30/08/2011

.

Yvette van Boven / Barcelona Whirlwind

Yvette van Boven simply doesn’t stop. There was really no “holiday” to her summer, and while the rest of us have been busy scarfing down tasty delicacies, Yvette’s been dreaming up newer, tastier ones. And making them look really, really pretty. She was, however, kind enough to let us in on a recent whirlwind tour of Barcelona for our series on the summer adventures of 2DM‘s artists, where her ridiculously good new book Home Made Winter cookbook was just put into print. Also, over the course of our shamefully relaxing summers, she’s also made Dutch bitterballen for Designsponge. and is appearing Wednesday at the eminently cool Brooklyn Kitchen. This week you can also tune in to hear her on both Martha Stewart Radio (tomorrow) and the Slow-Food masters Edible Radio.

Meanwhile, enjoy an exclusive snapshot story glimpse into her wonderfully hectic trip to the Catalan capital accompanied by her husband, photographer Oof Verschuren.

We want whatever Yvette’s eating. Now, for the whirlwind:


Oof giving suggestions, my publisher Martin keeping an eye on things.


There’s the cover!


Me.


A quick lunch around the corner, then back to the printing house.


Beautiful misprints.


Drinks on the beach at the end of the day.


And dinner afterwards.


Walking back to the hotel.


And finishing the book early the next day.


So time for more lunch outside.


And a swim!

Yvette Van Boven 

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

29/08/2011

.

Roberta Ridolfi / Sardinia

Roberta Ridolfi takes her analogue lens to emotionally charged, heartbreakingly beautiful Sardinia for our series on the summer adventures of 2DM’s artists.













Roberta Ridolfi

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

27/08/2011

.

Stockholm Fashion Week

An short intermission in our August series on the summer adventures of 2DM’s artists: we visit and consider one of the world’s best fledgling fashion weeks within its unique cultural context.

We will be will back on a daily basis in September. It’s looking to be a fantastic season!

This month marked Stockholm Fashion Week S/S 2012, and it’s safe to say that Stockholm as a fashion capital is steadily growing into much larger shoes.

V Ave Shoe Repair has no intention of leaving their position as the leading avant garde couturiers. Except for the usual dark draping and sheer materials, they created new sculptural Taj Mahal-dimensions, featuring some very advanced wooden-detailing. Meanwhile, the clog-shoe brand Swedish Hasbeens put on the most athletic fashion show in Stockholm to date. The mannequins – themselves bona fide Olympic Champions – twirled and spun in a gymnastics ring, choreographed by Maria “Decida” Wahlberg.

And it wasn’t quiet on the rookie front either. The design duo altewai.saome presented the follow up-collection to their much-acclaimed debut. The Italian, and Prada-inspired boxy silhouette-collection consisting of neoprene, feathers and pearls pleased the press.

But what’s rarely spoken of when discussing and comparing Sweden to other fashion nations such as France, is the subject of cultural heritage and national mentality. There are many contributing factors to why France is the mothership of couture. According to PhD Paula von Wachenfeldt at Stockholm Centre for Fashion Studies, the French government has for 400 years striven to maintain fashion’s pivotal role in French heritage.

But the the Swedish fashion phenomenon is quite a few years younger. Runway presentations didn’t exist until the mid 90’s when Filippa K and the Ark of Scandinavian minimalism came sailing into the picture. And that very minimalistic idiom has in many ways become synonymous with Swedish fashion.

Ethnologist Åke Daun claims that Sweden has a substantial history of socialism. Combined with the legacy of its formerly peasant society, it has set the tone for the national mentality: to achieve equality and to function as a group. Collectivism is a virtue, and individuality a low priority. It’s therefore not a mystery how Sweden became the country of clean lines and a neutral colour palette.

During the last SFW, critics rejoiced over altewai.saome’s innovative collection for it’s ‘non-Swedish’-tendencies, a seemingly highly-coveted quality in modern time. So can it be that Sweden is ready to trade in its traditional peasant pitchfork-spirit for a more individualistic and strongly-defined fashion identity?

Petsy von Köhler

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

19/08/2011

.

Tung Walsh / The Arsenal

Italy is in full-on vacation mode, but photographer Tung Walsh is hard at work at home in nonstop London. He’s participating in an exhibition in collaboration with Nike, Arsenal FC and Arena Homme + that opened last night, and his agenda is packed to the brim for the month. He’s a star.

And he’s kindly shared a glimpse of a few moments of down time with The Blogazine from an otherwise busy August, for our series on the summer adventures of 2DM ‘s artists.


Catch the exhibition, which celebrates the 125th anniversary of the legendary English football club Arsenal, running through the 23rd of August at London’s Saatchi Gallery

Photos Tung Walsh

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

17/08/2011

.

Ana Murillas / Barcelona

Stylist Ana Murillas turns her analogue lens on a Barcelona staycation for our series on the summer adventures of 2DM’s artists.









Ana Murillas

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

15/08/2011

.

