Video Clip of The Week: Randy Jones, “Hard Times” ( Studio 54 Mix)

Sep24


As the past is reinvented to serve present needs, ’70s guitar Rock meets Disco’s irresistible call to shake your booty in this week’s Video Clip: “Hard Times” from Randy Jones — best known as the Cowboy from the legendary Village People. With a beat borrowed from Bruno Mars‘ global hit, “Uptown Funk,” this track about beating the blues is lyrically uplifting at a time when we could all use a little encouragement, and harnessed by a rhythm that is virally contagious. Directed by Mikhail Torich, the accompanying visuals are heavy on the glam, delivering sassy back up singers, buff disco boys, mirror balls and everything you need for an immersive club experience. No parking on the dance floor.

The title track from Randy’s brand new album, “Hard Times” is presented here in its super-groovy Studio 54 Mix (courtesy of Mark Saunders). Hard Times is available wherever fine music is procured. Enjoy!

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Favorite Pink Artworks From the Affordable Art Fair, Fall 2017!

Sep22

AAF Front Doors
All Photos By Gail

Whether you’re an experienced art collector, a new investor looking for pieces with a personal resonance to enliven your home decor, or an art fan just looking for ideas, the Affordable Art Fair, which makes a biannual stop in Manhattan, is a must-attend event. Art Galleries come from around the globe to offer something for every taste beyond what you can find in the NYC galleries.

AAF NY Fall 2017

The AAFNY made its Fall stop at the Metropolitan Pavilion event space from September 14th through the 17th, but we made the scene for the Press Preview on Wednesday and hit each both in the search of the best Pink Art (which includes art in  varying shades of pink, and art with pink as a secondary color), which is how we break it down. Enjoy!

Art By Devra Freelander

The Recent Graduate Exhibition, displayed in the exterior and entry lobbies of the Metropolitan Pavilion, is a dedicated platform that supports emerging artists and curators within the contemporary art community. This fall, AAFNY featured two artists, one being New York-based sculptor Devra Freelander’s minimalist works like the one you see above.

Soft Sculpture Gun

Also chosen for this honor was Natalie Baxter, whose contribution, a series called Warm Gun, consisted of a  colorful array of soft gun and firearm sculptures, each with a unique patchwork fabric construction. Topical!

I Love Plastic
Brett Goldstar’s I Love Plastic at Tag Fine Arts of London

An Art Fair wouldn’t be complete with the world’s most overly-licensed image of the late Marilyn Monroe showing up in multiple incarnations. We love this one though for its subtle incorporation of pop culture icons as part of the mosaic matrix that makes up her face. Take a look below.

Pink Pop Culture Icons 1

Fun! Here’s another section.

Pink Pop Culture Icons 2

You could make game of trying to be the one who can accurately identify the most faces! Even better: make it a Drinking Game!

Rock n Roll Tribute
Rock ‘n’ Roll Tribute By Josefina Wendel Carlsson at Agora Gallery, NYC

Always

Hanna Moore, Always, at Lustre Contemporary, a Virtual Gallery which specializes in work by Canadian Artists.

Wyoming Moon
Steve Harris, Wyoming Moon at Paint Box Gallery, New York City

Cosmogonia Rosa

Cosmogonia Rosa By Isabelita Valdecasas at Soraya Cartategui, Spain

Brickbrick

Brickbrick By Chang-Hwan Park at Ginuine Global Company, Seoul, South Korea

Art from Studio Paradise

Unidentified Art from Studio Paradise, Dubai, UAE

Lac Rose By Fei Alexeli at Retrospect Galleries

Lac Rose By Fei Alexeli at Retrospect Galleries, Australia

In-Gong Cosmic Dust 2 at Ginuine Global Company

In-Gong, Cosmic Dust 2, at Ginuine Global Company

Morning 7

Morning 7 by Unknown Artist at Ginuine Global Company

Scented Garden Suite

Madeleine Lamon0t, Scented Garden Suite, at Lamont Stewart Art Projects of Toronto

Coeur De Soldat Pollock (Heart Of Soldier Pollock ) by Stéphane Gautier (Galerie Barrou Planquart, Partis) is made up of thousands of tiny Pink Army Men.

Detail from Coeur De Soldat Pollock
Coeur De Soldat Pollock, Detail

Happy Mind Happy Life

Continuing with Gautier‘s use of miniatures as a signature motif, the artist also likes to work with plastic Gummy Bear replicas adhered to his canvases, as seen in the above work, Happy Mind Happy Life.

Vanilla Candy Cup Cone

Anna Barlow’s Vanilla Candy Cup Cone at London-based Kahn Gallery

And that’s a wrap for this year! See you again the Spring of 2018 for more Affordable Pink Art!

 

The Beatles Pop Up Greeting Cards!

