29/07/2011

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KK Outlet / Handwritten Letter Project

Always fresh KK Outlet (the UK outgrowth of Holland’s brilliant KesselsKramer, half of whom we met at the Triennale‘s Graphic Design Worlds a few months ago) has played host to a novel new project: pencil and paper. The The Handwritten Letter Project was begun as an invitation by master-of-wit designer (and ex-footballer) Craig Oldham to several of the world’s great designers as a means of mining up those “things that have been around for a while,” but which have fallen dramatically out of use in the face of digital. (When’s the last time you wrote your granny a letter?) The project’s premise is simply the sharing of thoughts in handwriting on personal letterhead, and the result is surprisingly effervescent and, well… fresh. What’s old here seems quite new.

“The project offers much more than a voyeuristic insight into the creative minds of those we revere. It represents a visual narrative on the cultural transition in which we find ourselves.”

The project begs questions of engagement with our communication, and makes it abundantly clear (as it positions letter-writing in opposition to status updates and tweets) that handwritten communication is indeed an infinitely more personal means of expression.

Contributors include some very, very heavy hitters: Milton GlaserMilton Glaser, Michael BierutMichael Bierut, Stefan Sagmeister, Ivan Chermayeff, Wim CrouwelWim Crouwel, Mike Dempsey, and many others, with the collection having grown to over 100 letters.


The project will be included in a limited edition book (and KesselsKramer books are always absolute treasures – we own the entire Useful Photography series), with all profits from the project to be donated to Literacy Trust. Exhibition opens in a private viewing at KK Outlet at 42 Hoxton Square in London on August 4th, and will run through the 27th.

Tag Christof – Images courtesy KKOutlet – Special thanks to Danielle Pender

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28/07/2011

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MAXXI / Verso Est. Chinese Architectural Landscapes

As the west’s infrastructures crumble and desperate attempts at “renewal” remain the main concern of planners inside our badly outdated cities, China’s have forged ahead phenomenally over the past decade. The country has spared almost no expense in its economic boom time building, and its cities have become gleaming, towering beacons of modernity. And within the context of a country with grandiose notions of itself, it has become the hotbed for grandiose, experimental architecture today.

Beyond the hoopla of Beijing’s transformations just before the landmark 2008 Olympic games, the entire country has been swept up and even cities in the most remote provinces have undergone tangible change. They now bear virtually no resemblance to their selves of even a decade ago, and as China continues to invest around one trillion dollars a year in infrastructure and construction, the changes show no sign of relenting.

Opening tomorrow at Rome’s MAXXI (itself an awkward shard of modernity in that most anti-modern of western cities) is Verso Est. Chinese Architectural Landscapes, organised in collaboration with the National Museum of Art China and curated by Fang Zhenning. It is to be a transversal look at the country’s feverish progress, and the new typologies China’s vanguard is nurturing in architecture. Buildings by Rem Koolhaas, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Steven Holl and even MAXXI’s own designer Zaha Hadid will be on display, and several lectures will seek to actively dissect the interesting problems and progress China has made over the last decade.

As Italy, even more than most countries faces massive problems of urban decay and degrading public space, it is indeed an opportune time to open a dialogue between the old and new. Especially as several prominent Italian architects are now doing their most important works in China. The exhibition’s title, “Verso Est” (“Towards the East”) even concomitantly seems to suggest a paradigm shift in architectural ingenuity is, well… going towards the east. And it seems that this shift is already well underway. With its heroic population numbers and a considerable amount of green thinking going into the massive projects the country’s cities have undertaken, China will inevitably begin to teach the west a thing or two about living well in the years ahead.

Catch the exhibition opening tomorrow at Fondazione MAXXI and running through 23 October.

Tag Christof – Images courtesy Fondazione MAXXI 

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28/07/2011

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Long Live Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud, one of the most influential painters of our time, passed away last week at his London home. The artist was well known not only for his artistic genius and his famous grandfather, Sigmund (same last name), but also for his eccentric personality, contempt for society’s conventions and his rather, shall we say… prolific sex life.

