Sweatin’ to the oldies. I don’t really listen to “new” music but was lucky to see Tinariwen recently (thanks Buck), so good in their desert nomad garb with Telecasters asking “ça va?” between every song. Listen here.
Medley #7
Thing collector.
1. Pintura de Mara Caffarone | 2. Tony Vaccaro, Georgia O’Keeffe holding cheese Taos Pueblo New Mexico, 1960 | 3. IN LOVE with these chair covers made by Syrian refugee women from textile surplus
Song & Dance #4: Spring Esprit
Joyful noise. RIP Chuck. Listen here.
Franco et l’O.K. Jazz — Mami Majos / Pérez Prado — Patricia / The Chantays — Move It / Chuck Berry — Ramona Say Yes / The Alarm Clocks — Yeah / Volta Jazz — Mama Soukous / Bob Dylan — She Belongs to Me / The Renegades — The Gurgle / The Master’s Apprentices — I Feel Fine / Ernesto Djédjé — Zadie-Bobo / Them — It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue / Hugh Masekela — California Dreamin’ / David Bowie — In the Heat of the Morning
Matriarch!
I made this tee and am donating half the proceeds to women’s, LGBTQ and human rights. This month’s nonprofit is Oakland CA’s girlscout–esque Radical Monarchs, and I’d like to continue contributing to organizations having an effect at the local level, in communities worldwide. In sisterhood!
See also: Crystal’s classic Anarchy is Female & my collab with Mille Solidarité Féminine
Medley #6
Matter on the edge of ’17.
1. Gloria – the lady doth protest | 2. “… to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible, in a selection of language really used by men; and, at the same time, to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual way…” –Wordsworth re: architecten de vylder vinck taillieu | 3. Ria Leigh
LA Woman
Before the shit hit the fan, me and Sam went on a gratuitous but many-splendored trip to Los Angeles. Feeling so wrecked after this political season it feels like a distant dream to recall our sun drenched exploits.
After meeting for a cosmic catch up with my girl Ali at ban.do, I awaited Sam's arrival at the Standard Hollywood in a delirium (the Cactus Lounge’s drinks are fun but the adjoining Alma’s are better). We got off to a good start with an amazing meal at Maré (go through the door in the back of the grilled cheese place to access their secret garden) — significant crudités and seafood (and the tidbits brought to the table gratis). We got manicures at Olive & June which made me want to do stuff like that more often.
We commenced with the eating of toasts and swimming every day, taking a few pictures to inspire Sam’s beatific paintings. It’s always an honor to be a subject in my friends’ art (not to mention appearing in my friends’ dreams — please keep telling me when I visit you subconsciously to proffer a cupcake, or ask a philosophical question, or am covered in yellow body paint on a float in a parade). The Standard’s pool zone is emblazoned with the work of one of my favorite illustrators, Geoff McFetridge, subtle and endearing. We explored neighborhoods on this trip that I haven’t made a focus of past visits (namely West Hollywood, Downtown, and the Arts District with some Highland Park mischief), beginning with a totally superficial but lovely trek around Melrose. I was duly dazzled by the design of the Rachel Comey store and the setup at Tenoversix. Also cool to see The Apartment by The Line's showroom, Clare V. always, Assembly, and Kelly Wearstler. Lunch at Jon & Vinny’s was sensational.
We crossed Mid–city en route to Downtown, stopping at Kayne Griffin Corcoran to see the work of Mika Tajima and Jean-Pascal Flavien, and Ochi Projects to see paintings and sculptures by Lilian Martinez (aka BFGF). Moving to the Ace was such a different face of LA. We did a studio visit with Blockshop Textiles (so good), prowled Grand Central Market, and saw some exceedingly essential stuff at The Broad. We hung out at the hotel’s rooftop bar before attending Jen Gotch’s birthday skating party at the Moonlight Rollerway which was very fun. Afterwards we landed at Block Party and bar hopped along York and I look forward to spending more time there in the light of day.
