Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Monday, December 19th, 2011
By Kiša Lala
Walton Ford photographed by Bobby Fisher © Bobby Fisher, 2011 -- Arabian proverb from beginning of King Kong: 'And the Prophet said, ‘And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead.'
A witty narrative of thwarted simian desire is the theme of Walton Ford’s new series of watercolor paintings at Paul Kasmin Gallery. Ford’s obsession with King Kong, the super-sized movie monster came from his childhood viewings of the 1933 cinematic tale of abduction depicting the clash of the beastly brute Kong and delicate, blonde sophisticate, famously played by Faye Wray.
The story is less Beauty and the Beast, more unrequited love akin to Nabokov’s Lolita in which Kong, the faux monster gorilla, is trapped by unnatural desire and vanity towards an act unacceptable to consummate.
In his other series, displayed like a comic strip narrative on the gallery walls, Ford returns to his earlier Audubon inspired style, depicting a scenario described in the naturalist’s journals about his pet parrot. I chatted to Ford about his new work and flipped through his past drawings in my old copy of Pancha Tantra, a collection inspired by the ancient Sanskrit book of animal fables, possibly the oldest on the planet.
Walton Ford wearing one of his collection of gorilla masks, photographed by Bobby Fisher for Spread © Bobby Fisher, 2011
I asked Ford about his inspiration behind the story of the dead parrot and masturbating monkey, and Ford explained that Audubon’s father was a ship’s Captain: “He used to bring exotic animals home to France,” recounted Ford, “Audubon himself was born out of wedlock: the Captain had a mistress in Haiti, and after Audubon was born from this mistress, the Captain brought the young boy home to his wife in France who raised Audubon.”
Read more of the interview with Walton Ford
Tags: Bobby Fisher, Earl of Rochester, Emma Hamilton, Faye Wray, gorillas, John James Audubon, King Kong, Kisa Lala, Lord Hamilton, Pancha Tantra, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Richard Burton, Walton Ford
Posted in Art, Books, Environment, Film, Interview, Photography | No Comments »
Monday, November 7th, 2011
Earthscraper, Mexico City. Designed by BNKR Arquitectura BNKR Arquitectura www.bunkerarquitectura.com © Copyright BNKR
“The Earthscraper is the Skyscraper’s antagonist,” said a spokesman from BNKR Arquitectura describing their latest venture in densely packed Mexico City. Their proposal is to drill downwards, inverting a skyscraper that would extend 65 stories under ground, circumventing restrictive local laws that prevent building skywards higher than 8 stories.
Bosco Verticale - Architectural Design: BOERISTUDIO (Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, Giovanni La Varra)
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Tags: bosco verticale, carbon, earthscraper, Energy, Environment, Lazarides, Mexico, Milan, trees, vertical forest
Posted in Architecture, Environment | No Comments »
Monday, September 26th, 2011
By Kiša Lala
© Pieter Hugo - Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery - Abdullahi Mohammed with Mainasara, Lagos, Nigeria, 2007 From the series The Hyena and Other Men Digital C-Print 68″ × 68″
© Pieter Hugo - Obechukwu Nwoye, Enugu, Nigeria, 2008 From the series Nollywood Digital C-Print 68″ × 68″, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery
My favourite cover of Joy Division’s She’s Lost Control by DJ Spoek Mathambo was shot by South African artist Pieter Hugo with what feels to me, a perfect parallel rendition of Ian Curtis’ epileptic dance moves.
Photographer Pieter Hugo’s lens couples the aesthetics of the bizarre and violent with an acceptance of the mundane. His large body of work depicts the tragic and abject lives in some of Africa’s major cities and rural townships while celebrating the wild styles and fetishes of the people.
SPOEK MATHAMBO – CONTROL from spoek mathambo on Vimeo.
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Tags: DJ Spoek Mathambo, Edward Burtynsky, Ian Curtis, Joy Division, Kisa Lala, Liberia, Pieter Hugo, Tim Hetherington
Posted in Art, Environment, Music, Photography | No Comments »
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
©Patrick Witty - here is new york - exhibition at School of Visual Arts
Ten years ago, on just another week like this, with New Yorkers speeding to their next meetings, racing for subways with coffee in hand, and models primping for Fall Fashion week – a morning like any other suddenly unraveled. The following moments would gnaw at collective memories, punctuate lives, and instigate a series of devastating world events. It was a tragic start to the new century and an ominous beginning for the new millennium. It was America’s passage from puberty. Some still recollect their movements in dreamlike sequence, whether it was the moment of becoming first aware, escaping the avalanche of dust, peering from rooftops at the collapsing towers, or just smelling the acrid vapours alone in one’s room…
As seen from the world trade center in 2000- Horizonte Perdido, 2000 ©Roberto Linsker, Courtesy of 1500 Gallery, NYC
Tags: 1500 gallery, Christian Sievers, Elena del Rivero, New Museum, new york, new york fashion, New York Historical Society, Photographs, School of Visual Arts, september 11, Tim Barber, World Trade Center, wtc
Posted in Architecture, Art, Environment, Photography | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Batman inspired Thierry Mugler boat - The Thierry Mugler Spire Speedboat
Speed-freaks and fashionistas will dig the Batman boat by runway designer Thierry Mugler modeled by Spire Boat Builder, set to debut in September this year in the 2011 Monaco Yacht show. The boat is a blend of nostalgic 50s era chrome and tailfin-inspired car aesthetic with the comic book style of Bat mobiles. But designing for a floating lifestyle maybe a new trend.