His Austrian Jewish family moved to London during the racial persecutions, where he would eventually become, together with his friend Francis Bacon, art’s greatest and sharpest observer of the human body’s break-up. He described the decadence of consumer society through the representation of (mainly nude) people with a merciless and ironic attitude. In Phaidon’s Painting Today, Tony Godfrey asserts “There is a distinction between figure and body: the figure is what we see – often idealised, as in fashion magazines – the body is how we feel our own body and that of others,” and Freud’s work was, if nothing, a tireless exploration into that subtle yet profound distinction.


The artist depicted, with raw realism, people from all social classes, but his choices sprang from personal impulse rather then political beliefs. What really affected him was exposing of the condition of the flesh, our shared sense of mortality and the disturbing decomposition of bodies. He focused on collapsed and pitted skin, adipose tissues, scars, rashes and other blemishes with a certain taste for people who looked unusual or had anomalous proportions, as in the case of Sue Tilley, an obese woman depicted in some of his more famous works.

But Lucian Freud will also be remembered for his life as a bon viveur – he hit the bottle hard throughout his adult life, gambled excessively and had many love affairs leading to an indefinite number of legitimate and illegitimate children. Guesstimates run as high as 40. Having moved in fashionable circles, he also had access to upper class London and painted it without sentiment, plainly, almost mockingly. In this way he subverted the traditional compulsion towards festooning portraits of wealthy sitters with jewels and other tokens of wealth to escape the uneasiness of bodily decay and the human condition. In this vain, the artist made a portrait of ‘a heavily-pregnant and naked’ Kate Moss, neither striving for formal beauty nor aesthetic, and he painted Queen Elizabeth II without hiding – and instead emphasising – her flabby muscles and empty stare.

Looking back at the works of Lucian Freud, it is striking to examine the way he used colours, linking masterly technique to ungainly and thick brushes, which seem to be due to a sort of personal urge. Using a traditional media Freud played a prominent part in the history of Art, changing the ways of thinking about figuration and influencing many contemporary artists.

Monica Lombardi – Images courtesy Artchive

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27/07/2011

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I Love Fake / Seven Nine Tease

At long last the first print issue of ILOVEFAKE has landed. The glorious, nefarious, indulgent publication that has long done a swell job of “Celebrating the Spirit of Youth” in digital format has made the jump offline with publishers Blend Studios. This first print issue, entitled Seven Nine Tease is a mashup of ILOVEFAKE’s already well-known ethos and 1970s and 1990s styles, taps into fashion’s schizophrenic zeitgeist and runs wild with it. The issue positively pops, and is a fantastic start to what will undoubtedly be a brilliant run.

The mega personality behind the publication is none other than 2DM photographer Jolijn Snijders. Her singular vision and very, very strong sense of style has driven the project, and hers is essentially the personality the magazine itself has taken on. No small feat. And as a sweet cherry on top, the journal’s fashion director is none other than 2DM’s stylist Jordy Huinder, and the in-your-face (very Dutch) art direction comes courtesy Harold Jonk.


Inside the issue is loaded – seriously filled to the brim – with top-notch features and content. From editor Niels Erik Toren’s mind-blowing article “Sway,” to a feature on new British fashion designers, and editorials from the likes of photographers Joost Vandebrug, Napolein Habeica, Lady Tarin, Elza Jo, Alex Brunet, Joe Lai, Kristophe Kutner, Letty Schmetterlow, Ebony Hoorn, and many others. There is also some very well-placed work by 2DM’s Roberta Ridolfi, as well as a stark “Polaroid Story” by Andrew Kuykendall. Contributing stylists include Alice Godard, Hanae Uwajima, Caroline Larrivoire, Tess Yopp, David Motta and others. As well as, of course, a host of killer work by Jolijn and Jordy themselves. 2DM’s stylist Ilaria Norsa’s work also makes a lovely cameo.



