Thanks to baroncomo ;

A lot of very strange and diverse influences appear when looking at Hodler's work : the strange, somehow flat rendering of the shades of flesh reminds me of Blake - but apparently could also have to do with an interest in expressionism, alongside clearly a morbid influence to me reminiscent of Velazquez. But then again all baroque painter looks alike to my uneducated eye. Unsurprisingly for someone labelled somewhere between symbollist and art nouveau, the representation, and poses of the character have a clear pre-raphaelite influence.

The angular shapes of the bodies, to me looks a bit like Schiele, somehow twist those pre-raphaelites poses into something a bit more tortured, where the religious ecstasy can also echo pain or lust, into something more like Klimmt. In this particular painting his use of contrasting colours of flats for fabrics and of unusual canvas formats seems to have something of the Secession.

"Le dessin et la couleur sont mes seuls moyens d'expression. La signification intime de mes œuvres est représentée directement par la ligne, la composition et la couleur, il n'y a rien à deviner, il n'y a qu'à voir. Je ne suis ni allégoriste, ni danseur de cordes, ni symboliste car mes œuvres ne représentent rien de surnaturel, d'invisible, qu'il faille expliquer ; ce n'est que la vérité telle que je la vois. Je suis un synthétiste." (Loosli, 1921-1924, repris in Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918))
In this quote he basically state that he isnt an allegorist nor a symbollist but a synthetist, as he express the reality as he sees it. He is definitely a synthetist, but to me more because he make the synthesis of many movements, styles and painters of his time than because of his early concern with realism.

"From our earliest days in the caves I’m certain we have, when assembling our own personalities, tried to borrow qualities —perhaps from real people that we admire, but as often as not from some completely mythical person, some god or some hero, some character from a storybook. Whether this is a good idea or not, this tends to be what we do. The way that we talk, the way that we act, the way that we behave, we’re probably taking our example from some fiction or prototype. Even if it’s a real person who’s inspiring us, it may be that they were partly inspired by fictional examples. And given that, it is quite easy to see that in a sense, our entire lives— individually or as a culture—are a kind of narrative. "
Alan Moore

“The love of weapons is in my blood. As far back as I can remember, when I was a little boy, I used to swoon at the mere sight of my father’s pistol. I saw something holy in the dark metal.”
Edward Limonov

Shepard Fairey better watch out...

It seems that all alternative type, trying to sounds grown up, need to justify their interest in alternative styles with an interest in high fashion. High fashion being, unlike New Rocks or plastic extensions, commonly granted as having an artistic, or at least a "real" creative value, most alternative types craving for the recognition of the mainstream will try to integrate, usually clumsily, elements of fashion ; Some times this will involve polka dots or high heels, and some times, when they have too much money or something to compensate, this will involve... Vivienne Westwood.
I will not bother to criticize the designs of the brand themselves, as i dont know much about them. Let it just be said that, if i dont know their designs well, it must mean they are not very good, otherwise i would have had to notice them considering the large media coverage the brand is constantly recieving in UK. No - what i would like to talk about is their logo ; Unsurprisingly, what most alternative types will sport of westwood are the accessories or anglomania, which are the diffusion level of the brand, that is to say the "cheaper" bits (here i include wallets, handbags, jewellery, scarves, etc.) - like most of those diffusion products, they are basically the same designs as what you could skip from the bins of Accessorize, maybe a tad bit better quality, but with a HUGE logo, and logo-wise, Vivienne grasped the concept very well, probably even better than my lovely John Richmond, since the logo is pretty much the sole feature of each item.
The image of the brand is constructed around two axis : on one hand you have the traditional, historical should i say, image of noble english eccentricity (notably, for the menswear, with a good dose of cheap Jack Sparrow ruff ruff) mixed with her "underground credential", her image of transgressive, subversive element, as the creator of the punk style (which she now consider as a "mistake") ; So basically, be it her traditional, high culture and self confident eccentric, or her ruthless post modern warriors, nothing justify the use she have of her logo. It is a lot more akin to Nike's branding of the 90' than it is to any high fashion, stylish or grown up fashion.

That would sound very good if it wasnt at friggin' Medusa, London's worst "club". I am not sure we can even call it a club because its so small and shite ! Anyway the flyer is so fucking cheesy i dont think i can resist the temptation, and fuck it ! I need to get mashed in order to celebrate the end o fthe school year !

