Ice Melts

IMAGES: all images found here and here.

“For nine decades Fulton Market Cold Storage Company operated in Chicago’s meatpacking district with a full ten stories of freezing storage situated close to major railways. Last summer the company decided it was time to start fresh in a state-of-the-art facility outside of Chicago, so the building was sold to SRAM, a bike component manufacturer who will use the space for its global headquarters. Architects Perkins + Will were hired to help convert the ice-encrusted space into a new, modernized office building and were also tasked with the most epic refrigerator defrost in history. Luckily photographer Gary Jensen was asked to snap some incredible photos prior to the thawing which was actually caught on video (sorry no embed). See more photos on his website. (via gapers block)

UPDATE: I’ve been asked to clarify that the building owner is technically Sterling Bay and the architect of the conversion is Hartshorne and Plunkard. SRAM is a potential tenant in the building and Perkins & Will is their architect.”  via Colossal (amazing art and installation blog)

Cerise Doucède Portrait Series

I have a new computer. Hallelujah I say! I am not going to pretend that it was some travesty that my ‘r’ and ‘f’ and ‘4’ key weren’t working, but the random black screen was putting a damper on my log of display design / exhibition design / art installations / inspiration blogging. And it was putting a damper on your reading, probably.

Today I have an extra special treat. A while back I encountered this fabulous photo-series by the photographer Cerise Doucède. When I talk about this series, I want to say that I’m showing you photography and portraiture, but then I want to say that its sculpture and installation work, and then I just want to say that it ‘crosses boundaries and disciplines‘ and is dang amazing. I love, I mean really, really love, this kind of photography. It is certainly not for everyone, but it seems so honest in fantasy-sort-of-way.

Do you ever fantasize? I don’t mean sexually fantasize (although, hello non-Thor Hemsworth! I heard you and Miley broke up and that you miss being the love interest on a show about an elephant princess…?), I mean life-fantasize. Do you ever pause what you are doing and wonder what it would be like if you were in another time or country? Or if you were dying or in love? (I feel like its a great inspiration exercise..) Or when things are monotonous at work, do you picture yourself breaking out in Hall & Oates? (That was a personal favorite fantasy of mine at work a couple years back..) I’m pretty sure that these photos are my favorite alternate-reality, photography fantasies realized.

There’s a great article on the series over at ExposureGuide.com, and my favorite excerpt is this:

Usually, removing the strings that hold up objects is done in post-processing, but Doucède chose to leave them visible to create a bridge between reality and fiction. “Otherwise it’s just a fictional or fantastical photo and I didn’t want that…” she says.

I love that very important detail that although the series explores fantasy, it is distinctly real-life.

IMAGES: all from here

What are your fantasies that you have in day-to-day life? Share your non-sexual fantasies below! (Wow, this post is so HBO edgy.)

Link Round Up

Images: LAPDESK //  Eiko Ishioka work here, here, here // awesome people hanging out together (Louis Armstrong and Niels Bohr, Copenhagen, 1959).

1. Inspired by this post at plentyofcolor, I remembered how much I actually love really arty, well-done music videos (example: Violet Hill by Coldplay. Stops me dead every time.)  Example 2: Try by Pink.  I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I think she pushed herself in this, and it was just so gorgeous to watch the dance and the colors.  Indeed, as plentyofcolor says, such a powerful use of color.

2. Found via Swissmiss, I actually really love this Vool wooden laptop stand.  It is the only ‘lap-bed’ thing I have not thought was mostly useless! (if only because it would make such a beautiful cookbook holder if I never actually used it in bed… )

3. Eiko Ishioka : graphic designer turned costume artist.  If that alone doesn’t intrigue you, then her work should, cause its freakin amazing and outta site.  You can kinda see her background filter into her costume design in the way that each piece is SO well balanced and organized, and definitely has a graphic almost pop-arty aspect to it.  To me its only really the silhouette, structure and the fine detail that makes it feel of-the-period; the actual designs seem so modern to me. Also how well does she use texture and layering?!

4.  James Lipton’s Inside the Actor’s Studio with Will Smith here. So fascinating. (Also, who doesn’t love Inside the Actor’s Studio? Dumb people who hate movies. …. Also, anyone that gets creeped out by all those personal questions, I guess….)

