REDHEADS by Joel Meyerowitz

On any given weekend, you might find me at one of the many mom n' pop used bookstores here in greater L.A . I like to collect out of print art books, and although Amazon has an nice inventory online, I prefer the action of rummaging through the shelves and piles. I mean, in this technological age, the used bookstore is like stepping into a time machine for an adventure. When you find that gem, it's really a satisfying experience.

Just last week, I found this old Rizzoli book called Redheads at Brand Bookshop in Glendale (yes, Glendale!) In any case, it's a wonderful photography book just begging to sit on a coffee table.

Redheads by Joel Meyerowitz is a collection of photography highlighting the unusual, exotic, and often flamboyant qualities of redheads. His fascination came from spending a summer in Cape Cod, a town with a disproportionate number of redheads. The intention was to photograph this slender slice of the genetic pie (only 2-3% of the population) to show the familial connection between a group of strangers.

Long story short, visit your local bookstore. Even better, send me an email if you know of a shop that should be on my radar, please.

-S

REDHEADS by Joel Meyerowitz

On any given weekend, you might find me at one of the many mom n' pop used bookstores here in greater L.A . I like to collect out of print art books, and although Amazon has an nice inventory online, I prefer the action of rummaging through the shelves and piles. I mean, in this technological age, the used bookstore is like stepping into a time machine for an adventure. When you find that gem, it's really a satisfying experience.

Just last week, I found this old Rizzoli book called Redheads at Brand Bookshop in Glendale (yes, Glendale!) In any case, it's a wonderful photography book just begging to sit on a coffee table.

Redheads by Joel Meyerowitz is a collection of photography highlighting the unusual, exotic, and often flamboyant qualities of redheads. His fascination came from spending a summer in Cape Cod, a town with a disproportionate number of redheads. The intention was to photograph this slender slice of the genetic pie (only 2-3% of the population) to show the familial connection between a group of strangers.

Long story short, visit your local bookstore. Even better, send me an email if you know of a shop that should be on my radar, please.

-S

Andrew Bush @ M+B, Sept. 12th

M+B's newest exhibition of color photographs by ANDREW BUSH titled VECTOR PORTRAITS, will open on September 12 and run through October 15. Don't miss the reception and book signing by the artist on Saturday, September 12 from 7 – 9pm.

Vector Portraits is Andrew Bush’s series from 1989 to 1997, shot in and around Los Angeles using his car as a tripod and capturing Angelenos vis-à-vis their unique relationships with their automobiles.

Los Angeles, described as “72 suburbs in search of a city,” is known for its miles of freeways, surface streets and legendary traffic. Because of that time spent in cars there is an ambiguous space, neither public nor private, that is conjured up in these air-conditioned living rooms on wheels. Bush describes this twilight space of driving as the amalgamation of “the maneuvering and direction and the speed . . . [making one] feel they are untouchable, in control of their destiny, in a private world of their own”. In this series, Bush captures a cross section of the city in this illusory state.

-S

Andrew Bush @ M+B, Sept. 12th

M+B's newest exhibition of color photographs by ANDREW BUSH titled VECTOR PORTRAITS, will open on September 12 and run through October 15. Don't miss the reception and book signing by the artist on Saturday, September 12 from 7 – 9pm.

Vector Portraits is Andrew Bush’s series from 1989 to 1997, shot in and around Los Angeles using his car as a tripod and capturing Angelenos vis-à-vis their unique relationships with their automobiles.

Los Angeles, described as “72 suburbs in search of a city,” is known for its miles of freeways, surface streets and legendary traffic. Because of that time spent in cars there is an ambiguous space, neither public nor private, that is conjured up in these air-conditioned living rooms on wheels. Bush describes this twilight space of driving as the amalgamation of “the maneuvering and direction and the speed . . . [making one] feel they are untouchable, in control of their destiny, in a private world of their own”. In this series, Bush captures a cross section of the city in this illusory state.

-S

Impressive Edifices By Todd Eberle

I have an itch to do a wall of architectural photography at my place, ALL EXTERIORS... what do you think? If and when I get around to doing that, I'll be sure to include the photographic works of Todd Eberle. His portfolio is very strong, from the abstract to portraiture, but it's the architectural imagery that really gets me going.

Thank you to Jim for putting this exceptional photographer on my radar.

-S

Impressive Edifices By Todd Eberle

I have an itch to do a wall of architectural photography at my place, ALL EXTERIORS... what do you think? If and when I get around to doing that, I'll be sure to include the photographic works of Todd Eberle. His portfolio is very strong, from the abstract to portraiture, but it's the architectural imagery that really gets me going.

