femalepersuasion.net

FP now on tumblr........

2011-07-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

+FEMALEPERSUASION.NET RELAUNCH. We've move to tumblr. If you're over there, please follow! http://www.femalepersuasion.net http://femalepersuasion.tumblr.com/
From here on out this site will remain for archival purposes only. Thanks, and blogger followers, hope to see you over there. ~ak

There's something about Hannah van Bart.

2011-06-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

Grief, 2008
Acrylic on linen
64.96 x 57.09 inches

Suddenly infatuated with Dutch artist Hannah van Bart, from Amsterdam. Her crude and naive style has a sassy humor that really appeals to my dark side. Too bad I missed this show.

Miranda July, The Future.

2011-06-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

Miranda July always gets the tone of modern life so perfect. I can't wait to see this.

Contre-Monde.

2011-06-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

This portrait documentary of muse and socialite Daphne Guinness on Nowness is so beautiful I just wanted to share.

Barbara Kruger at L&M Arts in Venice.

2011-05-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Opening Saturday, May 14, 6pm at L&M Gallery in Venice: New work from Barbara Kruger , her first solo exhibit in LA since 1999. The exhibit will include projection, installation and a room wrap, with themes such as money, power, violence, doubt, desire, need, winning, and losing.

Daphne Guinness Does Barneys in Honor of McQueen

2011-05-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight the iconically stylish muse and friend of the late Alexander McQueen will be posting a live feed from the Barneys' website: a creative tribute in the form of a live window dressing. It will take place tonight May 2 at 5pm in Barneys New York flagship store on Madison Ave. More details including a beautiful handwritten invitation from Daphne can be found here.

Jessica Joslin's Hybrid Brass & Bone Creatures

2011-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Influenced by natural history musems and Victorian taxidermy, artist Jessica Joslin fuses together the most amazing creatures straight out of a Lewis Carroll nightmare. Her treasures are made from parts found in "obscure junk shops, flea markets, attics, taxidermy supply houses, specialty hardware distributors...or even just walking through the woods."You must see her whole uneasy zoo here.

Jaclyn Brown's Surrealist Tableaux.

2011-04-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Canadian-born artist Jaclyn Brown's lush surrealistic paintings speak to me from a number of influences including the dreams of Frida Khalo to the landscapes of a feminist Hieronymus Bosch. She now resides in New York and teaches classes at the Muriel Guepin Gallery in Brooklyn when she's not painting.

"My work is inspired by dreams, experiences and things that I have read. My work often comes across as 'too much', and I want it to be that way. I love layers and sharing a million stories in one. Things are never really simple."

To view more of her work visit her site here.

Alex Prager on Last Call with Carson Daly

2011-04-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

Rodarte: States of Matter at MOCA.

2011-03-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance you must go see the Rodarte Black Swan costume exhibit at the MOCA Pacific Design Center. It's a tiny show but to get up close to the costumes to see technically how they were constructed is so worth it. I loved the used of twine, metal and irregular stones. Gorgeous and inspiring!

Revisiting Jill Krementz.

2011-03-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

My niece is at that age where ballet is important, and I wanted to give her a birthday present that I remember as being sort of fantasy-inspiring and seminal for me...so I gave her A Very Young Dancer from the Jill Krementz "A Very Young..." Series. Photographer and widow of Kurt Vonnegut, her black and white grainy photos always got my young imagination running and did exactly what they were meant to do. I reread the book again and the 70s series remains as iconic as it ever was.

RIP Violet.

2011-03-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Kristin Skees: "Husband Cozies"

2011-03-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the indoor coziness of this LA rain has lately enamored me of artist Kristin Skees. Her "Husband Cozies" series is humorous and slightly demented. From her site (which also features some of her video performance art):

The Husband Cozies series explores the fine line between protection and suppression, loving and smothering. The custom made cozies call to mind memories of ill-fitting sweaters, hand knit with love from a grandma or favorite aunt. However, these cozies evoke feelings of claustrophobia, objectification and suppression. All of this is intertwined with the darkly humored absurdity of the entire prospect of cozying ones husband and stashing him away for future use.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Sliced: The Art of Jessica Harrison

2011-03-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Charlotte, 2010, mixed media, 23cm x 15cm x 15cm @Jessica Harrison. Courtesy of the artist.

I have a new piece on Huffingtonpost.com/Arts today about brilliant Scottish-based artist/sculptor Jessica Harrison. Her work is extremely provocative and happy that it's already stirring up many comments on the site.

Rachel Feinstein's Snow Queen Exhibit.

2011-03-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

I really want to see Rachel Feinstein's The Snow Queen exhibit at The Lever House in NYC. (Through April 22, 2011) The show is a full-scale interpretation of the themes of beauty and ruin. The Lever House website has a cool "making of" slideshow. Feinstein is such a fashionable and talented influence. And also because I got the online avatar of "Robbergirl" from Anderson's famous fairy tale–it was a childhood obsession.

Photo courtesy of The Lever House Art Collection

SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery Fellowship Program

2011-03-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

Women artists: I received an email from the SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery today, and I'm posting it for you:

SOHO2O Chelsea Gallery is a non-profit, artist-run gallery that has been promoting the work of women artists through gallery exhibitions and public programming since 1973. Throughout our thirty-seven year history, we have been delighted to offer the Fellowship Membership as a part of our ongoing programs to support women artists. The SOHO20 Fellowship offers all the benefits of full membership to a selected woman artist free of financial obligation. This program is a fantastic opportunity for artists to join a network of quality women artists actively pursuing their artistic goals.

Fellowship Membership benefits include:
•One solo exhibition
•One group exhibition
•Artist representation on gallery website
•Artist inclusion in gallery flat files
•Opportunities for Artist led events (i.e. Artist talks, panel discussions etc.)
•SOHO20 Gallery's Director and assistants are available 5 days a weeks for professional assistance and consultation.
•Studio visits and/or critique/discussion opportunities
•Access to SOHO20 for fiscal sponsorship

For eligibility guidelines and a complete prospectus please visit our website at SOHO20Gallery.com
Deadline: Saturday May 7th

Victoire de Castellene at Gagosian Paris

2011-03-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

Amanita Satana Diabolus, 2010 (image from Gagosian Gallery website)
Lacquered silver, white gold, yellow gold, opals, colored sapphires, mandarin garnets, spinels, diamonds, petrified wood
Necklace: 10 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches (25.8 x 16 cm) With base: 5 x 12 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches (12.5 cm x 31 x 21 cm)

Dreamy show "Fleurs d’excès" opens tonight at the Gagosian in Paris (Mar 2-22, 2011) of former Chanel designer, now jewelry creative director at Dior, Victoire de Castellane's amazing pieces. I have always admired her work, and consistent use of pop art and imagery infused into a most traditional craft.
From the press release:

Indifferent to convention though passionate about history and technical challenge, de Castellane’s ideas are driven by an exuberant imagination, deriving from sources as diverse as the élan vital of the natural world and the synthetic wonders of Technicolor; the Brothers Grimm and Walt Disney; voluptuous Hollywood screen idols and manga characters; the trash and fizz of pop culture and the darkest depths of the subconscious. The astonishing results blur the distinctions between the real and the artificial, the beautiful and the grotesque, the subtle and the excessively baroque. Provocative in form and content, de Castellane has created perverse treasures for the times in which we live.

