Monday, November 29, 2010

Charles LeDray / (& sorry for the essay)



t/ Hi I am reluctantly back in Melbourne, but happily posting on Fruity again. The trip was great - first proper holiday in about three years. No doubt you will hear more about it in the coming posts.

Firstly, I just had to share with you an artist I discovered whilst visiting The Whitney Museum of American Art (easily the best gallery I went to during my stay).

Born in 1960, Charles LeDray lives and works in New York, creating these small-scale sculptures of astounding detail.

I could have wandered around the exhibit all day, finding new things every time. Miniature hand-painted pottery filled a few glass cabinets in the exhibit; another room contained pint-sized garments carefully laid out like a store with dingy fluorescent lighting, and even dust purposefully scattered on top of the light-fittings. The clothes are distressed to look worn, so you get a very real impression that tiny people actually owned and lived in these clothes. He also had a few sculptures made out of human bone, the most incredible one being an old-fashioned model of the solar system.

Not too much is known or published about LeDray. Apparently he is a bit of a recluse, but I feel like you get a sense of who he is after viewing the work. The amazing detail, plus the fact he has absolutely no help during the process, points to quite an obsessive nature. He is a probably quite eccentric too - who else would spend years crafting tiny items of clothes?! I could imagine him working away in his studio, hour upon hour, labouring over his tiny creations. The love for his craft was self-evident.

Knowing nothing about this artist, I felt like I had discovered a secret treasure when I first walked around the exhibit. It was so refreshing to see well-crafted work, when so many young artists today seem to be making pieces that are highly conceptual but lack actual skill. I wondered what inspired him to make miniatures. There was something really poetic about the works. Like he was creating a whole world. At the same time though, it wasn't a fantastical world. It all seemed very real. I often found myself imagining what the people were like that used to own these clothes! I felt like he was commenting on the objects we surround ourselves with - how we attach ourselves to these things, customise them, attribute meanings and unintentionally create life-stories in the process. It wasn't overly sentimental, it was just like LeDray was saying "This is life. This is what we do. We're small but fragile. Things are important and unimportant at the same time. It is the people that own, and inhabit things that give them meaning." He literally put it all into perspective for me.

Watch a video about the exhibit 'Mens Suits' here

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

god jul /










m// I set myself the task to design some christmas cards and labels last week (as a designer i always feel bad if i buy cards when i can make them myself..). I wanted something simple and geometric, a bit stylised. Here is the result, quick and simple!

marion bolognesi /







m// I came across NY based designer and painter MARION BOLOGNESI on the cool hunter today. Her watercolour paintings are just so beautiful and sad. My favourite is the blue scull like face. she has inspired me to paint today. Thanks marion!

how they get there /



m// here is the quirky short by SPIKE JONZE that shows you how they get there...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

hello friend /


l// I love it when you are going about you day and suddenly find a little smiling friend looking back at you. This one was especially cute so I just had to share it with someone. Done. x

Monday, November 15, 2010

coasters /







m// last week i thought id try to make coasters out of the necklaces ive been churning out lately. They came out pretty good dont you think? next i will make a larger one for hot pots and then even bigger, a rug!

Friday, November 12, 2010

mormor /








m// I just got back from hanging with my mormor (grandma) for three days. l love looking in her old photo albums, hearing about 'good old days' and searching her house for old treasures. unfortunately she has thrown out A LOT of great furniture and trinkets over the years, leaving me little to nothing and her apartment looking a bit to modern for a mormor..., but she made up for it by taking me to a local second hand market and getting me these lovely items: books with nice cover patterns (my new collection), womens magazines from the 60s, 50s dessert forks, old amber bottles (used for medicine, milk and cream back in the day) and a lovely red tinted glass china (6 teacups, plates and glasses). love you mormor!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

autumn /















































































l// This is in response to your last post Tess, I remember reading about a lady who completed a thesis on uncalculated design, whether a random grouping of elements was more pleasing to the eye than premeditated work. So I decided to do a quick test. Above are 6 designs, 3 are a result of dropping the leaves onto the scanner, 2 are the result of taking a few moments to consider placement of the elements and 1 is the result of letting Sasha have her way with the scanner.... no prizes for guessing this one. I must admit that I do prefer the product of the random drop. To me it seems well thought out and surprisingly balanced (not in a symmetrical way but in a design sense)! I don't know whether I'm just being overly critical of myself.... let me know which one you (meaning anyone) prefer, out of 1 to 5... x

Monday, November 8, 2010

Speed Creating




t/ Dominic Wilcox is an artist/designer/thinkeruper. He recently did this 'Speed Creating' project - 30 mini art pieces in 30 days. It reminds me of projects we tried to do at Uni, but the difference is, this guy is a proper artist! The results are all unique and surprising. I love the immediacy of the work, and being able to get an insight into someone else's thought process. None of them seemed to fail which is a bonus! If I tried something like that I could see myself getting frustrated, punching a wall, and giving up half way. Anyway, take time to have a look at them all - it's worth it!

cold as ice /







m// the snow is here again, and this time for real! It looks like a christmas card outside. I went out for a walk after lunch today, to take a closer look at the beautiful winter wonderland. It was almost so cold that the snot froze in my nose while breathing in, and my nose was as red as rudolphs when i got inside again. cant help getting in the christmas spirit, just a tiny bit.... im sharing with you some icy details...

Friday, November 5, 2010

ai weiwei /

l// At the moment The Tate floor is crawling with an epic amount of hand painted porcelain sunflower seeds. The work was intended, by the artist Ai Weiwei (cool name), to be interacted with... to be walked upon, thrown and generally explored... my immediate desire was to get down on my stomach and swim through it. However due to the health and safety risks caused by the porcelain dust the exhibit has been fenced off from the public. To me this was annoying, like being shown a beautiful painting with a blindfold in place. However I guess it almost makes the work more perplexing, what a great symbol of a society gone mad with caution, that we were forced to stand behind a fence and observe what had been placed there for us to excavate and conquer. Still had I not known the initial intent of the artist it still would have dazzled me with it's scale and detail. Well worth a 'look'... Sasha's evaluation = "Oh wow... messy!" Photographs care of Tate photography (TOP) & Fiona Hanson (BOTTOM hehehe)


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A burger for Burger


t/ On the request of Marianne I am posting this little number. As you can see it is a burger made of felt. It was a birthday present for my nephew who's nickname is, funnily enough, "Burger". I never intended it to be so big, it just ended up that way. You can pull it apart and put it back together according to your taste - for instance, don't like cheese? Leave it out! There is velcro on all the bits so they stick together. You can't tell from this photo, but there are lots of flaws, as it wasn't exactly measured out and I hand-stitched it. I guess that gives it charm? One day I will learn the sewing machine.

paris vs. new york /







m// I came across these PARIS VS NEW YORK posters today by VAHRAM MURATYAN, cofounder of VIIIZ art direction + graphic design studio. 'A visual but friendly match between those two cities seen by a lover of Paris wandering through New York's infinite details, clichés and contradictions'. what a great idea. for more comparisons click the title. makes me think that the three of us, being in MELBOURNE, TRONDHEIM/OSLO and LONDON could do some kind of project based on this...let me think of something...

knitted necklace /






m// Ive recently learned FRENCH KNITTING, and have made these necklaces. they look great on their own or in various combinations. love the CMYK combo. I think these may be available for sale eventually, if I dont get sick of the knitting...
(sorry for the bad quality on the images, I used the photobooth on my computer as my camera was unavailable..)