KLIMT KICKS

I've just returned from loads of travel and it's snowing in New York.  The best thing I can think to wear is a pair of Gustav Klimt inspired knee highs to trudge through the slush.

Recaps on the way from my visits to Paris and Miami!

Socks by Hot Sox via Sock Shop in Haight Ashbury.

BONJOUR DE PARIS!

Bonjour de Paris!

Can you guess who I visited today?

La Joconde (AKA Mona Lisa) was first on my list when I arrived at Le Louvre this morning.

I spent all day in the grand museum and am fairly certain I could spend the rest of my life there.

More to come!

Skirt: Celine

Socks: Hot Sox

Boots: Coach

THE UNKNOWN PAINTING

I scooped this sweater at one of my favorite vintage outposts in the Village, instantly recognizing the image from Art History.  However, try as a might, I cannot identify this painting!  I've scoured the internet and sourcebooks and cannot uncover the title or artist of this work.

HELP!  Do you know this painting?

See the last time I work this skirt, on a Brooklyn rooftop.

Sweater: Vintage

Skirt: Vintage

Socks: HUE

Boots: DKNY

Sunglasses: Marc Jacobs

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

#TBT: Emily Kame Kngwarreye

#TBT to one of my favorite posts from 3 (!) years ago, wearing a vintage suit inspired by Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye.  

Full post here.

PICASSO LADIES

It's overdue, but here's my Halloween costume: Picasso's Girl Before a Mirror!

For the Annual Members Party at the New Museum, two friends and I decided to emulate Picasso's paintings of women.  Meri was Dora Maar, Kathy was Woman with a Book, and I was the stunning masterpiece pictured above (which hangs at the Museum of Modern Art).

We had a fantastic evening challenging partygoers to guess who we were, and a few actually recognized my painting!  

Thanks to Kathy for her help with painting and for my friends for being great sports.

Hope you had a magnificent Halloween!

HAPPY KAHLOWEEN!

Happy Kahloween from Artfully a Hare!

Edward the bunny has been dressed up in many a costume, but this may be my favorite so far.  Inspired by Frida Kahlo's Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser from 1940 (and her signature look in general), Mr. Beast donned a flower crown and unibrow to complete the look.

What are you going to be for Halloween?

PUFFY

Another one from MASS MoCA:  Lee Boroson's Plastic Fantastic.

Meant to evoke organic forms, the shapes in this installation are fabricated out of man-made materials, thereby collapsing the notion of a natural environment.  It reminded me of Tomas Saraceno's installation on the roof of the Met a few years ago, but it gave me a greater urger to hug the walls.

Same outfit, with an H&M mens' vest.

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROY LICHTENSTEIN

Happy birthday to Roy Lichtenstein, who was born on this day in 1923.

Here is a throwback to my Halloween costume of yesteryear, a Lichtenstein girl.

Do you have any artistic inspiration for Halloween this year?

ANSELM KIEFER at MASS MoCA

One of the most outstanding aspects of my first visit to MASS MoCA was the long-term Anselm Kiefer exhibition, on view through 2028.  Kiefer is arguably the most important post-war German artist, and his work deals with many themes related to his home country's struggle after World War II.

Kiefer was born in Germany in 1945, and the rebuilding years after the war are his first memories.  His work deals with history directly, through the use of varied materials like photographs, organic matter, and post-industrial building materials.  It has been described as apocalyptic, and that term comes to mind easily when confronted with the size and scale of the works in the MASS MoCA exhibition.

In its own building separate from the rest of the museum, the Anselm Kiefer exhibition, in collaboration with the Hall Art Foundation, is like a memorial, and the quiet within the space attests to the ___ with which the images and forms are imbued.

Dress: Marni

Necklace: Saturday

Shoes: Pour la Victoire

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

RIP Oscar de la Renta

I like light, color, luminosity.  I like things full of color and vibrant.

--Oscar de la Renta (1932 - 2014)

In light of the passing of one of my most revered fashion designers, I'll find a way to wear my favorite garment, a custom Oscar de la Renta gown. RIP OdlR

SWEATER WEATHER

It's finally sweater weather, and what better inspiration for autumn layering than Jayson Musson's Coogi canvases?  