Thank you to Jim for putting this exceptional photographer on my radar.

-S

Obscurely Chic Interiors: The Selby

This is interior-inspiration-heaven: TheSelby.com

The Selby features photographs accompanied by obscure interviews and art, of interesting people and their creative spaces. Todd Selby is constantly updating his site, amassing a vast archive of interiors from the homes of everyday cool creatives from around the world. Kinda "Domino-ish" in its aesthetic, yet with subversive undertones, this site may fill the void left after Domino folded this year.

Obscurely Chic Interiors: The Selby

This is interior-inspiration-heaven: TheSelby.com

The Selby features photographs accompanied by obscure interviews and art, of interesting people and their creative spaces. Todd Selby is constantly updating his site, amassing a vast archive of interiors from the homes of everyday cool creatives from around the world. Kinda "Domino-ish" in its aesthetic, yet with subversive undertones, this site may fill the void left after Domino folded this year.

Before Photoshop - Barbara Kruger

In the old days before digital photography and Photoshop were able to transform everybody and anything in something else (i.e. -Shepard Fairey's "Obey" or "Hope" posters,") art directors would have legions of staffers doing nothing but things called paste-ups: actual physically manipulated cut and pasted images they would then photograph until they got it right.

Barbara Kruger has been in our faces for years, and her graphic imagery has become a default for the commercial advertising industry (she was once a Mademoiselle magazine art director). Her exhibition of "smalls" done the old-fashioned way: forty four images, all but two black and white, none larger than 11 X 14, framed simply in black at the Skarstedt Gallery has been called Pre-digital only because they feared nobody would know what a paste up even was anymore.

Much of Barbara Kruger's graphic work consists of black-and-white photographs with overlaid captions set in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique. The phrases included in her work are usually declarative, and make common use of such pronouns as "you", "I", "we", and "they". The juxtaposition of Kruger's imagery with text containing criticism of sexism and the circulation of power within cultures is a recurring motif in the work. The text in her work of the 1980s includes such phrases as "Your comfort is my silence" (1981), "you invest in the divinity of the masterpiece" (1982), and "I shop therefore I am" (1987). She has said that "I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t." Enveloping the viewer with the seductions of direct address, her work is consistently about the kindnesses and brutalities of social life: about how we are to one another.

She layers found photographs from existing sources with pithy and aggressive text that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to. In their trademark black letters against a slash of red background, some of her instantly recognizable slogans read “I shop therefore I am,” and “Your body is a battleground." Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing.


-S

Before Photoshop - Barbara Kruger

In the old days before digital photography and Photoshop were able to transform everybody and anything in something else (i.e. -Shepard Fairey's "Obey" or "Hope" posters,") art directors would have legions of staffers doing nothing but things called paste-ups: actual physically manipulated cut and pasted images they would then photograph until they got it right.

Barbara Kruger has been in our faces for years, and her graphic imagery has become a default for the commercial advertising industry (she was once a Mademoiselle magazine art director). Her exhibition of "smalls" done the old-fashioned way: forty four images, all but two black and white, none larger than 11 X 14, framed simply in black at the Skarstedt Gallery has been called Pre-digital only because they feared nobody would know what a paste up even was anymore.

Much of Barbara Kruger's graphic work consists of black-and-white photographs with overlaid captions set in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique. The phrases included in her work are usually declarative, and make common use of such pronouns as "you", "I", "we", and "they". The juxtaposition of Kruger's imagery with text containing criticism of sexism and the circulation of power within cultures is a recurring motif in the work. The text in her work of the 1980s includes such phrases as "Your comfort is my silence" (1981), "you invest in the divinity of the masterpiece" (1982), and "I shop therefore I am" (1987). She has said that "I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t." Enveloping the viewer with the seductions of direct address, her work is consistently about the kindnesses and brutalities of social life: about how we are to one another.

She layers found photographs from existing sources with pithy and aggressive text that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to. In their trademark black letters against a slash of red background, some of her instantly recognizable slogans read “I shop therefore I am,” and “Your body is a battleground." Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing.


-S

Cynthia Lawrence John

www.cynthialawrencejohn.com

Cynthia Lawrence John

www.cynthialawrencejohn.com

WWOZD? Oliver Zahm

Olivier Zahm - A Founder & Editor for Purple Magazine discusses fashion, style, and inspiration. He also has a photo DIARY that I enjoy very much.

