CHALLENGE: Mickalene Thomas.

I'm excited to announce the inaugural Artfully Awear Challenge!

I've chosen a work of art (below) for inspiration, and dare you to style an outfit influenced by it: a direct representation of the work or a subtle nod to the color, form, feeling of the piece.  Take a photo of your look and send it to artfullyawear@gmail.com by midnight EST on Friday, November 22nd.

I'll post all of the photos here, and challenge one entrant to choose the next inspirational work.

For the first challenge, I've chosen a piece by one of my favorite contemporary artists, Mickalene Thomas.  This untitled work is made with rhinestones, glitter, acrylic, enamel, pastel, charcoal, graphite, and oil on wood panel.  

Mickalene Thomas, Untitled #4, 2013

I can't wait to see your photos!

Plainness in clothing is the enemy of art.

GE Reveal Lighting Makeover

Stained glass lamp fitted with standard light bulb.

One of my most prized possessions is a stained glass lamp designed and made by my grandmother.  Reminiscent of the art glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany, the lamp is special not only because it is her own design, but because she created it in her favorite palette of colors.  I put together this outfit inspired by the lamp, and by the beautifully artistic eye of my grandmother.

GE asked me to test out their new Reveal lightbulb, and I couldn't wait to see how it would look in my grandmother's lamp.  With the Reveal bulb, the beautiful colors of the glass and intricacy of the design are much more apparent.

Stained glass lamp fitted with GE Reveal bulb.

GE reveal® bulbs make it easy to enhance the colors and patterns around you, something that is extremely important to visual people like myself. The LED lightbulbs filter out dull yellow rays of standard incandescents, and provide a beautiful, clear light , perfect for a workspace, to showcase artwork, or simply to light your home. An added bonus is that the Reveal bulbs use 28% less energy than standard incandescents.

To learn more about the difference reveal® can make, watch this fun video engaging tastemakers who depend on the best lighting possible for their craft.

Thank you to GE for the opportunity to test out the Reveal bulb!

Blouse: Vintage

Leather pants: Tracy Reese

Boots: DKNY

Mike Kelley at MoMA PS1

The full-museum retrospective on the late Mike Kelley at MoMA PS1 opened a few weeks ago.  I attended the opening in my self-made Kelley-inspired pom pom jacket, but it's taken me a few weeks to develop my feelings about the show and begin to understand the overwhelming experience.


First of all, it is not an exhibition that can be confronted in one visit.  There is just too much -- so many extremely different, opposing mediums and ideas -- that it requires more than one sojourn in order to begin to even scratch the surface of the meaning and intent of Kelley's oeuvre.


Kelley created work that spanned a 30-year career in almost every medium imaginable: assemblage, film, works on paper, painting, sculpture, digital, installation, and on and on.  Much of this work deals with themes of isolation, repressed memory, sexuality, self-exploration.  My personal favorite work is Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites (1991), which I planned ahead to emulate with my pom pom jacket.

However, one of the most poignant pieces in the exhibition is Lumpenprole and Ageistprop (above).  A vast knit blanket stretched across the floor, concealing unidentified lumps beneath it, this work is the perfect example of Kelley's interest in repressed memory, and the way he consistently returned to previously explored themes throughout his widespread career.  While I was viewing the work, another museum attendee held his iPhone poised at the ready in order to catch the movement of the mysterious shapes (spoiler alert: they don't move).  This anecdote is a perfect example of my experience of the show: the feeling that there is something lurking around the corner that could change or develop at any moment, without notice.

Jacket: DIY

Dress: H&M

Shoes: United Nude

Clutch: Betsey Johnson

Photos by Kathy Paciello; Lumpenprole image from hamptonartshub.com.

LADY GAGA'S ARTRAVE

I had the pleasure of attending Lady Gaga + Jeff Koons' ARTRAVE last night, the launch party for Gaga's new album, Artpop.  I have mixed feelings about Koons' work -- on the one hand, I can appreciate its accessibility and its Warholian kitsch, but it doesn't really appeal to me aesthetically.  I feel similarly about Gaga's music; I acknowledge her importance as a popular culture and fashion icon, but I wasn't exactly counting down the days until her album's release.  ARTRAVE, however, was a true spectacle in every sense of the word, appealing to all five senses at once, and the excitement of all the "little monsters"at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was palpable.  But the real highlight for me was enjoying the concert alongside some of the industry's most revered (and notorious) players, such as Tony Bennett, Terry Richardson, Christian Siriano, and my most revered performance artist, Marina Abramovic, who was the perfect addition to our group of friends.

INSPIRATION: A Tribute to Rothko.

I love these beautifully simplified photographs by Eddy de Azevedo.

As a tribute to Mark Rothko, photographer Azevedo has captured everyday Color Field occurrences, and I've found these stacks of clothing particularly compelling.

See more images here.

View my Rothko post here.

ART HISTORICAL HALLOWEEN

For Halloween this year, my friend (and faithful art lover) Kathy and I decided to go all out art historical.  She was Picasso's Woman in a Hat with Pompoms and a Printed Blouse from 1962 and I was Warhol's Turquoise Marilyn from 1964.

I even ran into an Andy at a party that night, and couldn't help being reminded of the quote by the man himself: 

"My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person."

I'd love to hear what you're going to be for Halloween!

Dress and Wig: Amazon.com (search "Marilyn dress" and "Marilyn wig"--easy!)

Body paint and makeup: Ricky's NYC

Picasso and Warhol images from about.com

5 POINTZ

5 Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc. (also known as the Institute of Higher Burnin') is a converted warehouse space in Long Island City in Queens, which is completely covered with graffiti.  It originated as a safe place for graffiti artists to write, in order to discourage vandalism.  Writers from all over the world have tagged the city-block-sized abandoned warehouse, and it's been the site of some of the most compelling street art in the five boroughs--hence the name 5 Pointz.  This year, a $400 million residential project was approved, which will require demolition of the site.  In my protest, I hit 5 Pointz in a blank canvas dress, in search of writers who wanted to make their mark.

Tags by Kid Lew, Kazu, Shiro Japan!, and others.

Dress: H&M

Tagged with aerosol spray paint & Sharpies

Boots: Franco Sarto

Purse: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Photos by Kathy Paciello and myself.