Act Da Fool

A short film by Harmony Korine for Proenza Schouler's Fall/Winter 2010 campaign.



Spot-on, captures an innocence, completely and utterly real, gritty yet soft, puts Proenza Schouler's clothes out of context but at the same time straight back into context as this is the core of what inspires them . . . girls with attitude in Nashville, totally random who despite it all, are beautiful girls who move the clothes, not the other way around (the clothes are gorgeous too). It is so alive, it has hope.

I am excited to see what other film x fashion collaborations will come after . . . it's a whole new ball game and it's just about time. I know who I would commission to make my short film if I still had a label. ;)

And I agree with her, "The stars ain't never gonna leave us" . .

Rehab by The Jolly Boys

Vincent Gillet recommended these guys to me today . . . after I heard The Jolly Boys version of Rehab and perused their website for a while I felt like I was really not in the loop, where have I been? These guys are a Jamaican institution, the reggae/mento version of the Buena Vista Social Club, they have been around since the 1950's.

Talk about capturing a time, a style and just so cheeky, with real passion.

Albert Minott totally rocks.

Anselm Reyle x Mekanism skateboard

This is over above and beyond my favourite collabo this year . . . I love Anselm Reyle, he is an artist who understands modern materials yet has a clear root in tradition and what went on before him, referring often to abstract expressionism and pop art, his aluminium foil paintings (that resemble sculpted paintings) are evidence of that . . .the colours, the movement in what is static. He is brilliant.

This skateboard is AWESOME . . . I have cut and paste here what Hypebeast wrote about it . . .it is spot on . .

"Mekanism gave carte blanche to German artist Anselm Reyle for its latest collaborative project. Taking on his signature approach, Anselm Reyle applied several thin layers of spray painted neon pink and added two different mudstone colored paints, before the boards were covered with a two-component lacquer, giving it a shiny surface. In these works, the boundary between the slickness of the neon pink and the roughness of the brown paints – resembling mud, sand or dirt – is blurred by the lacquer. Glossy and matt, flashy and dark, slick and rough are now inextricably intertwined. But beyond the contradiction of colors and textures, the artist is contrasting our prospect of neon pink as a color used for posters of the punk and the psychedelic scene in the 70s and 80s with the mudstone colors applied in post war gestural abstract paintings, notably in Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel. Only 50 editions were produced, with 10 artist proofs, all signed by Anselm Reyle."

Now, to get my hands on one of these editions (it's pink!) and get myself to a skatepark (or not). . . swoon.

Pluto in Paradise

Pluto is Nat Sarasas's long haired Chihuahua, Paradise is Nat's hideaway, Six Senses Yao Noi. I met Pluto at the airport, like a dysfunctional and eccentric family, we went to the Hilltop Reserve, so plan/car/boat. . . . Russell Williamson and O (Dr O - our childhood friend who is awesome) were already there. Hereforth an unexpected weekend where Pluto the Chihuahua was the hero and we managed to get a little break from the smog and hectic life which is Bkk, and remarkable it certainly was that I could mellow out and sleep as much as I did. My first visit this year, it reminded me a lot of little Cleo and our little adventure last year.

Top of the world

Pluto

The view at the Hilltop is like no other, there is not a chance ever that one can get sick of it, it is alive and different at every hour of the day and sometimes, as the storm comes in, the islands disappear . . . it looks like the islands are talking to each other and they still talk to each other for the most part in a storm but sometimes go behind curtains to do so . . .

The customary photo session on the ledge of the infinity pool. . . .

Nat in his usual spot . . .

Other activities . . .

Oh and let's not forget about the food, the club sandwich is the still the best ever but what blew our minds was the most spectacular Hotpot EVER, super fresh ingredients, a secret broth and sauc matched with Cloudy Bay . . . divine and mega food coma stuff.

The other thing I loved was the Roti shop that was open late night, it was like going into someone's home. Yao Noi is mostly Muslim, so Pluto needed to stay in the car whilst we had roti. There is something extremely beautiful and timeless with the way the Muslim community has created their homes in the south of Thailand and it is a unique culture and community, one which I would love to get to know a bit more, especially when roti and pulled coffee and tea tastes that good at the local Island Roti spot.

So truly a great weekend, Pluto even came to take naps from time to time in our room . . . he is probably more cat than dog, very cute nonetheless, I am a bit in love with him even though I am glad that he did not end up being my room mate being replaced at the very last minute.

The hardest thing about the weekend was leaving . . . but as Nat said, it will always be there :). Thanks Nat.

Nat and Pluto

Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Green. . .the end

After a couple of weeks, the mob returned to 100 Tonson Gallery, not the mob literally but those interested in P'Rirkrit's work. There was a panel discussion with a backdrop of revolution but this time, complete and very up-to-date (May 10th 2010 in all its glory) . . .

After the discussion, there was curry, red, yellow and green of course. . .

I arrived at 3.30 and left at 11 pm . . . bowls of curries, Singha beer when the rest of the country was banned from drinking (for a whole 30 hours) with an election the next day was a rather nice way to spend the day and nightin central bkk, for a moment it felt like summer in the city, any city but here, however, it is that it is here that the show had such an impact. I met some fascinating people, 8 hours is a long time to spend in a place if they were not, and have resolutely decided that there is no need to fear, red, yellow, or green as well as confirmed the fact that there is no such thing as a coincidence.

One really did need to savour the mural as it was taken down on Monday (48 hours after I arrived that day) - there is something at once tragic and beautiful about that, revolution to turn to black . . . 200 hours of work of work/drawing, a record of what actually happened, into a black wall. Maybe memory is a bit like that, out of sight - out of mind, I have a feeling P'Rirkrit's work is not really going to fade into oblivion though, even when the walls are black-washed, those events are too engrained in our collective memories. Oh and of course when you connect those hand-drawn images to the smell of curry boiling away in a confined space, well, that's what memories are about right? and to have actually seen the mural grow too, the passage of time, so strange, all of that to be erased. Yet you can't quite shake the fact that you were actually there, at some point in time and some of those moments you can't ever forget.