[Lost Generation] Voyager avec Annemarie Scharzenbach

An overview of the work of traveler, journalist, writer, photographer, Annemarie Scharzenbach, is set to be released as a collaboration publication with the French journal La Quinzaine Littéraire and Louis Vuitton. Annemarie, born in Switzerland in 1908, was an icon of the Lost Generation and the live fast die young ethos of the Weimar Republic, an interwar era of morphine and fast cars. Voyager avec Annemarie Scharzenbach - La Quête du réel is the first in depth look at her work, accompanied by about forty photographs taken by Annemarie herself. The book is set to be released in May. www.quintzaine-litteraire.presse.fr

[PRESS] DNA interview with Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Designers and Artists recently conducted an interview with Oliver Maxwell Kupper - publisher of Pas Un Autre. From DNA: "We recently caught up with artist, Oliver Maxwell Kupper, to discuss his online journal, Pas Un Autre, which covers an interesting mix of art, fashion, music, photography and more from the perspective of artists and contributors from around the world." Read full interview HERE.

[PARFUM D'UNE FEMME] Petite Mort / The Scent of an Orgasm

La petite mort, French for "the little death", is a decidedly poetic metaphor for an orgasm. The question of capturing "the elusive substance" in a bottle, much less a scent, seem's daunting.  With his first foray into perfume, such was the task for Marc Atlan, an art director for clients such as Comme des Garçons, Yves Saint Laurent, and Tom Ford. So how do you capture that moment of climax? You don't really.  You create a conceptual representation, which in and of itself, if you have ever had an orgasm is a pretty intense.  With the rise of artfume, a term I just coined,  more and more perfumers are exploring and inventing wholly new, post modern twists on the classic eau de toilette. Think M/Mink, a line of perfume with the scent of Korean calligraphy ink. According to Petite Mort: "...its a scent based on the paradox of impossible ephemerality." Only 100 bottles of Petite Mort (Parfum D'Une Femme) is available in bottles designed specifically designed and numbered.  www.petitemortparfum.com

tobias wong / BULLET PROOF

Bullet Proof Rose Broach

Arguably contemporary design's most nimble provocateur, Tobias Wong staged his debut in 2001 and continued — until his untimely death at age 35 in 2010 — to produce an extraordinary body of work he designated "paraconceptual" and "postinteresting." Drawing inspiration from various anti-art practices, Wong probed and subverted design's complicity with the culture of late capitalism, exposing its smoke and mirrors while exercising his own sleight of hand. With a unique mix of critical intelligence, courage, sincerity, and mischief, as well as a cadre of talented collaborators, Wong steadily pursued his obsession with the interplay of anxiety and consumerism in the years following 9/11. The allure of luxury goods; the cult of the celebrity designer; the stubborn failure of objects to provide the benefits demanded of them: these are among the concerns he explored across a protean body of work that encompassed objects, furniture, lighting, jewelry, installation, and performance. This is the first in-depth presentation of Wong's work in a museum and will be presented alongside an exhibition drawn from the permanent collection called ParaDesign. On view till June 19, 2011 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern art. www.sfmoma.org

[Nouvelle Vague] Jean-Paul Belmondo Canonized at Cannes

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Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless 1960

With his rough and tumble good looks and eternally dangling cigarette, Jean-Paul Belmondo has been a fixture in French cinema for nearly six decades. Belmondo, the actor who defined "New Wave" cinema with his debut roll in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless will be canonized at this years Cannes Film Festival with a grand fête apropos for the celluloid icon; as well as the premier of Vincent Perrot and Jeff Domenech’s documentary Belmondo, The Career. The Cannes Film Festival runs May 11 – 22.

