KATIE HOLMES
I noticed this post by the delightful Zoe Strauss, who just had her big I-95 photography show last weekend, and got instant deja vu. She put up this picture:
I subscribe to a few Philly-related flickr streams, mostly to give myself a little visual break when digging through the vast mound of digital stuff excreted into my google reader by Philadelphians every day. I had a hunch I had seen KATIE HOLMES pop up at least once before there, and indeed:
Katie Holmes Sucks Under I-95, by Vincent J. Brown
And another (but without the appended ‘SUX’)!
KATIE HOLMES at Grey's Ferry and Annin, taken by serlingrod
They look like they’re the same handwriting, especially in the K and the M… who in god’s name would choose KATIE HOLMES as their tag?
Anybody seen any other examples of KATIE HOLMES around town?
I live for the weekend mid-morning: brunch!
When everyone else is in bed or at church, I somehow always find myself wandering around different neighborhoods in the Illadelph on Sunday mornings. It’s usually before noon and always in the interest of something delicious. Brunch is a staple in my weekends that I wait for all week. Since it doesn’t conventionally exist during the weekdays (who needs business hours, really?), I’ve decided that brunch is simply a meal made for a lifestyle.
So, needless to say, Philadelphia is loaded with adorable bruncheries or in-town favs that do this mid-day meal on Saturday and Sundays. I’m going to showcase a few each month that tickle my fancy, starting with one of my favorites: Cafe Estelle.
My love affair with Cafe Estelle started around the new year. I met some friends there and immediately understood their dedication to the spot. The food is amazing– and they smoke their own bacon! The coffee cup is bottomless, and you can try all four blends available at a time. The server brings a cup and you pour yourself at the coffee bar; they’re all are fair trade and organic.
There’s a great selection on the weekend brunch menu; from bacon pancakes (yes, these exist), frittatas to quiche, I’m never disappointed. I was there this weekend and enjoyed a slice of Rhubarb Pie a la mode after my steak and eggs, and I felt nothing short of a queen.
The food isn’t the only great part of the cafe: The wait-staff is friendly, attentive and –in general– totally adorable. The table tops are adorned with mini-vases, pages from retro cookbooks and the sun peeks through the curtains on the window walls.
The other great thing about Cafe Estelle is it’s mini-gallery. The art on the walls is different every few visits, and always enjoyable. Many locals show their work, and I make sure to take a gander by the sofa with each visit. A recent favorite of mine was up a few weeks ago, “Say Hello To My Little Friends” by Philadelphia based artist Shannon McLaughlin.
Be sure to check Cafe Estelle out!
We’ve got a thing / that’s called bacon love!
Bacon Love!
Any Golden Earring fans out there? No? OK, pay no attention to the title of this post.
Valentine’s Day is coming up, and what’s that, you say? It’s a stupid holiday that cheapens and commodifies love and if you hear Jerry Robbins say “Yeah!” one more goddamn time you’re going to send first the radio and then yourself to a watery, dye-infused grave at the bottom of the LOVE Park fountain?
Well, I’m kind of with you on that one, but I have located something that might be appreciated even by a staunch anti-Valentine’s activist. It is a heart… a heart of bacon.
Mike Geno, a Philly artist who teaches at Moore (and who we’ve mentioned before), makes these gorgeous still lifes and prints of cuts of raw meat. I’ve been wanting to get three and put them in my kitchen forever (unfortunately my kitchen lacks appropriate wall space right now). This is the first time I’ve seen this particular entry in the series; the heart shape is a step away from the straightforward still life treatment applied to the lamb chops, beef cubes and ribs in his previous work.
So take it from Robbins: When the question is “Do you love bacon more than you loathe Valentine’s Day?” there’s only one answer: Buy her a diamond! I mean, no, the answer is “I love bacon more.” Love ftw!
Bacon Love is 8×10 and $20; it and other prints by Geno can be found at (off the top of my head) Art Star, Geno’s etsy store and Mew Gallery.
Depression Confession: Yves Saint Laurent
Although this tends to be Liz Spikol’s area of expertise, I’ve got a style-related Depression Confession today.