5. Photos of awesome people hanging out together :) here. (Example, Louis Armstrong and Niels Bohr!)

Images: GLIF // Wes Naman SCOTCH TAPE // WALID AZIZ.

6. The glif.  Started on Kickstarter, and an indie-manufactured design, the glif is a tripod Mount & Stand For iPhone 4/4S and 5.  Looks so awesome and has gotten such good reviews.  Especially with this shift in photography from huge DSLR to iphone, this looks like a good buy.  Buy it here.

7. Absolutely, simple amazement in a dance. Choreographed and danced by Matt Luck and Emma Portner. Music by Ben Howard and Yael Naim.  So personal and subtle, so relatable and I love the style of the choreography. The way he does the ‘carving you up alright’, and the way she does everything (especially the start), and the tenderness in the dance is awesome.  The music choice is so good, too. I just feel like a dance like this could not exist in any other time; as cliche as it sounds, it just feels very 2012 to me. here

8. “New Mexico-based photographer Wes Naman has created Scotch Tape, an ongoing portrait series of people’s faces contorted by invisible tape. Jakob Schiller recently featured the series on Wired Raw File where he spoke to Naman about the inspiration behind the project.”  Really inspired by this series. here

9. Watch these amazing bio-chem looking animations by the artist and medical illustrator, Walid Aziz.  Here‘s Symbiosis. (Hat tip to my friend Bobby for showing me his work!)

Empathy: Desperation

(Images: Mick Jagger portrait Exposed Bryan Adams here // Nabil Elderkin here // Miuccia Prada (photographer unknown) here )

Desperation, I think, is one of the most dynamic states-of-being or emotions we, as humans, can have.  Its so interesting because its so revered on some level, but it is also such a terrible place to be.  Famous or great people always talk about how they were absolutely so desperate – financially, emotionally, physically – and that was the turning point, that is the catalyst that made things change, or made them change themselves.  That great lift of internal force.  But to get to that state, or at least while you are in that state, it is one of the most tragic states-of-being for sure.  To me, it means that your entire self, being is up for grabs.  It also means you will take or give absolutely anything.  People are desperate for love – a love that has been lost, or a love that has not come , people are desperate for money, for shelter, for attention, for fame, for food, for a situation or for a situation to end.  Being so, so vulnerable is quite literally the definition of real desperation.  And it is because of this that greatness or achievement can come of it.  It is when you have nothing else, but to give your actual self.

Really, greatness and grand change always comes from desperation – it is a non-mutually exclusive necessity.  It means that to be successful, you must be desperate on some level (or lucky, of course), but it also means that if you are desperate  you will not always necessarily end in greatness.  This adds such a realness, and an additional layer to the tragedy of this.

In desperation there is no filter, because there is nothing left but the desperation and the need and the desire.  You are pure focus, and what a powerful thing that is.  Desperation is the rain and the long, grey dry spell afterwards.  As a ‘young’ person, I know that nowadays, if a guy asks for a woman’s phone number, and calls her too soon after receiving it, he is seen as ‘desperate’.  And that is a bad thing, because it means that no one has wanted him for so long, that he has become desperate to have connection and love and sex.  But remember boys and everyone, it can go two ways.  Desperation, if you are desperate, is not always a bad thing.  Use your desparation as a hidden unexpected power that you did not know to articulate or that you had.  Applying it is the one real power to getting what you need.  Use it to love and to go extra miles, and kilometers and mountains farther, let it be your constant unrelenting push when your feet are sore and your hair hurts and your teeth are itchy and you are so tired.  Greatness comes from total desperation.

(Images: photographer Lee Jeffries here // drawing of Lauren Bacall here )

[This post was inspired by an episode of Design Matters by Debbie Millman, with  guest Chris Ware]

Links Round Up!

1. Floral print, here.
2. Such beautiful stuff of Lee Klabin’s on 5inchandup.com . Everything they do is pretty incredible.. structural, romantic, very aware of materials..
3. I want to make this so bad for my new camera!! here.
4. Amazing art installation/portrait, done with a projector and a table setting… a “food portrait” by golpeavisa found here.
5. Winners of the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2012. here.

