Monthly Archives: July 2014

drake <3 james turrell

drake james turrell

A few months ago, Drake visited the James Turrell retrospective at the LACMA. Rolling Stone followed him around the show (full profile here).

Drake, on his YOLO Estate: “I was like, ‘What are the world’s craziest residential pools?’ and when I searched online, this came up. One of my goals in life is to have the biggest residential pool on the planet.”

He also followed up with the museum guide, asking about installing a Turrell work in his house. His response included the phrase “residentials.”

An interesting business venture for someone who called “the whole rap/art world thing…kind of corny.”

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chairs

chair van gogh

Vincent van Gogh painted this chair as a relative self-portrait. Artists love personification. I mean, darling, right?! Humble, quaint, simple.

Now, get ready to cringe. Below, van Gogh’s portrait of Gauguin.

chair gauguin

Showy, gaudy, just completely over the top. If this is to “portray” Gauguin, my hate level just rose exponentially. And, personally, I’m not even a little surprised. I just feel even worse for van Gogh for wanting to hang out and do this loser’s homework. Though if he did it on purpose to show how much Gauguin sucks, bravo, fine fellow.

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left-handed artists

Maybe you haven’t heard, but being left-handed is a major accomplishment (it’s right up there with being able to French braid your own hair and making Jacob’s Ladder with string). Today, we will celebrate some of our most cherished southpaw artists.

escher

M.C. Escher

durer

Albrecht Dürer

da vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Now go out and do something incredible, left handers! No, actually, try and make that Jacob’s Ladder thing happen.

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abercrombotticelli

tshirt1

tshirt

Sometimes art is a graphic tee. Venus, girl, I hear you with that dismissive gesture! I feel the same way about overly sheer daytime looks…ladiesss.

I mean, it’s been like, ten years, since I’ve shopped at Abercrombie, but I’ll do ANYTHING in the name of art.

Though I’m actually really surprised Mike Jeffries, the company’s CEO, would put such fleshy bods on his tiny tees. Also, beware: The Google search alone for that guy is shocking.

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maxime dethomas

dethomas

Maxime Dethomas was one of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec‘s besties. He was a real introvert, though, and was known to blush when he needed to speak up.

He was also a very prominent costume and scene designer. This illustration was for “Les Abeilles” (“Ballet of the Bees”) in 1917. Like I even NEEDED the translation, as I can clearly see the honeycomb pattern in this rad Art Deco piece.

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the musicians

caravaggio

Supposedly all these beautiful, barely-clothed boys are all singing sad songs about the power of love.

Ha! I’m hedging bets they’re realizing it’s only WEDNESDAY.

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steeple chase

degas horse

Edgar Degas painted Scene from the Steeplechase for a Salon exhibition in 1866. Mary Cassatt wanted to purchase the painting for her brother, but Degas kept the work in his studio, basically repainting every darn inch.

Well, Cassatt’s momma wasn’t happy about that. In a letter, she wrote:

“I doubt if he ever sells it—…it is one of those works which are sold after a man’s death & artists buy them not caring whether they are finished or not.”

DEAD ON, MOM. The painting was in his studio when he died in 1893. It’s now a part of the National Gallery in DC, thanks to Paul Mellon.

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the debate

rockwell, debate

Sister, you can pout all you want, but you should realize three things:

a.) your husband is rude-looking,
b.) Harry Truman wins the election (spoiler!), but most importantly,
c.) those house slippers and that messy bun are TO DIE FOR.

I guess I should also tell you girl that your kid looks annoying, but I’m a major fan of the overall comeback, so I’ll just let you gloat over that Truman victory some more.

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bernini

marble

Are you feeling relatively accomplished today after the weekend? Maybe you completed a memo, maybe you marble-painted your nails, maybe you even had time this morning to pick up Starbucks for the boss and had time to swing by the dry cleaners. Bravo, fine readers!

Welp, I’m about to blow all that self-pride and relative worth out the darn window when I tell you that Bernini made this fleshy thigh (belonging to Persephone) out of MARBLE at the age of twenty-three.

Right. Forget the dry cleaning. I’m feeling worthless.

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red vineyard

red vineyard

This painting is supposedly the only one Vincent van Gogh ever sold. Anna Boch, a painter herself, purchased it for 400 francs in 1888. When you go to Russia for the World Cup in 2018, you can check this beauty out at Moscow’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

Vincent used oil on burlap. Take that, Martha Stewart! Your take on the fabric for country-rustic stenciled curtains and high-backed chairs now bores me permanently.

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