Saturday, February 23, 2013

don't fear the reaper

Fresh out of the studio, this guy will make his debut in March at the Yukon Arts Centre community gallery.

untitled 14, we keep it all in, 2013 by Jen Williams

















Death is one of my all-time favourite pop icons. Check out this scene from Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry

the sum of all evil

I came across this amazing new work by Jake and Dinos Chapman, via DesignBoom.  There's not much I like better than the feeling you get when you see art that slaps you across the face, sends all your synapses firing and screams "see - this is the real freaking deal."  The combination of miniatures, scale models, depictions of historical horrors, corporate culture and scathing sarcasm just about makes my head explode with happiness.

Here's a sampling. All rights reserved by the artists. It's worth reading the DesignBoom write up.



















I was also struck by the (loose) similarity to an image from my perpetually in-development series "we keep it all in". There's something magically delicious about seeing a pop-cultural icon depicted against a backdrop of menace, melancholy or absurdity.

untitled 10, we keep it all in, 2011 by Jen Williams










Sunday, February 3, 2013

room with a view

We are kind of obsessed with the Eames house and when it came time to build an addition on our house to accommodate for new members of the family, we knew it had to somehow incorporate elements of the fantastic Eames living room.

Eames House aka Case Study House #8





















Living way up north of 60 meant having to make some design compromises. R factor is kind of a big deal when winter lasts nigh on 6 months and temperatures routinely dip down into the -30s centigrade. We had to settle for less than a whole wall of windows and go with triple pane vinyl  over  industrial metal frames. It's still evolving with trim and lighting to come, but now that we're in in and enjoying the space, I'm pretty happy with our little homage. I just never get tired of this view.


Friday, February 1, 2013

innovate as a last resort

Eames fans come in all stripes. Check out this homage to Ray and Charles by architectural drafter turned rapper, Ice Cube.














Speaking of the Eames house, have a look at these limited edition prints in support of the Eames House restoration project. Help the family preserve this important piece of architectural and design history for years to come.