6. Awesome famous blog that I just found out about – Seth Godin’s blog – is filled with marketing and life advice. I have really been liking it…
7. Street photography Do’s and Don’ts on youtube.. oh man, this ones pretty funny AND informative…

8. Wow, I am in love with this personal website. The design, the cool flash stuff, the content, ahhrghhh. So good. Its Kelli Anderson.
9. Such a good article on Managing You Email Realistically! by Matt Gemmell.
10.This Got a Girl Crush Magazine is actually really good! When I started checking it out, I was like, Oh whatever…, but the ladies featured are actually girls with whom I do have an internet crush on! E.g.: Jessica Hische (need I say more), but also the girl from brooklyntowest.blogspot.com who has her own furniture company (and knows how to use a skill saw! holla), and many more cool ladies)

Photographing Your Work

Sup students! And non-students working on improving your portfolio!
I am starting to look into assembling my portfolio for grad school (AHHHHHHHHHH. crap!), and it actually took me a while to find any good sources for tips for photographing 2 D and 3D artwork for a portfolio! So, I thought I’d share them. Hopefully, these will be worth their virtual weight in gold.

I think this one is the best for overall-2D:

This one has a great trick for photographing drawings that I never thought of and breaks things down pretty well….:

Another useful 2D tutorial:

Shooting 3D!:

So, these videos teach you a lot about shooting the overall object or painting, but remember also that its important to get some process shots! AND, some detail shots if some areas aren’t easy to see from the overall shot. Also, these guys are super pros, and if you are applying to schools like me, remember that you are applying to be a student. Of course try to get the best pictures you can, but I don’t think its necessary to go out and buy a bunch of stuff. If you take your time and generally follow these tips, I’m sure you are off to a good start!

ANOTHER TIP: Best portfolio advice I ever had – design you portfolio like you would design a book. A real, photo-based book.  Meaning, think about the order in which people are going to view it, if you put it online or decide to bind it, make an interesting cover that is related to your work, but draws people in.  Think about photo layouts if you are showing some close up and think about chapters? If you are going to use text? Color schemes? Etc.

Anyway, I hope this has been helpful! Cheers,

Links Round Up: Summer Peace

I’m so into summer stillness right now…

1. Get inspired or appalled by the books on this beautiful chart of the Top 10 Most Read Books In the World.

2. Pride and Predjudice – BBC version. Keira Knightly version. Both so awesome in their own ways (NOTE: IF you are into romantic period dramas.  Or just really good-looking films).

3. Walk to a bookstore today. It is such a lovely thing to do, especially when you are excited to buy a book.  One that I’m reading that’s actually really good (really well organized storyline! I think I’m actually learning from his writing) is The Blind Side by Michael Lewis.  I also really want to read Wild by Cheryl Strayed

4. Les Paul, Sleepwalk

5. Actually doing excersizing regularly. peace.

Also, finally losing some summer El-Bee’s (lb’s) gives peace, too.

6. Joy’s summer bucket list. Make your own summer bucket list, and then do it. And surprise no one by doing it.

7.  Walk alone, while listening to music.

8. Bake slowly.  Bake this strawberry summer cake. I made it, and it was so fucking good.

9. Drink sangria or tea on the British countryside.

10. Look some more at this photo: Summer,The Lower East Side, 1937 by Arthur Felig.

Have a great weekend!

(Click on all images to go to their original webpages, and to get full recipes.)

Link Round Up

Here’s my weekly mostly-design related inspiration this week!

1. Clay Shirky describes five student projects that he thinks are pushing the creative boundaries – from interface design to how people cluster to build new work. Here.

2. Ideas of the deep south and diehard football players and cow-people (politically correct cowboys) in the United States have totally been inspiring me lately. I have been watching too much Friday Night Lights!

3. Sebastian Deterding: What your designs say about you – talking about what I’m aspiring to. TED talk: What Your Designs Say About You

4. If you haven’t heard of creative mornings, its amazing and such a resource of information on the creative industry.  Thank you Tina Roth Eisenburg. Basically, it is a monthly breakfast lecture series by distinguished creative professionals, which takes place in cities all over the world.  And are video recorded and uploaded online. Have fun.

