All Photos By Gail
By the 20th century, wool suits and coats were indispensable, practical elements of fashionable daywear for women. Double-faced wool, used here by designer Mila Schön for her Blue Coat (1968) is woven almost as two separate textiles, joined by a set of interwoven yarns, creating a thick, structural, spongy fabric.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Mila Schön, Blue Double-Faced Wool Coat
Adult Contemporary Electronica: Yes, it Exists. This week’s Video Clip comes from Westerman, an artist who’s flown under my radar until the link to his latest single, “Outside Sublime,” arrived in my email box. Lucky me, lucky you!
With a penchant for creating songs that explore and interrogate the nature of personal connection, Westerman’s new visual is a soothing, ethereal look at the fantasy world one escapes to when opening up to another person. Aurally, “Outside Sublime” is not just easy listening, it’s completely effortless. This is the soothing break your mind needs after a long weekend spent holiday shopping and hanging out with your family, trust me.
Director Beatrix Blaise shared a creative insight on how the video for “Outside Sublime” came together: “When I first heard it, I instantly imagined glistening watery scenes, fireflies and some sense of harmonious escape. Out of that came a kind of visceral world, where each thing in it was trying to mirror a human softness and duality.”
“Outside Sublime” can be found on Westerman’s just-released Ark EP, out now on Blue Flowers. Enjoy!
Photos By Gail
Part of The New Allen project, this cheerful Blue Gecko by street artist DJ Neff (#djn3ff) snakes playfully down the front of 134 Allen Street, just below Delancey.
If you check him out from the east side of the street, he appears to be emerging from the mouth of a scary-looking cat, while a resting Avocado looks on!
All Photos By Gail
The dynamic, curvilinear design of the Current Chair (2004) by Vivian Beer seems to defy the strength and hardness of the steel from which it is made. Historically, few women have worked in metal other than to fashion jewelry, and fewer still have made metal furniture.
About her innovative design, Beer remarked, “I wanted this chair to seem as if it had been cut and crushed out of a single sheet of metal. At the same time, I wanted it to feel as fast and clean as water its silhouette . . .The balance and the trickery are important.” The chair’s title suggests that the artist’s choice of the color blue alludes to swiftly moving water.
Photographed in the Brooklyn Museum.
All Photos By Gail
The only real bummer about David Bowie Is, the Brooklyn Museum’s immersive and wildly fascinating career retrospective on the late, great rock superstar is the fact that photography is not allowed inside the galleries. Huge Bummer! Once you enter the exhibit, the rule makes sense, because crowding: but still. Continue reading Yes, It Exists: David Bowie Paper Dolls!