12/09/2013

4 Questions To – Laura Ponte

“Being spontaneous is part of me so whatever I do, has to be that way.”

The beauty of things always appealed to Laura Ponte. Traveling the world during her years as a top model, she worked with some of the largest names in fashion, wore some of the finest garments and heaviest jewellery. Today she’s retired from her modeling career and has settled down in Spain where she, a few years ago, started the jewellery company Luby & Lemerald together with Luis Feliu de la Peña.

The jewellery by Luby & Lemerald is about dreams and about being present in this very moment. Forget about trends and seasonal treasures, their universe is about inspirations – nevertheless where they may come from – they all mix up in the end collection. The Blogazine paid a visit to the brand’s studio in Madrid where we caught a moment with Laura Ponte.

Interview Lisa Olsson Hjerpe – Filmed by Renzo Angelillo 
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12/09/2013

Ron Gorchov Looks to The Greeks

It is often said that artists never retire, and American abstract painter Ron Gorchov is no exception. Now in his early 80s, Gorchov nevertheless continues to quietly push his work in strange new directions. His latest exhibit, a low-key affair at the Lesley Heller Workspace at 54 Orchard Street, offers up an collection of minimal watercolor compositions influenced primarily by Greek Mythology.

The ameba-like watercolor paintings represent something of a departure for Gorchov, who is best-known for his curved paintings — large canvases bound to custom-bowed stretchers — that resemble the shapes of shields, saddles, and primitive masks. “My paintings are mostly made from reverie, and luck,” he once told The Brooklyn Rail. “I think painting, per se, is an ideal way to criticize the work you already admire because that way you can take the best things in it and try to make your work to be the next consequential step. I mean, to me, that’s a given tradition in creative thought: to build on what you’re seeing that you love and try to bring it to new and unknown terrain.”

Born in Chicago in 1930, Gorchov began painting at the age of 14 when he began taking classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. He has been working in New York since the early 1950s, when he arrived with his wife, newborn son, and all but $80 to his name. Since arriving he has made paintings that are now in permanent collections at The Met, MoMA, and Guggenheim, to name a few. His contemporaries include Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Joel Shapiro.

Gorchov’s watercolor paintings will be on display at the Lesley Heller Workspace through October 13th.

Lane Koivu 
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11/09/2013

Through the Lens of Ulijona Odišarija










Ulijona Odišarija  
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10/09/2013

Oscar de la Renta: American Icon

One of the fashion exhibitions of the year most worthy of a visit takes place in Arkansas, the so-called “Nature State”, in the very south of USA, and celebrates a historical American designer: Oscar de la Renta.

Despite his Dominican roots, de la Renta has spent more than fifty years in the US and he is considered one of the most influential and successful fashion designers internationally, as well as one of the most important statesmen of American fashion. Hosted by Clinton Library, in the city of Little Rock, “Oscar de la Renta: American Icon” has been partly organized by André Leon Talley. The space has been divided in different galleries: from “First Lady” – a room that showcases some of the most iconic frocks he has designed for, amongst others, Hilary Clinton and Laura Bush-, to his stint at Balmain, up to his passion for botanica and his Latin touch – another room has been called “Spanish Dresses”. Every gallery has been painted pink and yellow for recalling Dominican flowers and flamenco, recreating atmosphere. By starting from the very first years of his career spent between Madrid and Paris, the exhibit showcases a successful path through more than thirty garments.

The show will be open until December 1st, for further information visit the Library website.

Francesca Crippa 
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10/09/2013

Richard Rogers: Inside Out

What makes the work of an architect great and why? Isn’t this the question an exhibition about an architect’s work should answer? Isn’t it supposed to glorify his achievements and hide his failures? Or isn’t it supposed to show what impact his work has had on a larger social scheme and how it interacts with what we know and understand about our living structures? The latest exhibition displayed at Royal Academy of Arts in London, dedicated to Richard Rogers and his 50-year-long career, answers the second set of questions, leaving the first set to the visitors’ imagination.


Titled “Richard Rogers RA: Inside Out”, the exhibition is structured in four different sections, each one tackling one particular aspect of Rogers’ work. Known for his involvement in political discussion through architecture, the show tries to pinpoint how his creations have been shaped by political, social and ethical concerns, as well as popular culture, technology, art and urbanism. In fact, the structure of the exhibition, designed by Rogers’ son Ab and curated by Jeremy Melvin, tries to analyse how his projects exist, influence and are influenced by exactly those forces.

