Houses are Home

Since I brought them back to The Cool House, I've tried Nadine Bouler's House paintings in various locations: the great room, the dining room, the kitchen and my office; in the end I decided they looked best right up front in the foyer. So I moved Will Klemm's Radiant to the great room where the orange and gold pear fits right in with the new rug and placed House in Flight in its place. It looks at home here, the dimensions of the piece fill the wall space better, the colors compliment the architecture.


Then I grouped the other three pieces on the opposite wall. Now visitors to The Cool House can view the work up close and get a preview of the back yard exterior without venturing outside. Perfect... at least I think so - let's see if Nadine approves!

House Art

We are celebrating 2010 with some new art. The Homes for the Holidays show at Ripe Art Gallery finished so these two pieces, House in Flight and Anthill we had purchased by artist and author Nadine Bouler came home to The Cool House just before the work week started.



And with them these two images of The Cool House. I asked Nadine to paint one, and got a bonus picture full of surreal imagery to display with it.

At the moment they are leaning gracefully against the walls in the great room and the dining room but hopefully Nadine will stop by in a week or so and we can decide on a permanent place to display all four as a group. They are very detailed works and the two Cool House paintings are full of wit and symbolism specifically about the house, The Guy and me - they need to be viewed close up. But even in their less than ideal locations you can see what drew me to Nadine's work. Click to embiggen and enjoy!

Demo: The dressing room

The thing about doing the demo yourself is you get to marvel over the little renovation discoveries; insights into other peoples' lives. For instance, had we engaged a crew to knock out the master suite I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have yelled "Come see what was behind the mirrors!"


And we would have missed the saffron flock wallpaper that had once complimented the yellow shag carpet and gold cultured marble bathtub and sinks.


The splendour of the '70s replaced by sterile '90s white on white fixtures and floor to ceiling mirrors, soon to be finished in uniquely modern style circa 2010.

Tails 'n' Fur

Three images from a morning at MoMA.


Appropriate for this time of year, Tim Burton's Deer Topiary from Edward Scissorhands, part of the Tim Burton retrospective that runs through April 26, 2010. Look at Rudolph's rear, it's almost wagging.


Merrit Oppenheim's sensual Object, a fur cup, saucer and spoon from The Erotic Object: Surrealist Sculpture from the Collection. Until January 4, 2010.


Mobile Matrix (2006) the breathtakingly beautiful reassembled sculpture of a whale skeleton, part of the Gabriel Orozco exhibition that runs though March 1, 2010.

Images of The Cool House

When Nadine Bouler popped in to The Cool House a month or so back to drop off an invite to her Homes for the Holidays show I was so taken by the image on the invite I asked her if she would consider painting a portrait of my house. Things evolved and soon the Cool House portrait doubled down into two analogous images.


Here are a couple of shots of the house taken from angles Nadine thought would inspire her



Now pop over to Nadine's site Bouler Architecture to see her artistic interpretation of The Cool House and our lives in symbolic detail!

Window Shopping (Weekend Edition)

Brussels: Rue Blaes, Roberto Barr Papier Mache sculptures


Brussels: Sablon, Anne-Claire Petit knitted toys

Bonus: The artist at work in his atelier - Roberto Barr, 41 rue Blaes, Brussels

Ripe Art

Big art, small art, insects and of course, houses at Nadine Bouler's show, part of the current exhibition at Ripe Art Gallery.


Part of the House series - just prior to the red stickers going up.


House in Flight


Some of the Big Girls


The Alphahouse series


Despite the appalling weather the room was packed: The Loyal Blog Reader, the Artist, The Guy and the Awesome Designer in front of some of the House series of paintings


the Gallery owner and artist, Cherie Via met up with some old friends.


It's an awesome collection; besides Nadine's beautiful and haunting work, Triple Deuce Jewels was showing some rocking silver jewelry; there were ceramics and felted scarves and some fetching blue and pink Pet Semen globes that invited closer inspection. In fact I'm going to go back mid-week for a second viewing. The show runs from today until the end of December. Unfortunately after today you might not see Nadine's fabulous vintage dress but you should go anyway:
Ripe Art Gallery
67 Broadway
Greenlawn, NY 11740-1302
(631) 239-1805

Getty Museum

With all the reupholstery/renovation/yard/maintenance drama that's been happening on the home front I completely forgot to post some of the photos from LA where we ended up after our trip to Palm Springs. So, with minimal commentary, this is what we packed into 4 hours one afternoon...


The breathtaking architecture that is the Richard Meier designed Getty Center


The juxtaposition of rough and smooth surfaces


The Robert Irwin designed Central Garden at The Getty Museum - a growing maze in a water-filled arena. Stunning!


More hard/soft shapes and textures


Feeding my Magritte obsession


The plaza at the end of the day.
That's just the exterior, the Getty collection is just as stunning - as anyone who saw last week's Project Runway 6 will attest to. More from California tomorrow.

Homes for the Holidays

I couldn't leave the whiney, moaning post up front any longer - on to brighter, more positive topics. The wonderfully creative author and painter Nadine Bouler of Bouler Design Group dropped in to The Cool House yesterday bringing an invitation to the opening of her latest show Homes for the Holidays at The Ripe Gallery on December 5th.


Her last show explored houses as emotions and the new works are also house-themed. The paintings are intricate, atmospheric, whimsical in a good way, with just a hint of danger. Almost as soon as I saw the butterfly landing the aqua villa I said "I should ask you to paint this house", and as simply as that a project was born. I can't wait to see what Nadine has in mind for this house - which angle she'll choose to portray, if it will be a night painting and which animal or insect will find it's way into the frame. Whatever she decides I know we'll be able to see in it far more than just a house... which is, perhaps, just a little disconcerting.

Indoor Art (Cleveland)

Modernist art glass


Flying Phish Rock 'n' Roll Hot Dog from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Guess Where I Was: Part II

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art


Shuttlecocks


Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art


Louise Bourgeois Spider


Kansas City kicked my butt, culturally and culinary-wise.


Martini with olive and a twist


Jack Stack Barbecue smokey BBQ ribs


Pulled Pork and Hominy Pizzole with Carrot and Cauliflower Salad and a Sandwich at Café Sebastienne at the Kemper Museum



Inside-Out Burger at Blanc Burgers and Bottles

A Day at the Museum

We're doing touristy things this week, like hanging out with this guy at The American Museum of Natural History


exploring Indonesia at the Margaret Mead exhibition


and of course, meeting "Dim Dum"
Off to New England for a few days of lobstah and sundownahs so posting will be light non-existant. Byeeee

Objets d'Art et du Désir

Some objects just speak to me:

Terracotta Head

Yes!

Deco Meditating Buddah Sculpture

Definitely.

Pair of Metal Heads by Franz Hagenauer

Maybe.

European Skull Candlestick

No!

Doorstop Gnome with Keys

Oh, please...

Rare Pearl Panda

Now you're just toying with me, aren't you?.
Obviously your style and taste may vary! All collectible objects, desirable or not, and many others available on the Vintage and Modern website.