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Jean-Paul Belmondo in Philippe de Broca's That Man From Rio 1964

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Claudia Cardinale and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Mauro Bolognini's The Lovermakers, 1961

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Jean-Paul Belmondo in Jean-Pierre Melville's Léon Morin, Priest, 1961

Belmondo, Jean-Paul

Belmondo as Belmondo

[FILM] The Face Behind the Mask (1941)

Peter Lorre in The Face Behind the Mask

The Face Behind the Mask is the story of a hopeful new immigrant, Janos Szaby (Peter Lorre), who, on his first day in New York City, is trapped in a hotel fire that leaves his face hideously scarred. Refused employment due to his appearance although he possesses tremendous skill as a watchmaker, the only way he can survive is by turning to theft, using his skilled hands to disable alarms. Eventually he becomes the leader of a gang of thieves, and raises enough money to commission and wear a realistic latex mask of his own face. Janos then falls in love with Helen (Evelyn Keyes) a blind woman who sees only the good in him, and attempts to leave his life of crime behind him. Unfortunately, his gang come to believe that he has betrayed them to the police, and attempt to kill him by car bomb, an attempt on his life that he survives but that Helen does not. In retaliation, Janos disguises himself as the pilot of the private plane the gang is flying out of the city with, which he lands in the Arizona Desert and lets out the fuel, suicidally stranding both the gang and himself without food or water, dooming them all to a slow death. At the film's end, Janos's body and that of his enemies are discovered by the police.

Post by Dustin Lynn

[Music] Back to the Halcyon Days, of Punk

The Jeff & Jane Hudson story goes back to halcyon days of Punk and New Wave with The Rentals, who released two singles of lo-fi DiY Art Punk in between '77 and '80. In 1981, they started performing as a duo and began releasing post-nuclear electronic pop songs under their own names. 1981 saw the release of the "World Trade" EP as well as the "No Clubs" 7", followed in '82 by "Attack Under Attack" which featured the first appearance of "Los Alamos," which would reappear on their debut LP. The duo reached their pinnacle with 1983's seminal "Flesh." Perhaps one of the United States biggest achievements in the entire "synth" movement of the era. Completely self produced by the band, the record has since been oft-cited as a groundbreaking and pivotal LP of the post-punk era, who's original copies are now heavily coveted by collectors. This is the first time since the original issue that "Flesh" is reappearing on the vinyl format as a co-release with Dark Entries record. This edition features remastering culled from the original master tapes and expanded with an extra LP of singles and EP material. It's also the first wide-scale digital and CD release these recordings have yet to see. Due out this April. www.officialjeffandjane.com

Jeff/Jane Hudon -  Los Alamos

[audio:http://www.solidgoldrags.com/music/Jeff__Jane_-_Los_Alamos.mp3|titles=Los Alamos ]

[BOOKS] Frank Lloyd Wright, Complete Works

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is widely considered to be the greatest American architect of all time; indeed, his work virtually ushered in the modern era and remains highly influential today. His wide-ranging and paradigm-shifting oeuvre is the subject of Taschen's three-volume monograph that covers all of his designs (numbering approximately 1100), both realized and unrealized. Part 1, Wright's more residential period that covers the early Chicago years and the Prairie Houses, the period which provoked a profound influence on European architects, can be purchased here.

[VIDEO] Rodarte: States of Matter

Rodarte: States of Matter, at the MoCA, is the first West Coast solo exhibition of the work of fashion and costume designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. In this video, Kate and Laura talk about the stories that have inspired their collections and the physical processes their materials go through. This intimate look at more than 20 pieces from Rodarte’s Spring 2010, Fall 2010, and Fall 2008 runway collections, as well as original ballet costumes designed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy from Rodarte for the feature film Black Swan, was directed by Felipe Lima, with original music by No Age. www.moca.org

Nirvana's Rare 'Hormoaning' EP to be Re-Released

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Nirvana's 1992 Hormoaning EP -- an import-only set recorded for BBC 1 Radio and available on the band's '92 Australian tour -- will be reissued on limited-edition vinyl this April. The release features covers of the Wipers' "D-7" and the Vaselines' "Son of a Gun" and "Molly's Lips," along with Nirvana tracks "Aneurysm" and "Even in His Youth.

