Apologies. A disruption from the normal tasteful and discreet service Bourdoir Boudoir provides.
“First of May” by Jonathan Coulton
It’s the 1st of May, c’mon you know you want to.
Buy or say thank you to Mr Coulton at www.jonathancoulton.com
Shorter – a short stories iPhone app
I tried to take Will Ashon’s portrait. Somehow things got mixed up and it ended as an iPhone…
"Aesthetics is for the artist as ornithology is for the birds."
Barnett Newman
(Source: barnettnewman.org)
“Bifocal”
Julian Baker
London, March 2013
From the “In conversation with three women” triptych
(Source: julianbaker.com)
‘In conversation with three women’
Julian Baker
A triptych comprising ‘Male Pattern Blindness’ London, November 2010 / ‘Eye Contact’ London, February 2013 / ‘Bifocal’ London, March 2013
(Source: julianbaker.com)
Anna Maltz
Artist, knitter, activist
I discovered the work of Anna Maltz happening upon an apparent portrait of a family wearing what can only be described as knitted nude suits. The little girl examining her father’s woollen penis. The image was posted uncredited on an internet notice board accompanied by a litany of incredulous comments.
It had to have been the work of an artist - a simple and wonderfully executed concept that throws open all the moral and social contradictions in public displays of nudity. I would see it pop up again in unexpected places, each time eliciting a search to find the creator.
When Sasha Baron Cohen premiered “Bruno” in Berlin wearing a similar outfit a year later I made a concerted effort to find the artist, to express my admiration and congratulate her on finding mainstream exposure. Emailing Anna I learnt the Bruno costumes were not by her.
Artists frequently have their ideas purloined by advertising, take Gillian Wearing’s “Signs that say what you want them to say” and the Volkswagen advert by BMP DDB. In a “creative” industry not crediting a concept is ironic as well as unjust.
It’s probable Baron Cohen was unaware of her work but I would be surprised if no-one in his team had not seen the image, given the similarity in the versions. Five years had passed since Anna exhibited her suits and the emergence of the ones to promote Bruno. It seemed a shame to me that the latecomer and conceptually less brilliant version may become the one posterity remembers. So I thought a formal portrait of Anna in her creation would be in order. I must admit that I may also have had a sneaky desire to try one one for myself.
(Although we corresponded it took a while for the portrait to happen, since, for a while, Anna thought I was asking her to pose nude. A lesson learnt and now I state clearly when propositioning artists and authors that I’m expecting them to keep their clothes on.)
“Shorter” the iPhone and iPad app I cobbled together to house Will Ashon’s fabulous – and fabulously short – stories is now available from the App Store here
I can safely say I never thought I’d be posting an advert. Whilst the advertising industry has pointed out that the plug-in didn’t have a huge up take, perhaps they are missing the point. That the target isn’t the creatives that distort our bodies in order to sell us product, it’s us. To remind us that advertising misleads, not just in it’s promises but in it’s very fabric – and that we shouldn’t feel we’re not up to par because they are liars.Small, quick and smart idea.
Dove: Thought Before Action (by Ogilvy Toronto)
"To be naked is to be oneself.
To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself."
― John Berger, Ways of Seeing
"You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting “Vanity,” thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for you own pleasure."
John Berger Ways of Seeing
(via dowhatyourbodywants)(Source: homeless-dad, via dowhatyourbodywants)
Nicholas Royle’s “First Novel” – which isn’t
First Novel by Nicolas Royle | Nicholas Royle portrait by Julian Baker
I received a copy of…
