Kerry Tribe’s pieces tend to be sort of like a bunch of really enthralling academic essay about rad, obscure historical figures. She’s both a story teller and a disseminator of a ton of meticulously researched information, but instead of reading these essays, the audience experiences them, generally via video, sound, and installation. This feeling carried over into her latest performance, Critical Mass, a live restaging of Hollis Frampton’s 1971 film of the same name, at The Hammer on April 7.
Frampton expanded a few minutes of footage into a 25 minute film via sound and video editing. Kerry Tribe used actors with commendable memorization skills to perfectly reenact the audio, along with the expected motions of a couple’s fight that will never be won by either side. Though this seems like it might be incredibly frustrating to watch, certain repetitions seem to emphasize the actors’ points, while others repeat the ridiculousness of this fight (both the fight itself and the phrases that date the original piece - “far out” and “hippie colony” were two stand outs). Pretty much everyone in the audience cracked up at least once. In fact, the few points at which the fight is allowed to continue uninterrupted by the editor’s hand, while they give the audience more information as to what is potentially going on, were sort of, well, boring; the stutters and repetition actually added a certain amount of raw emotion and frustration that feels very real in the situation being staged.
…Sound like something you’re bummed to have missed? Well, you’re in luck! Tribe will be restaging her restaging at LA>
For those of you who are not familiar with this London based designer, Here is a quick and easy guide.
We were first introduced to Peter Jensen during his New York Fashion Week showcase and have been hooked ever since. Peter Jensen is signature for his whimsical, eccentric designs and he is not afraid to use bold color to enhance his minimalist aesthetic (see colorblock leather satchels below).
From Spring/Summer 2011
Upper: Blue Front Angela Bag featured with hand-dyed Upsate scarf
Below: Red Front Angela Bag featured alongside TenOverSix Kat Pump in Lipstick Red
There is equally one part modern and one part fairytale fantasy that is consistent in this update of the Angela Bag. I couldn’t help but think of a little train set I used to play with or the color story of Alice in Wonderland (somehow this reference is always sneaking its way into our shop, and it’s also possible that a soy latte appears every time I use it).
Now for fall 2011, the designer is moving in another direction. With a beautiful look book shot by famed photographer Autumn de Wilde and stylist Shirley Kurata, we are taken on a journey with a backpack full of neutral tones, neon accents, and a a copy of Jean-Luc Godard’s, “Une Femme est Une Femme.”
The muse for this new collection is undoubtedly Danish actress, Anna Karina (below).
With the beatnik inspiration of Anna Karina’s character and the backdrop of Los Angeles, Peter Jensen’s fall collection weaves both romance and feminine and paints them on a masculine canvas composed of tweed, corduroy, and printed crepe de chine.
Check out our Spring 2011 collaboration shoes, as featured in this month’s InStyle, hitting stores Feb.- will be available through TenOverSix, Opening Ceremony, Steven Alan & Saks.com.
Louise Bourgeois is best known for her sculpture, particularly the large, spider structures based on her mother. She was a woman in her 70s, 80s and 90s still working out her mommy and (mostly) daddy issues, and this raw, confused emotion showed in everything from her titles to the details of her installations. These works were balanced out by her more sexual pieces, oftentimes depicting blatant sexual acts and sexual organs (both singularly and en masse). There is also, of course, the famous photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe of Bourgeois in a fur coat laughing while holding a sculpture of a very large penis.
It is with a similar frailty and humor that she created engravings for He Disappeared into Complete Silence, which is not actually on view anywhere at the moment but I just purchased and am SO pumped on. Each simple, geometric image comes with a short story or description, such as “Once a man was telling a story, it was a very good story too, and it made him very happy, but he told it so fast that nobody understood it.” Originally created in 1947, the beautiful, simplistic delivery of irony and loneliness still makes for a chuckle and singular tear.