Miró in London

A Star Caresses the Breast of a Negress (Painting Poem) 1938

Joan Miró's works come to London's Tate Modern in the first major retrospective here for nearly 50 years. Renowned as one of the greatest Surrealist painters, filling his paintings with luxuriant colour, Miró worked in a rich variety of styles. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy more than 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints from moments across the six decades of his extraordinary career. 14 April – 11 September 2011 www.tate.org

 

A Century of Racing at Isle of Man

J. Guthrie, Norton Racing, Isle of White, 1937 Well, its that time again, The Quail Motorcycling Gathering is upon us. A rather classic day in the sun this gathering should hold out to be, lest I get a sunburn or some kind of dizzy spell from the quail salad, like last year. Held at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, the resort is graciously offering the "pristine lawn" of its driving range on May 14th for a display of a tremendous smorgasbord of classic sports and racing bikes. This year's event theme will feature "A Century of Racing at Isle of Man", while also showcasing the finest motorcycles from the past, present and future. And you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be music and barbecue.  If they let us in this year we'll promise to behave.  www.quaillodgeevents.com

Joe Dallesandro Superstar

Joe_Dallesandro_Superstar

Joe Dallesandro und Jane Forth Joe Dallesandro, the Little Joe "who never once gave it away" in Lou Reed's Take a Walk on the Wild Side and superstar of Andy Warhol's factory, is the subject of a photo exhibition at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg: Aktuelle Kunst Haus der Photographie gallery beginning April 1 and running through May 22. Curated by Ingo Taubhorn, Joe Dallesandro Superstar will feature Joe's varied roles in masculine portraiture by such photographers as Duncan, Skrebneski, Avedon, Scavullo, Michals, Childers, and Bokelberg. Vintage film posters and stills from Joe's work in the 1960s and 1970s will also be featured. For more on the Joe show, part of a larger exhibition devoted to Traummaenner (dream men), in which fifty famous contemporary photographers display their "vision of the ideal."www.deichtorhallen.de

Lust and Vice

Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller: Danaë och guldregnet. NM 1767

Danaë and the Shower of Gold, Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1786

The exhibition Lust & Vice shows examples of how sexuality, virtue and sin have been depicted in art since the 16th century – from an age when the Church preached that sexual contact was only permitted within wedlock to today’s questioning of who erotic art is created for. A total of 200 works are on show from the museum’s own collections, a mix of paintings, drawings, sculptures and applied art. You can also see a genuine chastity belt! Now on view at the National Gallery in Stockholm 24 March 2011–14 August 2011. www.nationalmuseum.se

The Cult of Beauty

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900, opening April 2 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is the first exhibition to comprehensively explore Aestheticism, an extraordinary artistic movement which sought to escape the ugliness and materialism of the Victorian era by creating a new kind of art and beauty.

The well spring of the 'new art' movements of the late 19th century, Aestheticism is now acknowledged for its revolutionary re-negotiation of the relationships between the artist and society, between the 'fine' and design arts, as well as between art and ethics and art and criticism. Aesthetic sensibilities produced some of the most sophisticated and sensuously beautiful artworks of the Western tradition.

Featuring superb artworks from the traditional high art of painting, to fashionable trends in architecture, interior design, domestic furnishings, art photography and new modes of dress, this exhibition traces Aestheticism's evolution from the artistic concerns of a small circle of avant-garde artists and authors to a broad cultural phenomenon.

The exhibition will feature paintings, furniture, ceramics, metalwork, wallpapers, photographs and costumes, as well as architectural and interior designs. Included will be major paintings by Whistler, Rossetti, Leighton, and Burne-Jones. Architecture and interior design will be represented by the works of Edward Godwin, George Aitchison, Philip Webb and Thomas Jeckyll, among others. Art furnishings designed by these and others, including William Morris, Christopher Dresser, Bruce Talbert, Henry Batley, and Walter Crane will showcase not only the designers and manufacturers they worked for, but also new retailers, such as Liberty's.

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 is on view from April 2 to July 7 the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.  www.vam.ac.uk

Photography: David Goldblatt's Apartheid

A farmer’s son with his nursemaid, Heimweeberg, Nietverdiend, 1964 Photographer David Goldblatt has explored the social landscape of South Africa since the late 1940s. In 1987, he generously donated a large collection of his work to the V&A. The display will present a selection of these images, focussing on the later years under apartheid rule. The display complements the exhibition Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography in the Porter Gallery.

Steven with Sight Seeing Bus, Doornfontein, Johannesburg, 1960

Miss Lovely Legs Competition. 1979/80 Holdup in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, November 1963

www.vam.ac.uk