Hallucinatory drugs and their promise of mind-expansion have fascinated and inspired artists the world over. De Castellane’s flowers are intoxicating, but also dangerous because of the poisons that they secrete. Here they personify the Romantic idea of women “under the influence” in a compendium of phantasmagorical specimens with faux-classificatory names, such as Heroïna
Romanticam Dolorosa and Crystalucinae Metha Agressiva.

I start with a story, a world, never with the material. I find my stories in everything I observe and experience -- rebellion, love, sexuality, pleasure, violence, protection, psychoanalysis, and my taste for fairy tales…--Victoire de Castellane

RIP Fabulous.

2011-02-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

Sofia Coppola directs Natalie Portman for Dior Chérie.

2011-02-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

Because it's sweet and the shot of Natalie in the bathtub with sunglasses on is pure Coppola and makes me happy today.

Allison Green's Arboreal Portraits

2011-02-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of discussion in my neighborhood lately around trees...the pine tree may or may not be dying, the persimmon tree is full of palm tree fronds that the landlord refuses to pay to have removed. Needless to say, I love trees. So I'm happy to share Allison Green's forest of large scale oil paintings. Her first solo exhibition, "Deeply Rooted", opens this March at Susan Eley Fine Art, on the Upper West Side in NYC.

Playing upon the universal symbol of the family tree, the paintings are titled after women in my family. For example, Henrietta is named after my grandmother, originally from Spain, who grew up in Casablanca. Ultimately, she moved to Florida, where she found comfort in palm trees—they reminded her of “home.” It is this very intimate connection to trees—they represent both where we come from and who we are—that I seek to illuminate in this work. In Arboreal Portraits, I express the powerful and resilient relationship between individuals and the universe through the venerable symbol of the tree.

Sergio Rossi Brass Breastplate.

2011-02-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

Because, honestly. My breasts 100% need this. And that's no lie. See the whole modern day Amazonian collection here.

Michelle Groskopf, Kickstarter.

2011-02-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

After reading today's NY Times article "Friday Night Fights," about model boys turned boxers, I find myself intrigued by photographer and director Michelle Groskopf, who is currently shooting a documentary on that underground world's star, one "Rockstar Charlie." However, her tumblr blog http://dailystreet.tumblr.com/ is filled with wonderful candid photographs mainly from and around NYC and France. Interested to see what she does next.

The Bohemian Chic of Daughters of the Revolution.

2011-02-08T14:59:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Los Angeles-based artist and designer Emily Cadenhead has an eccentric California Bohemian past. And it shows in her clothing line, Daughters of the Revolution. The Malibu and Palm-Springs daughter herself of a hippy-chic mother and the former president of Artisan recording studios, Emily has a genuine feel for her sunshine state it-girl clientel. As an former fine artist, she now incorporates her sweet but edgy aesthetics into this amazing organic clothing line. Peace, love and happiness!

Molly Surno: Faded American Dreams

2011-02-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

Photographer and experimental filmmaker Molly Surno is attracted to the faded nostalgia of Americana. In her world, the things that get left behind become the most beautiful.

My images are meant to evoke a nostalgia for the massive and lonely terrain of the United States. They are insights into a vanishing Americana. The schizophrenic extremes and dreamy melancholy I feel for the country that I inhabit have been an endless inspiration to my artistic vision. I want to encourage and promote a sense of tenderness and moodiness for the kitschy subcultures of America. As our culture takes on new identities through technological advancements and globalization, I document spaces that are slowly disappearing. In a time where borders and neighborhoods are becoming obsolete and replaced by cyber communities I record local subcultures such as bowling alleys, nail salons, cockfights, all-you-can-eat-buffets, psychic shops, etc. with a sense of humor and homesickness. My images are intended to inspire the same feelings as looking through your grandparents photo album or collection of images in their hallway. They are emblems of the present that are soon to be “the good old days”.

The Making of Pedestal 02

2011-02-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

Making of... Pedestal 02 from Anna Halldin-Maule on Vimeo.

RIP Maria Schneider.

2011-02-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the tango.

Bodies And/As Things.

2011-02-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered British artist and sculptor Jessica Harrison (whom I hope to profile for HuffingtonPost Arts soon). Her body and skin themed work is beautiful and queasy-making at the same time. She'll be showing in part of a group show which opens today at the Cerritos College Art Gallery but you can also check out her incredible work including some Mary Shelley-ish figurines on her site here.

!Women Art Revolution!

2011-01-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

Eagerly wanting to see the forthcoming documentary about the feminist art movement in the 60's/70s !Women Art Revolution! There's just SO MUCH to cover!! Not to mention that the soundtrack also looks amazing. I can't wait. From the press release on the site:

For over forty years, Director Lynn Hershman Leeson has collected hundreds of hours of interviews with visionary artists, historians, curators and critics who shaped the beliefs and values of the Feminist Art Movement and reveal previously undocumented strategies used to politicize female artists and integrate women into art structures.

Model Lily Kwong and photographer Elle Muliarchyk: "Girl on A Bear Rug"

2011-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

There is a movement going on with more-than-just-a-pretty-face models...one in which the model desires control of her image rather than simply being an avatar to be molded into the vision of others alone. As a fan of fashion and art photographer Elle Muliarchyk, model Lily Kwong has taken her career into her own hands by requesting to shoot with the photographer for T Magazine (NY Times). The results are a sultry and gothic feminine story. Let's hope that this interesting new trend in the fashion world takes hold as it could provide a breath of fresh air in a much needed old chain of command.

Girls Girls Girls!

