can't you hear the thunder?

Based in New Zealand, Cuba Gallery allows for designers, photographers and other artists to showcase their work, with an emphasis on quality and creativity. I love looking through the gallery's flickr. Some of my favorite photographs have such a clean simplicity, it's enchanting. To find out more, visit their website.

April, 2010

Nestled between The Highland Inn and Café di Sol in Highland Row in the Poncey-Highland area of Midtown is Youngblood Gallery. Claiming to be “the foremost independent showcase in Atlanta for emerging and Do-It-Yourself crafters,” the gallery and boutique thrives with almost every inch of the brightly lit showroom eclectically covered in some form of papercraft, pottery or painting. A narrow hallway at the back of the showroom opens into the white wall, high ceilinged gallery space. Tacked and hung along the white plaster walls were the prints and masks of Dennis McNett, and prints and ink designs of John Reardon.

Hailing from New York, Virginia-born artist McNett draws influence from the 80s skateboard scene, 70s punk movement, Native American art and Day of the Dead designs. His work has been featured in Juxtapoz Magazine, Thrasher and Complex Magazine and The New York Times, and he has deisgned skateboard graphics for Anti-Hero and Vans shoes. He now works as a printmaking professor at Pratt Institute (where he received his Masters of Fine Arts.)

His media of choice—wood blocks and ink—showed his incredible design talent and eye for detail in such prints as “Noose Tree” and “Leopardsnake.” Both used fluidity and boldness of line and an intensity that immediately drew me in. McNett’s most impressive work, “Snow Leopard and Goat,” a remarkable 44 inch by 84 inch tapestry-size print, depicted a snarling, savage leopard crouching atop an expressionless goat, its legs twisted at impossible angles, seemingly broken by the great cat. He described it as a “suicide print,” an apt description as it was carved and printed from one large wood block.

“I use animals as people,” said McNett. “My prints are narratives that are not so much about expression but telling a story.”

In addition to his many animal prints, a set of five skateboard decks for Anti-Hero and three plaster, ceramic and glass masks he created for the Resurrection of Fenris as part of the 2007 Deitch Art Parade in New York.

Reardon, also from New York, works as a tattoo artist at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn. He also attended Pratt and has done hundreds of body art designs.

“I do art because of the Three Fs,” said Reardon. “Fun, finance and… girls.”

His “Three Fs” philosophy is apparent in his work, most of which seemed to have been copied from a 15 year old boy’s binder, and show heavy sampling of Ed Hardy designs—bold red hearts wrapped in scripture and stabbed through with daggers. To put it nicely, most of his pieces were painful clichés. However, there were a few, namely the two pen and ink drawings “The Social Elite Print” and “Two Headed Cobra,” that were able to even compete with McNett’s impressive prints.

Before leaving, I bought a screen-printed forest green t-shirt with one of McNett’s skull and rose designs and a handmade notebook from the boutique. I have to say the show was a success, despite Reardon’s unoriginal and unexciting pieces, and I will be returning to Youngblood for future shows.

Blazers of Glory

Stylish, classic and (when cut properly) chic, the blazer is a wardrobe staple; every woman should have at least one. A blazer is versatile: it can be worn for work or play and paired with different pieces of clothing (lace dress or shorts.) There are many different styles, cuts and colors available, so shop around and invest in one that is both flattering and comfortable.

"When you look good, you feel good."

Straight from the horse's mouth

As 2010 draws fast to a close, we say goodbye to the trends and innovations of the decade to welcome in another year of advancement. However, it has become abundantly clear that this generation relies too heavily on the convenience of technological development. Gone are the days of thumbing through the latest releases at the local music shop, gone are the hours of skimming through the stacks at the book store and gone are late Friday nights spent hunting for the perfect combination of horror flicks and Brat Packs movies at the video store. Only ten years into the millennium and many people have already forgotten the fun in those days, hours and nights, and instead turn their attention to their iTunes accounts, Nooks and Netflix on Demand. Though we would typically celebrate such advancements, we can’t help but mourn the loss of the entertainment outlets of our childhood.

From the decreasing CD, book and movie sales and skyrocketing popularity of torrent sites, e-readers and movies on demand, our future is looking idle and impersonal. The happenstance of discovering a new favorite among the seemingly odd and previously unheard of and the intimacy of the experience is something the technology of our future will never provide. Remember the entertainment we once relied on, and instead of looking to the future, fondly look to the past.

glove, glove me do

Aside from snow, icicle lights and holiday shopping, one of my favorite things about winter is the fashion: layers and layers of fun stockings, sweaters scarves and gloves. I seem to have lost my favorite gloves last year, and with recent weather in the 30s, I'm in the market for a new pair. There are so many options; here are but a few:

ASOS

Dents

Diesel, Modcloth, Mango Balm

Euphoric Words

1.

My hour of you, my cursive thoughts, a pulpit beating under these ribs.

2.

Dear Time, you swallowed us whole, swallowed us lovely, sharp as bones

I am still here, supple and driftwood, you lovely, you loved me

3.

All these scentless descents.

I shake my glass, shake again, melted suffixes tinkling

Why is pain so much better than nothing?

4.

Sure you are witty, but are you any less romantic?

I remember that day: it was cold and the coffee was tepid.

5.

My thoughts of you fully indexed, ready to step into.

Sina Queyras

"Euphoria"