For its 2010 Autumn/Winter collection, DLC Brooklyn – DLC being the abbreviation for the oh-so-entertaining “Dirty Librarian Chains” – has found inspiration in the world of rock-n-roll. Founder and jewelry designer Susan Domelsmith has hand-selected and deconstructed vintage pieces, giving them new life through unique pairings, draping, knotting and tangling.

Primarily a mix of blue and gold tones, the new line calls to mind the warmer colors of autumn and winter. And DLC’s rock influence comes through in the combination of chains, charms and brooches, along with playful titles like the “Frequency Necklace,” the “Sound Wave Pocket Chain,” the cascading “Crescendo Earrings,” and the “Metronome Bracelet.”

DLC’s upcycled, modern style is perfect for dressing up or down, and comes at an affordable price point too. Most of her statement pieces range between $25 and $240. Available internationally, the line is getting some major celeb play as well, gracing the likes of Debbie Harry, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow and the Vivian Girls.

And the latest line reinforces DLC Brooklyn’s commitment to sustainability as well. Working with pre-existing, often vintage pieces and packaging made from recycled materials, Domelsmith believes that beyond sustainability, that resourcefulness is also part of what makes the line so memorable. In her own words: “The materials and components of each design constantly change based on what is available, making each piece special and unique, as well as creating a dynamic history that arises from the interaction of individual vintage components.”

To learn more, visit www.dlcbrooklyn.com.

*above: DLC Brooklyn’s Metronome Necklace

*above: Amp Necklace

*above: Crescendo Prelude Verse

*above: Crescendo (detail)

*above: Cadenza

*above: Cadenza (detail)

*All images courtesy of DLC Brooklyn.

As part of its centennial celebration, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has invited environmental artist Patrick Dougherty to erect a monumental branchwork sculpture on its grounds this summer. Natural History, as its called, was finished earlier this week, and took Dougherty and a team of volunteers three weeks total to construct. Together, they wove tree saplings and branches into Dougherty’s first New York commissioned sculpture, a playful, nest-like shape that calls to mind childhood, fairytale lands. The site-specific piece will stand for four seasons in the Plant Family Collection area of the Garden, through July 2011. Images below!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
900 Washington Avenue / Eastern Parkway
(adjacent to Brooklyn Museum)
For more information, visit www.bbg.org

*above: Natural History

*above: Natural History in progress

*above: Natural History in progress

And here are samples of some of Patrick Dougherty’s earlier works…

above: Lookout Tree, 2008, Turtle Bay Arboretum, Redding, CA. Photo Credit: Tom Vlanos

*above: Trail Heads, 2005, Maple and sweet gum saplings, 30’ high. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of Art

*above: Sortie De Cave (Free at Last), 2008, Jardin des Arts, Chateaubourg, France. Photo Credit: Charles Crie

For anyone curious about the current pulse of global street fashion, here’s your new guidebook.
Street View, a new title from Nylon Magazine and Rizzoli, takes a globe-trotting look at style on the streets in seven of the world’s most fashionable cities: New York, London, Tokyo, Stockholm, Barcelona, L.A. and Montreal.

Exploring the differences and similarities in trends round the globe, Street View goes straight to the source, with photos and profiles of stylish residents from each city, including their sources of inspiration, favorite local shops and websites. (See below!) The result? Aspiring fashionistas can enjoy the look and deconstruct it all at the same time.

And let’s face it, what better way to start than by hitting the streets for inspiration? Especially since today’s street style can often inspire next season’s runway looks.

Street View comes out next month, but is available for pre-order now on Amazon.

Street View: The New Nylon Book of Global Style
by the staff of Nylon Magazine
Paperback/256 pages/225 photographs
Published by Rizzoli
$24.95 US
Available in September

*above: Tokyo’s “Baby Mary,” dressed in a Maison Michel & Chanel headpiece, Valentino blouse, and skirt boots and bracelet by Louis Vuitton. Describing her style, she says, “I love to be a hardcore princess today!” And her city in three words? “Harajuku!! Can’t stop loving.”

above: Writer/law student Noah, from Los Angeles, here dressed in his “casual fall attire,” says his style icon is Theodore Roosevelt. His city in three words? “The finest around.”

