October 25, 2012

El Anatsui

I am obsessed. Years ago, I saw an image of this wall of wonder in a magazine and promptly tore it out and put it front and center on my wall of inspiration:

Of course, I lost the article with all of the info on who divined this rippling, metallic cloth. A few years down the line, when I was asked to do a space for the Skid Row Housing Trust’s latest building, I thought back to this image and decided to make a curtain in a similar style, with the help of my fellow M. Design-ers, Kate and Amy. My mistakes were multiple but the top two were 1) my unfettered optimism that this would be easy and 2) not understanding how the original was fabricated. I thought it was constructed of flattened bottle caps but alas, I was wrong. The ensuing three days of pounding hundreds of bottle caps flat, drilling tiny holes in them and attaching them with jewelers rings has gone down in M. Design history as one of the worst ideas I have ever had. Oh well… Read the rest of this post »
June 22, 2011

The Met (Part Deux)

So I stumble out of the Alexander McQueen show in a daze, my mind full of feathers and strange headgear and perfect draping and total creativity and I end up lost. Lost in the Met. Maybe the best place in the world to get lost. As I was trying to get my bearings, I landed upon a wing I have never seen – didn’t even know existed, actually. As luck would have it, it was their 20th century collection and I was floored. Here I thought I needed to go to the MOMA or the Whitney to get my fix but voila, like a mirage, this incredible collection presented itself as a secret treat. The front room had two pieces that lured me in. The first was this enormous wall hanging by by the African sculptor, El Anatsui called Dusasa II made from thousands of aluminum caps and seals from liquor bottles. Dusasa means a “communal patchwork made by a team of townspeople”:

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June 21, 2011

The Met (Part One)

I went full tourist this last visit to New York City and it was great. I decided to throw off my shame and just take hundreds of pictures and look up and gape nakedly at the marvelous buildings. For once, I wasn’t in a desperate rush to get from point A to point B and I really was able to savor how majestic the city can be. And nowhere in NYC is more majestic than the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I mean, really. I went to see the Alexander McQueen show, “Savage Beauty” which was extremely cool despite the throngs of people shoving into the small space. My tips to you would be to get the headphones (both to block out all of the chatter and to get the inside skinny on “Lee” from his pals like Philip Treacy). Even better, I just found out they are opening the exhibit on Mondays for a premium of $50 a ticket. I know that is steep but it would be well worth it to get to see the exhibition unmolested. To check out this option, go to the Met’s website.

One of the coolest parts of the show were the videos of his runway shows, which were really each pieces of conceptual art. My favorite was definitely this one with Shalom Harlow. She tells a very cool story about her experience on the audio tour.

I left the show with my head buzzing and as I was wandering back down and towards the exit, I found myself in the Hellenistic gallery. Maybe it was the sunlight pouring into the recently redone atrium or maybe it was all the nudes or maybe it was just some damn good sculpture. Whatever the case, I was entranced:

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