Food Party with Thu Tran!

Finally there is now a show that can satiate my love of papier mache, carboard sculptures, and bizarre, awkward dialogue all in one sitting!

I read an article about "Food Party" last week while on the subway, and was instantly intrigued. The IFC culinary comedy created and hosted by Thu Tran takes us into her bizarre food obsessed world with puppet friends like Monsieur Baguette, Ninja Dog, and Peanut Butter Jerry. Fresh out of art school, her and a few friends create the sets and sketches from scratch out of carboard and papier mache.

"It came from a hybrid of doing a lot of things and then just trying to figure out exactly how it could all fit together. It came from making installation art in art school -- I really like to make art that is very experiential," says Tran.

"So I thought of making a video, a cooking video, that was in a very sculptural set. I'd have pieces of the set for the show, and the video itself was not really a parody -- it was more like a parody on art videos. To me a lot of art videos are not unwatchable, exactly, but I wanted to play with the structure of a television show, learning how that works and applying that to making an art video."

The second season is currently showing on International Film Channel.

Text from LA Times interview with Thu Tran.

More videos available online at http://foodparty.tv/videos/

Ralph Lauren's Colorado Ranch

Ahhh if only I had a tee pee decked out like Ralph Lauren! Architectural Digest did a recent article about Ralph Lauren's fully-staffed Colorado ranch complete with you guessed it--a tee pee!

We started out with an idea of what the West was like,” Lauren said. “But what we thought was there wasn’t there. No large houses, no hunting lodges—not even a fence, like a split-rail fence.”

So he built his ranch from scratch with an aesthetic that reflects his unique vision that has made him so successful. Located thirty minutes from Telluride, the ranch is "15,000 or 16,000 acres"--he is not sure.

“It was a little bit like pioneering,” Lauren said. “Someone told us about a barn that was 100 years old on this property. We saw the barn. We fell in love with the place.”

I am loving this vintage airstream trailer decked out with RRL goods. How very trailer park chic!

Text and images from Architectural Digest.

David Hockney is so cool!

Although Hockney is primarily famous for his pop art paintings of Los Angeles pools, and for being one of the first artists to use acrylic paint in the 1960s, I think he is just as much a style icon as anything else. I particularly love the first yawning image above. Quirky, never fussy, and awesome eyeglasses!

He has a great website that chronicles his artistic practice that can be found here: HockneyPictures.com

Keith Richards at Joshua Tree circa 1969

I found these images of Keith Richards and friends Gram Parsons, of country music fame, and Anita Pallenberg, girlfriend of Richards, on a 1969 trip to Joshua Tree. I love the Pendleton blankets they have in all the pictures. I have noticed these blankets in many stores recently, and glad they are making a comeback. I have always had an interest in the American West and Native American cultures and these blankets pretty much sum up my fascination.



You can buy new Pendleton blankets online here. All images © MICHAEL COOPER

Ahoy there matey!

When I have kids I want them to be as cool as 8 year-old Otto! This awesome wallpaper was designed by him, from his many drawings of ships. His mother is a designer that works with many of his drawings as her inspiration. The wallpaper can be purchased online here. I particularly love this brief interview with this young designer!

Name: Otto

Age: 8

Family: Sister Tovalisa, mother Elisabeth, father Dennis, the cat Hiro and a rat named Lilly.

Lives: In Gothenburg, Sweden.

Interests: I’m a drummer, I like to drum. And to do karate with my best friend Konrad.

Please tell us how it is that you design wallpapers : I like to draw a lot. I don’t thinkI’m so good at it, but my mother does. When I look at the wall with my ships on, I like that they are so many.

More products and designs from Otto at finelittleday.com

Salvation Mountain

I posted these photos last week, but never really got around to writing out them. Anyway, these photos are of Salvation Mountain near the Salton Sea in (very) Southern California. The entire mountain was constructed by Leonard Knight and is constructed of adobe-like clay mixed with straw, coated in hundreds of thousands of gallons of paint.

Leonard has been working for several decades on his project and lives in a simiarly constructed dwelling linked to Salvation Mountain itself. The mountain is inscribed with biblical text and messages.

Me and my friend, Sierra had the pleasure of visiting Salvation Mountain last year, and it was awe inspiring! It's amazing that one man single-handedly built and created this bizarrely fantastic structure!

I wouldn't mind doing this right about now....

Sailing to Catalina, Fall 2008

PATTERN! Tory Burch

I love these two photographs by Tina Barney from Tory Burch's Spring 2010 Collection. The overwhelming use of pattern is fantastic in these shots! I think the most provoking aspects of these photos, however, is where the pattern has been disrupted. In the first photo, I love the conflict and interest between the horizontal striped jacket and the vertical stripes on the wood paneling. In the second photo, the negative space surrounding the tree trunk painting really adds visual interest as it disrupts the intensely patterned walls, furniture, and similarly-patterned tree trunks.

Work in progress...

Paintings in progress--I just loved how they look on the white plastic bags I taped up to protect the walls!

Isn't she the cutest.....

How could anyone choose a Baby Bjorn over THIS!?!?!

Wise words....

"Always keep your eyes open. Never go to sleep in the car or anything like that. Keep watching, because whatever you see out the window or where ever - it can inspire you."

- Grace Coddington, quoting Norman Parkinson

Mother's Day

Gotta get this in the mail!

A Collection a Day

I stumbled upon this awesome blog titled A Collection a Day. The author, Lisa Congdon, is a San Francisco-based artist and illustrator. Her idea for the blog was to photograph or draw one of her collections every day, starting January 1, 2010 and ending December 31st. Many of her collections are so unusual and I appreciate her careful arrangment and documentation.