*above: Barcelona’s Andres, in a vintage jacket, t-shirt and scarf from American Apparel, H&M trousers and Marc Jacobs chain, calls Winona Ryder his style icon, “because she never spends a cent when she goes shopping.”

*All images courtesy of Rizzoli

For anyone whose love of food has ever crossed paths with their love of fiction, Recipe for Murder: Frightfully Good Food Inspired by Fiction may be your next favorite read. Inspired by the scoundrels of thrillers, crime novels and fairy tales, Flammarion‘s latest title offers up playful recipes from the likes of Hannibal Lector (Hannibal’s Express Sweetbreads), The Big, Bad Wolf (Pigs in a Blanket), American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman (Roast Beef with Truffled Mash Potatoes), Brutus (The Real Ceasar Salad) and Dracula (Paprika Hendl). Lady Macbeth, Edward Hyde, the Marquis de Sade and more – they’re all here – with signature dishes to share.

Each chapter opens with an excerpt from the original story, followed by quirky illustrations (see below!) and a “to-die-for” recipe. Created by author Estérelle Payany – a culinary journalist and cookbook author – and gifted illustrator Jean-Franciois Martin, Recipe for Murder comes out next month – just in time for Halloween entertaining.

Recipe for Murder: Frightfully Good Food Inspired by Fiction
by Estérelle Payany
Illustrations by Jean-Francois Martin
Published by Flammarion, September 2010
Hardcover/144 pages/60 color illustrations/$24.95 US
Available for pre-order now through Amazon.

*above: The Ogre. Illustration by Jean-François Martin from Recipe for Murder: Frightfully Good Food Inspired by Fiction by Estérelle Payany (Paris: Flammarion, 2010).

*above: Patrick Bateman. Illustration by Jean-François Martin from Recipe for Murder: Frightfully Good Food Inspired by Fiction by Estérelle Payany (Paris: Flammarion, 2010).

*above: Dracula. Illustration by Jean-François Martin from Recipe for Murder: Frightfully Good Food Inspired by Fiction by Estérelle Payany (Paris: Flammarion, 2010).

*All images © Jean-Francois Martin; courtesy of Flammarion & Rizzoli.

A potent pair of photography exhibits at San Francisco’s MoMA – New Topographics and Picturing Modernity – examine the concept of place and identity in American photography.

The first, New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape, is a restaging of an exhibition first held in 1975 at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Signaling a new approach to landscape photography, and the impact of Conceptualism and Minimalism on 1970s photography, New Topographics marks a dramatic shift in attitude towards the subject of landscapes.

Unlike their predecessors, such as Ansel Adams and Minor White, the New Topographics photographers did not use their work to express transcendent, personal experiences with nature. Rather, they depicted the ordinary landscapes that surround us, including elements of the built environment often overlooked or considered eyesores: gas stations, tract homes, motels, and parking lots. The show’s reincarnation features nearly 150 photographs from all ten photographers from the original show – Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel – all representative of this dramatic re-conceptualization of landscape, and a reflection of the complex and ambiguous relationship between humans and the environment. As Nixon described the approach, “The world is infinitely more interesting than any of my opinions concerning it. This is not a description of a style or an artistic posture, but my profound conviction.”

*above: from New Topographics: Bernd and Hilla Becher (German, 1931-2007 and b. 1934), Preparation Plant, Harry E. Colliery Coal Breaker, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA, 1974; © Hilla Becher, 2009

*above: from New Topographics: Robert Adams (American, b. 1937), Mobile Homes, Jefferson County, Colorado, 1973; George Eastman House collections; © Robert Adams, courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

*above: from New Topographics: Lewis Baltz (American, b. 1945), East Wall, McGaw Laboratories, 1821, George Eastman House collections; © Lewis Baltz

The second, complementary exhibition, Picturing Modernity, further explores the concept of place and identity in American photography with work made from the 19th century to the present by Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Timothy O’Sullivan, Joel Sternfeld, Alfred Stieglitz, and many others. Highlights include an installation of sculptures and photographs by William Christenberry and a selection of photographs from Wright Morris‘s series Home Place to mark the centenary of the photographer’s birth. Photographs of a decimated Charleston, South Carolina by George N. Barnard – best known for his photo-documentation of the American Civil War, during which time he followed Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s infamous march to the sea – further reinforce the concept of man’s vulnerable relationship to place.