Other contents include an article by Pepijn Lanen, interviews with artists Andy Denzler, Jon Fox, Dave McDermott, Worldwarwon and others, and talks with “brutally honest” photographer Michael Mayren and Stylist Anna Travelyan.

The first touchable issue of ILOVEFAKE is welcome, distinctive and fun addition to the canon of today’s best fashion magazines. It’s irreverent and feel-good and clever and aggressively stylish, and this is most definitely not the last you’ll hear about it from us.


The magazine’s launch party is set for this August 4th at SPRMRKT’s original location in Amsterdam. Be there or be square.

Tag Christof – Special thanks to Jolijn Snijders

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26/07/2011

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Segalega / Zero + Giò Marconi

June and July are usually not the best months to see exhibitions in Milan. The artistic season has essentially drawn to a close and, except for some blockbuster institutional events, most of the time, people can only find slack summer shows proposed by art dealers who are planning to leave the city until September.

But Segalega, the unusual group exhibition split between two of the most important galleries in Italy, Gio Marconi and Zero, doesn’t fall within either of these categories.

It seems that the show has been thought to hold the interest of the small ‘community’ of art lovers, who keep on going to visit galleries, in spite of tropical heat of Milan.

The project, running until last week in the two venues contemporaneously, came out under the pretext of overlooking the same street (via Tadino near Porta Venezia) and features some rather remarkable works. The exhibition opened with a weird and amusing performance by Marcello Maloberti untitled Doppietta, in which two people – one black and one white – wearing alpine uniform, crawled side by side from the first gallery to the other one and roamed around the visitors, who were watching the shows.

Among the works presented in both the art spaces, Kerstin Bratsch, the German artist, based in New York, draws the attention with his colourful pieces where subjects give the impression of being trapped between two boards of Plexiglas and make fun of painting. Rosa BarbaRosa Barba’s installation entitled Invisible act, on display at Zero gallery is characterised by the usual elegance through which the Italian artist, who lives in Berlin, is able to create sculptures that seem to be made of light. But a special note goes to the Andrea Kvas (b. 1985), who makes his debut among the already known international artists John Bock, Massimo Grimaldi and Markus Schinwald. Courageously, Zero dedicated one room of the gallery – in a sort of solo show – to the young artist that shows small works on canvas, which privilege the gesture.

With many ups and just a few downs, Segalega gave the opportunity to see a satisfying number of works, which truly spoke about painting, colour stratification, afterthoughts and some interesting effects. It was, happily, a good reason to challenge the hot weather of these past few days and see the show within tomorrow.

Monica Lombardi
  
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25/07/2011

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The Editorial: Smoking Sex / Tom Vek’s Aroused

Before you read another word of this, watch this video.

Now, don’t you really really want a cigarette now? I’m not generally a smoker, but I weakly went out and bought a pack after I watched it for the first time – it is importantly only the third pack I’ve ever bought. Ever. So just try to imagine the models in this excellent video doing exactly what they’re doing without them: it is unabashedly sexy because of the smoking.


Top Tung Walsh for Pop, Above Juergen Teller for Paradis

Theories about why smoking is so sexy abound. Each one as ridiculous and impossible as the next. “The cigarette is phallic.” (Lesbians think smoking is sexy, too…) “Virile young humans smoke, which has made us over time equate smoking with virile young partners.” (Plenty of fat old humans who don’t get much sex smoke, too…) “Humans had ancient ancestors with long incisors that resemble cigarettes which evolutionarily makes our brains equate cigarettes to long incisors, which equal good mates“ (Yikes. I’d like to meet the storyteller crackpot who came up with that one!) And the list goes on. And on.

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton

In any case, this video directed by Saam Farahmand for Tom Vek’s latest single somehow taps into smoking’s sexiness in the most positively provocative way in recent memory. Here smoking is a romp through a garden of pure, unabashed pleasure. Here it is sex. Soma. A journey from arousal to climax. And without diving into the many, many pitfalls of the habit (we know, we know, we know), fashion’s continued flirtation with the act has been unyielding, which might suggest that there is a deep, primordial connection to it after all.

