Since the Art Gallery of NSW has brought some of Picasso's masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso Paris to Sydney, i thought now is as good a time as any to upload my own little piece of abstraction.
I'm hoping this exhibition will enhance my appreciation of the genre.
I find that Picasso's work, in a nutshell, to be very much revolutionary, and lets face it the world would be a different place without many forms of abstract art.
However, in saying that, i do not find it my favourite artistic platform.
For Picasso being a firm staple as one of the most influential artist of the 20th Century, i feel somewhat guilty saying such things. (Popular society tends to do that). But alas, I am not an art critic and have never claimed to be. I am in no position to be making judgement calls and outlandish statements that some might misconstrue as what i am saying as being a 'hater'. A hater i am not, but we all have our favourites, and this style - albeit with all due respect - is just not one of them.
I do hope this exhibition whets my appetite to embrace it more than i do presently.
Would be interested to hear from any Galerians to share their P.O.V's to help me on this journey - as you all know i relish to be educated with a difference perspective.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97: Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
The 1953 movie Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo.
Though here's a fun fact: with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter took his place.
The Hollywood blacklist is known as a list of any screenwriters, actors, musicians and directors who were denied employment in the entertainment industry due to their political beliefs or involvement with the American Communist Party. During the period of the Cold War, particular at its height between the 1940's-1950's, the list was explicit and ruined the careers of many talented artists.
While of course I am not sympathetic to the cause itself, i am glad we now exist in a world where political and religious beliefs do not dictate what artists can and cannot achieve rightfully.
Gladly, Trumbo's credit was reinstated when the film was released on DVD in 2003. On December 19, 2011, full credit for Trumbo's work was restored.
Kudos!
On another note, Dendy Newtown is showing a special screening of Roman Holiday on Valentines Day. So get on your mopeds lovers and see it on the big screen.
One of the most famous pin up artists and pulp illustrators of the golden era was Mike Ludlow, and i for one am a huge fan.
Ludlow was a glamour illustrator who did much pin-up work in the late 1950s for Esquire. He painted the entire twelve-page calendar for 1957 - the last published by the magazine. His pin-ups also appeared in the series of three-page centerfolds known as Esquire's Lady Fair. For these works, Ludlow often called on actresses like Virginia Mayo and popular personalities like Betsy Von Furstenberg in addition to professional models.
Besides painting his Esquire pin-ups, Ludlow had another entire career as an illustrator of romance articles, providing pictures of beautiful women to mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, Collier's, and Family Circle. From 1950 to 1960, he also painted many front covers for paperback novels, including among his clients Pocket Books, Dell Books, and Bantam Books. All his paperback covers had a strong air of sensuality and featured sexy pin-up girls as the main figures.
*Source: The Great American Pin-up by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel.
And so the Guess campaigns continue...
We've seen Drew Barrymore and Cindy Crawford thus so far, and now for the crème de la crème - Claudia Schiffer. She became one of the most famous models in the world thanks to this highly publicised campaign, which furthered her career in the US and put Guess in the spotlight as one of the most recognised clothing brands of the 1990's. Marriage made in heaven? The pictures speak for themselves.
I have a moral dilemma.
Some might call it a vicious stab in my fashion conscience.
Whatever it is, i feel dirty and need to air the laundry.
I admit..... I like fur.
Now before you jump down my throat as if i skinned the rabbit with my own bare hands let me waive the little white flag for a second and broaden my point.
The wearing of fur dates back centuries and is synonymous with prestige, femininity and glamour, particularly from the golden ages of yesteryear. I think if Marilyn Monroe had a follow up to 'Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend', then 'Fur Comes a Close Second' would have been pretty spot on the mark.
As someone who admires the distinguished fashions from this era and prior, it still leaves an ugly taste in my mouth to think that even with all the knowledge that i have today on fur crimes that i still find it absolutely endearing.
Reality sets in. Guilt ensues.
I'm surprised i wasnt raised a Catholic because I am quite seasoned with the whole guilt thing...
But on the contrary, one thing i WAS raised to know and respect is where i came from.
And this is why I can understand (dare i say, justify?) my continued fascination.
Recently i have been given two fur pieces handed down to me from the older generation in my family. This alone is special as i know how personally valuable that obtaining these coats would have meant to a young woman growing up in a poor household. Its almost Cinderella-like in meaning and i can appreciate wholeheartedly what it represented then and now.
If there were two things that a woman was given to mark their presence into womanhood, it was a fur and white goods. And im going to go right ahead and say that a Westinghouse isnt quite as glamourous...or practical in the cold i might add.
So, this i ask you: Is it a crime to wear fur thats been handed down from generations as a family heirloom?
Is by wearing it in this day and age still promoting that wearing fur, and thus killing for fur, is ok?
It's a question enough to make me hesitate from walking out my front door wearing a Mink corpse across my shoulders thats for sure. But on the other hand, if it's an animal that has been dead for 60 years, then whats the harm? You wouldnt be bringing it back from the grave by letting it sit in moth balls for the rest of its coathangered life? It would actually give me great pleasure to don this remarkable piece of clothing knowing that someone had once cherished it as the one thing that made them feel a part of something bigger. More illustrious. More decadent.
Now I for one am in no way condoning the killing of animals for the pure sake of fashion or otherwise, particularly in the inhumane manner in which many kill for these pelts. In fact i am an avid campaigner against the slaughter of harp seals in Canada (IFAW). But my imaginary halo is about to slip and choke me right now as i can hear many of you ask how can i still even be questioning this if that is indeed the truth.
