This is authentic |

Monday, Monday– or more links about keeping it together

Eddie Murphy in the 1999 film Bowfinger.

In the late 90′s film Bowfinger, Eddie Murphy plays a celebrity who is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. His one hope is to repeat the mantra K.I.T. Keep it together. Over and over again. In the desperate hopes that he doesn’t do something rash. I’m not worried about doing anything rash, but there are days, and today is one of them, when I find myself muttering the letters K.I.T. over and over again under my breath.

The Atlantic has done a nice piece on Philip Seymour Hoffman, if you are looking for something to read beyond the NY Post headlines.

Perhaps instead of thinking about sad stuff, we should all consider painting our floors.

Or maybe go shopping for ridiculous movie props on eBay?

We so often describe less-than-optimal moments of our lives as “a nightmare” but what are nightmares actually made of, anyway?

I saw this link about the search for absolute silence on a cup of Jo and I had to click on it.

And at the end of the day, I suppose the most important things is just to remember that it’s alright to cry.

You will be sorely missed

people

I photographed my friend Philip Seymour Hoffman during happier times in my Brooklyn studio a good 12+ years ago…

Philip Seymour Hoffman 1967 – 2014

May you finally find the peace you were always chasing…

Happy Groundhog Day!

misc

I was looking for a copy of the original movie poster or something, but I found this gif by Chris Piascik instead. Not vintage, but awesome, regardless.

Groundhog day always reminds me of 2 things. First, the seminal 1993 comedy starring Bill Murray in which a man is forced to live one day of his life over and over again till he gets it right. The other is the fact that it is my wedding anniversary– 11 years today. 11 years and still standing strong. A moment of silence please.

Thing is, they kind of go together in a way. Because in a marriage, at least in ours, I feel like each day is an opportunity to start over again. To remember why it was that we decided, against all odds, to promise to stay together in front of all of those people. To figure out little ways to be more understanding, more generous, to make each other laugh, to actually hang our coats up where they belong when we come home at night… I am looking forward to an endless stream of these do-over opportunities, because the more we practice at anything, including relationships, the better we get.

Also there’s the part about choosing the right person in the first place, but that doesn’t fit in with the theme of this post, so I’ll just leave it as a sidebar, despite it’s potentially being the crucial and most central issue when it comes to being married.

But on an entirely different note, I give you this hilarious video mash-up of Louis CK on both marriage and divorce. He clearly has a different opinion about these things than I do. But that didn’t stop me from laughing my a** off when I saw this.

Mike Kelley’s last weekend in Queens

art

These are two pieces (a video and a sculpture) from a series the late artist Mike Kelley made about Superman and Kandor, his birthplace that was miniaturized and kept on life support by the evil Lex Luthor

Ok first off, a word of advice. Don’t wait till the last weekend to see a wildly popular art exhibit. It makes the whole experience slightly annoying and fraught with waiting in lines, from the coat check, to some of the galleries, to the cafe.

That said, if you haven’t yet seen the Mike Kelley retrospective at MOMA’s PS1 (which closes after this weekend), you should by all means ignore my advice and go check it out. And bring your kids, too. This is the kind of work that speaks to all ages.

What kid won’t be into giant hanging balls of fused stuffed animals?

Generally considered one of the most influential artists of our time, Kelley’s work spans many media, and is at times funny, sarcastic, sad, meditative, playful, jarring and beautiful. There is work about Superman, Plato, and serial killers, meticulously constructed architectural models of every school Kelley attended, giant floating balls made of color coordinated stuffed animals, and films of a painted satyr frolicking through a psychedelic wood. ANd that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Kelley was a busy man.

This piece is called Pay For Your Pleasure. There’s a donation box outside, a long hall lined with portraits of various luminaries commenting on the close relationship between creativity and being an outlaw, and, at the end, a painting by convicted murderer Arthur Shawcross, known as the Genesee River Killer, who murdered 14 people in his lifetime.