2011-01-13T17:35:00.000-08:00

A show I desperately wish I could see opens tonight at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in NYC. A group exhibition of multimedia works featuring images of women and girls with a modern take on the evolution of the depiction of women in art. Artists include Los Angeles' own Vanessa Prager. Have a look at some of the incredible work here, and if you're in NY be sure to check it out tonight for me! (521 West 26th Street, 5th Floor. 6-8pm)

photo: Donovan, Untitled, 2009, inkjet print, 25x30, edition 3 of 5

Adela Leibowitz.

2011-01-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

Painter Adela Leibowitz's otherwordly and macabre Cassandras are on view in a new emerging contemporary American Painters exhibit at the hpgrp Gallery in New York. Opening reception is Wednesday, January 12 from 6-8pm.

photo: House of fire and water, Oil on linen, 52”x54”, 2009/10.

DIY: Andy Warhol Motion Pictures MOMA Exhibit

2010-12-22T16:40:00.000-08:00

So cool. In conjunction with MOMA's Andy Warhol film exhibition is this very cool do-it-yourself screen test. Instructions on the MOMA site. Be your own avant-garde celebrity in black and white.

Sylvia Ji at Corey Helford Gallery

2010-12-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

In timely fashion SF artist Sylvia Ji's caribou war-painted ladies will be on display at the Corey Helford gallery in Los Angeles opening December 11. An enticing touch is there will be a free gicleé print for the first 500 guests to show. I've seen Ji's work in person and the detail is stunning. Sure to be another popular show. From the press release:

Sylvia Ji is internationally recognized for capturing beauty in its most exotic forms. For “Shapeshifter”, Ji continues to evolve her elegant style, combining her narratives with elements of Native American mythology, designs and motifs. Shapeshifting is a theme that appears in Native American folklore, where a being acquires the ability to alter its physical appearance - such as a human changing into a wolf. Depending on whether the being is the subject of a curse or spell, the transformation may be intentional or not.

Sylvia Ji: Shapeshifter 2010

The Artistry of Melissa Foreman

2010-11-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

Although I've unfortunately missed the opening, I still want to try to catch artist Melissa Foreman's show "Keeper's of Creation" which is running until December 4th at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. Her idealized pieces blend imagery evocative of historical paintings with modern day female sirens.

She Who Protects The Gentle Rabbit | Oil on board 14" x 17"

Amber Heard For Equality by Tasya Van Ree

2010-11-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

Enough said really. Check out more artists' work for equality at The iequalsyouproject.

Carol Es: It's Mostly About Me and Much Less About You

2010-10-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

Image: Machine, 2010. 40 x 60 inches. Oil, paper and embroidery on canvas.

Multi-media artist Carol Es has an upcoming exhibition at the George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles, opening reception: Saturday, October 30, 2010 5-8pm. From her press release:

It's Mostly About Me and Much Less About You is a new series of work that includes oil on canvas and linen mixed with paper and embroidery, as well as drawings on paper and handmade dolls. Carol Es uses an amalgamation of characters from her family and her apparel industry background to evoke abstracted, childlike narratives that drip in color and tattered threads to tell personal, visual stories.

4x3.1 : Phillip Lim collaborates with 4 brilliant female directors

2010-10-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

Still from Elle Muliarchyk's film for Philip Lim

Lane Crawford and NY fashion designer Phillip Lim have recently collaborated with four female directors, each representing a different city: Hong Kong, Beijing, New York and Paris. Each story features a red door which symbolises a "unique journey of a woman as she discovers her sense of time and place in the city." The featured directors are respective local artists Victoria Tang (HK), Rain Li (Beijing), Elle Muliarchyk (NY) and Yi Zhou (Paris) and each film is decadent, fashionable and exotic.

Time Lapse: 'The Unraveling' Acrylic Painting by Allison Torneros

2010-09-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Beautiful time lapse painting done by LA based artist Allison Torneros. You can check out more of her gorgeous illustration work and paintings at her very accomplished and extensive site or follow her on twitter at twitter.com/allisontorneros.

SWEET STREETS opens tomorrow in LA!

2010-09-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

If you're in LA I hope you can make it to the Sweet Streets opening party tomorrow Saturday Sept.11.

I'm very excited to be taking part in this amazing show curated by the wonderful Caro featuring a delicious selection of artists, and past FP artists, such as Mijne Schatje, Esther Kim, Nicoz Balboa, Eimi, Kukula, Danni Shinya Luo, Fawn Gehweiler, Naoshi, Lisa Alisa, Ciou, Tiffany Liu and many more!

I'll be showing paintings as well as my digital work, and one of my pieces for the show "Tomomi do Kazuko" is on the back cover of the current issue of Hi-Fructose Vol.16. Hope to see you there tomorrow!
xTansy

SWEET STREETS celebrates its second year featuring original works by today's top fine artists inspired by Japanese street fashion. 2010 premieres new works by over 50 internationally known fine artists, photographers, and surprise guests. Presented by Gallery Nucleus, and sponsored by Hi-Fructose Magazine, Tokyofashion.com, & more.

Sweet Streets II
@ Gallery Nucleus
Opens Saturday Sept. 11 7pm to 11pm
210 East Main Street
Alhambra, CA 91801
~ 10 minutes east of downtown LA

Siren Deluxe.

2010-09-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Intriguing conceptual art by New Zealand based artist Siren Deluxe, focusing on psychosexual, gender, corporal, censorship and religious themes, an almost female homage to Mapplethorpe. The mannequin series is very stark and beautiful. (Warning: sexual content.)

RIP Corinne Day.

2010-09-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

Very sad, photographer Corinne Day, notorious for launching the career of Kate Moss and the early grunge / photorealism movement has died of a brain tumor at 48. Some of these photos are absolutely iconic now. Worth another look is her book Diary, chronicling the hard times of friends and family.

Princess Hijab teen drawing.

2010-08-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a treat: an exclusive drawing to femalepersuasion from Parisian controversial guerrilla artist Princess Hijab. Created when she was fifteen years old.

Megan Van Groll

2010-08-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

Megan Van Groll's latest painting, "Bakery Brawl," (36"x48", oil on canvas) is a double self-portrait and focuses on the symbolic role of guilty pleasure food in our daily lives. To see more of Megan's work, or to purchase prints, visit her newly updated website here.

Beautiful collage work II ...Tiphanie Brooke.

2010-08-11T18:03:00.001-07:00

Tiphanie Brooke aka antigirl is a master of injecting just the perfect amount of edgy deconstructed graphic design into her heavenly collages... her genius repertoire includes design/print, illustration, photography, painting, and screen printing. She lives and works in Phoenix, AZ but has a worldwide following. She is especially known for her hearts collection, which have their own cult following. You can also follow her on twitter here.