Well, my furry friends, call me ignorant if you must but I have to say that my blunt conclusion is this:
Unless your a vegetarian, unless you refuse to buy leather products, unless you fervently scour the supermarket looking for the 1 in 1000 products that dont contain palm oil, unless you are a part of some alternate universe where all the wrong doings we contribute towards in our society such as waste, pollution, lack of recycling etc does not occur- then its time to take a step down off the high horse and realise that we are indefinately harming animals in some way or another and are all guilty of something. And i think that a bit of vintage fur here and there amongst us isnt going to fix these problems, nor create more.
So on that note I'm going to sit here in my Grandmothers fur, eating a steak off my bone china and clicking my leather boots together as I toast to those who are morally better than I.
Because Godamnit, i like it.
And now a word from PETA to make everyone even more bummed out.
And now for another of my favourite bombshells of the silver screen, Sheree North.
Originally dubbed the 'Queen of Burlesque' who's firey red hair gained her the nickname 'Fireball', she rose to stardom when she dyed her hair blonde 20th century Fox signed her to become their answer to Marilyn Monroe.
She was most famous for her...moves...so to speak. Watch her gyrate and pop in the clip below! Purr...
Wouldnt it be just kick you in the crotch spit on your neck fantastic to have a Mario Testino-shot photograph of oneself at a mere 11 years of age? Well, Anais Gallagher – daughter of former Oasis singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher and Meg Mathews – has.
This photo was posted on twitter today by her mother, and by the looks of it i gotta say...
...Anyone else see a strong resemblance to a young Kate Moss?
On August 5th of 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead at her home. The next day, the following unsent and seemingly unfinished letter, addressed to ex-husband Joe DiMaggio was discovered at her desk, folded up in her address book. It is thought they were planning to remarry.
Transcript
Dear Joe,
If I can only succeed in making you happy — I will have succeeded in the bigest and most difficult thing there is — that is to make onepersoncompletelyhappy.
Your happiness means my happiness.
Joe DiMaggio photographed at Marilyn Monroe's funeral by The Daily News, NY - August 9th 1962.
These shots were taken by Bert Stern of Vogue Magazine in 1962.
It is known to have been her last professional shoot before her death 6 weeks later, hence the title of the shots that have been subequently been made into a book (believe me, this is only scratching the surface, and i know you want more).
I'll be more than happy to accept this book as a gift for sharing my love of Marilyn with you ;) Hint hint...
Probably the most photographed celebrity of the 20th Century, Marilyn Monroe was no stranger to the lens. What makes this image so special is that it is thought to be the last photo ever taken of her before her untimely death on August 5th, 1962. This photo, taken from the collection of pianist Buddy Greco, was shot only five days before her death.
The weekend they were taken is now legendary - it was during this trip that Monroe was allegedly urged to keep quiet about her affair with the Kennedy brothers.
Her death is still surrounded by conspiracy theories to this day, with many believing she was murdered to make sure she never revealed the liaison.
What's more intriguing is that they also feature Peter Lawford, who has been alleged to have been in a plot to let her die. According to an FBI report released in 2007, Lawford, a friend of Monroe and brother-in-law to Bobby Kennedy, helped trick the actress into committing suicide.
The report - which was not authenticated but was given to top FBI officers - claimed that this was aimed at preventing her revealing her affair with John F Kennedy and Bobby,
Monroe was said to have been told she would act out a stunt to spark kindly publicity but was left to die after she took an overdose.
The file claims Bobby Kennedy rang Lawford - who was married to his sister Patricia - to check the actress was dead so that his secret was safe.
Lawford and his wife had taken Monroe to the lodge in Nevada to see a Frank Sinatra show, who was also another lover Monroe was linked to.
She is said to have started bingeing on alcohol and pills once at the villa and was later taken home because she was allegedly in such a state.
Greco has claimed that the Monroe was in 'good spirits' towards the start of the weekend but later being 'out of sorts'.
Mafia boss Sam Giancana, her former husband and baseball player Joe DiMaggio, as well as Dean Martin, were all on the trip, as was Marilyn's hair stylist and famed celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring.
Apart from Marilyn's overdose on an exorbidant amount of barbituates, the photos appear to be cursed - Sebring was later murdered by the Manson Family in 1969. Of the 36 photos taken, the other 30 photos were stored in an office in the World Trade Center and were lost when the towers fell on September 11 2001. The remaining photos have been sinced auctioned off.
2012 will not only mark the end of the world (those darn Mayans), but it also marks 50 years since Marilyn Monroe passed away. The golden anniversary for the golden haired goddess that she was.
And thus i have a few things i wish to share with the gallery - i hope you don't mind.
Yes, i have done a few Marilyn posts before.
Some might yawn, some might rejoice.
And so, I feel i should explain my actions.
See, to me, she was an enigma.
She embodied everything that was powerful in a woman on the outside, yet in reality she was unstable and fragile.
She was beautiful, yet tragic.
And this is what draws me to her time and time again.
I find that this is also why i am conscious to many starlets from all eras that tend to convey a similar disposition - I find them psychologically intriguing, and in a strange way artistically profound.
The dirt underneath perfections facade.
Is this also how society see's people like Marilyn Monroe? Is that why still, 50 years on, we are so obsessed with her and her image?
I found a very interesting artical online written by Lena Corner of The Independant, UK.
I emplore you to read it here - she raises some very valid points.
How do you, dear Galerians, view her? Still relavent, or grossly over-rated?
Comments welcome, though i must warn the haters, it wont stop me from further postings so you've been advised. :)
Considering i suppose now is the time to reflect on what we all wish to accomplish in the next year, i thought id illustrate my goals here on the Galerie.
Whether i stick to them or not is a different story, but hey, im not perfect like these gals.
Get on my bike!
Be more outdoorsy
See more of the world!
Primp myself with the plethora of products I've accumulated in my time
