Paste Ups

I seem to have spotted a thematic of some paste-ups around town.  If you do recall, dear reader, the last post of this form of public image sharing, or graffiti if you will, had Batman and Robin contemplating: "what if art ruled the world?" 

Now is this a coincidence that I have found some more paste ups wondering the same thing?  Is it the same artist or an overriding theme?  With dominant concerns such as politics, economies and the environment, it is to be expected that artists will weigh in on the discussion in different ways.

This was a paste up that I spotted near Chabanel street; it features a pseudo-erotic Tony the Tiger armed with some paint and a paintbrush.  I assume it was Tony who wrote: "what if art ruled the world," but did he add the heart too?  Only Tony knows....

In the above paste up near Laurier street, a wolf checking out a sexy Betty Boop wonders too: "what if art ruled the world?"  Wait a second...is that signed "with luv...Stikki Peaches?"

Cabane à Sucre

That week of kooky summer weather was awesome! But now we have returned to more "normal" spring-like conditions for which we leave a little heat on in the house, and I leave my snow tires on my car for the impending final snow dump of April.

To usher in the spring, team "fun all night long" decided that it was time to return to our childhood memories of Cabane à sucre, aka: the sugar shack.

Above are tapped maple trees, with no snow in sight affecting the Québecois tradition of tire sur la neige-which became tire sur la glace-not quite the same effect!  After the delicious maple snack we got ready for some fiddle music and a giant meal consisting of pea soup, tourtière (meat pie), and fèves au lard (baked beans) among other sinful dishes.

We randomly chose Sucrerie de la Montagne as our destination and were relieved that the food was pretty darn good.  We asked for more!  We ate it all!  (Well we left half a tarte au sucre-that was just too intense!!)  Oh man, the pancakes were SO GOOD!!!  And as randomness and the small world effect that seems to occur all the time should have it, our waiter was an acquaintance of the raver/junglist days of yore!  It's a small world indeed at the cabane à sucre.

Lifetime Collective

I got to peruse the fall/winter12 collection of Lifetime Collective, a laid back west coast line with dotted with the street/skate/art collab vibe, if I may boil it down in a couple of words.  While there are snow tires are still on my car, here is a taste of next fall.

Above is a super cozy cable knit grandpa style cardigan and a detail of a knit motif that appeared in scarves and sweaters.

The jacket above was a my favourite piece from the men's line, on me it became an oversize shell that would be easy to layer with sweaters in the fall.  (I know it's not even summer yet! And we're talking about fall!)

A shot of some images in Lifetime Collective's zine.  Want to play the six degrees of Montreal connection? Ok, so the zine's launch party will take place at the HVW8 art + design gallery in LA. HVW8 (Heavyweight) was a crew of artists from Montreal that toured doing live art installations.  Bam! That was barely three degrees of separation!
Just for fun here's some vintage Heavyweight paraphernalia that I have kicking around:

Also in the showroom were the footwear from Generic Surplus, these spotted and floral beauties were an Obey collab, just hanging out with their zine.

Jewels and Paper Flower

This is probably the girliest post title I have come up with lately.  But I have to admit my eyes glaze over when it comes to jewelery (ummm and shoes!)  While I don't wear many pieces I find myself always on the lookout.

This past week has been full of ohhhs and ahhhs towards visual stimuli.
I will share a little bit (with the use of Instagram) with you:

 The model was being shot from the waist up, so she kept her feet comfortable in her awesome Isabel Marant kicks.  There lies a giant paper flower.  Stunning!

My favourite piece of jewelry that gets daily wear is a Pearls Before Swine double ring.  On a shoot it made friends with a Pamela Love talon ring.  Are those Givenchy magnetic horn earrings? Just wow.

Just to add to the girly sweetness of this post, I share some dessert with you.  An almond and pear tart-miam!

Saturday Art

This morning I woke up with the urge for some Saturday art.  My most favorite gallery in town HANDS DOWN would have to be the DHC/Art Foundation-I have never been disappointed with a show curated here.  One memorable moment for me was during the John Currin exhibit when one of the security guards gave his insight of several paintings and directed us to the basement level where visitors can watch archived artist talks. Nice!

Above is the guide image of the current exhibit (as image taking is not allowed), featuring a still from Philippe Parreno's June 8, 1968 (2009) short film shot on 70mm(!)
While I can rave about the whole show, a standout for me was Taryn Simon's An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007), a series of documentary photographs accompanied with a short text of the back stories that recontextualize our understanding of the image.  The viewer is presented with "the realms of science, government, security, religion and nature, [and] unveils that which is foundational to America's functioning and mythology." (From the guide.)

You have until the May 13, 2012 to go! Get your art on!

I leave you with this charming stencil of beach ball play on St-Pierre street.

Palm Springs, CA

Back from a four day (including travel) in-and-out work trip to Palm Springs, California. Yeah, that's right, not Florida-I didn't know either.  I'm laid up in bed with a West Coast cold (a bad one might I add) so I will share some sunny pics with you who are in northern snow like me.

Shall we?

Some of the team at LAX
See those clouds? That will be the last time I will see them for the next few days.

1. Instagram views of Palm Springs . 2. more Instagram 

3. Seemingly abandoned building 

1. Insanely cloud-free sky with palm trees

2. getting to work! taping some shoes 3. setting up next to the pool

4. golf ball at the bottom of the pool

1. poolside owl  2. poolside swans
3. beautiful grapefuit tree!

This was the first time I'd ever eaten grapefruit fresh from the tree-it smelled and tasted delicious.  Makes you think about what we are getting at the grocery store in winter time...

Here's one last look before we're back to snow:

Origami Mobile #4

I have finally completed Origami Mobile #4 for a dear friend whose son is at least seven months old... Well better late than never!

This one worried me a tad, because this little dude's dad is an industrial designer, I felt that this one might be scrutinized a bit more.  The choice of shapes were pared down to the always favourite of mine, the angel fish and the balloon from a book I had since the 80s!

Did you print nerds out there take notice that the fishes' colours were CMYK- as in cyan, magenta (ok, pink...), yellow and black? And that the ballons were RGB-as in red, green and blue?!

Check out the new shape that this mobile is rocking:
I call it pyramid with bird swing!