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Best thing that happened today (and it was a good day, but this stood out): An invitation to attend the PEN/Faulkner Gala next month with the dazzling Tayari Jones!
[noted, sotto voce] Obviously, I think taking one's publicist to black-tie events is a very chic move.
Now all I need is the perfect ensemble, which is, as they say, a high-class problem.
The week before last, a friend with good taste (and a history of great invitations) asked me if I'd like to check out the Cezanne and Pissarro exhibition at the new Museum of Modern Art. Going in, we were cynical, as he remarked that pairing artists in the hopes of producing a blockbuster show seems to be a trend on its way to a cliche and I agreed. But then I was struck by the well-written introduction that framed the collected work from an intriguing perspective:
Like many of their contemporaries, [Cezanne and Pissarro] questioned the relevance of tradition in the modern era and sought alternatives to the government-sponsored and juried salons, which were dominated by allegorical and historical genre painting. They called for disbanding the art establishment and for a new artistic language, free from the bonds of convention.
The central narrative of the exhibition was a story of friendship between the two artists, whose styles evolved in often parallel but occasionally diametrically opposed ways. Much of the show was given over to comparisons between works created over a roughly two or three decade period. I liked the emerging pattern of brighted colors and more informal tableaux, especially when the same vibrant green shows up in apples on a table and then grassy meadows. Many nicely done still lifes are clustered together along with some etchings, giving way to landscapes and nature scenes like Cezanne's Turn in the Road (1881), which, in its departure from classical motifs, essentially represents the sort-of radical triumph of the mundane that heralded a new way of considering art and life.
Stylistic experiments and technical innovations are a central focus of the exhibition, with much of the accompanying text displayed with a significant work in the show, such as Pissarro's Orchard Cote Saint Denis at Pontise (1877), dedicated to analyzing his decision to paint with a dry, hard brush and create the subsequent dappled texture -- admittedly, quite striking. Mostly what I took away from the show was a deeper understanding of how artists can inspire and challenge each other to push the envelope in the best possible way.
Also, my friend, who studied in Paris and briefly at the Musee d'Orsay, explained that train stations and bridges appear so frequently in Modernist paintings because the Industrial Revolution and attendant advances in travel and transportation made the artist lifestyle that we think of -- semi-seclusion in a natural setting, going back and forth to and from the city -- possible and accessible to a whole new group of aspirants.
Afterwards, we had lunch at the museum's restaurant, The Modern, which was quite good. I had rare steak on a bed of spaetzle and warm spinach and a pleasantly earthy glass of Spanish red. He was off to travel for a month abroad, and I headed back to work, fully revived and refreshed as a result of that voo-doo that only exquisite art, stimulating conversation, and a delicious meal can do. True.
I was browsing So New Media's latest offerings ("Little Books, Big Ideas") when I came across a new collection of essays called Consumed: Women on Excess. It looks intriguing from a conceptual standpoint, and my interest was especially piqued by "famous quotes to set the mood":
"We're consumers. We're by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty -- these things don't concern me. What concerns me is celebrity magazines, television with five hundred channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra." -- from Fight Club, Chuck Pahlaniuk
"I like my money right where I can see it... hanging in my closet." --Carrie Bradshaw, Sex & the City
"Junk is the ultimate merchandise. The junk merchant does not sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to the product. He does not improve and simplify his merchandise, he degrades and simplifies the client."--William S. Burroughs
"During the earlier stages of economic development, consumption of goods without stint, especially consumption of the better grades of goods,--ideally all consumption in excess of the subsistence minimum, --pertains normally to the leisure class." -Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1902.
"All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume." --Noam Chomsky
See also, "Five Kelly Bags: The Language of Women and Things" and "The True Price of Shopping 'til You Drop", both from the forthcoming new magazine, Bee, "the first woman’s magazine devoted to personal finance, politics and lifestyle (the way we live, not how we decorate)."
Parts of 2046 were slow to develop, but my, my, my, what a gorgeous film. Set in Hong Kong in the 1960s, as well as 2046 -- the futuristic setting the main character, a writer, uses for a science-fiction story that explains his romantic reluctance -- the narrative unfolds as a loopy series of one man's failures in love.
Wong Kar-wai's attention to detail is stunning, and I may have to see it again just to soak in more of the seductive style he lavishes on every frame: a glove, a shoe, bruised lips bearing the remnants of a slash of lipstick, the swish of a skirt as a woman walks away from what may be a final encounter.
Of course, now I want to throw out all my clothes (again) and start over with a few tailored suits, an evening gown or two, some spike heels, and extravagant rings on every finger. And, the most important lesson I learned: it is all about the beehive.
