Are you house-proud? It's one of the simple satisfactions of domestic life. I believe that living in a clean, uncluttered space that's well-organized and smells fresh is essential for health and happiness. Your house doesn't have to be big (mine is tiny) and your furnishings needn't be fancy, but you can surround yourself with things that are pleasing to the senses. Right now, I've made some small adjustments in honor of the holidays. I'm burning this fabulous juniper incense all the time (I also love their Big Sur cabin spray) and I've brought in bunches of red winterberries and boughs of fragrant pine. My three big silver mercury glass ornaments (jumbo versions of these that I got at the old Takashimaya) and our two embroidered stockings are out—small tributes to the Christmas tradition in which I was raised. And I'm also loving incorporating Jan Richter's lovely drawings into little vignettes around the house. Those are her gorgeous pomegranates, above. Have you been to the GFL shop yet? Her work is for sale there.
Read More...

Britt Browne has a mad case of the blues: she’s in love with indigo. Her affair with this magical plant has her dreaming of a utopian art farm and she’s on her way to making it a reality. She has studied printmaking in Vermont, fashion in Paris and typography in NYC, and worked as an art director at places like W magazine, Abercrombie & Fitch and Ann Taylor. As an artist, she works primarily in prints, though she made her first short film, El Niño Encantado, last year. Britt lives in LA and has many interesting collaborations brewing, including design work for a new restaurant venture affiliated with the wonderful Echo Park green grocer Cookbook, where she has also held crafting workshops. And now she has founded Growing Indigo, an art and agriculture concept project currently the subject of an exhibit, Growing Indigo: A Hydroponic Installation and Superfine Prints, at the Standard Hotel in Los Angeles, through June 9th. 
Along with hydroponically-grown indigo plants (nurtured by magenta LED lights), the exhibit features a stunning collection of Britt’s vibrant indigo-ink prints that are also for sale at Stampa, our favorite online gallery.
Read More...

It's pretty fascinating how the internet has opened up so many avenues of opportunity for art and commerce—sometimes separately, sometimes together. There are jillions of blogs and online stores and social networks of every stripe. And now, there is a fantastic source for affordably priced art from the roster of talented illustrators represented by my dear friend Stephanie Pesakoff. Stampa, which just launched last week (as per this mention in the Times), offers limited series of prints, with 4 artists at a time each selling their exclusive work for 4 weeks only. Once the edition is closed, Stampa will never offer the same art work again. A new series is added every week, so there's always something to discover. (There are actually 5 artists available currently, but that will change to a permanent format of 4.)
Read More...

I visited an intriguing new retail concept recently, on Sullivan Street in Manhattan. It's called The Little House and is the result of a collaboration between three talented and artistic souls: Savania Davies-Keiller, Michael Capotosto and Joel Alexander Morales. (The first two are a married couple, and friends of mine.) Their website describes this project as "a movement towards an inspired, personal and creative experience." The Little House offers its own label of clothing for men and women, but also curated works of art (including the amazing woven sculptures and two-dimensional works by Capotosto), beautiful objects and a limited edition Little House Periodical. It's a basement space into which you descend via a tightly coiled spiral staircase whose banister is wrapped in a wonderfully tactile leather of the sort used on bicycle handlebars. Everything in the tiny space is subject to the same surprising and delightful level of artisanal detail. The house candle, smelling of rich pipe tobacco, is encased in a supple black leather box; the shopping bags are printed with one of Capotosto's drawings; purchases are carefully wrapped and tied with leather string.
Read More...

Once upon a time, I toiled in the creative department at Saks Fifth Avenue, working on high-profile advertising campaigns in the wacky and fast-paced world that is fashion retail. My boss, SVP Janice Richter, was a multi-talented woman who (like I) has since moved on to greener pastures. We had some fun while we were there, though she coped with the whole corporate thing much more gracefully than I ever could. Jan never lost her cool, perhaps because under the desk in her corner office she harbored the soul of an artist. In her new life as an illustrator, she reveals a talent for lyrical, vivid and always incredibly chic images that incite desire for whatever they're depicting. She's been kind enough to let me post a few here in the past, and today we have an embarrassment of riches along with her thoughtful take on, among other things, art and commerce.

Read More...

I am so captivated by painter Mark Ryden's latest show, The Gay 90's Olde Tyme Art Show, at Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York. The official release says the work "references the idealism of the 1890s while addressing the role of kitsch and nostalgia in our current culture," but for me it's really all about the meat.

Apparently he had an entire exhibition called The Meat Show: Paintings about Children, God, and USDA Grade A Beef. I know, it's kinda creepy, but I just adore the Currinesque-anime-anal-retentive realism. And that meat, it's all so beautifully rendered...
Read More...