Judd’s Marfa / Chinati Foundation

Smack in the absolute middle of nowhere, along a solitary country road near Big Bend in the extreme west of Texas is the oasis of Marfa: population 1,981. The stuff of myth in artistic circles, the town was just like any other dying agricultural outpost until Donald Judd set up shop in the early 1970’s. He brought with him a singular vision and a cadre of extremely talented artists to create, on an uninterrupted scale that would have been almost impossible elsewhere. Despite its continued isolation, Judd’s vision evolved into a vibrant community (on which his mark is still thankfully conspicuous) that remains quite unlike anywhere else on the planet.


We talked last week about its most recognizable landmark, Prada Marfa (which actually sits several miles northwest of the town itself), but the place is much, much more than merely a gigantic display case for Judd’s art: it is a frontier town, both literally and artistically, with several boundary pushing artist-in-residency programs (we heard someone mention that the French government will begin sponsoring one soon), innovative galleries and an impressive food scene for its minuscule size. The city as a whole has an oddly otherworldly quality to it: well-preserved old signs indicating long-gone buildings purposefully dot its main street, gleaming galleries stand alongside decaying old structures, and shiny classic cars stylishly hum down streets alongside fat-tired bicycles. And among millions of visible stars, the inexplicable Marfa Lights can be seen from an observation point a few miles outside the city drifting across the night skies.


The majority of Judd’s work in Marfa is housed in a sprawling ex-military complex, which is the main outpost of the artist’s Chinati Foundation. It is here that Judd’s most impressive works are housed, including 100 Untitled Works in Mill Aluminum, a stark and sweeping meditation on difference, uniformity, complexity and the tenuousness of outward appearance.


Dan Flavin’s works in fluorescent light, which play brilliantly with colour psychology and their disorienting context, occupy six separate military barracks. In their midst is a Oldenburg & Van Bruggen sculpture, and the foundation also houses large-scale works from the likes of Carl Andre, Roni Horn, John Wesley, and Ingólfur Arnarsson. Chinati’s annex in the city’s centre, additionally, houses a large collection of Chamberlain’s emotionally charged scrap metal sculptures. The place is nothing short of a spiritual experience.

And in addition to the phenomenal collection at Chinati, there is also the Ayn Foundation, which houses a Warhol or two, as well as several other excellent galleries. And Marfa’s population is surprisingly urbane, yet is possessed of an endearing small-town sensibility and size: you can bicycle from end to end of the town in five minutes.


The city’s few restaurants are fantastic, with some notables being Jett’s inside Hotel Paisano, Squeeze, a very Swiss café with great breakfast, The Miniature Rooster which serves a delightful mix of southern USA comfort food and Indian fare alongside a long list of beers, and Cochineal, which has a fantastic ambience and simple, fresh food. The now iconic Food Shark truck makes an appearance at lunch time, and serves up some of the best falafel creations we’ve ever tried. And the town’s Thunderbird Hotel is a nifty, design savvy update on an old American motel, with gorgeous rooms, a typewriter rental service (!!!), phonographs and a big collection of vinyl albums for its guests, a sun-drenched pool and bicycle rental.

This town of makers, aesthetes, craftspeople and adventurers is assuredly unlike anywhere you’ve ever been. And it is, unequivocally, a place you must add to your must-visit list.

Tag Christof – Photos by Tag Christof and Jamie Ho for The Blogazine

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

11/08/2011

.

Tamara Cincik / Cornwall Ecopod

Stylist Tamara Cincik for our series on the summer adventures of 2DM’s artists.

Memories of our wedding where we spent 3 peaceful nights in a Romany caravan in a Suffolk field close to where we were married at the ridiculously pretty Wingfield Barns, inspired me in a turn of thought where I thought how marvellous, yet utterly golden-tinged it would be if, instead of leaving England for the continent, we went West to Cornwall and Devon…

Jeremy, my husband was less convinced of the merits of this, but after 3 days of 30ºC heat in the city, I remained utterly adamant about the merits of the trip, as our baby boy ‘Dukey’ had been very unsettled by the balmy nights. So I booked 3 nights in a gypsy caravan in Devon, to be followed by 3 nights in an eco-pod in Cornwall.

3 nights in Devon translated to 30 minutes. We collected our Sainsburys online delivery food shop, changed the baby’s nappy and after looking at a picturesque scene of dog hair, stinging nettles and pig manure, realised that this was not the place to be with a 3 month old baby. So we scarpered. The owner kindly offered us a house rental, but we were a bit scared to accept.

Taking refuge in Totnes, a lovely riverbank supper: our first night out with Dukey, was slightly overshadowed by a sojourn in what can only be described as Fawlty Towers without the tweedy styling. Totnes’ answer to Basil had been busy with the laminator: we counted perhaps 15 signs, 2 containing poetry about toilet habits, if I use the term poetry loosely, in a bedroom the size of which is more apt for a bathroom than a room for 3.  Space is obviously at a premium in Devon, as it wasn’t cheap; who knew Totnes is the new Knightsbridge?

