Lusiana Fashion

Showing posts with label Abstract. Show all posts

Ryoji Ikeda: Data Jockey

Once again, the Park Avenue Armory makes the most of its vast drill hall for a commissioned work of art. In ‘Transfinite,’ Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda programs data from sources such as NASA and the Human Genome Project to create a mesmerizing, immersive, “visual and sonic environment …” Hey isn’t that what they used to call a sound & light show? Read more here.

The black, white, and gray of the Ikeda installation felt even more stark to me, having come directly from a very lively and colorful kids’ art show.

'French Toast' was one of the visual-pun sculptures fifth graders created.

Fourth graders all made collage self portraits
ala Stephen Kroninger.

There was a ‘sonic’ element to this art show too. I got to hear the school band perform a few numbers. They did an excellent rendition of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. (Link is for the Cannonball Adderley original.)

Atta Kwami

Suggestion for Black Friday—avoid it altogether and head over to the Howard Scott Gallery in Chelsea. There you will be surrounded by the color-saturated, light-infused work of Ghanaian artist Atta Kwami.

The banded patches of color that instantly suggest kente cloth (Kwami’s mother was an artist and textile designer), also suggest the architecture, sign painting and music of Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, where the artist lives, works, and teaches. And like any intricately chaotic, yet purposeful city, the best way to navigate the paintings is to wander through them and even get lost while savoring the variety of brushwork and imagery.

I was lucky enough to meet the artist, and was surprised to learn that many of the pieces in the show were painted in London, and in Washington D.C. during a recent fellowship. Kwami emanates a natural warmth, and when I asked how he could produce these extraordinarily colorful canvasses in such gray places, his answer that “the light comes from within,” was absolutely real and made perfect sense.

With light and peace on this Thanksgiving day …

The show is called Fufofo (Coming Together) and runs
through November 27.

Dzigbordi

Sanku

Dzidefo

Lanier Place Goddess II

The Art on Their Sleeves: Vintage 45s

I’m just crazy about these Czechoslovakian 45 record sleeves. These first four, by Opus, manage to be fresh and mod, but also sophisticated in use of color and restraint of design. I particularly like them as a set.

The Opus set, along with the next six sleeves, are from a site devoted the musical career of Slovakian singer Tatiana Hubinska (1944-1999). She was popular during the 1960s and 70s was best know for the Slovak version of ‘Puppet on a String,’ and for her hits ‘Casanova’ and ‘Halo Baby, Halo Boy.’

Halo baby, haló boy (1965)

Puppet on a String (Ako malý psík,1967)

Curious to see what else was out there in foreign 45 record sleeves, I quickly came to a site called Record Envelope: The Little Library of Factory Sleeves. It is maintained by illustrator Kavel Rafferty, and folks from all over the world send her sleeves. She has them nicely categorized by music type, visual motif, etc. Plus there are a ton on flickr. Here is a tiny selection from other countries …

Poland

Sweden

Germany

Belgium

Britain

Netherlands

Schwann Catalog Covers

In the old days, before the iWhatever told you exactly what music was playing anywhere, there was a music directory known as the Schwann Catalog. In 1949, record-store owner William Schwann created the first list to keep track of new releases. The LP had only recently been introduced and production was increasing rapidly.

This is from his NY Times obit (Schwann died in 1998 at age 85):

''I had to protect myself from my bad memory,'' he said in an interview in later years. So he assembled a list of all available recordings, and typed it up, some 26 pages. ''This gave me the idea of doing the catalogue,'' he said. ''And since I had helped organize a Boston record dealers association during the war, when shellac was unavailable and records scarce, I had an immediate market for my guide.'' At the time, there were 11 record labels with some 600 titles. The first Schwann catalogue, hand-typed and mimeographed, sold 11,000 copies. Within a month it was obsolete. So Mr. Schwann realized that he would have to publish a new issue every month. …When he sold the catalogue in 1976 (although he kept running it until his retirement), it had expanded to over 300 pages with over 40,000 listings.

The covers themselves might not be very deep, but I think they more than compensate with their exuberance, freshness, and fun. I’ve had absolutely no luck in finding their creator. There is a consistent set of initials, on most of them, but as you can see in the combo of initials below, it’s hard to say what the letters are exactly. All I can say for sure, is that whoever CM, GM, GN or LM is, was one lucky artist to have had that cover as a monthly gig.

The catalogs here, are for sale by dealer Harlan Wolf, and range from $3.50 to $6.50. Unfortunately, just about all of them have been mercilessly defaced with the stamp of Bob Duncan’s Camera & Record Shop. The ones here that are stamp-free, are only so due to Photoshop. I just had to satisfy my own curiosity and see what they once looked like.

So if any of you can identify the mystery designer, please let me know, and I will Tweet it throughout the land …