Food and Feet

Below is a post I wrote in 20057 on conceptual art. Besides the warranted art critic of all conceptual art (I do say that they should call it something other than art for it to have any redemption) I find this particular one creepy. What young child would really like wading in food? It seems the whole experience is for the adults who drag their children along as a pretext.


Blue
Installation
Blue gelatin;
Part of the exhibition Wade I, Toronto, 2005




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Conceptual Art: An arrogant snub
Art and Design Blog
Kidist Paulos Asrat
April 23, 2007

Conceptual Art is art where the idea matters more than the actual piece of work. The artist doesn't require any skill in the traditions of drawing, painting or sculpting, and rearranges objects to fit a concept - or an idea.

My whole critique of conceptual art would be too long for a blog posting. Suffice to say that it irritates me endlessly. Although I "get" it each and every time, I can never make art (or design) with such criteria, because really, my mind doesn't work that way. I feel that I would be cheating myself, and whomever sees my humble efforts, by using mental jig-saw puzzles to put my artistic projects across.

I also find contemporary conceptual artists to be cold and indifferent to the public despite the inordinate amount of time they spend to come up with "public art". This is very clear to me with a contemporary "artist" Gwen MacGregor, who recently used giant jello cubes to fill up a public space - a fountain, in this case.

There is something creepy about wading through jello cubes, of the very type that you might eat as dessert one of these days. I'm quite sure that the young children walked through it with trepidation, and it is only the adults who were gleefully amused.


http://www.wadetoronto.com/

The shortcoming is of course that MacGregor can never design a real fountain, either as a two-dimensional painting or drawing, or as an architectural piece. So, her "concept" becomes the art of the gimmick. And an arrogant snub.

The Marchesa and the Macho

Below is an article I wrote in 2013 on Georgina Chapman, the fashion designer behind the Marchesa label. She is married to Harvey Weinstein, but not for long.

Here is a post I wrote on her perfume, Marchesa's D'Extase.

Weinstein was cavorting around with Hollywood women and WHY!! with such a beautiful wife? I always wondered why she married him, the corpulent and crass "media mogul." She has her own millions, and talent too. She started Marchesa in 2004 and married Weinstein in 2007, although he may have pulled some Hollywood strings to get it started. Still designers come and go and Marchesa is now a big name. I guess it must be his machoness. "He's incredibly charming and so charismatic, it sort of draws you in," she says in an interview.

And why is he doing this? Well the truth is that his wife is successful, independently rich, and powerful in her field (Hollywood fashion). So that doesn't give him much to do as a husband. I already noted her modern-feminist-who-wants-it-all attitude in the article linked to above, where I comment on a video publicity of her perfume:

The ad...has one of the women rambling on about the perfume making a woman feel powerful, special, intoxicating, beautiful, sensual, confident, strong, ethereal. Is there any adjective missing for this woman who wants it all?

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A Blush of Rose
June 23, 2013
Reclaiming Beauty


Perfume bottle for D'Extase
I have photoshopped the image to give the bottle a rose hue.
Otherwise, it looks a bland colorless crystal.

It's time I posted on a perfume.

Marchesa has a perfume out. It is their first one. About time!

I went to Sephora's to look around for what's new, and I found D'Extase sitting on the shelf. I had seen it before, had smelt it, and wasn't overly impressed by it. I decided to give it another try.

The salesgirl was pleasant. She said she's "In love with the perfume." I'm now used to the word "love" being thrown around for all kinds of things: "I loved the movie!" "I love how you do your hair!" "I love [fill in the actress/celebrity of the month here]!"

"I'm in love with [fill in some fashion item like a dress, shoes, lipstick, nail polish color, perfume]!"

I simply went off and sprayed the perfume on those sample strips of paper they have provided for us. Again, nothing impressive.

I went to the Sephora data base, and looked it up.

These are the notes for D'Extase:

Iris Flower, Freesia, Black Current, Young Violet Leaves, Lotus Flower, Night Blooming Jasmine, Bulgarian Rose Water, Orange Blossom, Iris Root, Ambrox, Captive Musks.

Rose water, jasmine and musk? These are my favorite ("I LOVE jasmine and rose together!").

Then I thought I should give it some time to settle and for the notes to combine together.

Sure enough, after about five minutes, it became something very different. After about fifteen, it had reached its peak and stayed that way for several hours.

The scent is floral, but not insipid. Musky, but not overwhelming. Slightly sweet from the jasmine but not clingy.

These Marchesa ladies are smart.

I asked the salesgirl to give me a sample. At $72 for 30ml, it will not be a purchase I will make any time soon, but I will keep the scent alive with the tiny (5ml) sample I have.

The perfumer (the nose, in perfume technical language) is Annie Buzantian, who has created a long list of perfumes with well-known designers.

I wonder if she chose perfume composition because of her long nose?


Annie Buzantian

The designer of the bottle is Malin Ericson, who appears to work for Calvin Klein and Nina Ricci. The bottle isn't that special. They could have added a blush of pink to it, or lavender, and designed the crystals around that. Here is the beautiful bottle for Violet Eyes by the aesthete Elizabeth Taylor:


Violet Eyes
by Elizabeth Taylor

I've reviewed Violet Eyes here. It has that combination of rose and violet. The cedar gives it a lighter quality, which while musk would have made it too heavy. Elizabeth Taylor's choices
are perfect.


The beautiful Georgina Chapman, of Marchesa,
with her multi-millionaire husband film mogul Harvey Weinstein
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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Happy Thanksgiving!

(Photo taken about a week ago.)
[Photo By: KPA]

I won't go into ANY of the controversies:
- "Today is Columbus Day"
- "Columbus didn't discover America"
- "'Native Canadians do not accept this holiday because..."

(Well, I just did skim through them.)

So let's simply give thanks for the harvest, which is what Thanksgiving is all about.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Fierce New Governor General

I introduce to you Julie Payette, the new Governor General of Canada.



Payette stands by the throne as she was sworn in at the ceremony held on Parliament Hill this morning.

Our new GG has a fierce sense of fashion. It seems everything she chooses is fierce, just like her career in astronomy, and her flight out to space, albeit as the "the second Canadian woman to have flown in space."

Here she stands at the throne in Parliament Hill at her swearing in, proud and happy, almost looking angelic with her crinkly hair floating across her shoulders. And still, we dare not call her "une" astronaute.

First day of October

[Photo By: KPA]

Along Lake Ontario, the monarch butterflies are getting ready to leave. It's time for Fall!

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Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.