Figured I’d appease you from my absence by posting a drawing from my sketchbook. Much love.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Brooklyn Fire Proof
119 Ingraham St (at Porter Ave)
7:00pm–4:00am
Join the Lowbrow Society for The Arts at Brooklyn Fire Proof
for a night of art, drinks, dancing, debauchery, and SMUT!
Featuring a gallery full of photography, installation, video and illustration to feast your lascivious eyes upon.
Throughout the evening we’ll be featuring:
- Burlesque performances
- Live body-painting on a supple young subject
- A bevy of barely-dressed go-go boys for your amusement (if you’re lucky)
- Make a splash and show it off at the Gerrification Wet T Shirt Contest. We’re all winners!
Lenora Jayne
Gwynn Galitzer
Annie Sprinkle
Gerry Visco
Lorna Gaddis
James Matthews
Tamara Porras
Kelly Macario
Russell Harris
Live video mixing by Joshua Sophrin
Featuring videos by Jennifer Blowdryer & Irie
The Gerrification Wet T Shirt Contest & Burlesque performance by Ariel Wolf
DJ’s TBA
Free entry from 7-9pm
$5 after 9pm
$10 after 12am
Desire: A Group Art Exhibition
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 // 11am–7pm
The Chelsea Hotel, Suite 1024
222 West 23rd St.
Come see my artwork this Saturday, creeping in the corners of a swanky Chelsea Hotel suite!
Curator and artist Laura Sheedy (who you Lowbrow-sers may remember her sexy-leg skirt at MOVE!), brings together a wildly talented and eclectic group of artists to give their unique and thought provoking perspectives on desire. We will converge upon a swanky red suite in the Chelsea Hotel and transform it into a luscious rich jungle of art. Expect to be moved, dazzled, inspired, and in awe by what they present to you at this show. The work will be informed by their unique and diverse set of influences and backgrounds spanning taxidermy, sculpture, fashion, film, architecture, photography, installation, performance art, and graphic design.
For more information and full list of artists, see:
desiregroupshow.blogspot.com
Image from the You Are Beautiful Project, Kip Stutzman
I got this question in my Formspring the other day, and I thought I’d share my reply on my blog as well. Forgive me for a minute for being a little off-topic, but this is something that’s important to me. I believe that we (as females) should all band together and fight back on all fronts, the notion that we need external validation and improvement to feel worthy or “good enough”.
How does one learn to love oneself? Most people tell me things like “I can’t tell you, no-one can except you”. I find this answer unsatisfactory and cryptic. Got anything better?
The first thing to ask yourself is this: “Do I believe that I deserve love?”
One of hardest things you can do, is accept the fact that you deserve to be loved, by yourself (or anyone else).
You do. And if you don’t believe it just yet, trust in me, just this once.
You deserve to be loved.
Self-loathing can be based in so many, many things, but I’ve found, most significantly, it is rooted in fear.
The fear of being yourself, of being your one-hundred percent, of not being accepted for who you truly are.
We’re afraid of our bodies being far from perfect, that our clothes are ugly and outmoded, that our teeth are not white enough, our hair not straight enough, our laugh too loud, our voice too shy. Growing up, it’s all too easy to learn from peers, lovers, family, media, that we are Just Not Good Enough and that we will never be Perfect.
Take a deep breath and listen.
You will never be perfect.
And it is in your imperfections that lay your greatest beauty.
Over the years, I’ve found my best path to self-acceptance lies in accepting those imperfections. Instead of trying to hide the things about myself that weren’t quite in the realm of “normalcy”, I learned to put them in the best light. Understanding yourself and indulging your inner eccentricities will make you happier than you will ever know.
Now, I could tell you a lot of really hokey things that I’ve read in therapy packets, you know, things like “write ‘I am a beautiful and unique snowflake’ on your mirror, or to give yourself compliments everyday, but that’s silly and won’t work if you don’t believe it.
And hell, a little bit of self-awareness and self-criticism is a good thing. Honest.
Being realistically aware of where you are at in your life, and where you need to be (and want to be) is how you grow as a human being. Problems develop when your expectations or evaluations for yourself are unrealistic, and there is a significant gap between the two. Know that where you are today, who you are, right now, is exactly where you need to be. There are lessons you are (or should be) learning, and tomorrow you will be one step closer to your one hundred percent self.
You have some idea of who you are, what you love, what your values are, what’s important to you.
Act on them. What can you do to be one hundred percent you?
What are you afraid of? Why do you feel incomplete? What don’t you like about yourself? How could you begin to change these things in a healthy way? How do you imagine your ideal self? (And NO, it does not include wearing a size zero or having a boyfriend/girlfriend.) What can you do each day, to step closer to that image?
