My friend Blake Rayne, in case there was any doubt, is a genius. You have only to set foot into Miguel Abreu’s gallery on the lower east side and drink in the incredible, elegant canvasses which, true to his artistic bent, move painting in a new and thought provoking direction.

I am no expert, and you’d do better to read what the art grownups have to say if you want to hear about his place in the pantheon, and how his philosophies merge or conflict with the general status quo. Or at least, read the press release. All I know is that the moment I entered the room I was swept away by the combination of stark sophistication and unbridled use of color (see below) that represent just the tip of the massive iceberg that is the morass of questions and issues about art, painting and the artist’s role that Blake Rayne is valliantly trying to resolve. Or at least address.

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But for me, a person who tends to go with my gut feeling before all others (which has gotten me into trouble before, but you know what they say about old dogs…) these paintings take my breath away because they are both stunningly beautiful and they address some very difficult and mind bending conflicts surrounding the role of painting in the contemporary world. And even if I don’t come up with any definitive conclusions myself, I do feel like I have been invited to be a part of the conversation, which is all one can hope for in this day and age.

The show, titled Folder and Application, is up through June 26 at the Miguel Abreu gallery (36 Orchard Street NYC 212.995.1774) If you are anywhere near that area, and even if you’re not, the show is not to be missed.

I have NO IDEA what has taken me so long to write about my absolute most favorite beauty products in the whole world… Maybe I’m holding this line close to my heart like a precious secret that I don’t want to let out of the bag.

But I should get over myself, because there is plenty of the  wondrous red flower products to go around. And the world would be a much better place if everybody partook in a few of their signature ritualistic beauty practices. Nothing like a good steam, scrub, massage and exfoliation to wipe away whatever petty political differences we might all have, right?

At this moment, I am thinking about the iclandic moonflower lotion, as I have almost run out of the bottle I am currently using and must get to the store to pick up a replacement ASAP. But the scrubs, cleansers, scents, teas… hell, pretty much everything in the place… are also to die for. One genrally doesn’t get out of the store without a couple of extra goodies. And one is never sorry that one splurged, either.

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If you happen to be in downtown Manhattan, check out their shop (13 Prince Street) where, if you are very lucky, you might have the pleasure of meeting Yael Alkalay, the etherial beauty and massive scientific brain behind the line. If you’re not in the hood, do not despair. The goods can be gotten online as well.

So off you go. And tell ‘em I sent you.

I have been eyeing this leather key cover for about a year now. Every time I go into the Brook Farm General Store in Williamsburg. It’s right up my alley, as it is an extraordinary version of a very ordinary object. Plus it’s only 5 bucks. And yet, after all of this time, I have not bought one.

Which is my bad. The next time I go into that store, which will most likely be this week, I am going to get myself one. Unless there’s been a run on them and they are no longer available.

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Which would be just my luck…

You don’t have to live in the hood to get your hands on one– they’re available online as well, so you can learn from my mistake and go ahead a get one for yourselves without hesitation.

This is why New York City is great. You can walk out of your door, hop on a subway and, 15 minutes later, experience a thought provoking and beautiful performance piece, in a public space, for free. Last week, in Bryant Park, the artist Kate Gilmore put up this arresting piece which brilliantly mirrors the activity in the park and the streets below. Titled Walk the Walk, it is comprised of 7 women, all in bright yellow dresses, walking and stomping and shimmying with purpose atop the 10 sq ft roof of a hollow yellow cube. Step inside the cube and you are treated to a sonic interpretation of a busy city street and, if you are my two year old, a chance to reach up and “feel the ladies walk.”

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Best known for her short and somewhat violent feeling videos in which Gilmore often punches and kicks through walls (wearing high heeled pumps, of course), this piece marks a bit of a departure as it is a) live and b) performed by others. So maybe she’s trading up. Or maybe she just stepped off of her usual track for a minute to try something new.

In any case, it was a great moment and one that will stick in my visual memory for a long time.

You can check out Kate Gilmore’s video, which is more typical of her work, at the Whitney Biennial throiugh the end of May.

I have this friend who is married to this guy who has a blog. (called secret forts, which is well worth checking out, by the way) And while visiting this blog I read about a show of Mikael Kennedy‘s polaroid photographs currently on view at the Chelsea Hotel (suite 524) in NYC. And instead of my usual ‘oh this looks cool too bad I can’t make it’ reaction, I packed up my kid and went to the west side to check it out.

I’ve never heard of Kennedy before, but after spending a bit of time with his images, I feel like I’ve found a kindred spirit. Not so much in the actual subject matter, but in the fact that this guy, much like me, has been carrying his SX-70 around with him everywhere shooting whatever he finds interesting at the moment. And the result is a series of beautiful compelling mysterious images that tell the story of a life, a voyage, of objects lost and and places that may have been forgotten were it not for their presence in this archive.

