Ads Imitate Art: American Apparel and Balthus

Thérèse Dreaming, 1938 (right)

American Apparel advertising and the paintings of Balthus. Need I say more?

"Balthus: Cats and Girls: Paintings and Provocations" is at the Metropolitan Museum through January 12, 2014. The painter of pubescent girls and self-proclaimed "King of Cats" once remarked that "The idea I am trying to get across has to do with religion, not at all with eroticism."

American Apparel ads, many of which have been banned in Britain, can be seen on bus shelters, billboards, magazines and in the archive on their website.

Which do you find more disturbing?

Thérèse on a Bench Seat, 1939 (top)

The Room, 1952-54 (top)

Getting Up, 1955 (bottom)

The Golden Fruit,  ca. 1959 (left)

Girl on a Bed, c. 1950 (bottom)

Nude in Front of a Mantel, 1955 (left)

The White Skirt, 1937 (top)

Nude With a Cat, 1949 (top)

Alice, 1933 (left)

The Toilet, 1957 (top)

Detail of The Living Room, 1941-43 (right)

Guitar Lesson, 1934 (top)

11/27/13 NOTE: One photo that was not an actual American Apparel ad has been removed.

Jottings

Paper Source opened in the neighborhood about a year and a half ago. I stopped in shortly after it opened, but I can't say that I've been back again more than once or twice. I think it has something to do with the lighting. It's not Staples-flourescent, but somehow, the brightness is oppressive.

They use the paper stock from their custom stationery for trying out pens. They didn't mind my taking photos, but I have a feeling that they thought it was odd.

Calder for Body and Soul

It was a night of dazzling jewels, with nary a precious stone in sight. Salon 94 is exhibiting 40 pieces of Alexander Calder’s crimped, coiled, hammered, and highly coveted creations of body adornment in “Show and Tell: Calder Jewelry and Mobiles.”

While the sculptor’s work is famously kinetic, the opening celebration had these masterpieces of craftsmanship and engineering bouncing around the room. It took quite a few dedicated pairs of watchful eyes to keep track, as pieces made their way around assorted necks, heads, ears, and wrists. When they were not being tried on and photographed, the pieces were displayed on the original faces and heads made by Calder for a 1940 show of the work. Additional “display” sculptures were created for the occasion by a number of contemporary artists invited by the gallery.

The exhibit, which is presented in collaboration with the Calder Foundation, remains on view through December 20th.

Family members, of course, were wearing amazing pieces of their own.

Andre J. looked fabulous next to one of the unwearable mobiles.

Dangling earrings taken to a a new level. You cannot truly understand a Calder mobile until you wear one. What a total thrill!

402, and Counting ...

I seem to have blown right past my 400th post without noticing!

Here’s a reminder that Daylight Savings Time is over. If you have any non-automatically resetting clocks, be sure to set them back an hour.

I found this series of vintage “Clock Brand” matchbox labels on eBay (of course) a while ago. I only just now realized, that the labels, which depict quarter-hour intervals, only span from 12:00 to 11:00. So technically, this would be more appropriate for spring, when we lose and hour. Feel free to save it for then. I like this image way too much to wait six whole months to run it.

Gwen Murphy's "Foot Fetish" Faces

The Governess

I recently encountered Gwen Murphy’s “Foot Fetish” sculptures in Brattleboro, Vermont at Gallery in the Woods. Definitely a cut above the usual craft-gallery fare. I wonder if she gets to deduct shoes as a business expense?

Toe Shoes

Indru and Jojo

Red Devils

Big Mouth Twins

She's Not There

Blue Elders

The Photo-Fixated Fashion of Mary Katrantzou

Spring 2014

While digitally photo-printed fabric is fairly standard by now, London-based designer, Mary Katrantzou really does take it up a notch. In fact, because she designs not just the textiles, but the clothing they are made into, she’s been managing to make it new, season after season since Fall 2009.
Katrantzou finds inspiration in everything from men’s brogues to interior design photography. I'm thinking that the aesthetic might simply be called “Photoshop,” where there are no limits to possibilities of image manipulation. Details like the decorative scrollwork on banknotes or the perforations on a wingtip shoe are enlarged to colossal proportions, and the "scale tool" pours her models into gigantic perfume bottles. Nothing, be it a formal garden, a No. 2 pencil, or a skyscraper is safe from being sliced, chopped, duplicated, mirrored, and illogically reconfigured. Then, on top of the dazzling (and sometimes dizzying) print effects, the fabric is engineered into garments, with architectural precision."It's hellishly difficult to put a placement print on a bias-cut dress," said the designer when she started working with softer silhouettes.

You can see all of her collections at Style.com, where these photos are from. It seems that each season's review expresses some version of wonder as to how Katrantzou has succeeded, yet again, in causing jaws to drop.

Spring 2014

Fall 2009

Fall 2013

Fall 2012

Spring 2013

Spring 2011