Artist Michael Johansson

I have recently been infatuated with the work of Swedish artist Michael Johansson. Much of my previous work has dealt with structure, organization, and preferential hierarchies. It seems to me Johansson is dealing with similar concepts in his intallation and sculptural pieces. I love the conflict between the chaotic array of objects, and how Johansson has painstakingly organized and structured them to fit inside a given, restricting form.

It would be fun to create a similar confinded structure for a coffee table or side table in the new apartment.....hmmmm...

Images from michaeljohansson.com

Editorial from The Sartorialist

Oh! How I love taxidermy!

More: The Sartorialist

Vertical Gardens

When I am older and I can afford a house with a backyard, I would love to have a hanging garden like the top two images from Sunset.com. The top image is some architect-designed vertical garden that cost some ungodly amount. However, the second photo uses Wooly Pockets, which are felt, wall-mounted containers for plants. These Wooly Pockets come in a variety of sizes, and are lined to prevent moisture from leaking onto the wall. The bromeliads and other exotics in the second picture serve as outdoor wall art and add a splash of visual interest and color!

When I (eventually?) settle down in Seattle, I want my house to look something like the last image. I love MOSS!

Artist Dave Muller

Images from Blum and Poe and Gladstone Gallery.

Octopus!

At the age of 10 or so, my sister and I were fishing on a dock near Gig Harbor, Washington and we caught a SQUID! We were accustomed to pulling up perch, flounder, and the occasional bullhead on our lines, but never had seen a live squid at the end of our reel! Panicing and screaming, we had our dad pull the squid off the hook--as it shot dark ink into the air. Upon placing it into our large bucket, it turned the water black as it rocketed back and forth.

In the past, I have done several art pieces about my childhood relationship with molluscs and have always been fascinated by bivalve creatures (so wierd...I know!).

Anyway, I found this image of a room designed around a fantastic painting (I think?) of an octopus. I really love the graphic nature of the creature as it shows off its tentacles against the high gloss walls.

I found the other two images from the New York Public Library's online archive of images.

100 Abandoned Houses

I have always been fascinated by dilapidated, abandoned buildings and ghost towns. After graduating college, my best friend, Soraya, and I embarked on a 1500 mile roadtrip through the Southwest to visit friends and explore this dry, arid region. We sought out ghost towns and other bizarre cities--most of which had been nearly abandoned.

I stumbled upon this website today, called 100 Abandoned Houses. Created by artist Kevin Bauman, the website consists of 100 portraits of abandoned houses in Detroit.

Antler Outlet Covers!

I instantly fell in love with these cool and very functional outlet covers. Created by Japanese design company, Nendo, the antlers are perfect for holding the battery/ipod as it charges, or as a place to hang car keys.

YELLOW!

I just realized that the majority of my recent posts have been regarding interior design--this new apartment has apparently been on my mind!

Several weekends ago we bought butter yellow drapes for the apartment from Ikea. I found this selection of images from My Little Apartment and thought the rooms were beautiful and possible directions for our new space.

Unhappy Hipsters

I stumbled upon the website Unhappy Hipsters today and think it's just hilarious! The website moderator chooses an image from a architecture/deisgn magazine, and then allows viewers to caption the image. The captions are all cynical and sarcastic--seems to me they are commenting on these publications' too-pristine-to-live aesthetic.

Funny!

The Selby

The Selby is an online project by New York-based photographer Todd Selby that "offers an insider’s view of creative individuals in their personal spaces with an artist's eye for detail."

The website started as a personal project, but has since grown and spawned a solo show at Colette (Photos 1 and 3), ad campaigns, and work for The New York Times T Magazine.

More: http://www.theselby.com/

Log Cabin

I love these images of a modern log cabin featured in the New York Times. The log cabin was built/designed by artists/designers Butch Anthony and his wife, Natalie Chanin. The second image is of a one-room log cabin guest house that Anthony built at age 14. I love the visual cleanliness in this room--how everything--including the taxidermy deer--has been painted white.

It makes me want to go buy some white paint!

Oh! The Possibilities

Photo from my installation piece, Oh! The Possibilities, from 2009.

Antique Edison-Style Lightbulbs

Recently I have been seeing lots of lighting fixtures using old fashioned Edison-style bulbs. I love the looks of these bulbs, and have been excited to create a fixture of my own. Below are some examples of some I like. More to come soon.....


We found a rusted metal ring outside of our apartment two weeks ago. I am thinking of using it with several bulbs similar to this chandelier. This one is from Anthropolgie.

A lighbulb-covered ceiling in the Gramercy Park Hotel. Picture from Daily Danny.

Another lightbulb chandelier from Anthropologie. I especially love the golden bulbs in this arrangement. Photo from Daily Danny.

And lastly, these pendant lights are sold individually from CB2.

We Make Words

I stumbled upon this cool blog today, and thought it was just great! Created by Amy and Luci, the two take turns photographing a word. Each word somehow relates to the next word in the blog.

Check it out. It's cool.

More: http://wemakewords.blogspot.com/

Mark Dion and The Department of Marine Animal Identification of the City of New York (Chinatown Division)

The majority of this past weekend was spent moving into our fantastic new apartment in Chinatown. Located on a quiet street off the Bowery, it's in close proximity to dozens of Chinese markets selling delicious meat, fish, and produce.

All this time spent in Chinatown made me recall a project by one of my favorite artists, Mark Dion. Mark Dion's "art imitating science" methodology was initially why I was attracted to his work. The majority of Dion's work deals with socially and biologically constructed taxonomies and whether he is excavating forest sites in the Amazon, or creating beautiful curiosity cabinets, his practice is something I truly admire.

In this installation/perfomance by Dion, he worked as a pseudo-biologist working in a ficticious New York City bureau of marine classification. Using the gallery space as office headquarters, he collected, identified, and preserved various fish collected from Chinatown markets using methodologies similar to true naturalists.