zeitgeist

The Knack Blog

[lapetitemangue]

[ohmyasian]

(via mylittlecupoftea:lapetitemangue)

Yayoi Kusama’s “Fireflies on the Water” light installation at the Whitney Museum, 2012. Photos taken by Gabrielle Plucknette and are owned by the New York Times.

2853. “Fireflies on the Water.” So beautiful and romantic in all definitions of the word.

[thereconstructionists]

"Wonderful things happen when your brain is empty," says artist Maira Kalman (b. November 15, 1949). But of course her brain is never empty — rather, it is a wonderland of the most enchanted and enchanting kind, brimming with painted poetics, hand-lettered philosophy, and enormous kindness. She speaks with the simplicity of words and richness of expression that betoken a full mind and draws with the vibrancy of a full heart, every project as much a feat of artistry as a profound meditation on our shared humanity, every brush stroke an inviting doorway into an exceptional soul.

Born in Tel Aviv, Kalman moved to New York City with her parents when she was four and has remained there since, roaming Gotham’s streets with her endlessly observant eye and delighting its people with her visual magic for more than half a century. She has authored or illustrated more than books, ranging from collaborations with Daniel Handler and his children’s alias, Lemony Snicket, to illustrated editions of such modern classics as Stunk and White’s The Elements of Style and Michael Pollan’s Food Rules.

Kalman is also a woman of beautifully osmotic opposites: "A deadline is a beautiful thing. It puts me into a framework," she says in an interview. And yet: "There’s a certain freedom to do whatever I want to do, which I guess is the definition of being an artist," she proffers in her fantastic Creative Mornings talk. She turned her self-admitted disinterest in politics into a year-long challenge to trace the underpinnings of modern democracy, which became the charming New-York-Times-blog-turned-book And The Pursuit of Happiness. The project, of course, isn’t really about “politics" in the drily governmental or academic sense; it’s about all the complex composite parts of political awareness — idealism, hope, the capacity to cherish and savor our cultural legacy. Kalman enthuses:

Hallelujah for knowledge and for the honor of language and ideas. And books.

In fact, all of her work manages to expands the boundaries of whatever its presumed subject is, to broaden its allure, to invite us into adjacent worlds that only magnify the magic of the one she originally set out to explore. Kalman exudes a singular brand of optimistic curiosity, rooted in an unflinching faith in the radiance and relentlessness of the human spirit. Here it is, at its most alive, in The Principles of Uncertainty:

How are we so optimistic, so careful not to trip, and then get up and say O.K.?

[…]

What can I tell you? What can I tell you? The realization that we are all (you, me) going to die and the attending disbelief — isn’t that the central premise of everything? It stops me dead in my tracks a dozen times a day. Do you think I remain frozen? No. I spring into action. I find meaningful distraction.

Wonderful things happen when Kalman’s full brain springs into action.

Learn more: Brain Pickings | Maira Kalman online

[superamit]

A ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work — and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

(via jacob)

[knackblog-blog]

My new favorite street style category; MMPs. Moms Mixing Prints Spotted outside the Waldorf

[art21]

“If we forget what used to be, then we’ve lost an ability to really be sensitive to our surroundings.” —Maya Lin

New video in Exclusive: Maya Lin describes the influence of New York City’s ecological history on her recent body of work, currently on view at The Pace Gallery in New York City.

WATCH: Maya Lin: New York

[pbsarts]

Must watch!

[knackblog-blog]

A glance at the romanticism that used to be the textile industry

[saucebol0-deactivated20170319]

[luiibadass]

love

[cvctothelees]

Was it for this I uttered prayers, And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs? That now, domestic as a plate, I should retire at half past eight?

“Grown Up” Edna St. Vincent Millay (via cvctothelees)

[knackblog-blog]

“The more you know, the less you need.”

- Yvon Chouinard

[knackblog-blog]

Earlier today at Pop Shop Market!

[knackblog-blog]

Carving the Mountains- Madrid's Longboard Girls Crew

[knackblog-blog]

Prepping for our first offline store at this Saturday's Pop Shop Market in Fairfield, CT!

[knackblog-blog]

You can't reread a telephone call.

Liz Carpenter

[knackblog-blog]

Knack Artist of the Month- Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle is an all-time favorite, like all Artist of the Month club members here at Knack. Her work is primarily performance art, with photography as evidence. Most of her projects involve self-constraints. For example, she once found an address book on the streets of Paris and called or wrote everyone in it and asked for details about the owner's life, with the vow that she would not ask directly who the man was. These facts, like famed detective Sherlock Holmes' stories, were printed weekly in a Parisian paper. Once the owner of the book recognized himself (and was subsequently freaked out and threatened to sue), Calle vowed to never re-publish the details of his life until after his death. That time has come, and evidence of this piece can be read in the newly published Address Book.

1. Check out the breadth of Calle's work with her own explanations beside them in Did You See Me?

2. In The Hotel Room, Calle got a job as a hotel maid and observed tourists lives; much can be learned about people just by what they deem necessary to bring with them on holiday.

3. Of Suite Venitienne Calle has said, "For months I followed strangers on the street. For the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me." One day, she met one of the men she had followed, and he mentioned that weekend he was to visit Venice. Calle, you guessed it, followed this man on his trip. The work was documented in photos alongside diary excerpts from her travels.

[theglasschild]

The hero’s journey always begins with the call. One way or another, a guide must come to say, ‘Look, you’re in Sleepy Land. Wake. Come on a trip. There is a whole aspect of your consciousness, your being, that’s not been touched. So you’re at home here? Well, there’s not enough of you there.’ And so it starts.

Joseph Campbell (via theglasschild)

[knackblog-blog]

Mood board for our newest Knack Guide: Summer Turbans! Check out the how-to video in our previous post!

[knackblog-blog]

It's been warming up here in New England, and I had my first beach venture of the season this weekend! It was warm, sunny,....windy. I was instantly reminded of the wind-in-hair dilemma. And then it hit me, a Summer Turban was all I needed! Take a nod from Bianca Jagger and Grace Kelly who often sported the look, and are great reminders of the versatility of it (Studio 54 vs. Princess of Monaco).

Watch our first ever Knack video for a quick guide to the summer turban!