Dreamboats No Petticoats

All because I love boys with tattoos, especially these ones (now to wonder who they are...)  (As much as I wish I'd taken these photos, I didn't.)

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover...

...well, maybe just a little.  
I thought it was time I did a blog post on a great idea Penguin Books came up with - selling classic novels with blank covers.  The official tag line is: "Books by the Greats, Covers by You".   The blank covers are 'art-quality' paper which hold ink, paint and pencil amongst others.  They also come shrink-wrapped so the paper is nice and clean on arrival. The price isn't bad either for £5 (GBP) with free p&p in the UK, but they do ship worldwide (Here's the link to the online store) 

I really do love giving presents with a personal touch, something that says 'I actually thought about this'.  I was looking for a little gift for my friend 'J' and eventually settled on "The Waves" by Virginia Woolf.  I didn't have much time but managed to rustle up a quick cover using letraset promarkers and ink (you can have a gander at the result below).   

There's also an online gallery on the Penguin website, where people can display pictures of their gallant efforts.  Some of them are truly amazing, but I think my personal favourite has to be the one below for Bram Stoker's "Dracula".  The cover was created by: Stuart and Pania Fleming.  Simple and brilliant.  I especially love that 2 people are credited for it!  A splatter each perhaps?

'The Waves', Virginia Woolf                                   'Dracula', Bram Stoker

Lucy Chadwick captured by The Selby

I'm slightly completely besotted with The Selby.   It's the site I "right click, save as.." more than any other.  In fact, I plan on decorating my gargantuan Tribeca loft apartment in a plethora of styles, inspired by Todd Selby's interiors photography.  

Oh.  Wait.  I must have dozed off.  That's not actually my life.  C'est le vie.   I'll just make do with ogling the pictures.  For now...

Selby's latest offering to catch my eye, was a video of gallerist Lucy Chadwick, undertaken for the Zara campaign. The video works two-fold: selling a lifestyle most would covet and cosy jumpers most could buy. Quite beautiful.

Here's a sneak peak at a previous photo-shoot The Selby undertook at Chadwick's London pad she shares with her hairstylist boyfriend, Duffy:

You can see more photos inside Lucy's home here

SupaKitch and Koralie

I've only recently discovered this New York based dynamic French duo (and real life couple) SupaKitch and Koralie and I'm hooked already.  Both amazing street artists in their own right, they've joined forces, professionally, to create unique manga inspired works.  Using paint, markers, stencils and cutouts, their two styles seamlessly blend together into fantastically inspiring works of art.

Parisian film maker, Raphael Hache captured the pair as they gave birth to yet another fantastical world.  Song is Euphorie by Leonard de Leonard.

Another amazing video - Metroplastique - at The Museum of World Culture of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Song is by D.L.I.D (Dick Laurent is Dead) 

Now Why Didn't I Think of That

The other day I went to an art exhibition, where a clay "sculpture" of used teabags (yes, used teabags) was displayed alongside a fantastic portrait by Northern Irish artist Colin Davidson (albeit the portrait was of Brian Kennedy but I'll overlook that. This time.) Now, I'm as fond of a PG-tip as anyone but mon dieu, sacre bleu (and other words of astonishment French speakers never actually use) this is just silly.  Isn't it?  I imagine if I had created this mortification would have me skulking in the corner to see it displayed alongside such a skillfully painted portrait.  Art, pah.  What do I know.

Although... on second thought, perhaps I should empty out the contents of my bin, throw in a bit of cement, slap a £1000 price tag on it and name it "Rhapsody des ordures" (that's 'Rubbish' in French. In case you were wondering. I google translated it. Too. Much. Time. On. Hands)

(FYI the pic above is part of the series New Math by Chris Damrauer. Absolutely love them.)