WHAT I’M WEARING NOW An Yves Saint Laurent leather jacket and ostrich boots, American Apparel jeans and a vintage Christian Dior shirt. I buy a lot of these T-shirts from Eleven on Elizabeth Street. They feel sweet against the skin. My watch is a Seiko from the ’80s. It looks like a gold Rolex, which I can’t afford yet. The glasses are Ray-Ban. I have five pairs, all in different shades of amber. I love amber. It’s a beautiful color for men. The only perfume I wear is because of its amber color — Azzaro, which is an old cheap cologne for workers.

STYLE CREDO To me, the best time for men was in the ’70s. I would love to look like Polanski or Jack Nicholson back then, the way they wore their jeans with just a shirt, a good watch, glasses and a nice white jacket. It was simple, but really sexy. At the beginning of this decade all the men got very glamorous. They started buying a lot of clothes. Me, I don’t like it. When you notice clothing on a man, I find it suspicious.

ON INSPIRATION Nothing is more inspiring than love and true sexuality. People say my magazine is very provocative or transgressive. Not at all. If there is nudity and sex, it is not to provoke, it is to show the beauty and love. In the next issue, I have the artist Dash Snow wearing women’s clothes from the fall collections. To see a beautiful man like Dash, who for me is American aristocracy— this is inspiring. - via thefashionspot.com

WWOZD? Oliver Zahm

Olivier Zahm - A Founder & Editor for Purple Magazine discusses fashion, style, and inspiration. He also has a photo DIARY that I enjoy very much.

WHAT I’M WEARING NOW An Yves Saint Laurent leather jacket and ostrich boots, American Apparel jeans and a vintage Christian Dior shirt. I buy a lot of these T-shirts from Eleven on Elizabeth Street. They feel sweet against the skin. My watch is a Seiko from the ’80s. It looks like a gold Rolex, which I can’t afford yet. The glasses are Ray-Ban. I have five pairs, all in different shades of amber. I love amber. It’s a beautiful color for men. The only perfume I wear is because of its amber color — Azzaro, which is an old cheap cologne for workers.

STYLE CREDO To me, the best time for men was in the ’70s. I would love to look like Polanski or Jack Nicholson back then, the way they wore their jeans with just a shirt, a good watch, glasses and a nice white jacket. It was simple, but really sexy. At the beginning of this decade all the men got very glamorous. They started buying a lot of clothes. Me, I don’t like it. When you notice clothing on a man, I find it suspicious.

ON INSPIRATION Nothing is more inspiring than love and true sexuality. People say my magazine is very provocative or transgressive. Not at all. If there is nudity and sex, it is not to provoke, it is to show the beauty and love. In the next issue, I have the artist Dash Snow wearing women’s clothes from the fall collections. To see a beautiful man like Dash, who for me is American aristocracy— this is inspiring. - via thefashionspot.com

Kenneth Josephson

Kenneth Josephson's B&W photographs of "pictures within pictures" laid the groundwork for conceptual photography, bringing into question our notions of illusion and reality. - Rosalia Bermudez

Kenneth Josephson

Kenneth Josephson's B&W photographs of "pictures within pictures" laid the groundwork for conceptual photography, bringing into question our notions of illusion and reality. - Rosalia Bermudez

Will Govus

In the series entitled "Night", Will Govus gives us his perspective on living in suburbia... moody and intriguing.

For more contemplative melancholy: willgovus.com

-S

Will Govus

In the series entitled "Night", Will Govus gives us his perspective on living in suburbia... moody and intriguing.

For more contemplative melancholy: willgovus.com

-S

Random Got Beautiful

Nikki Farquharson began Random Got Beautiful in March 2007.

This online collage of random photographs is open for public participation.

The idea is to take objects of various colours out of their original context and place them together to create a new one.

The title 'Random Got Beautiful' (RGB for short) was chosen once colour was decided to be the theme.

RGB relies on a collaborative effort while also supporting self promotion.

From the site, click an image to take you to the extermal site of the person who provided that photo.

www.randomgotbeautiful.com

Random Got Beautiful

Nikki Farquharson began Random Got Beautiful in March 2007.

This online collage of random photographs is open for public participation.

The idea is to take objects of various colours out of their original context and place them together to create a new one.

The title 'Random Got Beautiful' (RGB for short) was chosen once colour was decided to be the theme.

RGB relies on a collaborative effort while also supporting self promotion.

From the site, click an image to take you to the extermal site of the person who provided that photo.

www.randomgotbeautiful.com