A Single Man, the first film by Tom Ford, is one not to be missed.
Tom Ford’s spectacular first major film, A Single Man, was just released onto DVD this week. You can watch the trailer below. The film, which stars Colin Forth and Julianne Moore, won at last year’s Venice Film Festival and was met with much praise upon its release last year. The film itself, as most critics note, is a visual masterpiece, almost looking like an hour and a half fashion show. The story and acting also do not disappoint, as Firth delivers one of the best performances of the year. Not to mention, the world in which his character lives is one of design glory.
Speaking of the UK and America/July 4th, as we were in those last couple of posts, the Guardian‘s art critic Jonathan Jones took a somewhat bizarre turn yesterday with his short piece, “Why Middlebrow Americana Will Always Beat ‘Good’ British Art.” He uses a visit to see an exhibition of paintings by the Wyeth family (including those by its most famous member, Andrew), which Jones finds as “populist hokum that appeals to boardroom philistines” as a launching point to say that no matter how bland he might find all this sort of work to be, it still trumps most of what the British have done. It’s a strange read and as several of the comments point out, Jones might be suffering from a particularly virulent strain of the “grass is always greener” syndrome. Still, after a long Independence weekend filled with fireworks and repeated listens to Lee Greenwood for most of that time, we’re still pumped and this now gives us a chance to keep wearing our giant “America is #1” foam hand. Here’s Jones’ big closer:
What it comes down to is, I like America. It amazes me, and its visual culture is endlessly creative. In fact it’s not merely that bad American art is more fun than bad British art; it is also better than a lot of “good” British art. There’s a drabness to a lot of respectable British culture that American artists just are not capable of. Their landscape, natural and synthetic, is too extraordinary ever to disappoint.
NYC-based Snoozer Loser founder Sonia Tay doesn’t pretend that her clothing line is 100% sustainable (which she deems “nearly impossible”), but she keeps it real by doing her best to take an eco-conscious approach to fashion, using organic cotton, peace silk, and incorporating vintage trims and fabrics. The result is a collection of dreamy, comfortable items that are effortlessly cool (nothing to “snooze” at!), from flirty crochet-trimmed tanks to breezy cotton dresses, perfect for a humid NYC summer. Developed from an artists’ collective in 2005, Tay’s creative background shows in every artfully dyed trim and embroidered detail. Aside from their boho-inspired frocks, the label also makes funky jewelry to accessorize with, like their earthy yet pretty amethyst and pyrite pendants. To see more of Snoozer Loser’s latest collection, take a peek at the slideshow!
A multiplatform media powerhouse for contemporary South African culture
In 2005, Giuseppe Russo started One Small Seed in his adopted hometown of Cape Town, South Africa. Russo’s own story—after just a couple of months spent visiting the country, he felt the urge to create a cultural mouthpiece—embodies the concept.
Since planting his own small seed in Cape Town with a single quarterly title, the publisher has grown exponentially. In the course of five years, he’s added a social network, television platform, and a number of online magazines (all showcasing South African pop culture) to his media enterprise.
The original print version is your usual glossy brew, featuring stories–from fashion designers and music to artists to architecture—all hailing primarily from South Africa. Not long after the magazine started, Russo expanded to video, introducing stylized short format documentaries under the banner Onesmallseed.tv.
Ultimately, with the addition of a social network, Russo’s vision for a brand that people believe in came to fruition. Onesmallseed.net allows South Africans to create profiles with online portfolios, and from that came two more publications–Picture This (photography culled entirely from Onesmallseed.net), and a new digital magazine, Selected Creatives.
Looking through Onesmallseed.net, the 10 digital issues of Picture This, and Selected Creatives (also compiled from the social network), it’s overwhelming to take in the amount of creative talent that Russo has amassed around One Small Seed. We recommend taking a look, and if you like, enter the cover design competition for the 20th issue of the magazine (soon to be distributed worldwide).
London firm Brisac Gonzalez in collaboration with Oslo studio Space Group, have won joint first place in a competition to design an opera and cultural centre in Kristiansund, Norway. (more…)
Le studio de design londonien Campaign a eu l’ingénieuse idée de proposer une librairie entièrement faite comme un pop up book. Créée à l’occasion du festival d’architecture de la capitale anglaise, cette installation temporaire permet de mettre en avant les livres d’art.
The Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase at the Cannes Lions festival had an unusual presenter this year… Paul Arden. The legendary creative, who died in 2008, appeared as a spookily realistic 3D hologram. CR finds out how it was done…
While in previous years the Saatchi & Saatchi showcase has had dramatic, gala openings, this year’s one started off deceptively simple. Richard Myers took to the stage to introduce the event, noting that it was 20 years since the first S&S Directors’ Showcase took place, and that it had been Arden that had presented it back in 1990. As can be seen in the film above, Myers then welcomed Arden to join him on stage.
The Arden hologram was created by Square Zero production company in London, who conjured him up via a “combination of footage, a specially shot body double, a specially recorded voice double, facial motion capture with additional lip-synch and also CGI modelling on some of the features,” according to director Najma Bhatti.
“We felt it was important to use at least some footage, so that it really was Paul Arden and not a body double or a complete CGI model,” Bhatti continues. “The upper part of the face is from real footage which underwent quite a number of processes before we could use it in the final piece. It was taken from an interview where the camera moved around quite fast and Paul moved backwards and forwards whilst speaking, so all the footage had to be stabillised considerably. Also, as there was so little material, we had to keep re-using it in order to create the duration we needed for his speech.”
Instead of using real recordings of Arden’s voice in the piece, Square Zero used them simply as reference material for a voice artist. “We studied Paul’s interviews at length in order to direct the voice artist to emulate his voice as closely as possible and also add in all the signature pauses and hesitations that were characteristic of his speech,” explains Bhatti. “The voice casting was quite tough and we tried out Steven Berkoff and Paul’s son Christian before going with Peter Temple, who did an amazing job.” Despite all the high-tech wizardry involved in the creating the hologram, Square Zero used an old-fashioned technique, Pepper’s Ghost, to project the Arden hologram into the theatre.
After opening the event, the Arden hologram returned at the close to sign off, before disappearing in a puff of smoke and dropping the microphone. The whole effect was quite uncanny, with the audience not really sure whether to cheer or sit in reverential silence. The Arden family gave their permission at the start of the process, but were then largely uninvolved in the making of the hologram. Bhatti understandably therefore describes the first showing to the family as “unnerving”. However, their reaction was positive. “After we had finished the piece, Toni, Paul’s wife asked to see it in our demo space before it went out in Cannes,” she explains. “So we conducted a rather nerveracking viewing with Toni, their son, grandchildren and two of Paul’s best friends. We were told by his family that ‘Paul would have loved it’, which was really the biggest compliment of all.”
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Royal College of Art graduate Ian McIntyre presented his range of tableware at the graduate show last month, including these cups intended for Chai tea. (more…)
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