The work takes over the entire building, which is itself a bit of a labyrinth, and each new gallery or hallway or open space is a distinct experience. A person could easily spend all day wandering around and not even take in the half of what is on hand to view. But even just a sip of this strange and beautiful brew is well worth the subway ride to Long Island City.

More work about Superman’s hometown of Kandor

A crazy patchwork of found items, with ears of dried corn on the borders, of course.

I am not a critic, so I won’t try to get all technical with anybody here. But I can say that this is the largest exhibition of Kelley’s work to date, and that the people who have ordained Kelley a high priest of the contemporary art scene have good reason to keep him in that pedestal.

A tribute to John Glenn, complete with tons of broken cups and saucers.

Try to get over there to see the show this weekend, if you haven’t already. They’ve even extended the Saturday hours till 9 pm. And then have lunch or a snack at M.Wells Dinette, the eaterie that serves as the museum cafe. A bit overpriced, perhaps, but really delicious nonetheless. They charge 3 bucks for bread and “salted” butter, which drives me crazy, but that’s another post for another time.

Mike Kelley at PS1
Through Sunday, Feb. 2, 12 to 6 pm.
Extended hours on Saturday, Feb 1, till 9 pm.
22-25 Jackson Ave., LIC
$10 suggested donation

PS: Now that this show is closed, you can get some nice Mike Kelley quality time online at Artsy.net, which has a whole Kelley online universe, complete with links to various works, articles and other exhibits. Well worth checking out.

The secret life of a whisperer

art - people

Judith Puckett-Rinella on the phone in her Long Island City studio.

Ok so this is not really about the secret life of anybody, but I liked the sound of that phrase for the title. I also think it goes really well with the photo, which is one of my favorites from a recent shoot I did with the inimitable Judith Puckett-Rinella for the People section of Jill Platner’s website.

This is one of my favorite photo gigs, because I always get to hang out with singular and inspirational people, ask them lots of questions and snoop around their spaces a bit. What’s not to love about that?

In this case, I had the privilege of photographing Judith Puckett-Rinella (a former photo editor at Vanity Fair and T magazines) at the HQ of her new venture, Whisper Editions, a collection of limited edition original works resulting from collaboration with an exclusive group of artists and designers. It was part office, part photo studio, part design workshop, with huge windows covering an entire wall. An ideal space to create. I totally wanted to move in.

Each week, a new edition is released into the world. The current offering, just out today, is a decoupaged mirror by Joseph Heidecker. It’s released in an edition of one as part of their new Original Fridays series, so run don’t walk as I’m sure it’ll go fast! If the edition doesn’t sell out during the first week, the remainder of the work moves into the “vault” where we mortals who might not be quite so quick on the draw can check it out and make our purchases in a more leisurely fashion.

The work is always incredible, ranges from fine art photography, to jewelry, to tinctures and tea and ranges in price from the ‘whoa-ok-that’s-beautiful-maybe-in-a-future-life’ to the ‘wait-I-can’t-believe-that’s-all-it-costs’. There’s something for everyone.

So go check it out. And maybe get something for that special valentine you’ve been wanting to pamper. (yep, it’s that time already…) Or for yourself, for that matter. And then, if you’re in NY, go outside and enjoy the balmy 30 degree day we’ve been blessed with after such an insanely long deep freeze. It almost feels like springtime out there.

Judith Puckett-RInella, hair tied back, ready to go to work in her studio. Smiling because she’s doing exactly what she wants to be doing. May she be an example to us all.

F.lux will save your life

tech

The f.lux version (on the left) of your phone looks warmer and easier on the eyes by night, while by day it’s back to normal. Photo courtesy brit.co

Or at least, it’ll improve the quality of your sleep, which will in turn make you happier and more productive, which is basically the same thing as saving your life.

