More Murakami @ The Brooklyn Museum

A few more images of the Takashi Murakami show at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. I have no immediate plans to go to NYC, as I am all the way down in Florida now, but was I still living in Boston I'd hop on an Amtrack and be there for sure.

Via The New York Times

Murakami & Louis Vuiiton @ Brooklyn Museum

Eva Herzigova and Marc Jacobs by a stall of Louis Vuitton bags outside fake street displays at the Brooklyn Museum during the gala opening of the Takashi Murakami retrospective.

Takashi Murakami's authentic Louis Vuitton bags outside on street displays at the Brooklyn Museum. The artist himself, below.

Via The New York Times

Kool Man Ice Cream Truck

I took these pictures in New York last year and kind of forgot about them. I was doing some computer clean up this morning when I came across them and decided to post them at once as I am a sucker for a cute mascot. I love this funny looking walrus wearing a Dr. Seuss striped scarf and black bowler hat, looking kind of dazed and confused.

Madonna, Lourdes & Dita @ Gucci

Madonna was the hostess to a celebrity-studded event in New York City on the lawns of the United Nations to aid Malawi orphans, UNICEF and to inaugurate a new Gucci store. Madonna brought daughter Lourdes in tow, looking very grown up for her 11 years of age. Time flies as it seems like yesterday when Lourdes was just a little tyke. Madge is looking a little weird on the face, like she got implants or something, not that I want to add to plastic surgeries speculations...

A staggering £300,000 was paid for four VIP tickets to a Madonna concert, which were part of a package that included business class flights, two nights in the Ritz-Carlton and a private dance aerobics class with Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. It was one of seven lots on auction at Raising Malawi and Unicef, one of the biggest charity events in New York which took organiser Gucci a year to plan. Later, a mystery Japanese businesswoman bought the Madonna tickets. Businessman Arpad Busson bid £30,000 for Gucci fashion show tickets and the chance to have a bag named after him. Lourdes narrowly missed out on tickets to American Idol and first-edition Harry Potter books, which eventually went for £47,000. Salma Hayek outbid American Vogue editor Anna Wintour to pay £175,000 for a private hour playing football with David Beckham. Madonna, wearing a sexy Gucci jersey dress, told the crowd:

"I've earned a reputation for many things: pushing the envelope, for being a provocateur, for never taking no for an answer. For endlessly reinventing myself, for being a cult member, a kidnapper. For being ambitious, outrageous and irreverent. And for never settling for second best."

Also in attendance was Little-Pumpkins favorite Dita Von Teese, looking as fabulous as ever at the Mallawi benefit last night. Leave it to Dita to outshine everyone else...

Via This is London

Let's Destroy New York: Cloverfield / I Am Legend

It was a dreary Sunday here in South Florida yesterday. The whole day was overcast, drizzly and a bit chilly - for Florida standards I mean - light jacket/long sleeve weather. What to do on such an uninspiring gray-sky-ed day-off? I went to a matinee to catch the latest disaster movie to come out here in the US - Cloverfield - produced by J.J. Abbrams, he of the gold touch behind TV's Felicity, Alias and Lost series.