One thing that I’ve found to help me focus myself, is to write often, in a private space. Question yourself, push yourself to answer honestly even if’s uncomfortable. Go beyond your comfort zone, because that’s where change lies. Strength cannot come from standing still, but from running just a little bit further every time. Even if it’s hard.
Surround yourself with friends that love you. They are out there, and they think you are amazing as-is.
Don’t be afraid to ask them for support or reminders, when you’re feeling low.
It’s a little bit of a process, don’t get me wrong. It takes time and tears and practice but more authentic and true to yourself you are, the happier you will be, and the more you can love yourself, and share that love with others.
Last month heralded the completion of my latest freelance project: the website for my longtime friend and musician, Natti Vogel. I’ve done quite a few projects for Natti over the years, including show flyers and the album artwork for his “Hello EP” release.
Natti website was my first serious collaboration with another designer, which was a really rewarding learning process. I worked with my occasional partner-in-design, Evan Rosen (aka. Squidelephant), whose design strengths run perpendicular to mine. His aesthetic sensibilities definitely lean towards vintage printmaking, ornate typography, and graphic black and white art, whereas I’m all about illustrative, glossy, neon-colored craziness.
Evan and I each started the design process by separately compiling a moodboard of what we each had in mind for Natti’s site. Natti came to the table with a lot of great ideas, and he definitely has a trademark sort of atmosphere and attitude that we used as inspiration via handmade paper textures, a sophisticated color palette, and a great series of photos taken by Adrian Nina
In one of my correspondences with Natti, I listed some possible visual cues:
“…deep dark muted fire-y colors, speakeasies, wine and absinthe, soft texture/grunge, black ink/fountain pens, old-world coffeeshops, pinstriped suits, 1920′s, handwritten elements, warm summer twilight (am thinking of a particular scene from the Virgin Suicides, actually), etc.”
After getting Natti’s feedback, Evan and I took the two moodboards, incorporating the best elements from each concept, and each began work on a rough website layout. For the second round, we traded designs, tweaked, adjusted, added, subtracted and then traded once more. At this point the design began to come into focus, so we chose the stronger version and set our sights to perfect it.
One of the more interesting elements of the design was the “aqua-smoke”, which is the beautiful, nebulous glow that we added around Natti’s photo. A mutual friend of Natti’s and mine, who is sound-color synesthetic, had mentioned that Natti’s music looks like “aqua-smoke” to her and that our design captured the way it appears to her, which is a pretty amazing coincidence.
All in all, I’m incredibly happy with how it turned out, and as we built the site on a WordPress framework, Natti is able to update and edit the site as needed, with little guidance from us. It was an asset to have Evan on board for his typography genius and knowledge of UI, in combination with my sensitivity to color and texture, and it was a great experience to collaborate with another designer.
Take a look at the live site at NattiVogel.com and let me know what you think!
I apologize for the last of updates around here.
I’ve been having a mild crisis regarding my career and creativity recently, which I may elaborate upon at a later date, that had put a halt to any real desire to write or make images. And I’ve also come to the slow conclusion that the things I want to write about encompass much more than just design and illustration, though they certainly do connect on a broader level. I have a deep personal interest in certain topics (semiotics of fashion & beauty, body, gender/sexuality, femininity, especially within a sociological context) which fuels, in many ways, what my personal artwork is about. I’m still debating the how appropriate it would be for me to write about other topics on a portfolio site, considering many of my opinions are not popular ones. I may separate the two sometime soon. Watch this space for news, and keep an eye out for some new layout improvements (the header is a start.)
And because this post is worthless without pictures:
Yesterday night, a friend of mine held the first of the “Truck You! Sessions”, where a ton of crazy talented artists (primarily graffiti artists) are painting on license plates and other found materials for inclusion in a gallery show. It was really nice to just hang out in a low-key environment and paint for fun, which is something I direly needed. Making art feels like a chore nowadays, rather than a outlet. It was a good reminder, to connect with other artists who do it for the love and not for a job, to not take things too seriously. I was a little nervous because I’m not much of a graffiti writer myself, but I definitely held my own, and everyone was into what I was doing. Very cool.
Also, holler at me if you’re interested in coming and I’ll give you the info. Painting sessions will be every upcoming Sunday, in Brooklyn.
Credits, clockwise from left:
01: Tomer Hanuka. 02: Audrey Kawasaki. 03: Kinga Rajzak, POP Magazine #21. 04: James Jean. 05: Marilyn Minter. 06: Mammatus clouds, Jorn Olsen. 07: Manfredi Beninati. 08:Christina Aguilera for Versace.
The weather in Brooklyn has been a daily roulette, swaying from pseudo-spring winds, rainstorms and snow, so clouds have been on my mind, lately. Inspirations were thunderstorms, hints of warmth, crisp wet clean minimalism, softness. Nice to explore a more subtle color palette; I’m especially fond of aqua in combination with its split complements.