*above: from Picturing Modernity: William Christenberry, T. B Hick’s Store, Newbern, Alabama, 1991/2008; Collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Randi and Bob Fisher; © William Christenberry, courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York

*above: from Picturing Modernity: Milton Rogovin, Lower West Side, 1972. Gelatin silver print, 8 in x 10 in, Gift of Ellen and Jon F. Vein. © Milton Rogovin.

*above: from Picturing Modernity: Wright Morris, Reflection in Oval Mirror, Home Place, 1947; gelatin silver print; Collection SFMOMA, Gift of Robert Fisher; © 2003 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents

*above: from Picturing Modernity: Berenice Abbott, Shelter on the Water Front, Coenties Slip, Pier 5, East River, Manhattan, 1938; gelatin silver print; Collection SFMOMA

New Topographics and Picturing Modernity are both open to the public til October 3, 2010.
For more information, visit SFMoMA.org.

*All images courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

This year, Dom Pérignon pays tribute to Andy Warhol with a collection of three beautiful bottles. Inspired by Warhol’s legendary iconic representations and his playful use of codes and color, Dom Pérignon commissioned the Design Laboratory at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art & Design to reinterpret its timeless bottle. The resulting set, each with a distinct label in red, blue or yellow, pays homage to Warhol’s iconic color games.

Interestingly, Andy Warhol’s relationship with Dom Pérignon goes back some time, as evidenced by this entry from his diary on March 8th, 1981, after returning to New York from a show in Munich:

“Went to the gallery where they were having a little exhibition of the glittery Shoes, and had to do interviews and pics for the German newspaper and then we had to go back to the hotel and be picked up by the “2,000” people – it’s a club of twenty guys who got together and they’re going to buy 2,000 bottles of Dom Pérignon which they will put in a sealed room until the year 2,000 and then open it up and drink it and so the running joke is who will be around and who won’t…”

Images below…

*above: Dom Pérignon’s Warhol-inspired tribute collection.

*above: portrait of Andy Warhol.

*All images courtesy of and © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

On a recent visit to the San Francisco area, a friend introduced me to the playful world of “Yarn Bombing.” Also known as “graffiti knitting” and “yarn storming,” this public knit-art trend is popping up all over Berkeley. Working under the dark of night, the city’s knit bombers’ campaign creates unexpected yarn sleeves for public works of art, traffic signs and more, to many Berkeley citizens’ glee.

The stormers themselves remain anonymous, though one pair going by the name StreetColor has been labeling its installations, and has even started its own blog to document work. Another, the international organization called KnittaPlease, may be serving as inspiration for some of the work as well.

Take a look at a handful of yarn bombs below. They’re excellent reminders that the world is full of beautiful surprises; you just have to keep your eyes open and pay attention.

*Image by StreetColor’s “Russian”

*Bottom photograph from StreetColor. All other photos by Anna Carnick.

Now showing at San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum:
Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World)

“I was out walking the dear dog and I saw 500 things that made me want to make art.”
- Maira Kalman

The first major museum retrospective of award-winning illustrator, author and designer Maira Kalman is open now at San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum. Perhaps best known for her covers and drawings for The New Yorker, Kalman’s art characteristically shines a joyful, insightful, and often humorous light on contemporary life. The New York-based, Tel Aviv-born artist has written and illustrated over a dozen books for children and adults, authored two celebrated illustrated blogs for The New York Times, and collaborated with the likes of fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi and choreographer Mark Morris.

The exhibition, organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, features a selection of 100 original works on paper that span thirty years of illustration for publication as well as less widely seen works in photography, embroidery, textiles, and performance.

The works on view – from preliminary sketches to paintings – are hung as a running narrative of personal memories, cultural references, life’s abundant pleasures and distractions, and the chaos of profound events – all rendered in Kalman’s now signature blend of written text and drawings and infused with her keen sense of the absurd.