The Brooklyn based artist uses the eponymous 'Cosby' sweaters to cover canvases, which become some fusion between Abstract Expressionist painting and landscape.  

Originally marketed as 'wearable art' in the 1980s, the sweaters became a symbol of status for African Americans in the late '80s and early '90s.  Musson deconstructs the garments and reassembles them, finding a balance between their street culture significance and aesthetic relevance to fine art. 

In Art in America, Judith Stein asserted that, "In their ability to communicate a cultural narrative, Musson's Coogis are related to the faux-batik Dutch textiles favored by Yinka Shonibare, which encode the history of colonialism in Africa."

 Musson's alter-ego, Hennessy Youngman, discusses art world tropes like the ones his work purports through a series of web eposides called Art Thoughtz.  

Sweater: Coogi

Skirt: Vintage

Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Heels: United Nude

Images via www.jaysonmusson.com and Artsy.net.

ART TO WEAR: Lichtenstein Brushstroke.

Roy Lichtenstein, Brushstroke, 1965
Screenprint on paper

Pop Art looks out into the world.  It doesn't look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself.  --Roy Lichtenstein

Feeling gestural?  I found the perfect frock to show your love of Pop's nod to Abstract Expressionism, Roy Lichtenstein's Brushstroke at the Tate. Pair with boots and a tear in the corner of your eye, and you, too, will look like the thing itself.

Paint Strokes Black Dress, $72 at Pixie Market

EVERYBODYWILLBEDANCINGIFWE'REDOINGITRIGHT

Welcome to the most overwhelmingly colorful site-specific installation, created by Brooklyn-based artists Markus Linnenbrink at Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe in Chelsea.

I could hardly contain my excitement upon entering the room, entirely covered in colorful stripes from floor to ceiling.  Much of Markus' work deals with the way colors pile and spill onto one another, and his epoxy resin pieces are beautifully complex.  The full exhibition, entitled Everybodywillbedancingifwe'redoingitright (love the Daftpunk reference) is on view until October 4. 

Blouse and skirt: Pleats Please Issey Miyake

Shoes: Rachel Comey

Purse: Cynthia Rowley

Photos by Kathy Paciello. 

ANJALI DESHMUKH // dumbo arts festival

For the Dumbo Arts Festival, Anjali Deshmukh created Random [ ] Generators, a gameboard that encourages participants to write brief statements that become a part of the installation.  Ranging from, "I discover I am human" to "I used stress to make people laugh by making weird faces", each part of the gameboard reveals something different and possibly surprising about the player.

I couldn't escape the irony of coming across a piece with an eyeball while wearing my eyeball flats.

Shoes: Kenzo

Did you go to the Dumbo Arts Festival?  See anything interesting?

Photos by me.

FAUVIST FRIDAY

Feeling Fauve on this Fall Friday.

I came across this painting by Mark di Suvero earlier this week as a part of his exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery.  I'm familiar with his sculptural installations, but had never seen the Fauvist, colorful work that simultaneously draws a parallel and contrast with the rest of his hard-edged metal works.

Sweater: Thrifted

Blouse: Joe Fresh

Pants: Diane von Furstenberg

Shoes: Manolo Blahnik

Caffeine: Nespresso

Photos by me.

GRAPE ESCAPE

Last weekend, I trekked to Long Island for my first long-awaited experience of the wine country just outside New York City.  The lushness of the grounds and juiciness of the ripe grapes inspired this outfit, along with the highly saturated work of Marylyn Dintenfass.

"Dintenfass uses luscious colors, repetitive forms, and a gestural intensity that combines Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art." --Meredith Mendelsohn

Dintenfass (b. 1943) is known for her oil paintings and prints featuring sensual, gestural abstractions in "ripe, radiant, saturated hues".  Originally from Brooklyn, Dintenfass made the trek to Long Island just like I did, and I can't help but wonder whether the colors and forms of the wine country inspired her work.

Jacket: Diane von Furstenberg

Dress: Suno

Sunglasses: Suno

Boots: Frye

Dintenfass images from rauschenberggallery.com, artinfo.com, driscollbabcock.com, artslant.com, mutantspace.com.  Photos of me by Meri Feir.