Beautiful collage work...Li-Kim Chuah.

2010-08-11T17:36:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I posted about collage work and today there were two amazing collage artists who contacted FP. Li-Kim Chuah is a photographer and collage artist based in Melbourne, Australia. Sweet and vintagey with a little bit of punk thrown in there, please have a look at her work housed on flickr. A little bio from Li-Kim:

As a photographer trapped indoors during a grey Melbourne winter I have recently discovered collage. Collage is a great way for me to be creative, finally using all the kitsch books I have collected from Op Shops over the years. I love working with bold garish colour, grotesque 80s food and bad fashion.

Call for Submissions....

2010-08-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

FP is always open to submissions from female artists....There will be some new developments and opportunities happening with FP exposure soon and I would really like to put it out there that we are looking for artists to feature! Submit to info@femalepersuasion.net and link to the twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/femalep.

Additionally, if you have been a past featured artist, whether in the blog or as a former girlcrush, please continue to send your updates and current exhibition schedules so we can stay in the know!
Thank you!

Amy Kligman.

2010-08-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

The visual innocent symbolism of little girls and flowers are tainted with oil slicks and slightly warped nightmares in Amy Kligman's "Thoughts Before Sleeping" collection.

Amy's work is a psychological study, observing people and patterns in their nature; their dreams, their mistakes. Themes include social anxiety and awkwardness, strength found in strange places, and the mundane details that become the background for all of life's psychodramas.

You can see more of her beautiful work and peruse through her rich sketchbooks here.

Anna Haldin-Maule has a head for fashion.

2010-08-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

With the skillfulness of the Old Masters, Anna Haldin-Maule paints luscious ironic oil paintings inspired by her "love and discomfort with the world of fashion" from the island of Kauai. You can watch full videos on her site depicting her incredible techniques from selecting the right pose for the model to the layering of her paint.

Bravo's Work of Art: In Defense of Jaclyn Santos

2010-07-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Much ado has been made of artist Jaclyn Santos' sexuality on Bravo's Work of Art this season, so much so that it has become a running secondary theme throughout each episode. As the remaining artists inch closer to the finale, it's been something of a missed opportunity for Bravo that the show has not chosen to open a real debate about female provocation and feminist ideas in art, particularly in regards to the television format, where the exploitation of women is a constant. Instead, they have often edited the show for maximum titillation purposes, even taking clips of Ms. Santos working in various states of undress for frequent teaser ads and showing the other contestants discussing her incessant need for attention through nudity and suggesting that she is incapable of her own ideas.

I know Jaclyn Santos personally, and she is cerebral, thoughtful, immensely talented and incredibly knowledgeable about fine art. One only needs to read her blog to see this. (http://www.jaclynsantos.com/blog/index.php) She has worked as an assistant to master pop artist Jeff Koons and is very sensitive to the use of sexuality in art. Santos' genius (and the main reason why I believe she continues to advance on the show with a strong possibility to win) comes with her quiet awareness that her body is a medium in and of itself since it stirs up so much controversy. Yes, she is an attractive woman. And with that comes a lifetime of learning how to personally deal with the infamous "male gaze." As a good feminist artist, she refuses to separate this essential part of herself from her work. She has been successfully able to let this attention on the show fuel around her, and then harness it back into her pieces.

It is mainly a male perception that an extremely attractive female artist would revert to nudity as an act of overt power or "control" (such as contestant Miles Mendenhall has suggested)...rather it is only through personal vulnerability that she can finally gain control of the male gaze. One only has to be in the room of a Vanessa Beecroft performance piece to understand the massive power of that kind of female exposure. There is a difference between the creation of the work and the final piece itself. She is not undressing for the camera/television audience but rather for the ultimate artwork.

I am reminded of Gustave Courbet's 1866 graphically sexual realist painting, "L’Origine du monde" and then subsequently Serbian feminist artist Tanja Ostojić's 2005 satiric "EU Panties" poster, suggesting that "foreign women are only welcome in Europe when they drop their underwear." They both still have the uncanny power to shock even though they are over 100 years apart, and both are still discussed as pornographic. This is because a woman's nude body will continue to be seen as a controversial and political statement artistically as long as our culture continues to treat it as such, still debating about what are her acceptable moral choices as an individual, and debasing it for entertainment's sake. Bravo's Work of Art could have taken that theme and educated. Ms. Santos is aware of this and for that she is on her way to becoming a feminist artist to watch.

Heide Hatry: Imagine It Thick In Your Own Hair

2010-07-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Imagine It Thick In Your Own Hair: I received an invite today for a benefit and silent auction for the victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill, by German visual artist and curator Heide Hatry, in conjunction with a silent auction of work by numerous artists. At the Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, MA through August 1, 2010.

With strong support from artists Marina Abramovic and Joel-Peter Witkin on Hatry's site this is sure to be an interesting show.

The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures and artist book and some of the work will include actual animals such as birds, opossums, rats and mice.

Using road kill and found animal corpses, Hatry creates scenes suggestive of what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico today. Her pigments are actual oil and tar and other “organic” materials that are the substance of the disaster. Life is a circle. Even the repugnant oil that is responsible for destroying life and land was once living animals and plants itself.

Drawing: "Dreams climb other dreams and then pass right through" by Liz Insogna

Tasya van Ree...this time it's photography.

2010-07-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful invitation from Tasya, and even though i know I just posted about her, this show seems too delicious to pass up as well. August 11th at 345 N. Canon Beverly Hills 9 oh two one oh.

Princess Hijab's "Veiling Art" in Paris.

2010-07-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

A "graffiti artist" in Paris has been going around the city incognito late at night and painting face veils over models displayed in posters and billboards. The woman, who calls herself "Princess Hijab", says the so-called "hijab-ising" of the models is just art and not a religious statement. Al Jazeera followed her one night.

Tasya Van Ree

2010-07-06T15:52:00.001-07:00

I recently discovered Los Angeles artist and photographer Tasya Van Ree. Her paintings are dreamy and lyrical, evoking fairy tales and fantasies. See her "rapturous and romantic" pieces for yourself at her upcoming exhibit: "Birthmarks of the Feminine," this Friday, July 9th at 6432 Santa Monica Blvd. For more information see her website.

Drawings by Vanessa Prager.

2010-06-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

The stylish and talented Prager sisters continue to inspire! Vanessa Prager has an upcoming show Love You Too, Part 2 : this Thursday June 10th at Em & Co. in West Hollywood, featuring her haunting iconic ballpoint pen drawings on sheet music paper. To see more of her work visit Vanessa's site.

