KING'S INN

If you live in Kingston, you are probably familiar with the eyesore that is the King's Inn. It's that defunct motel on Broadway in midtown. It was probably pretty sweet when it was built in 1964...but the years have not been kind. Now it stands there...abandoned...just giving off bad vibes.

The city owns the property...and everyone and their mom wants to tear it down. But I guess there is some sort of big deal asbestos removal that has to happen first. So we're probably going to be looking at this thing for a while.

Our friend Tom Cingel contacted us about possibly getting in on some guerrilla beautifying and we were happy to lend a hand. His friend Adam Chalom designed and painted a mural for the site, and Justin and I were part of the rag-tag group of locals that helped to hang it.

Note: If you ever plan on putting artwork where you are not authorized to be putting artwork bring scaffolding and reflective vests. NOBODY will question you.

TWO SHOWS

I went down to NYC on Friday to spend some time with my bestie of a zillion years, Tina, and see a couple shows I didn't want to miss: Sonia Delaunay at the Cooper-Hewitt and Maira Kalman at the Jewish Museum. Both were fantastic.

I'm super into pattern, color theory, and textile design right now and Sonia Delaunay has been a recurring source of inspiration. I admire how confident her work is...and the fact that her textile designs are just as painterly and kinetic as her larger abstracts.

And Maira Kalman? LOVE her. She is basically my mom's spirit guide. And I totally support that. She's smart, observant, funny, and completely unpretentious. And she makes art look FUN. Seeing all of her illustrations in person really made me want to break out my gouache and paint again. I haven't felt that way in a long time. Since I've got decorating on the brain I'm currently finding her renderings of interiors particularly inspiring. Here's a few from her NY Times blog turned book: And the Pursuit of Happiness:

SALVAGED GRACE

A while back, Erin from Salvaged Grace contacted me about writing a little something for her Sentimental Salvage feature. It's up today! I wrote about finding my dad's hysterically weird art from the 1970s...which is now all over our house. Check it out here.

CAMPBELL’S À LA WARHOL

Did you know that in 2004 Campbell's Soup issued a limited edition set of Andy Warhol inspired tomato soup cans? I had no idea! They exclusively sold them at Giant Eagle supermarkets...which only has locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and West Virginia. Not that that would have been a problem if I had known they existed. I mean...Pennsylvania is only a few hours away. I would have happily driven to ALASKA to buy some.

But, alas, I found out about them 6 years too late. I scoured the internet for more info...but all of my google research led me to believe I would never get my hands on a set of my own. Until...lo and behold...what is this in my search results? A craigslist post? Somebody in Dallas selling several sets of the Warhol cans?!

To make a long story short...I bought them. Justin's parents live in Dallas and the seller was nice enough to drop them off on their doorstep. Now we just have to get them up to New York. I can't wait to see them in person!

THE ROBERT BRADY MUSEUM

Last time Justin and I were in Mexico City we rented a car and drove 2 hours south to Cuernavaca because Justin had just read Under the Volcano, which takes place there.  In the 1930s, it was apparently an ex-pat haven...full of American artists and writers...and it maintained that reputation for several decades, attracting the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Timothy Leary (bohemian street cred alert!). The city has changed a lot since then...and the Cuernavaca of today is unfortunately pretty touristy and fairly commercial.  But there is one thing that made the drive TOTALLY worth it:  The Robert Brady Museum.

Casa de la Torre is the home of Robert Brady, an American artist who moved to Cuernavaca in 1962 and set up camp in a massive XVI Franciscan Monastery.  His decorating style is RIGHT up my alley.  Lots of color, lots of art, and lots of COLLECTIONS.  Collections of pillows, masks, crosses, bottles, ceramics, statues.  Art hung salon style!  Objects en masse!  Everything just the way I like it.  

Here are some of my photos from the trip and a few I found on flickr. 

So much decorating inspiration!  I love the way he chooses to display his art collection.  The mix of high and low.  An original Frida Kahlo self portrait next to a bunch of random tchotchkes and Mexican handicrafts.  Nothing too fussy.  Everything done with a sense of humor.  A necklace thrown around a statue...a giant gaucho doll slumped in an antique chair.  I love it all.  This house REALLY appeals to my maximalist side.  Hmm...do I have a minimalist side?  

Photo Sources: #4, #5, #16 from here; #7, #11, #15 from here; #13 from here; #17 from here

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VICTORIAN PHOTOCOLLAGE

A few weeks ago Tina and I went to the Metropolitan Museum to see Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage. I had read a few things about it beforehand...and it sounded like it was right up my alley...but seriously?...it turned out to be one of the most inspiring exhibits I've been to in a while!  

In the 1860s, the popularity of the carte de visite (affordable tiny paper photos you could have taken and then hand out to whomever you please) started a kind of photocollage craze. Women would cut out these pictures of their friends and family and place them in hand-painted vignettes. What I found surprising about these collages was how thoroughly modern they seemed. They were so wonderfully weird and witty and playful and surreal. Not at all what you would expect from a bunch of aristocratic Victorian ladies! The show ended yesterday...so I decided to do a quick post with a few images from the exhibit for those of you who didn't get to see it.