The ecopod I had booked in Cornwall were very sweet in allowing us to bring forward our stay and we drove down through Exmoor the next morning – a place so beautiful it still feels rawly elemental.

The Atlantic Surf Pods are set in land on a farm, over the road from the sea, close to Bude. Think Teletubbies meets The Hobbit: they are well designed, clean, cute and offering good quality barbecue and cooking facilities. All was lovely, the only thing I would say is going off-grid with a 3 month old takes verve and guts in the sunshine, in thunder and lightening, I think it is kind of nuts!

We agreed that had we paid for the nanny all week and had a few beauty/massage treatments – ie enjoyed a London staycation – for the same amount of money spent, we would have been left feeling less exhausted.  A new mother’s back is sore on another level and all I can add is, ladies with babies should go more luxe than home on holiday, not less.

I take total responsibilty for the choice in holiday made: I guess it takes time for a new mother to work out where her old life ends, and her new one starts…

On the plus side, we visited two gorgeous Cornish places of verdant gorgeousness: The The Eden Project and The Lost Gardens of Heligan which I would totally recommend each for their individual visions of this green and pleasant land. And the clifftop evening with old friends who had spent the week surfing and staying in a field above the sea for the princely sum of £5 per night, overlooking the Atlantic; where we had a makeshift bbq-ed supper, albeit under 5 layers, was perhaps not a glorious sunset, but fun and epic in its beauty nonetheless.

Tamara Cincik

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

08/08/2011

.

Prada Marfa / A Half-Decade Later

In a sideways nod to consumerism’s sprawl, globalisation, and the epic power of branding, Scandinavian artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset (Galleri Nicolai Wallner) conceived and erected Prada Marfa in the middle of nowhere a bit more than a half-decade ago. Its almost surreal location on a desolate farm road some 40 miles (60km) outside the tiny art mecca of Marfa (more on that tomorrow) is key to its symbolic power: it seems to say that consumerism, like cockroaches, could survive absolutely anything.


Today, a bit more than a half-decade after its inception, the sculpture has become positively iconic. It’s travelled through every realm of the blogosphere, been vandalized several times, and has become instantly recognizable in the vain of Watts Tower and Oldenburg & Van Bruggen‘s Spoonbridge and Cherry. And while the artists had originally intended to let the work weather, decompose and eventually go back to nature, its iconic place in culture seems to have guaranteed it a place in the physical world. As its myth has grown, it has become a veritable landmark unto itself, to which hipsters with artsy pretensions make sacred pilgrimages – five years later, it’s maintained, free of graffiti, well-lit and glimmering not unlike any real Prada boutique. All this while every building in the adjacent town of Valentine, Texas is sagging, smashed or deserted.

The sculpture’s appropriateness seems to be growing with time, its meaning towed forward not only by Prada’s vigorous attention to its own sterling brand, but also by a cultural context in which our relationship to ostentation and conspicuous consumption is becoming more complex. The Blogazine visited the sculpture last week in the American summer sun, and we’re very happy to have found it alive and well.

Tag Christof – Photos by Jamie Ho & Tag Christof for The Blogazine

Share: Facebook,  Twitter  

01/08/2011

.

The Editorial: Summer Is Counterculture

Today is August. Oh, summer!

There are a million ways to spend yours. As long as it’s not behind a desk, of course. And as we all set off – cameras and sketchpads in hand – on the road, into nature or on faraway flights to new places, open your senses, stretch your arms and breathe in the fresh air.

This is the time of year for reflection, rejuvenation, redefinition. It is the glorious counterpoint to our yearlong toils, a time to crush workaday into a million tiny pieces and to be unconstrained by deadlines and meetings and stress. It is, above all, a time to nurture the creative spirit.

We at 2DM live through the image. We talk Avedon’s legacy and photographic processes over coffee. We size up models and work with world-class image makers from around the world. We make videos, watch avidly for new talents and devour magazines, with keen eyes on art direction. And through it, we’ve come to share a very particular vision of summer, seen of course, through the image: like Skye Parrott’s brilliant exhibition, You Were Here, in Wonder Room last year, we see unbounded freedom. Like a lifelong road trip. Sunshine. Impulsiveness. New scenery.


Roberta Price’s photographs of the communes of counterculture in the untamed western USA in the late 1960s and early 1970s distill our vision of summer brilliantly: her subjects were quixotic idealists who lived simply and harmoniously on their own terms, in a space outside the reach of a comparatively rigid society. They’re grainy and evocative and unpretentious. Her photographs are summer. Summer is counterculture. And some of our most fruitful ideas and inspirations spring from this most fertile of seasons. It is with this in mind that we begin ours.


Throughout the month, the editors of The Blogazine, together with 2DM’s talents, will share snapshots and words, stories and sketches of our own summers. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.

So get out and enjoy the hell out of your summer. See, make, think beautiful things.

Price’s photos are being shown in an excellent exhibition entitled Counterculture, which runs through 27 August at 516 Arts, not far from where most of them were taken.

Tag Christof – Images courtesy Roberta Price

Share: Facebook,  Twitter