Kim Gordon is just cool.

2010-05-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Seriously, what doesn't Kim Althea Gordon do? Her watercolor paintings, like the music of Sonic Youth, with rip at you and make you think. And now Rizzoli has just published a sort of scrapbook, a limited edition book of her musings called: Performing/Guzzling: Kim Gordon. She's the daughter of a seamstress...ah now it all makes sense to me (as I am too). Rock on.

Karen Elson

2010-05-25T13:57:00.001-07:00

Flame-haired supermodel and wife of Jack White, Karen Elson has a beautiful new album called "The Ghost Who Walks" out right now...it reminds me of the early bluegrass of Dolly Parton. you can listen to it in all its elegiac and twangy prettiness here....

Jenny Mörtsell

2010-05-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

Oh man i just love graphite...it just elicits something very raw artistically for me...it's hard to ever lose your first feelings for all that simple pencils can do. My latest crush is on artist Jenny Mörtsell. She has a very sophisticated quality of line. You can follow all of her blogs and tweets here.

...and speaking of sexy art books...

2010-05-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Ok well I admit I scoffed at the price of Helmut Newton's Sumo when it was published and sold for $1500. And you know what...? It appreciated in value and is upwards of $7000. on ebay and elsewhere. I remember one person who had it then and it was deserving of the altar it came with. Lucky girl. Perhaps this new $1000. Bettina Rheims (and Serge Bramly) piece will do the same. From the Amazon.com description:

Equal parts erotica, fashion shoot, art monograph, metaphysical mystery, social and cultural archaeology of the French capital, and neo-noir arthouse film—Rose, c'est Paris is all this and more.

In a surrealistic inversion of the oft-imitated 1954 Parisian photobook...Love On The Left Bank, this mesmerizing work is the meandering tale of twin sisters, known only as B and R, and a third principal—the city itself. When R returns to their apartment and learns that B has been abducted following a violent struggle, a dreamlike detective story unfolds in black and white on the streets, in the cafés and cabarets, groceries and museums, usines abondonées, and grands hotels of Paris.

Luscious. Anyone want to donate one?

The Grandmother of Performance Art.

2010-05-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

If you didn't get a chance to see the latest live performance of Marina Abramović at the MOMA, hurry, she will be performing through May 31. It is a breathtaking experience and an existential wonder which brought tears to my eyes. The duality of life and death intertwine with her silence and knowing eyes. I only wish I had enough time to wait to get the chance to sit with her, which would have been a wonder. Known for always pushing the boundaries of the human experience through her art, the Yugoslovian artist has an incredible life story and I'm looking forward to this new biography. There was a great article in the January issue of W Magazine additionally which can be found here.

Kate D. MacDowell

2010-05-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

I came across the impossibly delicate and beautiful hand-sculpted porcelain work of Kate MacDowell today...her fusion of humanity and nature could not be more timely in the face of the multiple environmental disasters we are facing...

"In my work this romantic ideal of union with the natural world conflicts with our contemporary impact on the environment. These pieces are in part responses to environmental stressors including climate change, toxic pollution, and gm crops. They also borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones. In some pieces aspects of the human figure stand-in for ourselves and act out sometimes harrowing, sometimes humorous transformations which illustrate our current relationship with the natural world. In others, animals take on anthropomorphic qualities when they are given safety equipment to attempt to protect them from man-made environmental threats. In each case the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort with the disturbing implication that we too are vulnerable to being victimized by our destructive practices."

(Shown: Sparrow, 7"x6 ½"x2", hand built porcelain, cone 6 glaze, 7/2008)

lemons and integrity...

2010-05-07T10:10:00.001-07:00

There will always be disappointment. Woke up this morning to the reality that an opportunity I had been hoping for turned out to be a hair worse than amateur hour, cue the circus music and lights. Sorry to be cryptic but it doesn't serve anyone to point out specifics. I understand the atavistic comfort of familiarity as opposed to provocation. However, I am looking at this circumstance from another perspective because I'm at least grateful that it's given me a new outlook on what is important to me from a visual and content consideration standpoint. I find myself so often compromising aesthetics in the commercial world, and I never ever ever want to do that here. I don't think I could have channeled my personality into someone else's tacky framework.

I am making a promise to continue to be the best acerbic, quality-minded, thoughtful designer, writer and curator I can be. I will continue to write about sex, politics, and art without fear from the perspective that can only be my own unique one as long as people find it truthful and interesting!

To other like-minded female artists out there...please continue to follow and submit to FP, it really means so much to us here! Thank you...

Rachel Wolfe.

2010-05-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

There is a quiet power to landscape photography when you can feel the transience of humanity...now you see them, now you don't. Rachel Wolfe's photography is like that. There are many places to explore on her site including her poetry and blog:

"The intuited energy I find everywhere, in everything aids in my process of making my perception of unseen forces known."

Jaclyn Santos: Bravo's Next Great Artist

2010-05-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tweeted about the upcoming Bravo TV reality show "Work of Art" (still having a hard time with the idea of competing artists, kind of like the Oscars for me...but we'll see) and today I heard from one of the contestants, Jaclyn Santos. A former assistant to Jeff Koons, Santos' work is both sexual and spiritual, confronting the male gaze and post feminism head on. From her site:

"I am concerned with defying stereotypes and obscuring the boundary between "high" and "low" art. I like to create a tension between the viewer as a voyeur and the viewer as a participant. I frequently make use of "masculine" imagery such as sports cars and urinals or give mundane objects a phallic connotation - this serves to emphasize the sexual undertone of the narratives. I feel that contemporary American society places an unattainable amount of expectations on women; cinematography in particular often creates "superwomen" who are unnaturally beautiful, smart, talented, successful, and sexually gifted. However, due to time constraints as well as genetically determined physical and mental limitations, no real woman could ever possibly achieve equality with these fictitious idols..."

I am looking forward to watching her on the show as well as featuring more of her work on fp.You can follow Jaclyn on twitter here as well.

Pictures From My Heart: Emma Talbot

2010-05-03T11:02:00.001-07:00

London artist Emma Talbot is currently exhibiting at Transition Gallery but her pieces are also available in a publication here. The show features a selection of heartbreakingly honest drawings made following the death of her husband Paul to better understand her own process of emotion and work.