Sep21

Sgt Pepper
Image Source

It’s been 50 years since The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album widely considered to be among the best rock albums of all time, and aside from a very cool documentary about the making of Sgt Pepper (which was released on Septembers 8th) some cool collectible memorabilia is also making its way to the market. In honor of this exciting anniversary, 3D design company Lovepop have released The Beatles Sgt. Pepper 3D Card! This gorgeous design was created in partnership with The Beatles and is one of three officially licensed designs that include a fabulous 3D rendering of the Yellow Submarine, and the iconic scene of The Beatles crossing Abbey Road.

Yellow Submarine

I suspect you may feel the need to own these. The Beatles‘ cards sell for $15 each or $40 for a pack of all three designs, and can be purchased at This Link!

Abbey Road

Eye On Design: Grecian Sofa Circa 1820

Sep20

Grecian Sofa
All Photos By Gail

This Grecian Sofa (New York Circa 1820 – 25) exhibits a highly sophisticate blend of line, detailed carving and subtle color.

Sofa Arm Detail

The carved vert antique legs in the shape of dolphins are found on others sofas of the period and relate to maritime talismans. Traditionally, in Greek myth, dolphins aided shipwrecked sailors.

Sofa Installation View

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Frida The Fortune Teller By Susan Elliott

Sep19

Frida The Fortune Teller
Photos By Gail

This fantastic, ceramic mosaic portrait of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, entitled Frida The Fortune Teller, was created by Hastings, UK-based artist Susan Elliott.  Intricately composed from found ceramics mounted on board, the work combines still life and classic portraiture with the timeless art of mosaic-making to create a stunning modern  sculpture. Elliott’s  practice includes other works made from found and recycled ceramic kitchen crockery, tourist mementos, novelty mugs, and badges, which are then are woven into more traditional mosaic tesserae (one of the small pieces used in mosaic work), creating multi faceted, jewel-like and iconic images. Priced at just $3900, Frida The Fortune Teller is one of my favorite pieces seen at this fall’s installment of the Affordable Art Fair NY, where this photo was taken this past weekend.

Ceramic Flower Crown

I even felt a bit nostalgic looking at Frida’s gorgeous flower crown of delicate pink, white and yellow ceramic roses and recognizing them as being quite similar to a small ceramic floral bouquet found in the home where I grew up.  If you missed Susan’s beautiful and unique art at the AAFNY,  you can see more of her cool mosaic portraits, including those of pop culture icons like David Bowie and Amy Winehouse, and get contact information for galleries in the UK that represent her, at This Link!

Modern Art Monday Presents: Raphael Soyer, Office Girls

Sep18

Office Girls
Photo By Gail

As an astute observer of Depression-era New York, Raphael Soyer (1899 – 1987) evoked the inner lives on anonymous city dwellers. His paintings frequently depict the new generation of female workers that he encountered in his Union Square neighborhood. Leaving the home for secretarial and clerical jobs, these woman depicted in Office Girls (1936) achieved an independence that was unprecedented for women of the period, even while unemployment remained high among men. While his artist colleagues usually portrayed these young women in optimistic terms, Soyer’s composition strikes a more ambivalent tone. Squeezed between a throng of rushing female workers and a glowering man, the central woman looks out at the viewer with a gaze that is at once weary and unflinching.

Photographed in the Whitney Museum on NYC.

Video Clip of The Week: Saint Etienne, “Dive”

Sep17

Hey whats up. You may have noticed (or not) that the Video Clip of The Week took a break last Sunday because I was at sea on a leisurely cruise vacation to ports in Canada and New England. I’m back now, and have admittedly been feeling wistful about the end of summer and the return to the soul-sucking day job. Coincidentally, what I love about this clip from ’90s alternative rock darlings Saint Etienne is how much it reminds me of a travel film for the exact type of holiday I just enjoyed. Because, Lighthouses.

Speaking of the inspiration behind the video, director Esther Johnson said:

“Dive” is such a summery song, and when I first heard it I was reminded of days at the seaside, with fish & chips and milkshakes. I chose to shoot the video in Scarborough, because many of the locations and features I loved there as a child are still intact: the ice-cream parlours, the funicular railway, the (now derelict) Futurist theatre, the signs. These features also link with another of my loves as a filmmaker: French New Wave cinema of the late 1950s and 1960s. The song’s immediacy and in-the-moment-ness suggested that the video’s story should take place in a single day. The boy visits the girl from across the sea; they spend the day together; they part. The various recurring motifs were inspired partly by my own memories, partly by the New Wave, and partly by the history and iconography of Saint Etienne.”

“Dive” can be found on the band’s most recent album, Home Counties, which came out on Heavenly Recordings in June of this year. Enjoy!

Saint Etienne Dive Cover Artjpg