Modern and Hippie Modern

In Islamorada. More here and here.
We've always loved that top one, but the wood, overgrown tropicalia, and wraparound porch of the bottom are awesome.
And I'm calling it Hippie Modern, but with boat in the front yard and the Corvette in the carport you could just as easily call it Kenny Powers Modern. Or just Kenny Powers' house, I guess. When did that become my style? uh oh!

related (and on the same street):

From the flea market today

Vintage La Mondiale goat fur apres-ski boots, vintage Obermeyer during-ski sweater, an awesome set of Japanese Jepcor enamelware, an English wooden wine rack kit with Milton Glaseresque typography, and a litte wooden pig with bright pink eyes.

Rupert Jasen Smith

Mystery solved! After a long year of wondering who made this awesome diamond-dusted silkscreen Linda bought at a flea market, her intermittent Googling has finally paid off. Rupert Jasen Smith (not "Papa Josabeth" after all-phew!) was Andy Warhol's silkscreener/master printmaker/art director from the mid 70's until Warhol's death in 1987. Smith introduced the diamond dust into Warhol's silkscreens, and Warhol's line about that was "the diamond dust fell off Rupert's paintings and stuck to mine." 

a bio:

Rupert Jasen Smith was born in 1953 in New Jersey and died in 1988. He was raised in Palm beach, Florida. Smith received his bachelor of arts degree from Pratt Institute, New York City in 1973, in painting and printmaking. Shortly thereafter, he was offered the position of master printer at Tamarind Institute in Los Angeles, but declined, deciding to work independently in New York. Smith had spent most of his childhood intrigued by the tropical, lush surroundings indigenous to Florida and began painting and studied under the American landscape painter, A. E. Bakus. Surface quality became a significant aspect of his paintings and he experimented with illuminating a dimensional source within and on top of his canvases, eventually leading to the application of diamond dust particles onto his surfaces to enhance the prismatic properties of light and color. In 1974, Smith met Andy Warhol and assisted him with his hand-painted flowers editions. Smith was accepted formally by Warhol as his master printer and art director. Their collaborations expanded and Rupert worked with contemporary notables including Rauchenberg, Jenkins, Stella, Johns, and John Lennon. In 1975, Smith worked on the Merce Cunningham set for "Summer Space", designed by Rauchenberg and Johns. While continuing his position with Warhol, Smith devoted more time to developing his own art career and had numerous shows in prominent galleries, both in the U.S. and Europe. Elegant colors that remind one of the abstract expressionist paintings of the late 50's combined with a photo-pop transfiguration spiral Smith's works into a shimmering display of real and simulated lighting. A partial list of private collectors of his work prior to his death included: Julie Christie, Halston, Jenkins, Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, John Lennon, Rauchenberg, and Warhol.

 So it was a pretty fun discovery, worth the wait, and far more exciting than a Papat Jambul.

Lucite desk

We bought this a couple years ago at a yard sale in Key Largo, via a defunct realtor's office in Miami. It came with matching Rietveldish slab-of-lucite chair and a drawer full of old real estate contracts. Pictured here on its way into the studio to replace the vast expanse of Prouve-esque farm table which I've been using.

Seasonal desks!

Greek

This awesome painting was bought by my in-laws at an estate sale in Florida and arrived via giant tube in our mail last week. Painted by Alex Tavoularis (brother of Dean Tavoularis), who's got an IMDB page so cool you'd expect nothing less than a cute nude blonde crawling around his floor: locations for Coppola's 1974 "The Conversation", art department on The Godfather 2 and 3, production illustrator of Apocalypse Now and half a dozen other Coppola films, designer of the "Taarna" segment of Heavy Metal, the early Star Wars storyboards, etc...

I'm not sure what the story is with the painting, but she could conceivably be anyone: a Playboy Bunny from Apocalypse Now, a girlfriend from Laurel Canyon, a waitress from Marathon, a scuba diver from Key Largo modeling a Taarna look, Teri Garr... but unless informed otherwise I'm going to assume she's most likely an early concept for Princess Leia.

Are you a Mod or a kitty?

Since garage sales in Maine have gone into hibernation for the winter, we're vicariously yard saling through my parents in Florida, who recently sent up this great Harry Gordon Poster Dress from 1968. 

25 cents, from a yard sale in Key Largo (below). I don't think it was ever even taken out of its packaging, but soon it will be framed and up on our wall!

R 97

From a thrift shop in Hialeah, Fl., $9.00 

An excellent job, R, whoever you are. Thanks.

Florida Keys

Spring is here, and finally it's yard sale season again. We spent the fall and winter putting the finishing edits on our book "Wary Meyers Tossed & Found", and then celebrated by driving down to the Florida Keys, where Linda's parents' put us up in their beautiful basement. The days were spent going to the beach, and thrift shops, and the weekends yard saling and checking out interesting architecture, wondering why there aren't any round rotating brutalist houses or Lego-like postmodern chateaux in Maine. Nights were spent painting my father in-laws fishing buddy's wife on a swordfish bill. Yard saling there wasn't as great as in previous years, but Linda found some nice Patrick Nagel prints and enough Kino sandals to last a lifetime.

Virgin Mary

Up in Fort Lauderdale, after a disappointing Sunrise Swap Shop (we went on a friday) we headed down to the equally disappointing Salvation Army by the highway, but then were blessed with some real salvation when we parked next to this Virgin Mary stain gracing the side wall of the Habitat Re Store. Inside was a mint condition Kohler low-profile porcelain toilet and matching bidet in sleek jet black, the kind you'd see in ultra modern interior design from the 70's. Score! Although upon closer inspection, the sleek black turned out to be just dark blue, so we passed. But I still have faith that on its own closer inspection, the stain is not just a stain.