The Telegraph has an excellent interview with Pierre Bergé, longtime business partner and lover of Yves Saint Laurent. Speaking out for the first time since Laurent’s death this past summer, Bergé reveals that the French fashion designer suffered from depression.
“Designing made him deeply miserable,” says Pierre Bergé, who co-founded the YSL couture house with Saint Laurent in 1961. “Sadly, Yves was not built for joy. He was an unhappy person who didn’t have a taste for life. Occasionally, he was happy, but life was difficult for him. The depression ran deep.”[via Telegraph]
Bergé is auctioning off the art collection he amassed with Laurent. Learn more about the exquisite pieces owned by the couple in the video below.
Shit’s crazy in Shanghai
You already know we’re really into LV knock-offs, so we were fascinated with this NPR story about how 12 pigs were tattooed with LV logos and Disney characters but the pigs weren’t allowed in to the show so the artist designed a tatt for a guy and had the guy stand there and someone bought it, under the provision that he’ll cut the tattoo off when dude dies.
Wim Delvoye, the Belgian mastermind artist: Get the fuck over yourself. The guy had a say in this but–the poor pigs!
Kanye digs Philly artist AJ Fosik
Kanyeunivercity, the supposed personal blog of Kanye West if, you know, Kanye had all the time in the world to blog full-time, shows the love for Philly artist AJ Fosik.
AJ on MySpace, where there’s lots more pix of his art.
See also AJ in Swindle mag.
Lust: 1734 Albertus Seba
Cruising pre-1800 prints on eBay and came across something special from the original Cabinet of Natural Curiosities.
Giant Inflatable Turd Cuts Loose
Without further a-doo:
An inflatable dog turd the size of a house has blown away from a modern art exhibition in a Swiss museum before bringing down an electricity line and smashing a greenhouse window.
“Complex Shit”, a sculpture by the American artist Paul McCarthy, cast loose its moorings and was lifted by a sudden gust of wind from the Paul Klee centre in Berne and carried 200 yards to eventually make landfall in the grounds of a children’s home.
Museum authorities said the work had an automatic safety device that was supposed to make it deflate in the event of a storm – but it failed to operate.
Works by Paul Klee, because we’re not philistines. Turn the music off.
Is giant inflatable poo art? Discuss.
Jewelry by Alexander Calder is Fierce
Alexander Calder is one of the best-known creators of mobiles, stabiles and sculptures of the Modern era. On July 12, his work in handmade jewelry arrives at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s new Perelman Building. More than 300 pieces of handmade jewelry will be on display including necklaces, brooches, bracelets, earrings and tiaras, in silver, gold and brass.
Abstractions of stylized designs like Celtic knots, swirls, leaves and fishes appear on the hand-hammered metal adornments. Calder’s jewelry reflected his interest in found objects, which also appear in his mobiles and sculptures.
The artist designed hundreds of pieces for his wife Louisa James Calder, as well as the art glitterati of the day such Georgia O’Keefe, Peggy Guggenheim, and the wives of Joan Miro, Marcel Duchamp and Marc Chagall. Dramatic as they were, these statement-making items were lightweight and meant to move with the body, as his mobiles moved in the wind.
The non-precious pieces were intended to be affordable for the everyday woman. An average necklace was priced at $25 during the 1940s. Alexander S.C. Rower, chairman and director of the Calder Foundation, (as well as the artist’s grandson) is quoted in an excellent TC Palm article on the exhibit.
It’s said fans would hold Tupperware parties for his jewelry! Better than those awful sex-toy parties, right?
Efficient, democratic and thoroughly modern, Alexander Calder is our kind of guy. The collection moves on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art November 3, 2008.
Details:
Calder Jewelry
July 12-November 2, 2008
Exhibition Gallery, Perelman Building
Fairmount & Pennsylvania Avenues
Philadelphia PA, 19130
Perelman Building Hours
Tuesday through Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission
Adults: $7
Seniors (ages 62 & over): $6
Students (with valid ID): $5
Children: ages 13-18: $5
Ages 12& under: Free
Sundays: Pay what you wish all day