Aquariva by Marc Newson
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Tags: Aquariva by Marc Newson, Dakis Joannou, Dennis Ingemansson, Gagosian, Italian, Jeff Koons, Monaco, Roy Lichtenstein, speed boat, speedboat, Thierry Mugler, Yacht
Posted in Architecture, Art, Environment, Sculpture | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
By Aaron Barr
'Braindrop' - Photo by Marc Whalen
At the Escape to New York festival in Southampton earlier this month, I found myself sitting inside a 17-foot tall sculpture called Braindrop alongside it’s creator, Kate Raudenbush, and a mix of good friends and strangers. With eloquence and charm, Kate explained her inspiration for the artwork and how to best experience it – from the inside, lying on one’s back, looking up into the vortex – which reveals a surprisingly breathtaking, kaleidoscope effect.
Kate Raudenbush is a New York City-based sculpture artist who uses symbolism for social commentary and self-reflection. Integral to her work is the public’s participation, so it was nothing short of kismet that we found ourselves, friends and strangers alike, conversing and sharing, while inside a huge steel drop of water.
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Tags: Art, Burning Man, Escape to New York, Escape2NY, experience, experiential, festival, installation, Kate Raudenbush, Music, new york, Sculpture, Southampton
Posted in Architecture, Art, Design, Environment, Sculpture | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
Steel, aluminum, plaster, resin, stroboscope, 70 1/2 x 78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in. (179 x 200 x 200 cm) Courtesy Merderme © Mat Collishaw - photo:Copyright All rights reserved by artimageslibrary
The Otherworldly exhibition at Museum of Arts and Design showcases artists who have built alternative realities using handmade worlds without using cyber generated effects.
Seen here is Mat Collishaw’s work which is a kind of zoetrope that when spun, gives the impression of continuous motion.
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Tags: Kim Keever, MAD Musuem, Mat Collishaw, Museum of Arts and Design, new york, Patrick Jacobs
Posted in Art, Environment, Photography, Sculpture | No Comments »
Friday, August 19th, 2011
By Kiša Lala
Kahn & Selesnick, King of the Birds, 2007, Archival pigment print, 54 x 54 inches, Edition of 10 © Kahn & Selesnick, Courtesy of the Artist and the Yancey Richardson Gallery
As featherless bipeds we’ve been haunted by avian myths and envied creatures of flight, but birds are now sadly neglected and bypassed in the age of jet travel, their status further diminished by their urban cousins, the flying vermin of city parks, along with their skinned and headless counterparts that come saran-wrapped in supermarkets, their flightless bodies fully-grounded.
Beautiful Vagabonds, a summer group show at Yancey Richardson explores through photography, sound and video, more fanciful visions of these winged gypsies.
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Tags: Alex Prager, Esko Mannikko, Kahn & Selesnick, Kisa Lala, Masao Yamamoto, new york, Richard Barnes, Sanna Kannisto, Terry Evans, Yancey Richardson
Posted in Art, Environment, Photography | No Comments »
Friday, August 12th, 2011
By Kiša Lala
Gypsy woman showing her golden smile - Romania - © Photo Kisa Lala 2011
Living on the edges of townships in the grey zones between cities, the Gypsies of Central Europe stay off the grid. Myths, rumours, lies cloud their histories for they leave few traces and heed no rules, instead, they live off the land, and sometimes they beg, thieve and steal.
Count Kalnoky tells me, that at his residence, in the village of Miklosvar in Romania, where I was staying as a guest, he was indeed wireless: the gypsies had cut the cables to fence the copper for their lawless trade.
The roving life seems romantic, but it’s not for the timid. To winter in open fields, to bed in barns, wagons, trailers means Gypsies are strong in their will to be free. They barter for work and stow their riches in silver and gold, knowing it can’t burn like paper, or vanish when people stop believing in its value. Gypsies are always on the move but when they halt, they build silvery houses, knowing if all else fails, they can just melt the metals and leave.
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Tags: Gypsy, Iain McKell, Kisa Lala, Miklosvar, Patrick Cariou, Photography, Romania, Romanies
Posted in Architecture, Art, Books, Environment, Fashion, Photography | No Comments »
