I was poking around the matteo los angeles website today and discovered their beautifully styled collection of linen apparel. I really like the back-lit/x-ray effect in these photos. Reminds me a bit of Adam Fuss’s My Ghost series. I would really like to add one of his prints to my collection, but in the meantime maybe I could just print and frame one of these product shots!
All posts tagged "Collecting":
THE POP FACES | A project from Yee Wong and Joshua Scott
These photos are from a series called “The Pop Faces” created by Yee Wong and photographed by Joshua Scott. I’ve always liked the theme of pop culture in fine art and these are really cool. They make me think of both the disposable quality and the power of celebrity in our culture. Even rumpled on the floor, the subjects are instantly recognizable. I like the accompanying video (below), but love the still photos. Those would look great framed and leaned against the wall in my bedroom!
The Folio Society | Illustrated books
Does anyone else dream of having a sort of walnut-and-velvet library someday? Complete with persian rug and ladder? Of course you can’t just fill that thing up with a bunch of yellowed old paperbacks. No! You need leather. You need box sets. You need first editions.
My recent discovery of The Folio Society has rekindled that fantasy for me. The London company has been publishing beautiful illustrated books since it’s founding in 1947. They seem to do a very good job of matching the artists with the books. I’ve selected two fine examples below, but there are countless others on their website. Warning: they don’t come cheap. I still think they’d make a good investment, especially the fantasy fiction ones. (At least those are the ones I tend to revisit the most.) Happy reading!
ART PRINTS | Holiday offer from Samantha French
The latest guest I’ve interviewed for Camille Styles is none other than artist Samantha French, the talented painter featured in my very first masthead on SCOUT. She has been an absolute joy to correspond with, and her gift guide went live today! She’s offering a very cool offer of 10% off prints in her etsy store to our readers. Hop on over to Camille Styles to get the offer code. And, if any of Santa’s elves are reading this, I’d like a large print of “Deep Dive”.
SCANNING | Wes Anderson Book Covers
The good folks at Criterion Current recently published a little slideshow featuring a few of the printed props from Wes Anderson’s movies. Used for quick and funny cutaways, these little gems are definitely worth a closer look. The comment thread on Current was full of readers who wanted to know more about the props (Who designed them? Are these screengrabs or photos of the props? Can I buy a print?) along with one comment submitted by a Christopher J. Garcia who stated:
“I would the read the hell out of Old Custer. — Chris”
So would I, Chris. So would I.
SCANNING | Fleur Cowles and Flair Magazine
Before there was Domino, before there was Sassy… there was Flair. Yes, the unequivocal mother of all cult publications doomed to fail before it’s time: Flair Magazine was created by Fleur Cowles in 1950, and ran for only 12 months of publication. Known for it’s lavish die-cut covers and artwork, the magazine would ultimately fail underneath it’s own heavy cost of production. In the 60-odd years since, Flair (and Fleur) have become icons of creative and uncompromised magazine publishing. Spanning the realms of art, literature, high society and fashion, Flair boasts a serious list of contributors including W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, Gypsy Rose Lee, Simone de Beauvoir, Dali, and Jean Cocteau. As a self-professed magazine junkie, I can tell you that I am way, way in to this. These days just one issue of Flair goes for around $45 on eBay. But there are other, less musty routes to the contents of Flair. For only $1,020 you can buy the 1996 “Best of Flair“ box set on Amazon. And since the nearby University of Texas Harry Ransom Center has an entire symposium dedicated to Fleur (who knew?!), I’m willing to bet that they may have some more budget-friendly resources worth exploring… In the meantime, I can’t wait to get my hands on She Made Friends and Kept Them, Fleur’s memoir of what she called a lifetime of “friend-gathering”. In addition to her creativity, Fleur was known for her tendency to befriend the rich-and-famous, her colorful outfits and trademark horn-rimmed glasses.
Oddly, I wasn’t able to find a good image of all twelve covers of Flair anywhere online. I took some time and did a little research… So here they are, all twelve covers of Flair, in order of publication:
* image of horn-rimmed glasses from Attic Eye Wear Vintage
GAZING | Collage art by Beth Hoeckel
I’ve always had a thing for collages… even the ones my friends made for me in high school from cut up Seventeen magazines. Lately I’ve been looking for (and finding) some really, really good collage art online. Baltimore-based artist Beth Hoeckel has been my biggest discovery — she has a large body of work on her website and all of it’s rad. It was really hard to narrow down what I wanted to share here. I love the pieces from a series she did called “gazing”. They feel sort of surreal and post-apocalyptic to me. And yet there’s an odd beauty and almost peaceful quality to them as well. What do you think?
If you like Beth’s art, check out her online shop. She’s got several very reasonably priced prints available.
*All pieces by Beth Hoeckel, listed from top to bottom: 1. Sunbathing, 2. Glacial, 3. Moonrise, 4. April Showers, 5. Peachy, 6. Slumber, 7. Vacation, 8. Slick
SCANNING | Moonrise Kingdom Postcards
I recently bit the bullet on a new scanner, and this is my first time using it! I’ve been holding on to these postcards for a long time, in anticipation of the “Scanning” series. I actually picked them up at The Violet Crown over the summer. I was there to see the Richard Linklater movie Bernie (great movie) and there was this cardboard display with 7 collectible postcards that had just been set up in the lobby. I didn’t feel guilty at all about taking one of each. I love this kind of stuff. In fact, I think concepting promotional schwag for movies would be a really fun job… Somebody got paid to do this, right? Anyways, I just unearthed these from the closet today and they reminded me of how much I enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom. I definitely need to add a copy of that one to the permanent collection.
SWIMMING | Paintings by Samantha French
Ever since I discovered the art of Samantha French via Lonny Mag I’ve been wanting to buy a piece for myself. Swimming is a big part of life in the summer here in Austin and these remind me of good memories at Barton Springs and Deep Eddy pool… I’ve got a pretty sick collection of movie posters and concert paraphernalia going at my place, but eventually I’d like to start buying some art, too. You know, the kind with a capital “A”. The problem is that most of the good stuff is WAY out of my price range. The good news is that Samantha has an etsy store offering tons of prints, most for under $100. I haven’t decided which one I like best, but I’m thinking maybe that guy at the top.
images top to bottom: “Deep dive” by Samantha French, oil on canvas, 2011 // “Emerge; clear waters” by Samantha French, oil on canvas, 2012 // “Slow breathing” by Samantha French, oil on canvas, 2011 // “At the surface” by Samantha French, oil on canvas, 2008.