As I’ve mentioned here before, I love love love the work of Chris Burden. This is his latest installation at Rockefeller Center, What My Father Gave Me.
Yes, it is a model of the GE Building, rendered in over a million replicated Erector set parts.
And get this: Chris Burden’s dad was an engineer. So it all makes sense.
More photos, please.
A few months ago I got an email from someone I had never met, asking for advice. She specifically asked for none of that “look into my heart” stuff, so I ended up offering her something somewhere between profoundly awkward and vaguely impossible because, really, I never expect people to actually take my advice. So a few months later, when I got a letter (yes, a real letter) from Sarah Coffman, thanking me for my advice, with a few business cards, and an invitation to her new site, I nearly pitched forward out of my chair and into this very laptop on which I write to you today.
Not that I’m taking the credit for any of this, but Sarah—a gifted designer, photographer, illustrator and writer—has created this very sharp and incredibly funny universe to house her many creative pursuits. All her art’n’stuff is there, but she’s also got a bunch of extras from a list of current obsessions to her own questions for you. Her Little Books I Make That You Might Like To Make makes me want to make little books; her Things You Should Know Before You Eat With Me makes me want to eat with her, but strictly for the entertainment value. She’s very kindly added me to her list of They Make Me Want to Live One More Day, right before Debbie Millman, who is coincidentally someone who makes me want to live more days as well.
But I only just today noticed the best part about her business cards, the fact that they are printed on cereal boxes, which you will find as a topic in many of the links above. I don’t even know Sarah Coffman, but I know that all of this is very her.
Waxen empire Crayola announced eight new colors this week. But unlike the last spectrum shift in 2003, the colors themselves didn’t change, just the names did. 20,000 kids were asked to pick new names for the eight colors as Kids’ Choice Colors. If this information is to be believed, kids today have absolutely no idea what colors are actually named:
Screamin’ Green = Giving Tree
Laser Lemon = Super Happy
Wild Watermelon = Awesome
Vivid Tangerine = Fun in the Sun
Turquoise Blue = Happy Ever After
Hot Magenta = Famous
Orchid = Best Friends
Beaver = Bear Hug
Now I know what you’re thinking…they’re trading Beaver for Bear Hugs? But according to Crayola, the kids had very good reasons for doing what they did: “A collection of eight colors was created that draw on everything from kids wanting to play their part in protecting the planet to believing that they can become famous just like the everyday people who achieve stardom on reality shows.” Hey could you pass the Famous? I gotta color in Perez Hilton’s hair.
You, too, can achieve stardom on a reality shows or review the entire Crayola chronology and see where things started to go painfully wrong. Like with Purple Mountain’s Majesty in 1990. Now. I ask you: Do you really think a Bear Hug would have inspired a performance like this one in 1981? I think not. This performance was 100% Raw Umber:
Easter is the perfect convergence of many of my obsessions. A short list: pastels, spring, lilacs, sundresses, brunch (meaning drinking before noon is socially-acceptable), renewal (needed after a long day of drinking), and, of course, Peeps®. I spent last week scouring my local drugstores, stocking up on the top-selling non-chocolate Easter candy. But not to eat, mind you. To craft.
True, Peeps® possess inherent physical qualities that just scream for a gastronomic improvisation every true fan has got to try at least once. (Yes, it works: Roast Peeps® over a medium flame—the sugar caramelizes on the outside for a nice crust, but don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with a black hunk the consistency of plastic—place between two vanilla wafers for the ultimate spring s’more.) When it comes to their anthropomorphic fluff, their marshmallowy versatility, however, I’m more inclined to put Peeps® in a flower arrangement than in my mouth. This year, I bought 200. I ate two.
Peeps® have superseded their sugar-coated status to become a hot grassroots creative medium. A plethora of Peep® diorama contests in the last few years has surfaced too many Peep® pop culture references to consume (my favorite: Reservoir Peeps® with a brilliant casting of Mr. Pink). Artist David Ottogalli has been putting on his Peeps Show for over a decade, and Peep Research has been studying the effect on smoking and alcohol on Peeps® for years. My friend Ashley sent me a post from Hostess with the Mostess that points to Real Simple getting in the game. See? Peeps® are good for you.
Now craft projects can even be found on the official Peeps® site, and this year Chronicle Books and Urban Outfitters are sponsoring the Peeps® on Film contest to promote the new book Peeps: Recipes and Crafts to Make with Your Favorite Marshmallow Treat. Deadline is April 30, so there’s still plenty of time to sweep the clearance aisles of their half-off Peeps® and get shooting. Here are some ideas to get you started, created by me and my Peeps® during Easter brunch:
More Peep® (and punch) photos right this way!
In 1995 glass artist Dale Chihuly traveled to four countries known for their glassmaking traditions to prepare pieces for an installation in Venice, Italy. In Finland, he worked with a team from Iittala, Helsinki’s world-famous glass manufacturer, to produce his signature orbs and tentacles that glowed like organic chandeliers in the canals and streets of his 1996 show Chihuly Over Venice. And yesterday, I just happened to be in the neighborhood to see 13 members of his team back in action again.
Anyone can visit the Nuutajärvi Glass Village or Iittala’s larger Glass Centre and it’s definitely worth the trip outside Helsinki to watch the glassblowers pressing out Oiva Troikka’s adorable birds and iconic Alvar Aalto vases. But I can’t guarantee you’ll have as incredible a show as I did. When I arrived in the tiny town, I was just in time to see a team hoist a ball of molten glass on a lift. The guy on the top has a tube in his mouth that allows him to blow air into the glass. Gravity and some carefully-placed blowtorches take care of the rest:
For the rest of the afternoon I saw artists yanking at the glass strands as if they were gummy worms, puffing glass bubbles like chewing gum, and essentially turning glowing lava into these giant, lickable lollipops. Even the trash looked delicious. Later we stopped in at the Iittala Glass Centre to see the Aalto vases being made—which also require some serious blowing before they’re pressed into the molds—and the pieces made by machine, including these adorable little ice cream bowls which are a collaboration with Marimekko. I want one in every color.
Now with my newfound appreciation for glass I find myself carefully examining the vessels set before me at every bar and restaurant. And in Helsinki the odds are very good that your Sahti will be served in an Iittala piece, which of course makes it all the more appropriate to drink it quickly so you can check the bottom for the Iittala mark. That’s my excuse, anyway.
A zillion more Helsinki photos (and not all of glassmaking) can be found on Flickr.