you order. Banana was a dead giveaway. The line forms out the door quickly.

Perino's Boiling Pot Out in the West Bank but worth the drive, Perino's serves up tasty seafood. Because it's on the West Bank where the fishermen come in, the seafood is technically fresher than in New Orleans proper. We ate 15 pounds of crawfish, 3 dozen oysters, fried soft shell crab and alligator all for a price you'd never find in the Quarter.

Elizabeth's Elizabeth's features homey mugs (see slideshow above), a tasty brunch and enormous biscuits. Specialties such as Red Neck Eggs, Cajun Bubble & Squeak and a drink called the Corpse Reviver keep things interesting.

Some non-perishable items:

The Front Check out Seth Boonchai's work, "Between the Searching and the Need to Work it Out" showing at The Front through July 5. Or find out more about Seth's work here.

Riverfront Redevelopment A cool project is about to be underway at the Mandeville Wharf to turn it into a really great public space. It's part of the Reinventing the Crescent Master Plan. More information at Eskew+Dumez+Ripple.

Small Bites #14

Part 1 of Errol Morris' new five part series on Han van Meegeren's Vermeer forgeries in and around WWII. Especially interesting so far is the concept of The Uncanny Valley.

[The Uncanny Valley is a concept developed by the Japanese robot scientist Masahiro Mori.[2] It concerns the design of humanoid robots. Mori’s theory is relatively simple. We tend to reject robots that look too much like people. Slight discrepancies and incongruities between what we look like and what they look like disturb us. The closer a robot resembles a human, the more critical we become, the more sensitive to slight discrepancies, variations, imperfections. However, if we go far enough away from the humanoid, then we much more readily accept the robot as being like us. This accounts for the success of so many movie robots — from R2-D2 to WALL-E. They act like humans but they don’t look like humans. There is a region of acceptability — the peaks around The Uncanny Valley, the zone of acceptability that includes completely human and sort of human but not too human. The existence of The Uncanny Valley also suggests that we are programmed by natural selection to scrutinize the behavior and appearance of others. Survival no doubt depends on such an innate ability. — E.M.]

Fake fast food job applications.

Peering into the fridge your choices are: a) four day old meat loaf b) eggs that are two weeks past the sell-by date or c) pizza you left out on the counter last night. Hmmm, beyond the smell test, you can consult Still Tasty. They'll help keep you safe by giving you refrigerator and freezer lifespans for all kinds of food. Even opened vs. unopened. So eat up that meatloaf and fry up those eggs. But ditch the pizza.

New favorite blog is Eat Me Daily. Food at the intersection of media and culture including this gem about sugar-free cookies as interrogation tool.

Small Bites #13

OK, I got a Facebook account which has taken up my time lately. But I think the honeymoon phase is over, and I can stop checking it twice a day. So, to get things rolling again, here are some links I've been collecting.

17th century shrapnel-filled grenades, grenade spears, bee-swarm baskets, barbed bombs and vessels for flinging explosive materials over at BibliOdyssey.

Tattoos and laser cut dollar bills from Scott Campbell.

Julien Breton's calligraphy in light.

Bringing back jellies (jello), “They were used as very lavish centerpieces, the way marzipan and sugar were used, but then jelly became corrupted by children’s parties,” are Bompas and Parr. This is one of the funniest articles I've seen in the NYTimes in a while. These guys really don't seem to take themselves too seriously, and their work is actually quite beautiful.

Also, let's bring back handpainted signs.

And found on ffffound.

Favorite Things Right Now

1. "I Am The Stig" T-shirts from the TV show Top Gear. Perhaps one of the best shows you've never seen. But it's now available on iTunes should you not get BBC America.

2. Last night on No Reservations, Tony admits to a soft spot for the nuclear orange mac & cheese from KFC. David Chang of Momofuku cops to chicken McNuggets with the Sweet & Sour sauce. Awesome.

3. The Feltron Eight – a personal annual report from Nicholas Felton. If you would like to keep track of your daily data, he has developed Daytum.

4. Big States has been posting some old mixtapes online. I downloaded Volume 5.

5. I've been reading a lot lately about vaccine issues and the media, and found this over at Bad Science via Seed. The chart shows the simple correlation between a sharp rise in measles cases due to the huge drop in vaccinations.

6. Lastly, Poster Boy's flickr stream.

Small Bites #10

Art Finally, I'm posting my pics from visiting Prospect 1 New Orleans. There is a ton of great art by international and local artists all over the city. And there are lots of satellite and unofficial exhibitions going on as well. It runs through January 18 and all the venues are completely free. Download the official pdf map here.

George Carlin Rolls In Grave Here's a euphemism for you. A friend's husband is facing a potential layoff from a major pharmaceutical company. He has to sit by the phone on a particular day to find out if he is "retained" or "discharged." True story.

Typo Really nice calligraphy from Betsy Dunlap. And type on sandblasted barrels from Ministry of Type. And embroidered words/images from Kyo-To-To on Ping Mag.