They say (and if you clicked on the links above or have been paying attention to this topic recently you know already) that spending time in front of a screen at night before bed is a surefire way to mess up the quality of your night’s rest. And if you’re anything like me, and have trouble fitting in 7 – 8 hours a night, Every. Second. Counts.

Well it turns out that a large part of what messes with your brain waves is the spectrum of the artificial light emanating from your iPad, or laptop, or smartphone. The light coming out of our screens is designed to look like the sun, which is fine during the day, but really confuses the hell out of our animal brains at night. By just looking at something a bit less blue, we can reduce the stimulating effect of the lights, thus helping to slow our brains down in preparation for a quality night’s rest.

Here’s where f.lux comes in. You tell it where you live, and it automatically adjusts the color temperature of your screen to match the time of day. At 9:30 am, it’s a blue skies and business as usual. But after sunset, the hue slides over towards a warmer tone. The first time this happened on my screen, I could actually feel the muscles of my eyes relax. It was insane. In a instant-gratification-I-totally-did-the-right-thing-yay-me kind of way.

I do not like telling apps anything about me. I erase cookies form my computer. I do not partake in any autofill options. I don’t even let my own browser remember my passwords. But I happily hand over my geodata to f.lux because it’s that good. If you have any questions, they serve up all sorts of links to research on sleep and screens to help prove their point.

You can use the default settings, or adjust the colors to fit more seamlessly into your own surroundings. And if the change feels too drastic (I like the sudden drop and subsequent eye muscle relaxation, but that’s just me) you can also fiddle with the speed of the change.

And did I mention, it’s free? So there is absolutely no reason why you don’t download this right away and begin taking better care of yourself. Because lets face it, there is little chance of us completely shutting off our screens for hours before we go to bed. But we can tweak the experience a bit and sleep better as a result.

Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Monday, Monday – or more links about technology and other alleged brain helpers

links - tech

The WITCH computer read programs that were punched into strips of tape in the 1950′s.

According to a Brittish study, it turns out that e mail hurts your IQ more that pot. Why am I not surprised?

And of course you all know by this time that screen time for kids under 2 is not super helpful for their brain development. SO throw out the Baby Einstein videos now, if you haven’t already…

Is this what keeping a journal has come to?

It’s a bird… it’s a plane… No.. it’s supercalender. Never miss an appointment again.“supercalendar” target=”_blank”>

Ok this one is potentially good for hours of fun looking for random things online. It’s a search engine, devoted to hastags…

One day I should do a whole links post just about the weather. In the meantime, here’s a beautiful new weather app to check out.

It is a sad sad day if stirring up memories has come to this.

Who needs school?

art

Some hand painted hairdressing signs from Ghana and small paintings of birds at The Pardee Collection’s pop up gallery show in Chelsea.

Outsider art can bring all sorts of things to mind (a guy painting alone in a field, a lonely kid drawing comics in her room) but in actuality, it just means that the artist has had no formal training. Once dismissed as “craft” or “primitive” and relegated to small shows in folk art museums, the category is finally getting it’s due and the artists who have been drawing, painting, making and building their hearts out are finally finding a bit of a market in this crazy place we call the art world.

I’ve always been a big fan of this type of work, thanks to my parents who are long time collectors, and have the very beginnings of my own collection starting to take up some space around here.

I get notices of shows from time to time and today, for some crazy reason, I decided to actually trek through the snow to Chelsea to check out a pop-up show of an Iowa City based gallery called the Pardee Collection. Run by Sherry Pardee (who is also a photographer) this collection of vernacular work by both American and African artists is a labor of love, the result of thousands of miles driven, doors knocked on and unknown places explored. Pardee has wonderful taste, and each one of her artists brings something different, but no less significant to the table.

I could go on and on, but suffice to say that if you are going to be in Chelsea this weekend, walk up to 29th street and check out this show. At the very least, go look at the gallery website and mark your calenders for the Outsider Art Fair, coming to NYC in May. The work is spirited and subtle and beautiful. And relatively affordable, which is really appealing to fellow artists like me, who may not have thousands to spend on art, but love to surround ourselves with inspirational work:

The brightly colored animal paintings of Emitte Hych.