"When Paul died, I realised there were some things I will never know, because when I lost him, I lost all of his thoughts and memories as well. That’s really what made me start to think about this. What we are is in our heads. What we know about the world, we carry around with us, and what we think is based on these notions or memories. And everything we do is driven by our way of thinking. The drawings are not all melancholic, though, there's a lot about love, personal memories, experience and thoughts." –Emma Talbot (photo by Damian Griffiths)

Anthropology of an American Girl

2010-05-03T10:09:00.001-07:00

Sometimes there are those books that for one reason or another find themselves stuck on your bookshelf or bedside table for a long time. You may pick them up and start to read but it's not the right moment, so they remain dusty until they call out to you again. I'm not exactly sure how I stumbled across this book originally, but I am certainly glad I did. Because I've finally cracked into it, and wow, it's just such a beautifully written poetic novel that hits upon so many truths of growing up an American girl. I find myself wanting to dog ear almost every page...quotes that you don't want to forget. Hilary Thayer Hamann if you're out there, I love you. From Amazon.com:

Originally a self-published cult hit in 2003 (since reedited), Hamann's debut traces the sensual, passionate, and lonely interior of a young woman artist growing up in windswept East Hampton at the end of the 1970s.

No Woman No Cry

2010-04-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Complications upon delivery of her first child led Christy Turlington Burns to become the Maternal Health Advocate for the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE). This is her documentary about maternal mortality rates, focusing on at-risk pregnant women in four parts of the world, including a remote Maasai tribe in Tanzania, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States. Sure to be a very powerful and emotional documentary. More on her site www.everymothercounts.org and you can follow Christy on twitter here.

A response to Newsweek on young feminists...Young Women Activists are NOT Apathetic, just Under-Represented!

2010-04-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

This week, Newsweek magazine has published an article:
Remember Roe! How can the next generation defend abortion rights when they don't think abortion rights need defending? regarding the current state of the pro-choice movement seemingly without quoting any younger generation activists.
Perhaps Newsweek isn't aware of social media sites such as twitter and facebook, and the power they wield when it comes to sharing information, creating momentum, and organization. There is NO apathy when it comes to the pro-choice response amongst young women. Our rallying cry is healthy and loud and we are mobilized and ready to fight. The next generation of women is highly aware of the importance and vulnerability of Roe v. Wade and we eagerly look forward to the next female Supreme Court nominee. Even back in 2004, when I attended the March for Women's Rights rally in Wash. DC, it was an amazing experience to witness both old and younger generations, mothers and daughters (as well as husbands, fathers and boyfriends) come together to protest, even though the staggering numbers represented barely made it to the news the following day. I think the greater issue is who the media focuses on when it comes to our voice. WHERE is OUR representation in the mainstream media? It seems to be greatly lacking. I point to the media's apathy to reach out to US. I alone can point to several key bloggers and sites who lead this charge: http://thefbomb.org, Lindsey Horvath, Shelby Knox, Jenn Pozner, NOWYoungFems just to name a few. Perhaps if any of these young outspoken women were approached for this article it may have had a different point of view.

Red stilettos and smoking guns.

2010-04-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

The LA Times really took it up a notch today with Carla Gugino on the cover of their magazine, interweaving the print with the interactive, with fashion, with her new short film, A Tell Tale Heart. I am suddenly inspired by all things noir. If this is the future of media I am so ready. Let the damages begin.

Natalie Finkelstein.

2010-03-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

Natalie Finkelstein is a Montreal-based artist who has a juicy collection of collection of paintings called Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, portraying to the pressures that woman feel to be nice and sweet, like eye candy. She is also currently working on a painting installation and short video based on a discussion with a group of 8 high school girls who discussed body issues and objectification of women in the media. Keep an eye on her site (http://www.natfink.com) for more info.

Typography Inspiration

2010-03-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Simply finding some beautiful typography inspiration this morning from these vintage piano sheets.

Call For Submissions

2010-03-01T19:47:00.001-08:00

Each Monday, Storychord.com features one story, one image and one song - each by a different underexposed, talented up-and-comer. All issues are thoughtfully curated by Sarah Lynn Knowles (SARAHSPY, The Furnace Review).

Submission Guidelines
To submit work, please carefully follow the guidelines below. Submissions are held in consideration for up to 6 months. You will hear back only if your work has been selected for publication. Writers may submit short fiction (3,500 words maximum) either in the body of an email or as an .rtf attachment to storychord@yahoo.com. Be sure to send a short bio, upcoming publication credits and your website link. Photographers & other visual artists may submit links to 1-3 images (no attachments, please) to storychord@yahoo.com. Be sure to send a short bio, including any recent or upcoming gallery/publication credits and your website link. Bands/labels may submit songs (1-2 per artist) via our Soundcloud dropbox. Be sure to include a short bio specifying the artist's location, label (if unsigned, say so), album title/release date, and website.

Wings of the Dove

2010-02-25T18:17:00.000-08:00

Reading about the debut of model Agyness Deyn in a short film called Mean to Me also starring Linus Roache, I was reminded of how much I adored him and my good friend Alison Elliott in The Wings of the Dove (1997--has it really been that long ago?) It's such a spectacular period love triangle thriller and one of those films I need to dig out and rewatch. Perfect for a rainy Saturday and then lusting for old Mary McFadden evening gowns and a trip to Venice.

Yuula Benivolski: Migrant Creatures

2010-02-19T18:25:00.000-08:00

Speaking of Yuula Benivolski, her MFA thesis show, Migrant Creatures, opened last week at Les Territoires in Montreal and it is beautiful.

Migrant Creatures examines the emotional repercussions of new environments and the quiet solitary states within a migrant life. Through photographs and installation Yuula Benivolski presents the process of adaptation and its contemplative moments, as experienced by a single figure within the landscape.

Fictional rituals and survivalist traditions come together within a human subject whose existence is paradoxical: her body is firmly planted in the physical world while her mind wanders within the private realm of a self defined memory and history.

The show runs until March 2nd.

Les Territoires

372 rue Ste-Catherine O #527

Montreal, Quebec

More information on the gallery website.

Marlaina Read: New Work

2010-02-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

This show is already underway, but if I was anywhere near Australia I would go.

Marlaina Read: New Work

An exhibition of new photographic work, Masters of Fine Arts in progress presentation. The images, from a larger body of work, On My Shore, explore a mystical meshing of the fathomless, infinite space of sky and the sea and the grounding, physical expanse of land. Dreamlike topographies are revealed, explored and small rituals are performed. On My Shore manifests unknown realities.

ESP. Gallery

228 Illawarra Road

Marrickville, Australia

Exhibition runs 18 February - 7 March 2010

More information on the ESP. Gallery website.