Jolijn Snijders

Think of Cecil Beaton’s famous portrait of a smoking Greta Garbo. And every major fashion photographer from Avedon to Testino to Richardson to Goldin have used it in some capacity quite successfully. Juergen Teller shot vehement smoker and artist (in that order, I think) David Hockney last year. 2DM’s Skye Parrott (a disciple of Goldin), Jolijn Snijders and Bruna Kazinoti – all of whose images are laced with undercurrents of emotional and sexual tension – have each used the cigarette extensively in their imagery to brilliant effect. Tung Walsh (himself a disciple of Teller) and Vicky Trombetta, whose styles are more distant and hard-edged, as well as low-key, polished Nacho Alegre and Pablo Arroyo, have also skilfully made sexy even sexier by handing their models a cigarette or two…

Top Bruna Kazinoti, above Vicky Trombetta for Wonderland

So just as the United States one ups Europe’s screaming text warnings and follows other countries such as Australia in adding gut-wrenching images to cigarette packs, there remains quite the uphill battle. What’s wrong in mainstream society is so, so right – and per in the subversive world fashion. Even if there isn’t anyone among us who doesn’t have a hacking, wrinkly aunt somewhere to remind us by example of smoking’s devastating long-term effects…


Top Jolijn Snijders, above Skye Parrott

But the cancer sticks continue to seduce. And will until continue to do so until their un-sexy consequences become something other than distant, far-off, vague threats on crisply designed packs.

So in any case, be quite sure to augment your sexy with extreme caution. I’m throwing away my still unopened, brand-new pack today. Well, maybe I’ll smoke just one…

Tag Christof – Images courtesy 2DM, Juergen Teller and the estate of Cecil Beaton 

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22/07/2011

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The Noisettes in Morocco / Jolijn Snijders

2DM’s Jolijn Snijders trekked to Morocco recently to shoot Shingai Shoniwa, lead singer and bassist of London’s The Noisettes, in the north African sunshine for Modzik. The results are punchy, bright and up-close and personal.


Shingai whose incredibly powerful style is infused with a very African brand of flamboyance, has ‘tude by the truckload. Her fans know that she’s quite the amped up performer. And the editorial, called “Black Panther” brings it brilliantly to the surface. (The accompanying interview, for anyone who speaks French, is also a nice read – Shingai even mentions her goal to complete a London-Brigton course on a leopard-print bicycle.)

Styled delightfully by Flora Zoutu. Jolijn’s usual hard-edged beauty shines through… Fashion includes Aurélie Bildermann, Tom Ford Eyewear, Viv Westwood and others. Catch it in the current issue of Modzik (with a track by The Noisettes as a sweet bonus).

Isil Gun & Tag Christof

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21/07/2011

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Protein / Animate Everything

Animated GIFs spread like wildfire in the early days of the net. As we away on the blazing fast 56K modem speeds of the day, the junky little motion clips – each containing a series of frames running in running in a continuous loop – stood in for our inability to download real video. They were in every creepy religious chain email your aunt sent, on Myspace pages, and they even dotted the e-porn landscape like devious 1990s kinetoscopes. Then high-speed internet hit, and they mostly faded into the sunset – save their obnoxious flashing banner ad cousins – replaced by high quality images and real video.

But it turns out they have a longer shelf life than just their technical simplicity. They’re somewhere between films and photos, and as such offer a typological bridge between the two. Over the past several years, especially with the advent of Tumblr, designers and all sorts of other people one the web have brought them back, someitmes to pretty spectacular effect. And several artists are even working in the medium (can I really call it that?).

Opening tonight, the endlessly clever UK creative firm Protein has curated the first exhibition of some of the most notable work being done in the format. The time seems right, after all. Artists include Parra, Jiro Bevis, Mimi Leung, Nous Vous Collective, DDF, Will Robson Scott, Tyrone Le Bon, as well as several others.