I am not a disaster/action flick kind-of-guy, I might add. I deeply dislike overused special effects, explosions galore and slim plot lines, as in most blockbusters that crowd our movie screens. But there was something about Cloverfield's trailers that really instigated my curiosity and made me want to go watch it. I don't go see movies as often as I should/would like for several reasons (laziness, lack of company, etc) so when I make it to the local mega-plex I want to watch something that will blow my socks off. Cloverfield did not disappoint me, actually I liked it a lot. This is no Godzilla movie, by the way - no goofy Matthew Broderick running around in this one. I don't want to give away too much about the plot line so I will just mention the basics not to spoil it to anyone that might go watch it in the big screen.
The first 20 something minutes of the movie are spent on a going away party being thrown for the main character, who is soon to move to Japan. Big Lower Manhattan New York loft, tons of young hipsters, plenty of small talk, some relationship drama, blah blah blah. The whole party is being filmed on a hand-held cam and it's film will be a parting gift from the hostess to her fiance's brother that is going away. Suddenly a huge loud thump outside, lights go off, earth shakes. They all rush to the roof to witness a huge tanker, that just capsized on the not too distant harbor, explode into a meteor-like rain of flaming debris. As they rush to the streets buildings start to crumble, a New York tourist icon is decapitated and from afar they catch a glimpse of what's causing all this mayhem. And that's what is so cool about Cloverfield (the title refers to the Army's case-name for this occurrence), all you catch are dark glimpses of this "creature(s)" that terrorize the city. What is scary is what you can't see. This shaky-shaky flick is all filmed on the said video cam, a first-person view of the disaster. We see what the main four characters get to see and the effect is simply amazing. It is full of jump cuts, quick editing, blurry dark scenes and all that add to the sense of claustrophobia and panic that they/we experience. Sure there were a couple of "say whats??" during the movie (high heels on the rubble, that 50 plus floor hike) but nothing that really took away from it. I though the film was brilliant and loved it all the way to the (not so typical Hollywood) end.

Now, on the other hand...let's talk about "I Am Legend", that I saw 3 weeks ago but didn't get a chance to "review" here at Little-Pumpkins:

"I Am Legend" is another movie that it's great trailer made me want to rush to the theater to watch it. Just like Cloverfield's, IAL's trailer was all mystery, dark shadows, heavy breathing and despite Will Smith being the hero guy - not a plus for me - it intrigued me a lot.

What a let down this was... I should have listened to my instincts about Will Smith, great actor and all, but not a star that headlines movies that I enjoy watching. Men In Black is an exception, by the way, also a comedy. He is too "Will Smith" for me to really care for his character. Too Hollywood hero, too "I will fight till the end", too full of morals, too American I hate to say it. The problem here is that this movie abused of the special effects and was great all the way to the point where we actually get to clearly see the "creatures". Once again I will try not to spoil the "plot" here but this is a tough one.

We are back in New York City, this time it's in 2012. The city has been evacuated and quarantined after a man-made virus wipes out 90% of the world's population. Smith's character - an Army scientist - is part of the 1% that is immune to the air-borne virus and survived the plague. He must hunt for food and gather supplies during day light, with the aid of his dog Sam, as nightfall brings out what now the infected human population (and animals) have become - extremely aggressive vampire-like beings that are hyper-sensitive to light. Smith must take shelter during that time and is still in hopes of finding an antidote for the virus.

This was a very scary movie and I jumped my seat several times in the first 40 minutes or so (I actually cover my face when it gets scary in movies...). When it's all dark and mysterious, you know the enemy is lurking out there and you can't see where it is or WHAT it is. That is what makes a great scary movie! Now, the moment that you realize that the zombies (oops) are just fake-looking vengeful CGI monsters I lost all interest and respect for this movie.

Nah, didn't believe it at all. Thumbs way down.

Kidnap Madonna For Drug Money

I just went ga-ga over this T-shirt by Mishka I saw online the other day. How can it be more brilliant? Kidnap Madonna For Drug Money! LOVE IT!!
A little background on the label: based out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Mishka is a street wear brand that references any and all things the creators have been inspired by: The underground punk/ hardcore/post-hardcore & skate scene’s of the 80’s, heavy metal & indie rock, horror, comics, B-movies and pop culture in general. In addition, Mishka embraces emerging artists and works closely with them on unique graphic concepts. In Russian, Mishka [pronounced: mee-shka] means “bear cub”. Bear cubs in general are intelligent, independent and gentle, but anger one and it’ll tear your face off! Mikhail Bortnik and Gregory Rivera established the brand in 2003 and gave the word a new meaning by creating what is one of the most coveted underground street wear labels around.