Lisa Cristinzo

2010-02-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love most right now is Lisa Cristinzo's Winter Wildebeasta, photographed by Kate Young. Lisa is an artist working in Toronto and assisting in managing Artscape Gibraltar Point. She is a painter and also does performance as an alter ego, warrior Beasta Wilda.

Last week she was profiled in NOW Magazine.

Watch Fighting Waves, a video of Beasta and her wife, Solar Zinc (artist Yuula Benivolski), from summer 2009.

V-DAY!

2010-02-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

The state of girl, the condition of girl -- in the world and in us -- will determine if this species survives.
–Eve Ensler

I just returned empowered and energized from the V-Day Luncheon in Los Angeles. I feel wide-eyed and ready to go! V-Day is Eve Ensler's organization to permanently end violence against women and girls. The luncheon was emotional and powerful with readings from Eve's new piece "I am an Emotional Creature" and speeches from Chralize Theron and Rosario Dawson who were brave enough to share their own personal experiences and how we can all connect to women particularly in the Congo, but also throughout the world. I would like to put together a future art show / fund-raising effort for this organization and will be calling on female artists who would like to participate soon. In the meantime, please check out the website: vday.org

Shocked and saddened...

2010-02-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

I am so shocked to learn this morning of the death of Alexander McQueen. I wanted to take a moment to remember how influential he has been to me throughout the years as a designer. I have studied fashion and costume design throughout my life. My mother was a seamstress and taught fashion designers, there was always stray pattern pieces, yards of materials, tools, pins in the house. Projects to be working on, contests to enter. The first time I ever read about McQueen was in Vogue...I will never forget the article because it described how he scribble-sewed “I am a c*nt” into the sleeve lining of a suit he was working on for Prince Charles. This blew my mind. He was the first designer to speak to me and show me that fashion could be theatrical, it could be art, and most importantly it could be irreverent. Whenever I was told that something couldn't be done in construction I of course then wanted to do it...and I loved that I had someone to emulate. From the bumsters to the spray paint, I adored everything that he did. I recently stopped everything at work to watch his last show live and it didn't disappoint. He will now be remembered as an icon.

Grace Kelly exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum

2010-01-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

If you're in London April 17 - September 26, the V&A Fashion Wing will be exhibiting Grace Kelly's wardrobe including her iconic lace wedding dress, Oscar gowns and the original Hermes Kelly Bag. Ooh lala, sure to be lustful.

Lady Gaga on 20/20

2010-01-22T22:46:00.001-08:00

This interview on 20/20 was curious and compelling. Whenever she speaks I am intrigued. Check it out. Lady Gaga: I Felt Like A Freak

Where is MY Mapplethorpe?

2010-01-20T16:42:00.001-08:00

Patti Smith's new memoir is a love tribute to her friend, lover and confidant Robert Mapplethorpe. I've often contemplated the perfect storm of timing and a meeting of creative minds. It seems to happen once in a miracle, like the Beatles, and theirs was definitely in that realm. Patti Smith continues to inspire and I'm looking forward to this book: Just Kids by Patti Smith.

Pages take on life.

2010-01-06T12:21:00.000-08:00

Currently wishing I owned one of Scottish artist's Georgia Russell's feathery slashed books. Meticulous and dreamy!

Old books have always seemed to her like sculptural objects ‘representing the many hands which have held them and the minds they have passed through’. She says that she has always chosen something which ‘holds within it a sense of its own personal history, an object which has a secret life’, and wants to resurrect her fragile materials and give them ‘a new life and new meaning’. There is a simultaneous sense of loss and preservation in each construction, as she wants to retain and reclaim the past as much as her techniques attack it.
–quote from England & Co., her representation

Women Are Beautiful

2010-01-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

Amazing situational photographer Alex Prager is having her first major New York show this month at the Yancey Richardson Gallery. Entitled "Week-end," the opening reception is on January 14th and if you come to the opening you will receive a 46-page limited edition catalog. I have one of Alex's catalogs and they are very well-done pieces of art in and of themselves. From there the show will move on to Los Angeles on Jan. 30th.

Malak captures energy and stolen moments

2009-12-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

Malak is a polaroid and toy camera photographer from Belgium....Her website http://www.hokaku.com is filled with beautiful and quiet photographs that reflect Hokaku, which according to her site means “Capture” in Japanese. "Capture of the time that passes, of stolen moments…" Lovely.

New mix from dj QZen

2009-12-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

I grew up in San Francisco with Susan Langan now aka DJ Qzen, who to me used to be the adorable little sister of classmates...now a sophisticated and accomplished DJ. She was asked to prepare a mix for an electronic music and culture site in Buenos Aires called Del Jardín Latino, and it's up for download here, so I thought I'd pass it on. While you're at it, listen to her other project 40 Thieves here.

Karin Apollonia Müller

2009-11-28T00:12:00.000-08:00

Karin Apollonia Müller is one of my favourite photographers. She takes soft photographs of Los Angeles that are at once beautiful and uneasy, quiet, lonely and on the brink of disaster, showing a version of the city that is entirely different from the Los Angeles of the popular imagination. When her work was shown at The Photographer's Gallery in London they wrote:

[Müller] grew up on a Rhine river barge. Her father, the captain, built her a swing and she remembers swinging high above the boat, flying and floating above the landscape. This experience of being in a place out of place, is echoed in her work. She says, 'I give testimony to my own perspective of a world which produces a state of constant exile, where we are banished from such comforting notions as "centre" or "home". I am an emigrant, not in the sense of a foreign worker, expelled citizen or refugee, but through my understanding of myself as a homeless being, floating and reflecting.

How immigrant artists, particularly photographers, see their environments is something that I am very drawn to and I think this is a deeply compelling aspect to how Müller's work functions. At the same time, the socio-political, ecological and aesthetic content of her photographs look to me like the visual manifestation of Mike Davis's writings on Los Angeles as an apocalyptic space.

See more of Karin Apollonia Müller's work on her website.

Feminality Art Show

2009-11-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

Please come out this Saturday night to support my good friend Amy Botello as well as other upcoming female artists in the Feminality Show at Hive Gallery from 1pm-10pm. There are some really amazing female artists involved here and you can check out some samples of their work here: http://feminalityartshow.com/

Jenny Holzer at Fondation Beyeler

2009-11-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

VernissageTV has two videos of the projections that are part of Jenny Holzer's current exhibit at Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel, Switzerland. The exhibit includes projections on significant sites in both Basel and Zurich.

Jennzy Holzer at Fondation Beyeler

Jenny Holzer: Light Projections in Basel / Fondation Beyeler

Holzer's Twitter feed is the one of the best things about Twitter.

