New photos were just sent to me by the team behind Rebecca Louise Law’s latest flower installation. I told you about this upside down garden a few days ago, when I showed you pictures by “first-to-the-scene” Instagrammers. Visit the Chandran Gallery to see this impressive work, called The Beauty of Decay, a site-specific installation of 8,000 flowers that gradually change and preserve throughout the duration of the exhibition. You can actually walk through it from now till August 4th.
The Beauty of Decay is the first opportunity for visitors in the US to experience her work in a gallery setting. The 8,000 flowers are entwined with copper and descend from 20 foot ceilings. The hovering flowers gradually change over time. They move through the natural stages of decay – wilting, fading and drying. As the press release states, “By taking viewers on this journey of deterioration, Law extends the perceived limitation of the beauty of flowers, and imbues them with artistic value elevating them from merely decorative items.” Just gorgeous!
My heart hurts today. By now you’ve probably heard about the latest terrorist attack, in Nice, France. Another senseless act of violence. When will these stop? It pains me to read about the children who have died or are in critical condition. Out of the 84 killed, 10 were children and adolescents. 28 children are hospitalized. Please stop.
Though I’m at a loss for words on what we can do, at the very least, let’s all pray for Nice.
How the world and artists react to the Nice attack.
Lately, Parker and Logan have been getting along incredibly well. They’ve become like best friends. Sure, they have the occasional fight but they take care of each and look after one another in an endearing way. Though their personalities may differ (Parker’s the sweet one and Logan’s a bit temperamental), they somehow make it work. I took this photo of them yesterday, as they were playing outside.
Ahead of their show at StolenSpace gallery, street artist duo Jana and JS recently put up three new street art pieces in London. I particularly love one of them, it’s of a woman holding a person (possibly a child) in her arms. It’s a beautiful reminder that love is all around us.
You can see more of their works at StolenSpace from now till July 31st. The exhibition is called Inner World and it features works on wood and recycled materials. Jana and JS have a unique look, they make pieces exclusively based on their own photos, creating beautiful stencils out of them.
Their pieces at StolenSpace are about relationships. As they say, “Since we first met and since we started to live and work together, sharing our deepest feelings has always been an essential aspect in building our artistic identity, and those emotions are always a great inspiration. It is the reason why we explore the representation of different relationships, and particularly the image of ‘the couple’. The evolution of our life together and the births of our son and our daughter made us more and more express interest in different kind of relationships.”
Friend and photographer Trey Ratcliff recently shared news of a Kickstarter project on his Facebook page. Peak Design is a company based in San Francisco that makes bags. Of course, these just aren’t any bags. They’re bags that are versatile, durable, and beautiful. Though their four new styles start with the name “Everyday” they’re more than just ordinary. After watching the video you’ll be impressed by how much thought goes into every detail of their bags. (I sat mesmerized throughout the whole video.)
At first, I wanted to get the Everyday backpack but after watching the video, I think the tote suits me better. It’s made for the photographer, the mom, and the gym rat in that it can act as a camera bag, a diaper bag, or a gym bag. I’ve been on the lookout for a classic bag that I can carry my camera in along with some diapers but what ultimately sold me was a very small but significant detail, the magnetic closure. I like how the bag can easily open and close.
There’s multiple ways you wear this bag including backpack style, which is great.
In no way am I getting paid to tell you about this bag. I just love to spread the word when I see good, well-designed products. I backed the company this morning. They don’t need me, however, they’re well past their goal of $500,000. Almost 5,300 backers pledged $1.2 million dollars already. (They surpassed $1 million in 24 hours.) And there’s still 57 days to go! Can’t wait for my bag. (I’m getting it in charcoal. Love the classic, red accents.)
Only one caveat is that I’m hoping it can snuggly fit my DSLR. It looks a little small but, fingers crossed, it’ll all work out.