Thoughts on Typography and Chicken McNuggets

Starting with a TED talk by Stephen Sagmeister on his "Things I have learned in my life so far." His use of 3-dimensional typography using objects is probably one of the most copied things I see in graphic design these days. And he's been doing it for quite awhile. Although I also have to give props to Ed Ruscha who was doing it even before that.

Next up, via Wooster Collective, Evan Roth's "TSA Communication." A simple and fun idea, but one that will not speed up the security line.

Lastly, also on Wooster Collective, Banksy is in NY and his "Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill" is the most fun thing I've seen in a while. The baby Chicken McNuggets are the best.

Counterfeit Crochet Project Update

Check out Stephanie's segment on KQED's Spark here. My contribution is the brown Dolce & Gabbana.

no art required

One of my new fave designers is Sherwood Forlee. Well, he's not new, but certainly new to  me. Trained as an engineer with no formal art training (who really needs THAT), Forlee has designed everything from toilets to flipbooks to T-shirts. Really great stuff.

check it: 

http://www.skforlee.com/

New Photography Finds

I saw a documentary on Henri Cartier-Bresson recently, and it reinvigorated my love of photography. I've also been researching photographers for work lately, and have come across some really great and interesting work. Some of it is fine art and some commercial, but the line is blurry anyway. First up is Guido Mocafico, and one of his projects is photographing still lifes in the manner of old master painting. They're dark and lush, and this aesthetic carries over into his other series on serpents and jellyfish.

Next is Bela Borsodi who tends to blur the line between 2-D and 3-D. I like that none of his commercial work feels like I've seen it before. That can be rare these days.

Last is Jason Tozer. I find it refreshing in the Photoshop/digital age when something that looks complex to produce is formed by really simple means. I'm not saying easy, just simple.

Now, it was

another diversion from food/design. just curated a show in Lafayette, LA: Now, it was. It features work from Bina Altera, Courtney Egan, Susan McCann, and Rebecca Steele.

here's a gallery of the show:
Now, it was

An Art Snack

I'm back from Chicago, and here's just a little something to tide you over until I get more up. This was at the Art Institute, which is always awesome. The upper register shows priests and servants preparing food offerings, including birds and ribs of beef. The lower shows butchers at work. Their kilts are tucked into their waistbands to keep them clean. Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, c. 2524-2400 bc.

Fresh Art

Straight outta ATL. First up is Jefferson Hayman, whose Verso is above. Beautifully photographed, simple objects with a sense of history imbued. He makes his own frames and considers them part of the work.

Next is Allyson Ross. Her photographs are simple household scenes created in miniature, but presented large-scale. You have to study them a little to discover it's not real. I couldn't find a link to her or her photographs. So the link is to the Atlanta Photography Group show I saw. If anyone finds a link, please post it.

Lastly, we saw a show by Lorien Jordan of her prints at Young Blood Gallery. Called The Red Lantern, it's a study of the prostitues and brickwork of Amsterdam. See the work here.

video wall video wall (gehry too)

frank gehry designs a LOT O' Buildings... they sprout up like mushrooms. some work: Disney Concert hall some don't. way of the world.

Gehry also has a project on the Gulf Coast, the george ohr museum and campus.

Here in NYC Gehry has a couple of buildings, one monstrosity is the IAC building in Chelsea. I am definitely no expert when it comes to buildings and structures and design, but the IAC building feels very intrusive and forced. Like it hopes to be a spearhead for the look of the neighborhood in the future. admittedly, a lot of the NEW construction buildings in chelsea have that 21st century MOD/INTERNATIONAL style.grey, glass and some crazy angles.

IAC is an interactive conglomerate consisting of 60 brands (including ask.com,HSN, match.com) so it makes sense that they use gehry, who will definitely work for food ;-)

Anyway, the IAC building has lots of video walls, some are HUGE, they are set aside for ad space I suppose, but I'm thinking that they will be open to artists, designers programmers, etc. One cool example is Daniel Shiffman's RUN LOLA RUN LOLA.... check it out:

Rise Of The House Of Loaf

Please visit the new retail arm of Monkey: Mrs. Loaf!

Junkin'

The summer fever has broken and we took a trip down Hwy 49 South from Jackson. Starting at the Donut Shop and Cafe to fuel up on breakfast buffet. There was no room left for donuts. Stopped at Donna's #6 produce stand where we saw these pumpkins in beautiful colors and bought some Japanese persimmons. The main goal, however, was to do some junkin' at the Hwy 49 Flea Market. We ended up with a copy of a 19th century children's book called Chatterbox because it has some great illustrations that I'll have to post sometime. But I could hardly tear myself away from a huge stack of Interview magazines from the '80s.

While we're on the subject of strange things you find at the flea market, check out the photography of Geoffrey Ellis.

Small Bites #3

Mmmm, Dim Sum at Giant Robot.

Also, check out their Snack Aisle: Small works of art by five dozen artists at GRNY.

Jen Stark's mad x-acto skills. Really amazing.