21 September 2009

12 September 2009

savage beauty

in the middle of reading savage beauty: the life of edna st. vincent millay

(must say a thank you to my housemate for such a wonderful library with which to amuse myself)

i have always loved millay's poetry, but until now knew little about her life. she seemed to have an intoxicating effect on people. the entire country was in love with her, yet she ultimately cared little for those other than her family and her work. as fascinating as the book is, the author leaves much to be desired. milford provides a complete chronology without delving into millay's motivations. i am left wishing milford would analyze her findings, but nevertheless her findings alone are still mesmerizing.

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The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, --
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat -- the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.

from renascence

you must read the whole poem here


11 September 2009

jim jennings

jim jennings, one of my favorite contemporary architects, designed this palm springs vacation house for himself. simply stunning.






this house defines the word retreat for me.

"An eight-foot wall of painted concrete block defines the Jennings house, enclosing 3,000 square feet of space. A flat roof seems to float above the building, just as the entire structure seems to float in the landscape. There is no driveway. You approach across white desert sand, past creosote bush, up to the carport in the north side of the white wall. On a sunny day (Palm Springs normally has more than 350 sunny days a year), light filtering through the carport’s painted-steel trellis roof draws vertical stripes on the horizontal blocks. Then you step from the carport through a clear-anodized-aluminum pivot door into the entrance courtyard and pure astonishment.

From the courtyard you see all the way through the living room to a second courtyard with a lap pool at the far (west) end and a mountain beyond. The east and west walls of the living room are sliding glass doors; on each side, three five-foot-wide panels telescope on separate tracks into a wall recess. (The doors stay entirely open most of the time.) With the privacy afforded by the enclosing wall, Jennings gives new definition to indoor-outdoor living, inverting the idea of 1950s post-and-beam Palm Springs architecture, which was about openness as an extension of the surrounding landscape. The Jennings house is all about enclosure, with the openness inside.

The interior section of the residence occupies just 750 square feet: living room and bedroom separated by an in-line kitchen and a luxuriant bath. 'We simply wanted a space for the two of us,' says Bissell. Another 15-foot set of glass doors opens from the bedroom to the 1,730-square-foot courtyard.

The inspired steel-deck roof, supported by steel beams, sits above clerestories facing north and south that effectively float the roof above the house. Eight-foot overhangs cantilevered to the east and west provide essential shade. From the living room sofa, the owners can see the neighboring mountain both through the clerestory to the south and above the wall of the pool courtyard to the west. 'The emptiness of the pool courtyard intensifies one’s sense of the mountain,' Jennings notes. 'It is a void that works in counterpoint with the solid.'"- AD


10 September 2009

rachel roy

obsessed with rachel roy's new line for macys


evening at the pink wall

paula rubino is one of my favorite painters that we represent. she was classically trained at the florence academy of art as well as studied with the famously weird Odd Nerdrum. she is as kind as she is talented.

"Strangeness is the indispensable condiment of all beauty"
Charles Baudelaire

trilby and svengali

evening at the pink wall

someday, some morning, sometime

shells

tis time

quiet v

her finnish husband jussi poyhonen is quite fantastic as well.



paula rubino at ann long fine art

03 September 2009

probably late on this one but...

i'm obsessed with the coolness that is shopnastygal.com
and most everything is surprisingly reasonable...


or this deep tank dress $32 (and those boots!)

or the statement making marni beaded neckpiece $30

or this neka studded dress $68

and finally these sold-out-everywhere sam edelman boots $345 that are pure craziness

laura fayer

gorgeous new work by laura fayer

all kinds of beautiful

wild abandon