The subtly colored graphic work of “Uncle Pete” Drgac. (Except the piece on the top right, which is by Jim Work)

The breathtakingly meticulous architectural drawings of Jim Work.

Go check this show out if you are in the hood this weekend. You won’t be sorry. Details are below.

Pardee Collection popup gallery showing
RePopRoom
527 W 29th Street (bet 10 & 11 Aves)
Second Floor

Saturday (1/25) 11-6
Sunday (1/26) 11-5

And if you want to learn more about Outsider art without leaving the confines of your living room, check out this great BBC documentary:

Turning The Art World Inside Out from Jack Cocker on Vimeo.

Painting with vinegar on baking soda

kids

Three kids, mesmerized, sitting happily around a table, creating magic with the simplest stuff. Without stopping. For over 40 minutes. I kid you not.

What do you do when you want to hang out with your adult friends who are spending the weekend, but the kids just want you to play monster and chase them all around the house for hours on end? You bust out a cookie sheet (perfect use for the one that my husband has ruined by blackening a few too many vegetables on it’s gentle surface) a lot of baking soda, some white vinegar and food coloring. Oh and glass droppers, which you can often get at your local pharmacy, or, of course, online. (These, by the way, are a good thing to have on hand for all sorts of uses.)

It’s very simple:

Set the cookie sheet out (or smaller cake pans, if the kids each need their own surface) and fill it with a generous amount of baking soda. You may want to put a towel underneath, in order to protect the table.
Fill small cups (or the compartments of an ice tray) halfway with vinegar.
Put a few drops of food coloring in each cup. Show kids how to use droppers and squirt colors onto the vast whiteness of the baking soda trays. Watch them marvel at the fizziness that ensues.
Sit back and relax, while your kids play for a good 30 to 45 minutes, if not more, with no need for adult intervention. It is truly a gift from the gods.

If you choose, you can get all science class about the experience and explain to them that carbon dioxide is released when acids (like vinegar) and bases (like baking soda) combine and react to each other. Or you can just keep the whole thing feeling more like a magical arts and crafts show. Up to you.

Oh and a shout out to the excellence of my friend Nancy, who brought all of the above supplies with her to our house (along with her family) this past weekend. A lovely morning was had by all as a result of her foresight. They are welcome at our place any time.

Monday, monday (on Wednesday) – or more links about staying warm

links

Today it was 17 degrees when I went out in the afternoon to run a few errands. I could see my breath inside the pizza place. But the window outside of Bakeri on Wythe was truly breathtaking and worth the deep freeze. If only for a sec…

It is freezing outside. Yesterday was some kind of storm they are calling a bombogenesis. Whatever. We did not get the 12 inches of snow that were promised. It’s just really really cold, with enough snow to make walking laborious. Both because it’s slippery and because your kid, should you choose to travel with one, will insist on jumping into every snow bank she (or he) sees. Cute, but time consuming.

Here are a few things to do to stay warm on the inside when it’s like this outside.

Eat soup. I made a butternut squash soup with coconut milk and miso that I found on Food52. I’m planning on making it again in about 5 minutes.

I might also heat up one of these delicious chicken pot pies that came to my doorstep via the ever fabulous Good Eggs.

Exercise always gets the juices flowing, and nothing I have ever experienced makes a person sweat like a 45 minute indoor cycling class at your friendly neighborhood SoulCycle.

Pretend it’s springtime and go buy yourself some strappy sandals at Bird.

Or this dress at Zero + Maria Cornejo.

Rent this breathtaking Academy Award winning animated film version of Peter and the Wolf and watch it over and over.

Make yourself a nice hot cup of Emotional Detox tea and feel the worries, and the shivers, melt away.