25 July - 15 August 2009
Preview Friday 24 July 6.30 - 8.30pm

Sound Escapes examines the very nature of sound. Why is one person’s disturbing noise another’s intriguing sonic landscape? In what ways are our emotions affected by sound? Are plants affected by music? Can you hear a photograph? Do ears make their own sounds? Does the microphone never lie? These are just some questions explored by the works on show.


More here - And its organised by Electra, who also organise a lot of noise/exp/indus/performance projects !

Nevermind the boring BBEPWFV (Bass-based-electro-pop-with-female-vocals), the video is actually rather good : surfing the climaxing trend for stop-motion animation (a predictable outcome of the low-fi trend supposed to visually reflect poorly produced music, apparently - check out Röyksopp's deadline video too : cant say its badly produced but its still far from thrilling me!) ;
The eyes are still reminiscent of the Praga Khan of my youth, but the face painting is overall quite creative and original, plus the fact its badly made using thick paint doesnt bother me at all, it gives it some kind of "skin disease" feel that i really enjoy !

Ergo Proxy is an animation serie scripted by Dai Sato (Cowboy Beebop, Stand Alone Complex, etc.) and which seriously kicks ass ! It feels like the philosophical notions that are present in Ghost In the Shell have grown to be the main concern in this serie, showing a broad culture as well as, more surprisingly, some interests in theology ! Fictions and especially manga often use a lot of occult and sometimes esoteric references but this is the first time i see a real mystic and theologic concern supported by some serious research !
Obviously the script is exceptionally well written (although it does start a bit slower than the fast paced rythm of the end) and the character definitely stands out a lot from the usual anime cast. All in all, if you have the time, watch it !
You can watch it free in streaming from here.

No, this isnt Freddy Mercury's side project, its one of the outfit of probably england's most decadent nobility ! Read more about his half-a-billion pounds billion on jewelled costumes, pink poodles and a car with perfumed exhaust on (wooohooo !) the Daily Mail.

Thanks to Parson's designer of the year Edward Lorenz final year's collection, i discovered those tow russian architects (for the ignorants amongst you, Parson is NYC BIG fashion school, and Lorenz do honor a tradition of conceptual and technical innovation -see it here- that should put to shame the fag-hags of the Royal College of Arts menswear MA, which you can see on fashion 156).
There is something a bit disturbing, very oniric and quite absurd to those etchings, combining a painstaking precision with improbable feats of excessive architecture. See a lot more here. The work was apparently done in reaction to the oppressive restriction applied to soviet architecture from Krutschev (1957) to the 70', time when those two artists have developped their serie of imaginary designs. The grand strangeness of the buildings remind me of Gustave Doré's illustration of the Babel Tower. One can picture easily what influence this work may have had on Les Citées Obscures's Benoit Peeters and Francois Schuiten, and, as well, on Dave McKean's occasional etching style (look at the profile faces if you dont believe me...)

I didnt even knew they had videogames haha. I wish there were pictures of the actual games - and that it was in english...

15 kopec website

To me it looks like Moebius directing an episode of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors featuring Galactus ! Strange that with the trend of 80' psychedelia that got out of the cursed womb of nu-rave it took so long for someone to figure out how french 1970 sci-fi (here i think moebius of course, but also Metal Hurlant -which notoriously figgured Black Sabbath or Blue Oyster Cult on the soundtrack - or Fantastic Planet, the fabulous cartoon adaption of Stefan Wul's Oms by the dozen) was influential ! Anyway, great result... now my next question is : when are they going to rediscover prog rock ?

Surprisingly subdued, they caught my curiousity ! They cleverly stayed away from the shiny look, now id like to have a look at the finishing which is supposedly the greatest part of Soar's work... 





That last one jacket is my favourite ! 

I saw a drawing of this image on the national bolchevik website ages ago, that went down since, and i was impressed - i am a bit disapointed to find out it was a copy of a picture but on the other hand i am glad i found the picture again !

Apparently a lot of fashion journalists are reporting serious rumours concerning Gareth Pugh getting Kris Van Ashe's position at the head of Dior Homme ?!? What's next ? Bernhard Wilhelm taking the seat of John Galliano ?



Kris Van Asche for Dior Homme