The show is simply hung, with the polaroids in plastic sleeves on the off-white walls of an otherwise empty and appropriately worn hotel suite. There is a table with an arrangement of exposed polaroids that didn’t quite come out, most likely a result of Kennedy’s tendency to buy outdated film, and an SX-70 camera, which one imagines was responsible for much of the imagry in the room. The presentation is slapdash and precious at the same time, a combination that very much fits the medium. And by the time we left, we felt like we had wandered through a secret and magical world.

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Here’s a view of the installation (lifted from the secret forts entry, thank you so much, because I still fkeep forgetting to shoot the things that I want to blog about!)

The show is well worth checking out if you are around and about before it closes on May 2. If not, the images are all on view at the gallery site, so you can always enjoy them from the comfort of your own desktop…

This weekend I took a trip up to the happy valley in what is known as western Massachusetts (though it’s actually more like the middle of the state if you look at a map) and was lucky enough to catch the first Saturday of the Amherst Farmer’s Market. It’s still a bit early for the produce to be super varied, but spirits were high and people were out in force celebrating Earth Day 2010. There were booths about composting and rainwater collection, as well as the first bounty from this season’s harvest.

It actually inspired me to enter the above photo in CafePress and  iVillage’s “Why I want to save the Earth” photo contest. Not that I think this picture is all that, but this is a conversation that I very much want to be a part of. Those hippies up in that neck of the woods really have their fingers on the pulse of something that even my cynical urban self has to admit is vital to our survival on this planet. And now that I am a mother, I am even more invested in the future of our planet. The contest goes through the end of the month, so there is still time if any of you are inspired. Click here to learn more.

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We also went to a farm and saw two week old baby goats learning to walk, made garlands out of dandelions, ate tofu (yep, that’s right) and went to the Botanic Garden at Smith College, something you all muct check out if you are ever in that area. It makes me want to entirely rethink our own garden… look at how great it looks, even in the rain. Maybe in my next life…

A beautiful weekend was had by all. I can even understasnd why my friends left the city to live up here. Not that I’m following them, but…

Who needs Baby Einstein when there are products that you can buy for your little ones that actually help their brains develop and have fun at the same time? Every once in a while the stars come together and a new toy comes into my sphere that is educational, fun, durable and nice to look at. This memory game from kidO represents one of these spectacular moments, making all of the searching through horrible blue plastic madness worthwhile.

Four double sided cards fit into a beautifully made wooden board. Hide all of the images (animals, letters and colors) with the red pegs and then find matching shapes and colors by uncovering them one by one. Even my very particular design-centric husband is on board with this one.

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It’s for kids ages 3 and up, but my two year old is having a blast with it, as am I. There is also a more advanced version for older kids (5+) with 36 pegs… Check it out here.

And then go buy one for yourself (oh no wait, I mean for your kid…)

Now there are plenty of things that could qualify for this particular title, and I am sure that I will be using similar headers for more than this particular post, but when I opened up this page on the Haus Interior website, I actually said those words out loud to myself. So there you have it.

Here they are, what you have always wanted. If you are like me, anyway. An old fashioned calling card that you can just pass over to that incredibly annoying person who has the nerve not only to answer his phone at the theater (I’m talking live theater here, too, not just the movies) but to blithely conduct an entire conversation as if he were watching a Barbie DVD at home with his kids (those “movies,” by the way, are so horrible I wouldn’t blame anyone for seeking interruption/relief from them)

One should never leave the house without at least one of these cards in one’s pocket. Because more often than many people care to admit, silence is golden.            

OH MY GOD IT’S TRUE.

Polaroid film is making a comeback. Not that I don’t love Fuji for stepping in with the Instax film and cameras, which I have used with reckless abandon (see here) but my first love will always be the SX-70 and I can now blow the dust off and start shooting with it again.

Thanks to the Impossible Project, a web based collective out of Vienna that specializes in all things Polaroid. They sell vintage prints, cameras and, most exciting of all, film that they have produced using old materials from the great Polaroid factories themselves. This film does not come cheap (a box of 8 images for $24.50), and I have no idea if it’s all they say it is, but I have ordered a bunch and suggest you do too, as the quantities are limited, and who knows when this little window of happiness will close again.

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They have also just released a black and white film for the SX-70 called PX First Flush in both 100 and 600 ASA speeds. From what I can tell, this is their first completely from-scratch product, which means that they will be able to mass produce it, as demand determines. (I can’t seem to download their press materials, which would probably give us all the info we need, and I’m too impatient to post this to wait till that little bug is fixed) But as soon as I finish this post, I’ll be buying up a bunch of this film too. When I get the goods and start shooting, I’ll let you know how it all works.

Man am I excited. I’ve also heard that a full color version is coming to us by year’s end…