...and more Scarlett Johansson

Cover of falling down - the first single from Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits cover album anywhere I lay my head. Image from absurdity blog.

I wrote about Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits cover album and the song by song pre-review a few weeks ago and I've now finally heard the first single falling down (link doesn't show official video).

Very, very Velvet Underground and Nico, but with a dreamy quality - and perfectly harmonised backing vocals by David Bowie.

After hearing her wonderful take on Tom Wait's Falling Down it's quite startling to realise that she actually has a classically good singing voice (again not an official music video). I still prefer falling down though...

More Klimt...

Dancer by Gustav Klimt (1916-1918).

Castle Pond in Kammer on the Attersee by Gustav Klimt (circa 1910).

Style.com has just posted about the inspiration of Klimt's signature gilding technique as an inspiration for the A/W 2008 collections.

I was feeling it about a month ago, but now I think the paintings above seem more appealing...

Might just be my current thirst for spring and sunshine though!

Risaku Suzuki x2

Kumano, Yuki, Sakura. Photographs by Risaku Suzuki. Text by Kiyokazu Washida. Tankosha, Kyoto, 2007. 136 pp., 80 color and 8 black & illustrations., 7¾x9½".

Yuki Sakura. Photographs by Risaku Suzuki. Nazraeli Press, Tucson, 2007. 40 pp., 31 four-color plates., 17x14".

Kumano, Yuki, Sakura (top) is a catalogue from a Risaku Suzuki exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in 2007 - were the photographs have been placed in seasonal order (showing the artist’s approach, which "swings like a poetic pendulum between the moment and eternity" as it's so beautifully put).


In the book Yuki Sakura the photgrapher Risaku Suzuki "presents two quintessential Japanese subjects - snowfall and cherry blossoms - in a manner that is at once timeless and refreshingly new."

"[The book] Yuki Sakura opens with photographs of snowflakes drifting weightlessly in a deep blue Hokkaido night sky. These are followed by high-key landscapes of freshly-fallen snow bathed in morning light, punctuated by the merest suggestions of trees rising above the white drifts. The book ends in a crescendo of cherry blossoms against a backdrop of the branches from which they burst forth; the use of extreme selective focus in these last photographs softens the flowers into light pink cloud-forms, creating a full circle."


Magical and beautiful. I wish I owned this book (and the catalogue)!


"Risaku Suzuki is one of Japan's most prominent young photgraphers. His photographs were included in 'The History of Japanese Photography' exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and are housed in the permanent collections of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; International Center of Photography, New York; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography."


Here ("Setting Foot in Risaku Suzuki’s Nature Photography") is a good place to read and see some more of this photographer for example.

Earth Day and ecoBaby Share

ecoBaby Share is a new site aimed at helping parents and kids to go green - as well as offering a great eco-friendly and economical borrowing service - and is suitably up and running to coincide with Earth Day today.

The blog aims to "share knowledge of eco-friendly products and services for babies, toddlers and of course their doting parents." The site will also have a "sharing service" where you can borrow baby clothes, books and other items for a weekly fee (no subscription fee or fixed period!). Read more about this up-coming service here (or suggest an item to be added).

"By reusing items you're engaging in planet care, and since we try to stock eco-friendly products its doubly good. If you're looking for a gift you can also buy all the items here. Borrow or buy, it's great to share!"

This is a really great initiative that I hope will extend outside the US!

Design Issue by the Independent

Cover of last weeks' Saturday magazine by the Independent and insert images.

The Independent newspaper has started a new Saturday Magazine.

This was last weeks cover (wonder-ful!) and I wish I would've have known that as it's just lovely and I could've got someone to buy it for me. (I wonder if I could order it as a back issue straight from them or something...)

Cover design (blue image) and other images by Rob Ryan - remember my post...? More images from the issue here.

William Christenberry Works on Paper.

William Christenberry Works on Paper. By William Christenberry. Nazraeli Press. 64pp., 14 x 17 (hardbound). Limited edition of 1,000 casebound copies.

"Widely known for his work in photography and sculpture, William Christenberry’s early career was marked by large abstract expressionist paintings (1954–64). Like many artists educated and inspired by abstract expressionists, Christenberry has consistently produced works on paper that often remained hidden from collectors and curators.

W/P [William Christenberry Works on Paper.], the latest book on Christenberry’s work, presents a selection of mostly large-scale (32 x 40), recent works on paper executed with a variety of materials including wax, ink, soil, felt paper and sandpaper.