This is Peak Design’s 6th Kickstarter project. Here’s what they promise. “We don’t want to toot our own horn too vigorously (nobody likes an overly vigorous tooter) but we’ve got some great experience under our belts on how to manufacture high-quality goods and fulfill lots of orders for them. We’ve also been blindsided more than once by completely unexpected issues and always dealt with them in a way that leaves every last customer happy with their purchase and proud to support our company.
“In short, we know what we’re doing, and you should be very confident that we will deliver what we say we will, when we say we will. And we solemnly swear that should unforeseen issues come up, we will handle them with the utmost transparency and care for you, our backers.”
You can find more about this product at Kickstarter.
For today’s Photo a Day, I thought I’d go back in time and put together a short compilation post. (I know, I’m cheating a bit.) At what age do you stop kissing your kid on the lips? Sam and I talk about this often. Eight, nine, can I push it to ten? We love giving our kids tons of affection and there’s nothing quite as sweet as being able to kiss them on the lips. Until we have to stop, I’ll keep (secretly) taking these pictures of Sammy smooching Parker and Logan. Full of emotion, these photos just lighten my heart.
Yesterday, my older sister Grace told me to check out the work of photographer Gray Malin. She said he had a “Max Wanger”-type of vibe, clean and crisp images of beaches and ocean waves. I instantly fell in love with his photographs.
A quick search led me to this article at the LA Times. Though it mostly has to do with his home, I came to find out that Malin also sells his fine art photography. (This is a dream of mine.)
“Malin has found the sweet spot between fine art and decorative photography. Today, his direct-to-consumer approach has blossomed into something bigger than a cottage industry, with 10 employees, commissions from designers, hotels and retailers, and a host of fashion and home decor items — including wallpaper, bathing suits and Sperry Top-Sider shoes — all bearing Malin’s colorful images.”
If you’re a fan too, you can buy a print on his website or follow him on Instagram. In his beach photographs, I love how people appear as tiny, colorful dots.
It’s not often that you come across a powerful image such as this. Photographer Jonathan Bachman took this photograph, of Ieshia Evans, at the Baton Rouge protests. The demonstrator stands peacefully in the middle of the road as police officers look as if they’re rushing towards her.
Time magazine hunted down Bachman to ask him about the shot. “I had gone to bed and when I woke up and went right back to Baton Rouge,” he says. Not even when the BBC sent him an email with questions did he understand that his photograph was going viral. Then, his father called. “He said, ‘John, your photo is all over the Internet.’”
“I knew it was a representation of what was happening in Baton Rouge at that moment,” he said. “But I really, honestly, never thought it was going to be something like this. I had no idea I would be talking to everyone these past few days.”
The freelance photographer humbly gives the protester all the credit saying, “People have been trying to talk about me, but really it’s that woman that made the photo.”
I caught this photo of Sammy sleeping with Parker to his side and with Fozzie over Parker’s head. I love peaceful moments like this. In fact, I didn’t want to wake them up.
While artist Carole A. Feuerman is known for her hyperrealist sculptures, she’s also the creator of a brand new series of bronze works inspired by dancers. You can view them and more from July 14 to August 20 at KM Fine Arts. This will be the first time Feuerman has had a solo exhibition in Los Angeles. Must go!
Hello, I’m Alice Yoo! I’m founder and CEO of Skylar Yoo, a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering women to be bold. We sell apparel, art prints and accessories to the modern feminist.
In my former life, I was editor-in-chief of the art and culture blog My Modern Met, which I founded back in 2007. I curated and wrote about art, design and photography for more than seven years. (In fact, I published over 7,000 articles which were seen by millions of people worldwide.) I’m also co-author of a book called For Love: 25 Heartwarming Celebrations of Humanity, which is on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
I live in southern California along with my husband and my two toddler boys.
This blog is about what I love, the tough experiences that I’ve learned from, and my journey as a second time entrepreneur. Right now, I’m in the midst of a 365 day challenge, to read one book a day. If you share my passions or want to learn some cool new facts, come along for the ride. I hope to inspire, educate and entertain you!
