first, and maybe most exciting to me: the underbelly project. the site is apparently not totally up and running yet, but to sate our street art appetite (or mine, at least!) there are a few blogs that show images of the work. what is it? some pretty well-known street artists ("rockstars," even, if you like that term. i don't, but just to clarify) have done up some fantaaastic walls of a disused train station in new york city. i don't personally identify the subway system in new york with its abandoned stations -- the ones in london have taken on something of a cult status over the years. but the underbelly project has enlisted some talented folks to paint an underground street art gallery. it's not open all the time, and hosts pieces most of us will never see. but artists like roa, and the london police are all in there -- i've raved about these two before here, and here -- doing up the place, in some cases in collaboration with others, to make some really astounding work that's mostly hidden.
some amazing photographs via lunapark on flickr here.
that's one thing i would kill to see.
but onto another...
via contemporist
this is probably the greatest small home i've seen in a long time. it's so simple. fluid, open, absolutely made of windows. that's what i like. i like windows. lots and lots of them! everywhere! you get the idea. toronto-based GH3 designed this house for an obviously amazing landscape. i remember rock like that when i was "survival camping" in ontario several years ago -- the way that the house looks like its jutting out of the stone is so awesome. not to mention it's the minimal hyper-modern style that i lalalove. i want to spend MY weekends here. clear out!
one of the galleries on my list to check out in london, in the spring? concrete hermit. currently showing kid acne, i can't wait to see what's on when i'm there in 2011. alternative contemporary art space -- and shop!! woo!! looks like my kind of place.
and last but DEFINITELY not least: POP: the genius of andy warhol by tony scherman and david dalton. if i had to recommend one book that i've read this year, it would be this one. hands down. if you have even the most vague, fleeting interest in andy warhol, not to mention a dying urge to know absolutely everything about him (ahem, me?) this book is absolutely worth the read. because, well, it's highly readable. it's a wild ride. he was an outrageous person who did outrageous things and surrounded himself with outrageous people. one might argue that those people were what made him outrageous to begin with. there are a lot of other names to swallow in andy's world -- he surrounded himself with a huge slew of people. but all of these characters are worth knowing.
the book isn't a comprehensive b-to-d bio. it's the 1960s; it's the decade that andy warhol established himself as possibly the most famous and prolific artist in the world. at least of the 20th century. the fact that one can find warhol's images or words stamped on anything from jeans and record album covers to drink coasters and necklaces is sort of self-explanatory. it's basically warhol's dream. this book is a joy. it's entertaining -- how can his life not be entertaining? it examines his lifestyle and how it related to his work. even though i personally wouldn't mind, it doesn't go into a bunch of technical this-means-that and that-is-like-that-because sort of art historical jargon. if anything, it dispels the notion the warhol's works "mean" much of anything at all. it's objective. and it's colorful without being gaudy.
anyway. READ IT. read it. readittttt. (paperback is out 11/23/2010!)