5. Wear it now! Don’t wait or put off wearing your awesome clothes! Here. Have that crazy miumiu suit? Wear it. Have a meat dress? Go for it!

6. People have been raving about this book so much, I kinda really want to read it.

7. Love this phoot camp revival photo series! I really want to go to this one day! The photos are just so great and fun and creative.

Have a great weekend!

This Week’s Round Up

Photo is found here.

1. So, Etsy (if you haven’t heard of etsy, then I am super appalled.) has these amazing video series’. One is ‘Handmade Portraits’, another is ‘There’s no place like here’, etc. Anyway, they are all so fascinating and interesting and beautifully shot, to me. Anyway, since I was recently trying to re-scare myself into working on my art, I was looking up ID grad schools. When I was watching RISD videos, I came across this ‘No Place Like Here’ etsy video again that I hadn’t seen in a while, but it is so cool! …love RISD… AND I MUST GET IN…

2. Another great artist, is sculpture artist AJ Fosik! He makes these amazing 2-Dim -> turned 3-Dim pieces, reminiscent of chinese dragon costumes, and totally intriguing, different and fierce. Here’s an interview with him, too.

3. If you are looking for inspiration, or just want to look up the art available at a specific gallery, this (the Google Project) is so cool and useful. Great art resource.

4. I read this ages ago, but its so freakin’ funny and TRUTH! I had to post it: The NOGOODFORME Guide to Picking Up Girls. Ladies, how much does it annoy when a guy (OR ANY PERSON) or another lady, if you swing that way, lists their “Coolness Resume”? A “Coolness Resume” tots exists and I’ve had it listed to me SO MANY times I want to rip a carpets’ hair out. And then, after someone lists their “coolness resume”, you have to make yours up on the spot (or worse. you actually have one, too.), and we all know how last-minute resumes go. They have an oil stain on them and you don’t get the (well-dressed man) pro-job you deserve, but are maybe planning to turn down anyway cause he’s not that great of a talker.
This metaphor is getting weird. Anyway, I AM UNIMPRESSABLE! Just don’t do it.

Anyway, there are so many good parts of this post, but my favorite quote is:

“Do not list your “Coolness Resume”. Because it’s not going to work. I am unimpressable. When I meet you, I don’t want to hear you list off bolded points from your “coolness resume.” Why do people have to have coolness resumes? It’s such a big part of dating in 2010, and it’s so uncool. Coolness resumes are chock full of boring and pointless information I don’t care about such as: a semi-whimsical and poorly-executed description of the (weak) concept driving your rock band, worst-case-scenario segueing into some drivel regarding “your musical influences” (No musical influences. Never tell me your musical influences.), and just all the normal garbage that makes me want to walk home quickly and swear off men forever: who you know and where you go and bad art and how hard you partied last night. How hard you partied last night- that one’s the worst. I am so turned off by the contemporary impulse to try and encapsulate everything notable you’ve ever done/ all of your most captivating personality traits within the first four minutes of meeting someone you find somewhat attractive at a bar. Let’s just talk about what we did today and share funny anecdotes from our respective adolescences and discuss what foods we like to eat and what zodiac signs we are. I will figure out that you are cool in the long-run if I like you. (Laura Jane)”

5. I’m really sorry, plebians. Ira Glass two weeks in a row. Except I’m actually not sorry. His top picks from Boarders!

6. So, Readlist is “A group of web pages—articles, recipes, course materials, anything—bundled into an e-book you can send to your Kindle, iPad, or iPhone.”, and lucky for you and I, the amazing, extraordinary, cool Tina Roth-Eisenburg (aka swissmiss) has made her own Readlist for Students, which I am slowly savoring, absorbing and reading through.

7. One of my favorite artists ever is the famous Steve Powers. He is weird, and that is so normal. And he does not give an EF what the world thinks of his hair or his Love Letters to New York. EF ya Steve Powers!

8. Colin Jack is just such a fabulous illustrator. He’s so earnest and shy and real-childhood-y, and still fun and silly. This is one of my favorite’s of his. Also, this:

9. I have wanted this book since it came out. Basically, I have wanted this book forever. Even before I knew I wanted it. Fully, I am As deep. As. Stefan Stagmeister.  !

Enjoy! Happy Friday :)