“I think everything I do is narrative,” Kalman says. “It’s things that are from my life, and things I’ve seen, and things I’ve seen in books. It’s always telling stories.” She goes on, “As an artist, I’m reporting the big things and the small things. And sometimes you don’t know which is which.”

Describing the inspiration behind her work – her curious nature and daily observation – Kalman says: “Being curious is a completely natural part of it, and being a busybody, and wanting to know what people are doing, and why, and how it works. And why are you wearing those shoes? And what’s that hole puncher for? The nature of curiosity is both about how people live their lives and about the bigger picture of how the world works.”

Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) runs through October 26th.

above: Maira Kalman, Crosstown Boogie Woogie, 1995, gouache on paper, 15 3/8 x 11 1/2 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York.

*above: Maira Kalman, Keep Calm, 2007, gouache on paper, 11 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches. Collection of Barbara Becker and Chad Gallant.

above: Maira Kalman, Woman with Face Net, 2000, gouache on paper, 17 x 14 3/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York.

above: Maira Kalman, Man Dances on Salt, 2007, gouache on paper, 9 x 7 3/4 inches. Collection of Tom and Claire O’Connor.

above: Maira Kalman, Self-Portrait (with Pete), 2004–5, gouache on paper, 16 x 15 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York.

above: portrait of Maira Kalman, courtesy of Rick Meyerowitz.

*Images courtesy of The Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Now showing: David LaChapelle’s American Jesus…

In 2006, famed photographer and director David LaChapelle made a conscious break from his successful fashion and celebrity career to focus instead on fine art pursuits. Since that time, LaChapelle’s photographic work has maintained the fabulously dramatic, evocative nature we’ve come to expect from him over the years, now elevated by more complex subject matters. Consistently incorporating references as varied as art history, street art and pop culture, LaChapelle’s new work addresses concepts such as consumerism and cultural hierarchies.

Now, for his first New York solo show since 2008, LaChapelle‘s brings three dramatic series to the Paul Kasmin Gallery: American Jesus, Thy Kingdom Come and The Rape of Africa (images below). American Jesus – a series began over a decade ago – includes three large-scale photos depicting Michael Jackson as a modern day, Biblical martyr (from LaChapelle’s final photo shoot with Jackson). In Thy Kingdom Come, LaChapelle considers the relationships between greed and corruption amongst the religious establishment.

And The Rape of Africa - perhaps LaChapelle’s most famous work of recent years – makes its New York debut this month as well. Inspired by Sandro Botticelli’s Venus & Mars (1484), the well-known allegorical work depicts the poised and beautiful Venus, goddess of love, having tamed and diffused Mars, the vengeful god of war, who soundly sleeps, while small cherub figures play with Mars’ instruments of warfare.

In LaChapelle’s interpretation, he subverts the meaning of the original work by proposing a black Venus (Naomi Campbell), striking in her beauty, yet completely powerless to both her treatment as property and to the destruction of her land through mining and war depicted in the background. LaChapelle’s Mars is not sleeping as much as satiated by his own victories, sitting on top of his plunder gained by conquests. The contemporary allegory is layered with imagery, as seen in the jarring combination of young children with deadly weapons. For the exhibit, the photograph is presented alongside studies for the work, illuminating LaChapelle’s background in the traditional medium of drawing and watercolor.

David LaChapelle’s work has been exhibited internationally at museums and institutions including the Museo de las Artes, Guadalajara; the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City; the MOCA, Taipei; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); The National Portrait Gallery, London; The Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin; The Brandhorst Museum, Munich; and the Kunsthaus Wien, Vienna.

American Jesus runs through September 18, 2010.

And to learn more, check out my recent interview with LaChapelle for Dazed & Confused here.

*above: American Jesus

*above: Sketch for The Rape of Africa. LaChapelle’s photographs typically begin with a series of compositional graphite drawings, collages, watercolors, and mixed media sketches—a little known facet of his artistic process.

*above: The Rape of Africa

*All images copyright David LaChapelle and courtesy of Fred Torres Collaborations.