Meet Ze Monsta

Happy Halloween!

Vintage Pucci towels

so cool

garage & basement

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.

Wary Meyers Painting Pillows

Off the wall and onto the sofa! Our latest project is a collection of hand-painted (by me) and sewn (by Linda) down-and-feather-filled painting pillows. The first collection is all Abstract Expressionist, inspired by the works of Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. Approximately 18" square, the acrylic paint is thick in parts (like the actual paintings) and nicely pliable. $145 each.

Click here for the entire gallery and order information.

I know someone who knows someone who knows Allen Jones quite well. Or, Kitchen Trophy

A few years ago British interiors photographer James Merrell was up for a weekend photographing our apartment for Domino magazine (here, here, and here), and among the things I (possibly pesteringly) kept pointing out was our kitchen trophy. At this he said, "Yes No! I did see it and love it- and actually the only other time I've ever seen one is at Allen Jones' house.  ...Roger Dean and Yes and I would be hanging out there and we'd always see that knifey jumble on his kitchen wall."
Totally excited to have this connection I was all, "this makes us all mates now, right?!?"

Anyway, above is our kitchen trophy as of the other day, basically a collection of kitchen utensils piled together on the wall like a sort of heraldic crest, including my grandfather's corkscrew, a Stelton bottle opener, an old Zig Zag corkscrew, Dansk knives, a beat-down cleaver, a Danish gnome cheese-cutter, an Adidas tennis racket bottle opener and some other stuff. 

Allen Jones, from the Pirelli calender, 1973. Photographed by Brian Duffy and airbrushed by Philip Castle.


Jones with his sculptures Table, Chair, and Hat Rack, in his apartment, 
from the book 70's Style & Design.


The Jones Residence via Google street view, with quite coincidentally yet appropriately a leather-booted bird strolling by directly across the road.

Key Party

Subliminal Seduction. As a 16 year-old I don't think I ever went into the High School library without nonchalantly taking this book off the shelf and then staring spellbound at the ice cube pictures, trying to see how the Ad Men embedded the T&A.

Top: the Monogrammed Key project from our own book, which, if my own ice cubes are working, you should be ordering right about now.

just initial your OK

perfect.

Collagical

Collage, signed "RC '76" from a yard sale.

Bear Up Bison!

Our old and good friend Vinditto at the brilliantly resplendent The World's Best Ever kindly asked us to contribute a mix tape to their amazing catalog of Sound Advice. While we're no djs, our mix starts off somewhat autobiographical (except for Makin' It- I thought it was about makin' it) and then segues into a melange of what was most often in the tape player/on the passenger seat.

Click the boom box and enjoy.


Sound Advice 71: Wary Meyers

01. Streetbeater Theme by Quincy Jones

02. Boy/Girl by U2

03. Makin’ It by David Naughton

04. Sexy Eiffel Towers by Bow Wow Wow

05. Shack Up by A Certain Ratio

06. Me And My Arrow by Harry Nilsson

07. Only You Can by Fox

08. Monica by The Kinks

09. Stacey Grove by Tyrannosaurus Rex

10. Junk by Paul McCartney

11. History Lesson Part II by Minutemen

12. Fearless by Pink Floyd

13. On The Way Home by Neil Young (from “Live At Massey Hall”)

14. American Tune by Paul Simon (from Greatest Hits, Etc)

15. Red Sleeping Beauty by McCarthy

16. Post Modern Girls by The Strokes & Regina Spektor

17. Bear Up Bison by Big Dipper

18. Loch Ness Monster by Big Dipper

19. Moon Shadow by Labelle

20. Ma Ligne De Chance by Anna Karina

21. For Lovers by Wolfman and Pete Doherty

22. Grazing In The Grass by Hugh Masekela

23. Roxanne by Sting (from The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball, 1981)

24. Message In A Bottle by Sting (from The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball, 1981)

25. Tonight You Belong To Me by Bernadette Peters and Steve Martin

26. Wild Mountain Honey by Steve Miller Band

Take R.I.T

Selections from Rochester Institute of Technology yearbooks, 1974, 76, and 78.

(in no particular order)

Fiorucci Fioruscha

Late 70's Fiorucci shopping bag. Above, from The Official Preppy Handbook; and top, on our kitchen wall by way of Ebay, years ago (this is the actual auction photo- 17 dollars,framed under glass!)

Fiorucci put out some amazing graphics during their heyday but this is my favorite. Equal parts Ed Ruscha and the actual gas station down the road from where I used to live in Italy, which I'd either ride my bike by or hitchhike by just about every day.

Standard Station, Ed Ruscha 1966

Total Station, S.S. 222 from Greti to Greve in Chianti

So You're a Man

Vintage terrycloth Stubbies from a modern Kiwi man's estate sale last weekend. Never worn- perhaps as a result of trying on...

L&P ad from the ever brilliant Jemaine Clement.

September 17th

Sofia Vergara as Mary Tyler Moore on the cover of Astrud Gilberto's excellent album September 17, 1969.

1984

From the sublime to the ridiculous

1954 Gerald Thurston table lamp on brass stand with walnut hand grip; 3 sockets and linen shade with baffle above and diffuser below, from a church thrift shop. Marked down to $5 from $8.

Vêtements 1970

Pauline Denyer and Paul Smith

On 9 October 1970, armed with £600 savings, Paul Smith opened his very first shop. Called Vêtement (the French word for clothing) and located a 6 Byard Lane, down a tiny back alley in the centre of Nottingham. The weekly rent was just 50p.

The 12-foot square room that is featured in the exhibition gives an idea of the size of the premises (compact to say the least) and various artefacts- the original till with the first day's takings, Pauline's diary, and a selection of photographs- build up an impression of the place. The bottle of Eau Sauvage eau de toilet in the glass cabinet is a little more obscure: this was to disguise the smell of Paul's Afghan hound Homer, which tended to overpower the windowless room.

Vêtement was originally open only on Fridays and Saturdays; Smith having to work during the week selling fabrics, making up suits for wholesalers and window dressing, and later as a stylist and consultant, to bring in some more steady money. But soon the shop was buzzing. It was the only outlet outside London which stocked Margaret Howell and Kenzo, and after a while, slowly but surely, Pauline and Paul began introducing their own designs on the racks.

From Paul Smith: True Brit (1998) an exhibit in Tokyo, Kobe, and Fukuoka, winter 1998.

Birthday, 1975

September 4th, 1975. Green Arrow, Superfriends, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Snoopy. Breakfast was probably Quangaroos or Freakies and in all hopefulness dinner was a Libbyland and a Friendly Fribble.

Bjorn Wiinblad's Hus

From "Guide to Copenhagen, May 1973" brought back by my grandparents. Unfortunately the didn't bring back any Bjorn Wiinblad.

(previously)