In fact, even though the exhibition explores his practice from different points of view (from his personal influences to his political engagement) the most important part of it is seeing how his work engages with the aforementioned issues, starting from Rogers’ ethical principles: fairness, politics, the city, aesthetics and collaboration. Even though his most famous projects, like Centre Pompidou (designed together with Renzo Piano) in Paris and Lloyd’s Building in London, might be criticized as lacking in various aspects of those points, it is nevertheless important to note Rogers’ intention to promote architecture as a practice that needs “to be a politically engaged and sustainably responsible profession, which recognises its agency to affect positive change on society”.

Rujana Rebernjak 
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09/09/2013

Hauntingly Beautiful

”A somber yet beautiful and peaceful gloom here pervaded all things… the shade of the trees fell heavily upon the water, and seemed to bury itself therein… ”
Edgar Allan Poe, The Island of the Fray

Even though the work of Mr. Poe for some time has been a mere memory, it can be argued that it was through his writing a link between haunted and beautiful became verbally clear, a description which easily comes to mind when admiring the work of Duffy Jewellery with its gothic yet raw romantic vibe.


Contemplating today’s fashionistas’ strive towards individuality, rare pieces of craftsmanship are becoming more and more in demand. The unique quality of craftsmanship had been forgotten in a sea of mass production, however, through the designers that are now gaining status by showcasing the pros of being different, consumers are opening their eyes. In this the voice of Duffy is both clear and concise. With a first rate degree in silver and goldsmithing, as well as ten years of experience working with antiques, Duffy has the capacity to see past what “is” and instead bring forth what can be made, creating different “statement pieces” that are very much in tone with the minimalistic trend.

Located in east London, the jeweler has embraced the location and is using only local materials accentuating the unique feel of each piece. Duffy’s collaborations – over the years with different designers and brands such as Carhartt and Nike – are proof of the high qualifications the young designer possesses. His pieces are not only worn by celebs such as Daisy Lowe and Rihanna but have also been featured in many fashion magazines around the world.

In conclusion, due to the individual style wave that has been hovering over the fashion world for several seasons, a mass-produced necklace isn’t nourishing the fashionistas for long. For that you need something that will make you stand tall.


Victoria Edman 
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09/09/2013

Legal Fictions by Carey Young At Migros Museum

Can a legal contract be a form of art? Carey Young (b. 1979, Lusaka, Zambia, lives and works in London) for her first solo exhibition in Switzerland at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst mainly focuses on this issue, and presents an overview of her earlier and new works, which analyses the ways the language of law and the legal and corporate systems of power affect people’s lives. Exploiting video, photography, performance and installation, and availing of legal advisers’ support, Young uses law as a mean of conceptual art expression. With a scientific method and language the artist enters (and helps the viewers to enter) the contractual world, bringing the forms of authority into discussion and revealing – while not being short of humor – their lacunas and ambiguities.

Among Young’s recent works, Declared Void II (2013) is a provocative wall installation with a line that delimits an area reporting a fictional agreement related to politics and immigration: “By entering the zone created by this drawing, and for the period you remain there, you declare that you are a citizen of the United States of America” (Ed. Note: the published image refers to the previous work Consideration, Declared Void, 2004-5); By and Between (After Bernd and Hilla Becher) (2013) consists of two photographs: an original Becher’s piece from Migros’ collection hung side-by-side a copy made by the artist and accompanied by pairs of words referring to legal documents; We the People (after Pierre Cavallet) (2013) reflects on the relation between law and performance with a large-scale picture that quotes the famous judge and great drawer Pierre Cavallet, depicting a judge’s robe and wig hung in a garden on a washing line. 
Young’s law works are displayed here along with previous projects such as The Body Techniques (2007), a series of pictures featuring the artist, alone and dressed in a suit, acting in uninhabited building sites – reworking some performance-based works by Conceptual art, including pieces by Richard Long, Bruce Nauman, Valie Export – that reflect the international corporate control and culture.


Besides Carey Young’s exhibition, which will run until 10th November, Migros Museum presents Collection on Display, a group show devoted to the psychological aspects of space and the pathologies related to it (agoraphobia, claustrophobia, acrophobia), featuring works by Monica Bonvicini, Heidi Bucher, Tom Burr, Urs Fischer, Pamela Rosenkranz, Markus Schinwald, Cathy Wilkes. 
Once again, the opening season of the museum doesn’t disappoint the expectations.

