Inez + Vinoodh's Art and Commerce editorial for Oct. '09's W Magazine

[brilliant.]

Soooooo.... okay. We're having a trial separation with Blogger, but have been breathlessly posting our hearts away on our tumblr - but we HAD to post this amazing editorial shot by the incredible Dutch duo Inez va Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. *allllll of it.

These pairings are so so so smart.

*And we LOVE Freja and Raquel!

[*yli]

Photo Source: W Magazine

Slideshow created by *yli factory

Music: "Black Flowers" Yo La Tengo

Faces/Recent Works Aimé Mpané

Our first introduction to Aimé Mpané was about 2 years ago. We'd seen his first US show "Bach to Congo" at Skoto Gallery back in '07 and were completely and irreversibly affected by his work. One piece in particular, a woodcut print 

*this one

from his "Woodpecker Series" left us so brokenhearted we flaked on our plans the rest of that day and spent the night researching organizations that help the children of the Congo *conflict.

*it's not a "conflict." We only use the term Congo conflict because it is google searchable and we're providing a link to an organization dedicated to helping these kids. Fundamentally, this is a war and these children need as much help as they can get.

So, we'd been looking forward to seeing more from him for quite some time and we were more than ready to return to Skoto - we'd only been there twice before coming to see "Faces", once being to see Mpané's "Bach to Congo" and once before that for Obiora Udechuwu's  solo show (where we were honoured to have meet Chinua Achebe *!!!!!!!!) so Skoto has a very special place in our hearts. Each time we've gone, we've left feeling deeply touched and re-connected.

"Faces" was haunting. Haunting. 

The matchstick installations were again incredible. The series that kept our breath in particular, was the "Face" series in which he's used an adze to mine the faces of children out of wood panels - some are chipped gently into the wood and painted with detail, some so savagely hacked that there was no face left to paint. Some sad, some tragic, some serene, all powerful.  The show will be up until the 21st, it is not. to. be. missed.

Skoto Gallery:

529 West 20th Street

5th floor

212.352.8079

[*yli]

Photo Source: skotogallery.com

"Untitled I, 2008"

Aimé Mpané 2008

mixed media on wood panel, 32cmx78cm

"Weird Beauty: Fashion Photography Now"

This took us back to our gradeschool days when we used to fill photo albums with collages of pretty things from fashion mags (we'd go to town on a Haprper's Bazaar, but NEVER cut up a Vogue ::wink::)

The ICP is currently running a series of four exhibitions celebrating 2009 as the ::swoon:: "Year of Fashion" and is up until the 3rd of May.

*oh ICP, you couldn't have made us happier if you tried.

Of the four exhibitions, undeniably the man event is "Weird Beauty."

Essentially a montage of tear sheets from the last two years of significant fashion photography, the most notable of course being from European mags like Numero, Doingbird, and French and italian Vogues. The US standouts being W and V magazines - go figure ;-) A collection of about 40 or so distinguished fashion photogs vandalising beauty's status quo. Knight, Lagerfeld, Klein, diCorcia, oh my! 

*naturally, we were in heaven.

[ *yli ]

Photo Source: icp.org

"Spot the Fake" by Miles Aldridge

copyright Miles Aldridge 2006