As with much of his work, the last “drawing” touches upon his themes of decay and rebirth, persistence, pathos, regeneration and hope. W/P highlights recent drawings of tree forms, employed by Christenberry as the image by which to portray abstract structures, among which are hidden hanging gourds, a swaying figure, a cruciform shape recalling a burning cross, and house forms recalling abandoned tenant farms."

Living Proof.

Living Proof. Photographs by David Alan Harvey. Texts by Ruckus and Uptown. powerHouse Books, New York, 2008. 112 pp., 52 four-color illustrations, 8¼x11".

"Hip hop, which first began on the streets of the South Bronx in the early 1970s, has traveled the globe, finding a home in every corner of the planet. Remade by local cultures in their own language and regional style, hip hop’s versatility speaks to its accessibility and universality. The lyrics, the look, and the lifestyle could easily be a cultural anthropologist’s best example—or worst nightmare—of America’s influence and cultural dominance.

In 2005, Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey began photographing local emcees in the Bronx River Projects, home of hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, whose legendary Zulu Nation parties of the 70s inspired a new generation of b-boys and b-girls. It is their descendants that Harvey has captured in LIVING PROOF, a glimpse into hip hop in its many forms.

[...]

Going global to document the regional manifestations of a culture a mere three decades in existence, Harvey traveled from Spain, France, and Gambia to Senegal, South Korea, and Thailand, discovering conversations with DAM in East Jerusalem sounded just like the ramble with Uptown and Ruckus."

Mapping Water.

Mapping Water. Photographs and Text by Judy Tuwaletstiwa. Radius books, Santa Fe, 2007. 298 pp., Numerous color and black & white illustrations., 9¾x12¼".

"Judy Tuwaletstiwa combines paint and canvas with sand, clay, fiber and sticks-materials particular to the Black Mesa in Northern Arizona, where she lived for several years on a Hopi reservation.

In Mapping Water, Tuwaletstiwa investigates the embrace of uncharted terrains.

The first section begins with a definition of the word 'genesis,' alongside small paintings that relate (and don't relate) to various parts of the text, evoking thoughts on the 'genesis' of ideas.

Subsequent sections continue this exploration with content that varies from an iconic photograph from the Holocaust to a series of images of a dead crow that Tuwaletstiwa dissected and reassembled with curious results.

Tuwaletstiwa writes, 'This desert landscape opens the unconscious to me. In my work, whether writing or painting, I seek a language that embodies the elusive and mysterious images that resonate from the deep strata of the unknown.'"


I'm endlessly curious by this book and process.

Magical elves-like Ana Ventura

CUT + PASTE SCREENPRINT #3.

I'm sure it hasn't got unnoticed that I LOVE everything Ana Ventura (here here here here for example).

This screenprint reminds me very much of the Swedish folklore about elves (also fabric of life in Iceland I believe) that I remember hearing and day-dreaming about when I was little.

It was snowing

I thought it was spring (Swedish spring optimism), but then it started snowing... Think it might've decided not to do that anymore now.

If winter was like this image I wouldn't mind so much. Can't remember where I got the picture from - please enlighten me if you can though.

Scarlett Johansson album art work

Cover shot for Scarlett Johansson's album "anywhere I lay my head"

The cover for Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits covers album is subtly beautiful. It's easy to dismiss this record on the basis of "actor turned singer", but the pre-buzz for this album is all good.

Track by track pre-review here.

Dylan gets Pulitzer Prize for his songwriting

Bob Dylan became the first rock / folk musician to receive the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his songwriting.

He received the honorary Pulitzer for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture" and his "lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power" was also recognised.

This marks the first time a rock musician have been honoured (classical music and jazz artists have received the award in the past).

More here or here for example.

NEWWORK magazine

Images: my pictures of NEWWORK magazine - issue no 1

NEWWORK magazine is a magazine for readers who "appreciate the value of new ideas", made in newspaper format, designed by Studio Newwork and published bi-monthly.

Issue no 1 has a selection of 7 contributors, all whom are from New York. The 7 artists were chosen to "present new ideas and images of art, design, high fashion, culture, and politics".

My absolute favourite feature is that the pages are separable in order to be able to act as separate art pieces. I also really appreciate that the typefaces are customised in order to "reflect each contributors' work and stimulate thinking about typography in graphic design".