We checked out the refined goods of Formerly Yes + a MAST factory + more highly curated wares at The Good Liver, tasted spirits distilled from clementines at The Spirit Guild, browsed the Hennessey + Ingalls bookstore, were skeptical but got healed at Café Gratitude, experienced the cool Hauser Wirth & Schimmel compound (SO into the Book & Printed Matter Lab, I found some remarkable works in there), and bought things at Poketo. We visited exceptional calligrapher and artist friend Emily, then popped in to Ooga Booga (perennially awesome), Friend Mart (Tuesday’s cute new shop), and Building Block (where he gave me a fortune cookie and the message inside was: “Leaves”) in Chinatown before dining at Pok Pok. I’ve been making shrubs with their drinking vinegars all year so was really excited to eat there and it did not disappoint. Since it was our final night I forced Sam to accompany me to the men’s room at Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet to witness the “Charles Bukowski Pissed Here” plaque (thank you Ashkahn for turning me on to this landmark).
Before leaving town I finally made it to Julia’s backyard Either Way sale – cool mix of vintage finds and objets d’art. Took the Flyaway bus to the airport which I totally recommend. Had picked up a couple copies of Car.la when I recognized it at a gallery (my friend Haynes is the design director – bravo) and immersed myself in its smart articles while drunkenly getting nutella all over on the way home and it felt meaningful.
Been living way beyond my means with travel this year but I can’t stop. Can’t wait to share a crazy one coming right up.
The minibars of LA are no match for us / 1 : Maré / 2 : Olive & June / 3 : Standard Hollywood / 4 : obsessed with the space + dressing room design at Rachel Comey / 5 : The Apartment by The Line / 6 : every shelfie at Tenoversix + Clare V. / 7 : Assembly / 8 : Flavien – so into it / 9 : Ace DTLA / 10 : Blockshop / 11 : Mast / 12 : yes yes in 1969 Allen Ruppersberg opened an art diner serving inedible surrealist dishes like “Simulated Burned Pine Needles a la Johnny Cash, Served with a Live Fern”
meta / physical
I curated a print show, Rising Signs, at Forage Modern Workshop and it’s up through November 6th. 10 women designed risograph posters that we printed at Beyond Repair. These limited editions are available for $10 at Forage! We had a super nice opening earlier this month with pop–ups by There There Collective and Dumpling. It’s been touching to see the pieces that people picked for their own triptychs and gallery walls... Check it out, or get in touch if you’re outside Minneapolis and interested in something. :)
New York minutiae
A fast trip to NYC materialized last week and it was inspiring. A meal at Marlow & Sons and a walk across the Williamsburg Bridge set the pace for a couple days of wide-eyed wandering. I met up with Sam and we visited the inimitable Otherwild’s east coast outpost, beneath Coming Soon (a super great housewares shop), and saw Matthew Chambers’ paintings at Feuer/Mesler and Rachel Levit’s prints at Object_ify. The summer heat was sticking around and we probably should have decamped for Rockaway Beach (I really want to see this Katharina Grosse installation) but we drank our way across the city instead. We had some special mimosas (made with their inventive juices) at The Butcher’s Daughter and meandered towards the café at the Standard East Village, trying to acquire a discounted room via their app but it was sold out for the night. We got caught in the rain and brought the party to Sam’s studio, eventually ending up at The Ides Bar atop the Wythe which has a real pretty nighttime view.
I began the next day with stops at the Dimes Deli and Café Henrie, and was able to get a research appointment at the Lubalin Center! It’s a library and archive of design ephemera, just flat files of every issue of Avant Garde and Herb originals and it’s bonkers. There’s also a good Swiss design show in the adjoining gallery (at Cooper Union). I explored some of the showrooms upstairs at ABC and had ramen and a pint at Momofuku. I was finally in the same city as Radiant Human’s tour so I got an aura photo and it was illuminating. Then Sam and I chased more art, seeing Sarah Cain’s Dark Matter in Chelsea, David Shrigley’s Memorial in the corner of Central Park (a passerby asked us, “What is this?”), and the Madeline murals (which I have an affinity for obviously) on the walls of Bemelmans, where we got sidelined by expensive martinis and were late for the opening night of the NY Art Book Fair.
The NYABF was like a happy dream where you’re in a literal maze of publications and everything in sight is so good. The big bummer was that we didn’t have time to see everything at the preview and I was leaving in the morning — I could easily have spent all weekend there. Lastly met up with some tight bros from way back when at the bar and drank Minnesotan beers of course. New York is overwhelming to me but I just surrendered to it and did my thing and it was so fun.