Invisible City

2009-11-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

Invisible City Issue 06 is now online, featuring artwork and writing by:

Jeff Luker, Matthew Woodward, Dave Proctor, Heidi Kenyon, Susanne Willuhn, Peter Tonkin, Helena Kvarnström, Lee Salmone, Joshua McCrimmon, Ryan Parker, Holly Wilson and Christian Fuller.

Invisible City is edited and published by Marlaina Read, an Australian photographer who makes beautiful, dizzying pictures that explore "ideas of pause and delay in relation to how people view both still and moving images."

Unfortunate Day for Women's Rights...

2009-11-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

If the Stupak Amendment--supported by the religious right AND left and the bishop's group-- is ultimately in the final draft of the healthcare bill, it is a major setback for women's rights. It's getting tiresome to listen to Democrats talk the talk about protecting women's reproductive rights, and then using them time and again as a throwaway barter chip in the eleventh hour. Imagine if men's health issues were on the table-- let's just say no erectile dysfunction or prostate cancer coverage...it's infuriating that our rights just keep getting chipped away. And this is not about the upper/middle class who can afford it. It's about the female poor and lower classes who NEED reproductive choices, and will be unable to afford them. It's about chipping and chipping away at our rights until illegal and unsafe abortions become common again.

Because of the limits placed on the exchanges, most of the participants will have some form of premium credit or affordable subsidy. That means most will be ineligible for abortion coverage. The idea that people are going to go out and purchase separate "abortion plans" is both cruel and laughable. If this amendment passes, it will mean that virtually all women with insurance through the exchange who find themselves in the unwanted and unexpected position of needing to terminate a pregnancy will not have coverage for the procedure. Abortion coverage will not be outlawed in this country. It will simply be tiered, reserved for those rich enough to afford insurance themselves or lucky enough to receive from their employers. (Ezra Klein, Washington Post)

Seeing the Democrats celebrating this "historic victory" at the cost of women's freedoms when it comes to their own bodies is tremendously sad, and I can't help but think when people brush it off..."well I'd rather have that than nothing..." that it's a slippery slope once all that we've fought for thus far starts crumbling away at the expense of political gambling.

Additionally, a must-read article by Taylor Marsh on the Huffington post is here: In Pelosi's House, 64 Democrats Sell Women Out.

For action you can take now, please see Planned Parenthood or NARAL.

Yes I have a crush on Charlotte Gainsbourg....

2009-10-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

I have had one on her since Ma Femme est une Actrice and I won't hold it against her that she's starring and winning accolades in the ultra-misogynistic AntiChrist...but I mostly love her for her voice. 5:55 as an album was so inspirational to me, and now her upcoming album is being produced by Beck, so I can't wait. You can get a free download of the first single off of it on her site here.

One for the Cougars...

2009-10-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

In the New York Times today: Rethinking the Older Woman, Younger Man Relationship:

The loosening of relationship conventions, which is not limited to age but also includes race, religion and economic status, appears to be particularly evident among female baby boomers, sociologists say, who are faced with the tightest “marriage squeeze” — the smallest pool of compatible men as conventionally defined, those two to three years older, of similar background and higher levels of education and income. The reason is that as women have delayed marriage, men still have a tendency to date and marry younger women.

I'm glad the notion of this becoming less of a stigma, more of a conventional turn is taking hold. I mean, what's the big deal? Great article, read more here.

MadM X

2009-09-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

OOOM Trailer from MAdM OOOM on Vimeo.

I'm not even sure what I'm looking at here but I like it, harkens back to the last time I ever really loved a 1 hour format drama on TV: Twin Peaks. Melissa Auf der Maur is inspiring and seems to have a lot of unique ideas. The kind of girl you want to be friends with.

Like Brigitte Bardot!

2009-09-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

Ok I just tweeted this, but the images are too iconic to pass up...Some of the most famous paparazzi photos of BB are up for sale. Wouldn't you just love to have one! From the James Hyman Gallery's (London) website:

Coinciding with the 75th Birthday of Brigitte Bardot on 28th September 2009, James Hyman Gallery presents an exhibition of 75 vintage photographs by some of the most famous paparazzi photographers...Presented at the same time as London Fashion Week (18-22 September) Brigitte Bardot and the Original Paparazzi focuses on one of the greatest fashion icons of the twentieth century.

Juliette Lewis talks Derby & Rock...

2009-09-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

Really not that long ago babies...keep up the work.

2009-08-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY- 79 Years of Women Voting!
In 1971, the U.S. Congress designated August 26 at “Women’s Equality Day” to commemorate the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote. Today we not only celebrate one of the first victories leading to women gaining equal standing in society, we remember the continuing struggle towards full equality...you've come a long way baby!

Tipper Gore Photography.

2009-08-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here's what I learned this morning on twitter: I did not know that Tipper Gore was an amazing and accomplished photographer. Her work is quiet and powerful, I really love her portraits, and if you're privileged enough to be able to stand in the thick of it all, I suppose you're privy to some pretty incredible shots...Take a look. Tippergore.com

NY Times Women's Issue...

2009-08-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

Some amazing pieces in the NY Times today about why women's causes are finally getting attention, and why they work. Cheers, Hillary Clinton!

Chloe Sevigny sees red for Opening Ceremony.

2009-08-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

Chloe Sevigny has a new line of clothing for Opening Ceremony and rather than the usual fashion lookbook, in true Chloe style she has created a book called RED (what else) featuring all red-headed models. Additionally the book is graced with the work of several artists including Marlene McCarty (left.) This reminded me of how much I love McCarty's work and have since a friend's Venice show featuring her ballpoint girly drawings many years ago. Read more here.

Brett is a Girl.

2009-08-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across artist and illustrator Brett Manning's work today while looking for images of my heroine Margot Tennenbaum, and I just love her style! She describes her work as often being "overtly feminine" I thought it was appropriate to feature her here. You can purchase a lot of her work, she has multiple shops open here. I think I might have to get Margot for myself...

Corinne Day: Kate Moss photos to save her life...

2009-08-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

Corinne Day is an iconic British photographer whose work has chronicled everything from fashion to the biographical – almost voyeuristic – chronicles of her subject's and friends' lives, often starkly portraying realistic worlds of darkness and drugs. But now, in her forties, she is faced with the seriousness of a brain tumor and will be selling previously unpublished photos of her friend Kate Moss to pay for the expensive treatment....For more information, and to purchase or view one of the prints, go here.

Photograph by Corinne Day.