This stone, imbued with the naturally occurring image of a “Spirit Dancer” was found in a river in California and became part of the recent Viewing Stones exhibit at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, which I was fortunate to see over the Christmas Holidays. In the Suiseki tradition, ornamental stones shaped by nature are found in many forms which suggest familiar objects such as near of distant mountains, seascapes, figures of animals and other imaginative natural forms. Suiseki, also called Viewing Stones, is similar to the art of Bonsai, the art of growing miniature trees.
Tag Archives: exhibit
Recommended Viewing: David Bowie Is
It seems hilarious to think that I was six years old when David Bowie released his self-titled debut album, which would have been on June 1st of 1967. Coincidentally, and in an act of incredibly bad timing on Bowie’s part, that was the shared release date of another album you may have heard of: The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. What a way to ensure that your most heartfelt artistic efforts are completely and totally eclipsed by another act! Bad Timing! In hindsight, also hilarious.
Brooklyn Museum Presents Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe
If you are what some people refer to as a “Shoe Freak,” or even a fan of Art, Design and Fashion, you will want to hoof it over to the Brooklyn Museum to see Killer Heels, a fantastic exhibit of High Heeled Shoes that opened just yesterday. Geoffrey and I were lucky enough to attend the opening reception and party this past Saturday and we had all kinds of crazy fun.
Let’s relive the good times now, by enjoying some of my photos from the party and the exhibit.
To get people in the mood for shoes, Party-goers were able to get a temporary tattoos with one of two designs based on the shoes pictured below (which, obviously are part of the exhibit):
I got this one of a pair of Wedge Heels decorated with Flames! Fast!
Or you could choose a design based on these “Kinky Boots” fetish style Red Thigh High Boots!
They were also giving out the latest issue of W Magazine with Rihanna on the cover. She does nothing for me but people seem to like her for whatever mysterious reason.
Piper-Heidsieck was a sponsor for the party and their delicious Champagne flowed freely.
In addition to an open bar and passed hot Hors d’oeuvre, there were also some sweet treats.
Such as these Vanilla Cake Balls and also Milk Chocolate Miniature Gold Pumps.
Mmm…Little Chocolate Shoes.
Speaking of Sweet Treats, check out this rad cake made in the likeness of Salvatore Ferragamo’s very famous multi-colored suede platform sandal created for Judy Garland back in 1938! As far as I know, nobody even got to eat this cake, and that’s just a shame.
OK, let’s leave the party behind and go look at some Killer Heels. Here we go!
Killer Heels explores fashion’s most provocative accessory. From the high platform chopines of sixteenth-century Italy to the glamorous stilettos on today’s runways and red carpets, the exhibition looks at the high-heeled shoe’s rich and varied history and its enduring place in our popular imagination.
As fashion statement, fetish object, instrument of power, and outlet of artistic expression for both the designer and the wearer, throughout the ages the high-heeled shoe has gone through many shifts in style and symbolism.
Deadly sharp stilettos, architecturally inspired wedges and platforms, and a number of artfully crafted shoes that defy categorization are featured among the more than 160 historical and contemporary heels on loan from designers, from the renowned Brooklyn Museum costume collection housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and from the Bata Shoe Museum.

Close Up of Black Spiked Stiletto Boot from Above Display
Designers and design houses represented in Killer Heels include Manolo Blahnik, Chanel, Salvatore Ferragamo, Zaha Hadid X United Nude, Iris van Herpen X United Nude, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, André Perugia, Prada, Elsa Schiaparelli, Noritaka Tatehana, Vivienne Westwood and Pietro Yantorny.

Here’s That Ferragamo Platform Sandal Again. It is so Legendary.
Presented alongside the objects in the exhibition are six specially commissioned short films inspired by high heels. The filmmakers are Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh, Zach Gold, Steven Klein, Nick Knight, Marilyn Minter, and Rashaad Newsome.
“Everyone loves to wear shoes inspired by the Guggenheim Museum!” I heard someone say about this pair of silver space age shoes. Coincidentally, there was a lady at the event wearing these exact shoes!
If Ace Frehley had been a woman, surely he would have worn these boots as part of his Space Ace costume in Kiss.
There is just so much great art tied into the design of all of these shoes, it was easy to feel a bit overwhelmed by the flood of genius and beauty.
What a great show! I recommend you go see it as soon as possible!
Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe will be on Exhibit Through February 15, 2015 in the Robert E. Blum Gallery (1st Floor) at the Brooklyn Museum, Located at 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052. Take the 2 or 3 Trains Right to the Eastern Parkway Stop.
Matchbox Art By Mohamed Larbi Rahhali
These tiny collages, drawings and mixed-media works all represented on Match Boxes are part of the series called Omri (My Life) by Moroccan artist Mohamed Larbi Rahhali.
Omri is included in Here and Elsewhere, the comprehensive group exhibit currently inhabiting The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City.
Continue reading Matchbox Art By Mohamed Larbi Rahhali
Kara Walker’s Sugar Sphinx at the Domino Sugar Factory
The most popular art exhibit in the city right now is Kara Walker’s massive Sugar Sphinx: the crouching figure of an African America woman, completely covered in white, refined sugar, which was constructed over an eight week period in the cavernous interior of the now defunct Domino Sugar Factory building that faces the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Continue reading Kara Walker’s Sugar Sphinx at the Domino Sugar Factory































