Bunker at the beach

Cedric Bihr

Gerhard Richter and Kandinsky

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: URSA MAJOR COLLECTION

I always feel a little funny posting things that are directly personal, but then I think I'd be an idiot not to share my own work, and besides, I know everyone is always a little curious what goes on behind a blog that is mainly ideas and images and very little writing. In an attempt to shed some light and promote (I admit) URSA MAJOR jewelry is now available at A Détacher on Mott St., NYC...

Francesca DiMattio

Not to mention how fantastic the rest of her work is, 

but that's for another time...

Oz

View From A Converted Pasta Factory, France

San Francisco and Sailing On My Mind...

I borrowed this from my new friends at Gravel and Gold in San Fran.

Really great spot, and even better people :)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

These two continually denied that their projects contained any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic.  The purpose of their art was simply to create beauty and joy, and to allow us to see familiar landscapes in new ways. 

I support this philosophy heavily.  But of course you have to be very talented to succeed...Don't all go running at once, trying to create art for art's sake.  But I think it's important to realize that not everything has to be over-conceptualized, and in many cases, just let it be- it is what it is.

If you've never seen Christo and Jeanne-Claude's sketches and drawings for/of their work, you're missing out...the Sydney Opera House, above, is just one example.  In my opinion, their drawings are just as wonderful as the actual installations.

P.S. My mother worked on Running Fence while she was living in California in the 70's.  Christo and Jeanne-Claude had to hire 9 lawyers in order to convince the 59 families of ranchers and authorities to let the work run through their properties, but they ended up paying a $60,000 fine because they lacked permission for the coastal region...

In loving memory of Jeanne-Claude who passed away on November 18, 2009

Guy Sargent

Brett Whitely part deux

Atelier NL- Polderceramics

Here's the link, but I thought this was definitely worth a read:

"Artists have long explored the significance of ‘place’ – as a 
site of history and identity; as a dynamic process in constant
flux; and as a politically charged way to both challenge and
contextualise the world. For Atelier NL, the Eindhoven-based
design studio of Lonny van Ryswyck and Nadine Sterk, the
place in question was the Noordoostpolder region of central
Netherlands.

At the invitation of Jurgen Bey and Rianne Makkink the
designers took up residence in the area to better study the
social and agricultural nuances of the region. As the Noord-
oostpolder had been integral to the Dutch land reclamation
acts of the twentieth century, carried out in order to improve
flood protection and create additional land for agriculture,
the area is rich with both historical and geological disparity.
Atelier NL’s Drawn From Clay series embodies all these
local distinctions as each piece was made from a specific
plod of soil taken from each of the different farms they
accessed across the 460 square kilometre polder. As Sterk
explains, ‘A bucket filled with earth is anonymous, but the
stories of the farmer who works the earth lend it its identity.’

The overriding principal behind the series was to keep the
symbiosis between object and origin as pure and integral as
possible. ‘We wanted to make tableware so that the vegeta-
bles prepared for dinner could be served from vessels made
from the same soil the vegetables came out of,’ explains
Van Rijswijck. The designers simply refined then mixed each
individual batch of soil with water to form malleable clays,
before cast-moulding each piece at a consistent temperature
in order to compare and contrast the resultant differences
between colour and texture from the various soils. To further
the correlation Atelier NL both devised a systematic ratio
system for the size of each piece and stamped each vessel
with a geo-code reference to match the plot from whence
the soil came.         

By rendering visible the close relationship between vegetation
and clay and, hence, between origin and identity, the Drawn
from Clay series emphasises Atelier NL’s sensitive, respectful
and informed approach to design."

Text Libby Sellers
Photography Paul Scala

Brett Whitely

Brad Kahlhamer

A good friend and a great artist, 

he's been a favorite for many many years

Please please please....

David Lynch and Isabella Rosselini

Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre