I’ve been watching Grey Gardens nonstop for the past 72 hours. I’m unsure about whether these two women are completely possessed by their undiagnosed schizophrenia or the sanest women I have ever observed. In any case, there is something so enviable about total surrender to a life unaffected by the world’s opinions. I can’t figure out whether these women are my terrifying failure-deterrents, or who I should strive to become. Line after unscripted line, they seem to get life just right:
Big Edie: Oh, look. That cat’s going to the bathroom right behind my portrait.
Little Edie: Ughh, how awful.
Big Edie: No, I’m glad. I’m glad somebody’s doing something what they want to do!
To take my mind off my boyfriend in Paris (during Thanksgiving!) I’m taking imaginary trips to some other capital cities. First off, Brasília, the spectacular mid-century seat of Brazil. The UNESCO World Heritage Site was planned and developed in 1956 with modern design diety Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. The city looks like Mies, Saarinen, Le Corbusier, Eames, and Breuer all took a few more classes and vomited all over a two thousand square mile swath of land.
At the age of 100, Neimeyer is the last living modernist design legend. The centenarian has been invited by president of Angola to design a new capital city for his country, four times the size of Brasilia. In a recent interview Neimeyer laughs, “Four times the size of Brasilia? So it could take four times as long -That’s 16 years!” If he took the commission he would be 115 years old at the time of its inauguration.
These days Neimeyer is apparently happy to sit around and keep in touch with old friends including Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. (He’s a member of the Brazilian Communist Party since 1945, and was presented with the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963.)
Brasília became the capital of Brazil in 1960 and is the seat of all three branches of the Brazilian government.
An awesome article on Neimeyer HERE. More pics after the jump. Get the whole story »
I’m currently re-reading this classic. Essential reading by the brilliant Napolean Hill who was given invaluable insight by the great Andrew Carnegie. Watch Mr. Hill kick knowledge. (again and again and again and again if you have to.)
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India joined the space race today with the successful launch of its first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1. Awesome.
Ceramic artists Barbara Jackson, Shirley Fintz, and Mathapelo Ngaka have created one of the most beautiful health and poverty-fighting projects I have ever seen. Their desire to create employment and empowerment for disadvantaged women in Cape Town, South Africa has led to the creation of MONKEYBIZ, a non-profit, income-generating art and health project.
Monkeybiz currently supports over 450 women and their families – many of whom are HIV positive. The project utilizes a centuries-old female beadwork tradition within the Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele and Sotho tribes. The craft is introduces to women directly through their mothers, grandmothers and other women in the community and is a source of tribal pride. By creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind beaded art pieces, the women have found a sustainable way to generate income for themselves and their families. The Monkeybiz story is told on a brilliant documentary entitled Bigger than Barbie, which can be previewed on their website or on the MySpace page. It features Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and many other universal health and anti-poverty crusaders.
These amazing little works of art can be purchased on the Monkeybiz online store. All profits go back into the communities to supply beads and the provision of community services. This is the kind of stuff we need.
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As all who know me can attest, one of my greatest pleasures in life is “making things pretty.” No other artist has had a career in “making pretty” that I both admire and envy more than Art Deco diety Erté.
To decorator junkies Erté (né Roman Petrovich Tyrtov) needs no introduction. The Russian born French artist, who went by the French pronunciation of his initials R.T, created some of the most recognizable theatrical and fashion imagery of the early 20th century and continues to influence fashion until this day.
Erté designed his first costume at at the age of five and moved to Paris as a young man to pursue fashion illustration. He soon got a twenty-two year appointment to Harper’s Bazaar and went on to create some of the most spectacular stage sets and costumes for Paris’ Folies-Bergère, the Paris Opera, and New York’s Zeigfield Follies.
Erté was a true early century renaissance man, excelling in all things visual, from drawing to sculpture, to costuming, to environmental design. During his fashion career alone, Erté produced over 250 covers for Bazaar, innumerable drawings for the magazine’s pages, and fashion designs for some of the world’s most glamorous women. Personally, I would give my left leg to have his complete Alphabet Suite of A-Z rendered in his trademark style.
Erté died in 1990 at the age of ninety-seven, ending an era of brilliance in theatrical design. Find books on Erté HERE.
Most famous for his highly ornamental and erotic illustrations, Aubrey Beardsley was the most controversial artist of the Art Nouveau era and my favorite illustrator of all time.
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