I am thinking of exploring this idea further via an illustration. Which means: AHA! Success! Idea generation through idle play! Ideas are always good.
I often get stuck in ruts where I feel either uninspired to create outside of work, or as if I am “not creative enough” (which is something I may write about more in depth later this week) so I think this mini collage-making is a good exercise for me.
PS. Hey! Creative types! Tell me if you’re reading this and if it sparks your imagination. I want to see what you’re making. I know you lurkers are out there; I can see you on my analytics!
Okay, that’s a lie, I don’t completely hate party photographers. In fact, I am cordial with a few of ‘em, here in NYC. But what separates the professionals from the party poopers are two beautiful things called interaction and participation.
About a month ago or so, my friend GammaRay and I came across the ultimate example of party-photog failure at TURRBOTAX®. Right from the start, Awkward Photographer Dude (they’re always dudes) was there lurking in the shadows taking photos only when he was sure that nobody was looking at directly him. Whenever we acknowledged his presence, by smiling and looking directly at the camera, he hurriedly looked off towards the bar and pretended to be disinterested. (It then became a game to catch Awkward Photo Dude with his finger on the shutter and “accidentally” ruin the image by making a gruesome face.)
Now, living in New York, you can’t throw a free drink without hitting a party photographer if you’re out, so I’ve seen my share of amazing and amazingly awful photographers.
Here are my suggestions on how to do it right:
If you’re at an event taking photos, do it at a hundred percent. You’re there to take photos of the people there, because they are sexy, well-dressed, interesting, insane, and having a damn good time. You’re there to document that good time. Take photos that make people wish they had been there. Take photos to document the crazy-ass shit that happens in this city. Love what you do and love where you are. Otherwise, dude, just stay home.
You know how your mom always said “you’ll catch more flies with honey…”? Yeah, well, hypothetical photographer dude, you’ll catch more hotties with a little eye-contact and a sincere smile. It’s okay, don’t be shy! Those of us who go out to dance parties are not rare and elusive buttonquails. We’ve had our photo taken before. We will not beat you up or give you a verbal lashing for taking a picture. If you are worried about permission, just ask! It’s an excuse to make conversation! Most camera-shy girls will feel so much more at ease knowing you’re not some creepy up-skirt photographer, that they’ll smile beautifully and you’ll have a great shot. And then they’ll drag all their friends over, and you’ll have even more great images.
Get a website. Get a business card. You can get both for free and cheap in this modern age. (Two words: Flickr & Vistaprint.) Now that you’ve done that, hand both out with reckless abandon. Every time you take a photo, give your subject a card with your site on it. They will may be too drunk to remember your name and the phone number you wrote on on their arm will probably sweat off, but business cards will indubitably be pulled out of a back pocket the next morning and be remembered.
Share your photos. Put ‘em up fast. If you take more than a week to put up your pics, they’ll be long forgotten. Put ‘em up the next morning, and you’re on your way to stardom. (Why do you think BronquesLastNightsParty was the first party photographer to get a book deal?)
Even if you’re just a hobbyist, it doesn’t hurt to step up your game. Develop your eye. Learn a little about lighting. Pick up an off-camera flash. Know what the hell an aperture is and how to use it. The more you flatter people and the more you catch those one-of-a-kind moments, the more likely people will remember you and what you do. And the more you treat your photography as an art, the better off you’ll be. And hell, you might end up ditching nightlife photography altogether, à la Nikola Tamindzic, formerly of Ambrel.net, who now produces some beautiful high-fashion work.
Check out the work of these NYC photographers. NSFW!
So, obviously, I don’t really hate party photographers, but I do hate when they act like creepy voyeurs or are standoffish jerks. Participation and interaction is the secret ingredient. Get deep!
Credits, clockwise from left:
01: Unknown. 02: Aurora. 03: Scanned from YM magazine, advertisement for a headsup display, circa 2001. (I’m not kidding. I used this image on one of my first website layouts.) 04: Alexander McQueen, 2003. 05 & 07: beneGraffiti. 06: Hoodie from Karmaloop, circa 2005. 08: John Galliano, Spring 2009. 09: Japanese Fashion Mag?. 10: “Future Superhero”.
Tada! Let me introduce to you “Visually Delicious”!
I have, over my thirteen years on the internet, amassed a sizable collection of images that inspire me visually. And instead of letting them lurk on my hard drive, I figured I’d share them with you weekly! I cannot guarantee that they will all be credited, since many have been on my laptop for years and years, but please let me know if I happen to post work that is yours or you know who I can attribute it to!
Fashion & Art: Magritte Edition
“Life imitates art, more than art imitates life.” (Thanks, Oscar Wilde.)
But as much as I love when art and fashion intersect, there are just some things that don’t translate.
These weird open-toed sandal boots remind me of Magritte’s painting, “The Red Model” more than the classical Greco-Roman era that they’re supposed to evoke. Gross!