Random: New Art

'Times of Need' - Ruben Ireland

I was immediately drawn to this art print by London based graphic artist, Ruben Ireland.  I have this memory from when I was very young, about 3 or 4 years old, when my family lived in a fairly small apartment building.  I remember the building looking dim, worn down, and old.  (In reality, the apartment building was situated in a charming middle-income neighborhood and the building was fairly new.)  As a child walking up the dimly lit stairs to our third floor apartment in the evening, I have this stark memory of feeling as if a large bear was following behind me, his shadow growing larger as I kept walking ahead.  Of course, you realize obviously, that this was merely my own shadow that I saw in front of me, with the light source coming from behind me.  But in the imaginatively abundant mind of a 4 year old, the shadow might as well have been an 8-ft. tall grizzly bear.  

Seeing this art print brought this memory back to me, so keenly yet subtly.

Another print I also really liked from Ruben Ireland's prints: 

'Times of Weakness' - Ruben Ireland

I like especially how her eyes are veiled by a dark sheet, but it's not totally obvious what the 'veil' is actually.

On the Side

I adore women's fashion, and a beautifully designed dress will make my knees weak.  Menswear however, is an art that has more precision and structure, which I actually find very comforting.  For many women, I think it's fair to say that she would prefer and enjoy the company of a well-dressed man.  (Putting aside well-dressed women for the moment), a man wearing a shirt tailored to his body, a pair of sturdy leather lace-up dress shoes, and throw in every attention to detail from cufflinks to the perfect tie -- the well-dressed man makes a great statement at first glance, even before he opens his mouth or shakes your hand.

As I'm sure future posts will pursue this topic further, allow me to introduce it with a series of short films:  Commissioned for The Sunday Times Style Online,  Chris Floyd presents well-dressed men and their approach to the daily ritual of dressing.  

This one is my personal favorite -- 

Hurts: How I Get Dressed from Chris Floyd on Vimeo.

A different look -- 

Patrick Grant: How I Get Dressed from Chris Floyd on Vimeo.

Go get em' tiger. 

Get Away

So you want to get away from it all.  I know I do.  From daily chores, to larger personal problems, we all can use a break from our busy modern lives.  As a kid, I remember wanting a tree house so badly--I never got one. But to this day, it seems like a great idea even as an adult!  There's a surrealism about one: virtually living in mid-air, and two: being surrounded by open air and trees instead of buildings and cars.

I stumbled upon Finca Bellavista, a sustainable tree house community in Costa Rica which includes rental and sale properties.  For about $200USD a night (double occupancy! Bring a friend to split the tab if needed), you can stay at one of these rental tree houses!  Hassle-free, pollution-free, and away from it all.

Such a refreshing idea, and conveniently executed.  

All good things must come to an end, as we must resume our urban lives. As much as some may complain about the constraints and downfalls of urban living, I confess there are more than enough things to enjoy in our urban centers.  Case in point:  magnificent architecture and design.  Uzbekistan -- an unlikely city to enter the minds of social icons when they need an event space!  But the newly constructed Palace of International Forums in Uzbekistan definitely makes a statement.  It was a collaborative project, involving for than 500 designers and architects.  The expansive architectural beauty will accommodate political, cultural, and various other high profile functions.  

From Central Asia to South America -- happy travels.

The Visual

So much of the world is visual, yet I think for the most part, I instinctively am attracted to the literary rather than the visual.  That is to say, I prefer words on a page versus a picture in a frame.  I've always enjoyed being able to construe and paint my own picture in my mind as I read beautifully woven words and phrases on a page.
Having said all that however, the visual is an inescapable art form, and I actively enjoy the visual arts -- be it theater, musical performances, paintings, and/or photography.  Since I was younger I've liked styling clothes, trying different combinations of clothe items that would be unexpected or unconventional.  This led to my growing interest in fashion, and as I became an adult, this interest became quite the permanent hobby.
Much like my own little anecdote, 'The Sartorialist' as featured in this Intel Visual Life short video speaks openly about his beginnings as a photographer/blogger.  His words and this artfully created short video was inspirational and almost therapeutic for me.  Enjoy:

>Always

If you were a melody...

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, is a line from 'The Holiday' in a scene with Iris (Kate Winslet) and Miles (Jack Black) are sitting in front of keyboard as Miles says to Iris, "Iris..., if you were a melody; I used only the good notes".  He proceeds to play a short but sweet measure, such a pretty collection of notes that I think I will always remember.

The scene from the romantic comedy film mentioned above quickly turns comedic, and the movie ends with all characters finding a happy and lovely ending.  Life and love, unfortunately, aren't like the movies (as we are all painfully aware by now).  Thus, take a look at the below 'Love Medley' by a young southern CA native poet.  I'd like to think he paints quite a good picture of a relationship consumed with love--as pure and romantic love can be, he doesn't neglect the frustration and suffering love also bears.

'Love Medley' by Rudy Francisco --

I want you to bite my lip until I can no longer speak. And then suck my ex girlfriend’s name out of my mouth just to make sure she never comes up in our conversations. I’m going to be honest, I’m not really a love poet. In fact, every time I try to write about love my hands cramp… just to show me how painful love can be. And sometimes my pencils break, just to prove to me that every now and then love takes a little more work than you planned.

See I heard that love is blind so, I write all my poems in brail. And my poems are never actually finished because true love is endless. I always believed that real love is kind of like a super model before she’s air brushed; it’s pure and imperfect, just the way that God intended. See I’m going to be honest, I’m not a love poet. But if I was to wake up tomorrow morning and decide that I really wanted to write about love I swear that my first poem… it would be about you.

About how I loved you the same way that I learned how to ride a bike: Scared… but reckless with no training wheels or elbow pads so my scars can tell the story of how I feel for you. You see, I’m not really a love poet. But if I was I’d write about how I see your face in every cloud and your reflection in every window, you see I’ve written like a million poems hoping that somehow maybe someway you’ll jump out of the page and be closer to me because if you were here, right now, I would massage your back until your skin sings songs that your lips don’t even know the words to.

Until your heartbeat sounds like my last name and you smile like the pacific ocean, I want to drink the sunlight in your skin. If I was a love poet, I’d write about how you have the audacity to be beautiful, even on days when everything around you is ugly you see I’d write about your eyelashes and how they are like violin strings that play symphonies every time you blink.

If I was a love poet I’d write about how I melt in front of you like an ice sculpture, every time I hear the vibration in your voice so whenever I see your name on the caller ID my heart, it plays hop scotch inside of my chest. Yo it climbs on to my ribs like money bars and I feel like a child all over again. I know this sounds strange but every now and then I pray that God somehow turns you back in to one of my ribs just so that I would never have to spend an entire day without you.

I swear, I’m not a love poet. But if I was to wake up tomorrow morning and decide that I really wanted to write about love, my first poem it would be about you. And after all of that she was like, so how do you feel about me? And I said, put it like this: I want to be your ex boyfriend’s stunt man. I want to do everything that he never had the courage to do like… trust you.

I swear that when our lips touch I can taste the next sixty years of my life. And some days I want to swallow stacks of your pictures just so you can be a part of me for a little bit longer. If I could I would sample your smile and then I would let my heart beat, do the bass line, we would create the greatest love song of all time. Whenever, we stand next to each other, love I was the only one made for you and you can be at last my Etta James. I’ll be oh child when you’re in pain or you could be candy coated drops of rain even though it never rains in Southern California. And together, we could be music.

And when my friends ask if you’re my girlfriend, I’ll say no. She is my musician. And me… I’m her favorite song.

--Always.