Photos By Gail
This jug depicts President William McKinley dressed as Napoleon as a political satire of his policy shift towards American imperialism in the Philippines. Continue reading Yes, It Exists: President William McKinley as Napoleon
Tag Archives: ceramics
Eye On Design: Mid-century Modern Ikebana Vessels
Photos By Gail
In the practice of Ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arrangement, selecting a vessel is an important step in design and informs the meaning of the composition. In Ikebana there are also designated vessels for seasonal compositions with corresponding lighter and darker color palettes as well as design elements that help shape the artist’s choice of flowers and plants.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Mid-century Modern Ikebana Vessels
Pink Thing of The Day: Pink Ceramic Sugar Skull with Antlers
All Photos By Gail
This fun ceramic sugar skull wall trophy was created by the Mexico City-based Ceramica La Mejor; a high-end commercial ceramic production company that makes all kind of cool stuff. We visited their booth at ICFF and took a few photos of one of our favorite pieces for our Pink Thing of the Day!
Here he is again, hanging around with all of his colorful friends! Find out more about Ceramica La Mejor at This Link!
Top Ten Photos of Pumpkin Things That I Took in The Berkshires
All Photos By Gail
Over the Columbus Day weekend, I went up to the Berkshire Mountains area of Massachusetts and spent a few glorious days enjoying the gorgeous natural surroundings and taking assloads of photos of the just-starting-to-turn fall leaves. Gorgeous! And since we are just getting into fall, and also close to Halloween, I not only saw a lot of Pumpkins but also stuff decorated like Jack O Lanterns. For the purpose of this post, a Pumpkin and Jack O Lantern will be considered the same thing. Please enjoy my photos!
This is the backside of the really humongous pumpkin you see in the first photo. I saw this amazing colossal pumpkin at the Harvest Festival in the town where we were staying. I think you were supposed to guess its weight, but seriously, I think it weighed a ton. That’s about as specific as I could get.
These cheerful Jack O Lantern Planters were spotted out front of the Big Y Supermarket.
Jack O Lantern Balloons, how cheerful!
This is a candle holder that would look amazing in the dark with a burning tea light inside! Spooky!
Two Witch Pumpkins!
These are sort of Jack O Lantern/Pumpkin/Witches on Sticks! Because, Halloween!
Painted Pumpkins and their unpainted companions! Also, gourds!
This Jack O Lantern Lamp is just fantastic. Want!
Happy Fall and Happy Halloween Everybody!
Eduardo Sarabia’s Ballads at Other Criteria
All Photos By Gail
When we were invited to an art opening last week at Other Criteria, Damien Hirst’s high-end gift shop / gallery on Broome Street in Soho, the first thing I thought of was, why have I not been to Other Criteria during its entire first year of existence? Seriously, WTF have I been up to? I wish could tell you.
Other Criteria: Because You Like to Have Nice Things
Although one could spend a good amount of time browsing around and not touching every item displayed so seductively in the street level retail space, it turns out that Other Criteria has a basement gallery, and that’s where we found the provocative art of Mexican-American artist, Eduardo Sarabia. Let’s take a closer look.
Sarabia’s new exhibit is called Ballads and it consists of 3D paper dioramas inside wall-mounted glass vitrines, one large wall tapestry and several very large pieces of glazed pottery, all playing with themes related to Mexico’s dark underworld of drug trafficking and its related, widespread gang violence. Sex, drugs, guns and…parrots, yeah, it’s all there. Also there are some adorable little potted succulents included in the displays, which further enhance the feeling of authenticity. Because, Mexico!
This piece, which embraces the look and feel of traditional Mexican pottery, but with a little twist, is so great.
At the gallery, we ran into our friend, celebrity photographer and art expert Derek Storm, who is apparently friends with Sarabia, and he explained that the animals in these dioramas, whatever their Spanish name is, that is also a Mexican slang word for some kind of drug. So, imagine that Zebra, which is Cebra in Spanish, maybe that means Cocaine, or something. Or maybe he was joking around. Who knows, it’s a good story!
The tapestry seen in the background of the above photo, Amor Amor Amor is inspired by the “narcomantas,” which are crudely made coded messages hung on public areas in Mexico by gangs and drug cartels. Usually spray paint on a bed sheet type of thing. Sometimes the messages try to justify an event or even further explain an action of terror. Sometimes the cartels get blamed for something they didn’t do in the media and this is their platform to give their side of the story. Other times, they serve as simple warnings to rival gangs.
Emulating this style and aesthetic, Sarabia wanted to bring forward a positive message. Using the power of fascination with this phenomenon, the artist has been working with a tapestry studio to make these works. Each is made by hand and takes about 2 months to weave.
Eduardo Sarabia’s Ballads will be on Exhibit Through July 5th 2015 at Other Criteria, Located at 458 Broome Street, SoHo, New York, NY 10013. Hours are Monday – Saturday 11:00 AM -7:00 PM, and Sunday 12 Noon – 6:00 PM.