Earlier this summer, I attended the launch party for trendspotter and author Ranjani Gopalarathinam's New York's 50+ Best Little Shops. This week I met up with Ranjani for lunch at SoHo's Palacinka cafe to discuss her book (which, being the small business/indie lover that I am, I adore), as well as what's on her mind, what's of the moment, and what's next for fall.
Lauren Cerand: 50 shops is not a lot, yet there's such an amazing diversity of places that someone can go in New York to pick up what's on the cutting-edge in terms of fashion. What guiding philosophy did you use to curate the mix?
Ranjani Gopalarathinam: It was a very organic process. The first layer of stores came from my having lived in the city for five years, and so it began with a list of places that I like to go all the time. And then I built on that list by interviewing friends of mine -- I have a lot of friends who work in fashion, in magazines -- and it also became kind of a word of mouth thing, too. I would go into a store, and someone would say, "You should go into this store...there's this designer," and in some way there were places that I already knew were great and cool and that I liked a lot, and I would go in there, and they would often turn me on to two or three more places. It was just one of those things, too, where I told all my friends that I was working on this book, and so every time I saw them, they'd be like, "Oh my god, you have to check out this store!" and people still do it, and the book's been done for months [laughs].
I have just started working with a new client, Joe Pacheco, director of a new documentary about the making of One Ring Zero's album of songs with lyrics commissioned by authors.
The film will have its New York premiere this Saturday and if you're in town, please do come and join us. There will be a post-screening Q&A with One Ring Zero, author Jonathan Ames and Joe Pacheco.
It's the only screening scheduled for a while, and so this is the moment -- don't sleep on it!
As Smart As They Are: The Author Project documents the collaboration between the band One Ring Zero and an ensemble cast of award-winning writers. After moving to New York, One Ring Zero's founding members, Joshua Camp and Michael Hearst, discovered a curious unmarked store in Brooklyn that doubled as an office for McSweeney's Publishing and served as the venue for a weekly literary reading series. With Camp on accordion and Hearst on claviola, the duo soon began performing as the house-band for the series and ultimately invited a handful of authors to contribute lyrics. After receiving contributions from a wide range of celebrated writers including Paul Auster, Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem and McSweeney's founder, Dave Eggers, the band faced the challenge of setting this diverse compilation of lyrics to music. Through capturing live performances, studio sessions and interviews with the writers and musicians, As Smart As They Are explores the relationships between music and literature while painting a portrait of the New York literary community that fostered the band. Featuring: One Ring Zero, Paul Auster, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, Jonathan Ames, Myla Goldberg, Darin Strauss, Clay McLeod Chapman, Amy Fusselman and Lawrence Krauser.
The film's showtime is 6:00pm, at Pioneer Theater, located at 155 East 3rd Street (at Avenue A). Tickets are $9, and may be purchased in advance (recommended).
For more, visit Peanut Butter No Jelly Productions.
Marco Romano, the sharp and inquisitive mind behind one of that new essential read, AnimaMundi, described as "a blog about food, wine, travel, books, music, humor, my French bulldog Aldo's exploits et al," has a seriously killer sense of style, especially in the realm of musical taste (and dogs).
In our regular email correspondence, Marco's always turning me on to some fabulous group I should have discovered years ago. Well, it's never too late, and this week I asked him to contribute a list of his Top 10 Songs for A Deserted Island (or the Concrete Jungle) to share with you.
My old friend (and the designer of the Lux Lotus flower-launching-stars logo) Jes Cannon, has just announced the publication of Hiding Place. a book of public art projects.
It's described as follows: "Hiding Place features ideas designed to tap into the popular
imagination. It is the first book created by Brooklyn-based artist, Jes
Cannon.
Cannon's projects are concerned with access, nature, and desire in the
social sphere. They exist in quiet opposition to the majority of images
created and distributed in the public realm. Some of the projects have
been realized and others still exist as propositions. There is no harm
in imagining."
The book retails for less than twenty dollars, and can be purchased online.
The image above is from Night Swim, "an installation for a public pool or aquarium... [that]... provides the sensation that one is swimming through space."
It's not you, baby -- you're perfect. Work is keeping me ultrabusy at the moment (more on that...nah).
Things to look forward to this week, in this space:
My thoughts on the Cezanne/Pissarro exhibition at the MoMA -- and its house cafe, The Modern
An interview with Ranjani Gopalarathinam, trendspotter and author of New York's 50 Best Little Shops
And, hopefully, Marco of La Dolce Vita's "10 Songs for a Deserted Island (or the Concrete Jungle)"
