Saturday, February 21, 2015

INDIA SONG....by photographer and artist KAREN KNORR...!

I came across these photographs by artist Karen Knorr a few weeks back that feature stunning creatures with palaces, forts and temples of Rajasthan serving as the backdrops. I haven't been able to get them out of my head and thought you might like them stuck in yours as well! Not only are the animals themselves so vibrant and interesting, but juxtaposed within these palace walls dripping with so much age, tiles, history, carvings, colors and lightwells make them all the more fascinating.

From Lise Funderberg of Architectural Digest:

Since the 1970s, artist Karen Knorr has produced photographs that pose thorny questions about power, class, and the aesthetics of beauty. While appropriating landscape and still-life genres for her compositions, she often layers in a good dose of humor. In her “Gentlemen” series, for example, she pointed up the “boys’ club” nature of British government by captioning staid portraits of men in swank London gentlemen’s clubs with excerpts from parliamentary speeches. In “Muses and Majas,” she placed live nudes in galleries of the Louvre beneath their painted counterparts. Knorr’s recent project, “India Song”—recently released in book form (Skira, $45), with images accompanied by a Q&A with the artist—explores similar themes, but this time in the palaces, forts, and temples of Rajasthan, the state in northwest India known for its exquisite architecture and interiors, some dating from the 13th century.
Knorr disrupts viewers’ expectations by digitally inserting into those rooms live animals from the same region. The animals often seem to own the chambers they occupy even as their vitality contrasts with the eroded splendor of past civilizations. It’s a pleasure to think about the ideas behind these images, especially after reading about the project in the book’s opening essay, but Knorr will have to forgive viewers if they put aside the intellectual aspects from time to time to simply drink in the spectacular tiles, carvings, and murals that fill the architectural spaces she has chosen as her stage.


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Monday, February 9, 2015

....FISHY design....!

As is typical for me I will see something that will tick my brain off into a flurry of ideas, inspiration, thoughts and unnecessary "wish list" items - case in point this amazing Jeweled Fish Knuckle Clutch. Just one piece I am totally obsessed with from Sarah Burton's latest Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2015 collection (sidenote: isn't she doing an amazing job carrying on with the McQueen brand?! She is a genius if you ask me.).

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I have a fascination with the creatures under the sea and bodies of water. This fourth layer (air, earth, beneath earth/dirt, water) of living beings that we attempt to understand and connect with are abundant in snazzy outerwear. The colors and patterns you find in coral, fish, textures of sharkskin, seashells and tiny sculptures found in the smallest grains of sand offers never ending surprises and beauty. I love seeing this mysterious world brought above the water line and incoporated into design - both fashion and home.

I rounded up a few images of the finned world in homes and ponds as well as a few design objects I am loving!

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de Gournay wallpaper

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scale tiles

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modern home with koi pond

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modern home with koi pond

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DIY paper fish installation

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scaled Kitchen tile

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chandeliers by Adam Wallacavage

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Adam Wallacavage chandelier

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Anabo paper

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King Residence by MC2 Architectural Studio

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Koromo Eclipse wallpaper

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Tommy Rush Fish Bar

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Urban Beach House by Rachel Reider

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Katie Ridder Design

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love this pairing of scaled tile meeting wood flooring

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solid bronze mermaid sconces by Marcel Asselbur, French 1940s.
fish knuckle clutch by Alexander McQueen
steel and wood room divider by Paul Evans in a looped fish-scale technique. Circa 1960s.
1960s cane wrapped stainless fish bottle opener by Carl Aubock.
brass swordfish wall scupltures
aquatic skull print scarf by Alexander McQueen
ceramic shark and seahorse on stands by Jonathan Adler
fish rug by Eva Zeisel for the Rug Company
bronze angelfish with a glass top coffee table by Alain Chervert. French, 1970s.