Monica Lombardi – – Many thanks to Migros Museum. Images © Carey Young. Courtesy of the artist, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst 
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07/09/2013

Playlist: Rock

Finally, some good rock, and just in time before the world got bored of waiting. This whole Indie thing is way past bloated, and has been for a while, band after band adhering to that same prescribed recipe of making sweet sounding pop tunes. It was fun for a while; We’re sure we all had a blast, got exited, had a jiggle and bounced up and down while semi-headbanging to the fast paced snares at one gig or another. But it’s actually refreshing to just hear some good old authentic rock at the moment. 2013 had been a good year in terms of music albums in general; some really great stuff has been released. But as far as Rock goes, it’s bloody great.

To illustrate this point, a small selection of songs to check out from recent releases. Firstly, “Do I Wanna Know?” by the Arctic Monkeys, released as a single from their upcoming fifth album AM, which will be released on September 9. So definitely look out for that. Then, “Welcome to Japan” from the latest album by one of the earliest and most influential Indie-Rock bands, the Strokes, followed by the opening track from the critically acclaimed debut album of Savages, Silence Yourself.


Next, “Love Illumination”, a great mood-boosting song from the new Franz Ferdinand album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. And finally, a closing track to this selection which is also the closing song of the recent Vampire Weekend album, Modern Vampires of the City.



Andreas Stylianou 
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06/09/2013

Venice Film Festival 2013

As 69 times before, also this year the red carpet has been rolled out, the terraces overlooking the Adriatic set up and the golden lions polished, for yet another Mostra del Cinema in Venice. During the last days of August, the oldest film festival in the world has welcomed actors, directors, filmmakers, journalists and its public for the 70th time around. In fact, through the years Lido has seen personalities like Federico Fellini, Kirk Douglas, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford or Alberto Sordi stroll down its streets and stir excitement among its public. But, even though some exciting new features were presented this year and a handful of new stars have honored the city with their presence, it seems that the glory of the festival still survives thanks to its brilliant past and, possibly, the dreamy city that hosts it.




To prove that it still has what it takes, this year’s edition of the festival opened with Alonso Cuaròn’s Gravity. Starring the always charming George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, the movie is set in space, which required 4 and a half years of groundbreaking technology-aided work, and aims at becoming one of those titles we might hear at next year’s Oscars. On the other hand, the official competition includes some promising and a few less-promising features hoping to be awarded with the Golden Lion tomorrow, among which James Franco’s Child of God, Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Gianfranco Rossi’s Sacro GRA or nearly-booed Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. Among other sections, Orizzonti stands out with its dedication to ‘the new tendencies of international cinematography’, offering the possibility to see those features that probably won’t be granted large distribution, while Out of competition section includes exceptional movies like Moebius by Kim Ki-Duk or Locke by Steven Knight.

Even though Venice certainly still detains some of its old charm, as the end of this year’s edition approaches, the director of the festival should ponder if instead of boosting the number of seating in Palazzo del Cinema, he should instead boost the quality of the festival’s selection.



Rujana Rebernjak 
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06/09/2013

The Story of a Classic: Heart of Glass

On a spring day of 1978 (7th of May), Blondie, a new wave band from New York featuring model-turned-lead singer Debbie Harry, were performing on the bill of a benefit gig held by New York punks, The Dead Boys, at the Lower East Side club CBGB. At the time, Blondie’s new single “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear” from the album Plastic Letters had just reached the Top 10 in the UK, but they were still relatively unknown back home. Shocking the club’s punk audience with their cover of Donna Summer’s blissful disco hit “I Feel Love”, the band managed to cause a bit of a stir that night.


With The Rolling Stones also just starting to dabble in the genre with hit song “Miss You”, it seemed that something was going on, but Blondie was the first band of the New York punk generation that embraced the new Disco sound with their own dance masterpiece, “Heart of Glass”, recorded three weeks later in Record Plant Studios.

Working on their third album Parallel Lines with producer Mike Chapman, who was getting desperate for a hit song in the US, the band unearthed a song they had written in 1975 called “The Disco Song”, which was later renamed “I Had a Love”. Although Chapman liked the song, he thought it needed to be brought up to date. Drawing on their Disco influences such as Kraftwerk, Chic and I Feel Love producer Giorgio Moroder, while using a Roland CR-78 drum machine the band had just bought, they recorded a uniquely melancholic, but upbeat disco hit.

Renamed again to “Heart of Glass”, and after making a video promo for the song at New York’s upmarket Studio 54 club, “Heart of Glass” jumped to number 1 in the UK when it was released as a single on January 3, 1979. Perhaps more importantly though, it also topped the charts in the US as producer Chapman craved for, making the band into global pop superstars almost overnight.

Following the song’s immense success, Pop artist Andy Warhol threw a celebratory party for the band at Studio 54. In 2011, his portrait of Debbie Harry sold for $5.9.

Andreas Stylianou – Photos Anthony Rue 
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