Opening tonight, 21 July at Protein’s gallery space on 18 Hewett street in Shoreditch, London, just off Curtain Road. Vernissage starts at 7pm, and the show will run until the 15th of August.

Tag Christof – Animated .GIF courtesy Protein

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20/07/2011

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Saul Williams / A Small Conversation

“…[poetry] is somewhere between an anchor and a compass…”

The Blogazine had a long, intense conversation with legendary slam poet and hip hop artist Saul Williams in his adopted home of Paris recently. Just before the launch of his drastically different fourth album, Volcanic Sunlight on Columbia / Sony Records – as Vicky Trombetta was shooting him for a recent editorial – we talked poetry, war, and existing as an artist in Paris.

Saul is rare among pop culture figures for his progressive, thoughtful politics and his introspection-driven art, and this conversation is nothing if not introspective and thoughtful…

This short, edited by Daniele Testi, is a rare glimpse into the artist’s vision of the world. And even when not performing, Saul is an incredibly eloquent speaker. Watch the video twice to really take it all in.

Also, don’t miss Vicky’s editorial of the artist in the last issue of Modzik.

Tag Christof – Images courtesy 2DM

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20/07/2011

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Northern Women in Chanel

“From Femme Parisienne to Swedish Dalkulla”

The Swedish stylist Ingela Klementz-Farago and her husband, the Hungarian-born photographer Peter Farago is the couple behind the epic project Northern Women In Chanel.

The couple has since 2010 lead a unique collaboration with Chanel. The result is an exhibition, which was inaugurated in early July at the photographic museum Fotografiska in Stockholm, and a massive pavé coffee table book. The photo series features 45 internationally known models of Scandinavian and Baltic descent, and about 500 couture pieces from Chanel, and will during the fall and winter travel through Europe.

The project is one of a kind in more than one way. First off, the usual puppet master Uncle Karl is not in leading position. And the usual contemporary Northern beauty has been placed in a greater historical perspective, and invites the viewer for a journey through time, with many easily discernible Scandinavian cultural phenomena.

In one photo, the surrealistic innocence and beauty of Linnea Regnander and her fellow elven-like colleague is portrayed as noble women in a middle age church-environment. Whether they were in collusion with King Gustav Vasa, or simply belonged to the court, the history does not convey. In the black and white photo, featuring a giant cross, Vicky Andrén steps in to the World of Ingmar Bergman and vintage Swedish melancholia, and becomes a still frame from the director’s chef-d’oeuvre ”The 7th Seal”. An intriguing dark scenery which one rarely associates with Chanel.

That’s the true genius of this project. To bag, borrow and steal something so connected with the French national spirit and heritage, and put it into such a different context. The terms cultural exchange comes to mind. From Femme Parisienne to Swedish Dalkulla.

However, such strong historical aspects also requires a lot from the mannequins fronting the project. Except for the 42-year-old Helena Christensen, the greater lot of the models are fresh from the Runway Foetus Factory, and there is simply something about classic Chanel couture, to which a 17-year old blushing beauty cannot always do justice.

Indeed, some pieces demands the Garboesque stern superiority of Kristen McMenamy. And where is the majestic poise exuded by Ingmari Lamy when you need it the most?


Something that is easily forgotten when talking Chanel, and something that in many ways has been buried in time is that, if you are to believe Axel Madsen, author of Chanel; A Woman of her Own, the Madame herself was a lot more than cute cupcakes from Ladurée. Coco Chanel was the raging riotgrrrl of couture, decades before Kat Bjelland got her first guitar.

So, when working with this very brand, it’s crucial to always add a hint of corsage-crushing avant-garde edge, to the timeless elegance and class that is Chanel. Where many others fail (read fashion magazine’s editorials), and simply end up cooking beautiful, slightly mediocre Chanel soup, the Faragos turn out to have many bright fashion photography moments worthy of Madame Coco herself.

Petsy Von Kohler – Images courtesy Chanel

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