For more Mishka pick your destination: blog , holiday catalog , site



Via Hype BR

David Bailey & Jean Shrimpton, New York 1962

I just came across this lovely art book by British photographer David Bailey called "NY JS DB 62". This cinema-verite style photo shoot was done in early 1962 in New York City when David Bailey, then a novice at British Vogue, was commissioned for a 14-page editorial in the Big Apple for the same publication. At the time fashion shoots were mostly done in studios and followed pretty classic guidelines of sets, poses and aristocratic styling. The minuscule travelling crew consisted of David himself, his then girlfriend supermodel Jean Shrimpton and a nervous & complaining Vogue fashion editor. Make up and hair style were done by Shrimpton herself, Bailey changed his own films, they travelled by cabs and endured freezing temperatures in the days they spent in New York. Unknown to them at the time, they were making fashion history with an innovative and ground-breaking editorial that permanently changed the way fashion photography was meant to look like. Instead of pretty pictures in front of the stone lions of the 42nd Street Library as the editor suggested, Bailey went to Harlem - inspired by his love of Jazz and clubland - and bohemian locations in the Lower East Side. He captured the downbeat energy of a moving city, it's gray streets reminiscing of Bailey's youth growing up in East London. It's tough/naive youthful vibe - touching and intimate at times - is a literal picture-in-time in the history of style, photography and culture. Love it!

Yue Minjun @ Queens Museum of Art

“Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile,” at the Queens Museum of Art, is the first American museum exhibition of Yue’s work and further evidence of his remarkable rise in the super-heated field of Chinese contemporary art. The work at the Queens Museum ranges from a grouping of 20 life-size terracotta soldiers grinning cast bronze versions of the famous statues unearthed years ago at the tomb of China’s first emperor, to a painting of a laughing version of himself holding another aloft in front of the Statue of Liberty. A few years ago, Yue was eking out a precarious existence in one of Beijing’s artist colonies, trying to figure out a way to weave China’s tumultuous experience into his works. Now, largely on the strength of his signature grin, he has achieved stardom internationally. The mesmerizing enigma of that reddish face painted over and over again, with the wide laugh and the eyes tightly shut from the hilarious strain, is subject to a multitude of interpretations. The smile has been variously interpreted as a sort of joke at the absurdity of it all, or the illusion of happiness in lives inevitably heading toward extinction. “There were also paintings during the Cultural Revolution period, those Soviet-style posters showing happy people laughing,” Yue explained. “But what’s interesting is that normally what you see in those posters is the opposite of reality.” He said his smile was in a way a parody of those posters. But, since it’s a self-portrait, it’s also necessarily a parody of himself, he added. At the Queens Museum, there is also a series called “Hats,” in which Yue has painted himself in all sorts of headgear, from an American football helmet to a peaked cap of a soldier in China’s People’s Liberation Army, with that unvarying laugh on his face. Mr. Yue was born in 1962 in China’s far northern Heilongjiang Province and moved to Beijing with his parents as a child. He studied oil painting at the Hebei Normal University and graduated in 1989, when China was rocked by student-led demonstrations and their suppression on Tiananmen Square in June of that year.

From Oct/14/07-Jan/08/08 at the Queens Museum of Art

Via The New York Times

Bond No.9 - Andy Warhol's Silver Factory

Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory marks the start of Bond No. 9’s series of Warhol collectibles. Depicted on the bottle’s surface is a graphic image inspired by one of the pop artist’s most recognizable images—a boldly re-colored rendition of the Campbell’s Soup Can. But an Andy Warhol perfume? Well, Warhol once made mention of a company that was “interested in buying [his] aura.” Here it is, in liquid form. Warhol once remarked, “Another way to take up more space is with perfume. I really love wearing perfume.” What’s more, “for an iconic time, perfume is a way to see and be seen,” adds Bond No. 9’s president, Laurice Rahme.

Bond No. 9 is an edgy downtown perfumer, committed to art and design—not just the art of scent-making, but the visual components, too—including bottle and package design. It is all about New York neighborhood scents too. So the inspirations for the Warholian pop perfumes would be based on Andy Warhol’s favorite haunts. First among them? The Silver Factory—also known simply as the Factory. In operation from 1964–1968, Warhol’s original studio, hangout, and club central, located in a nondescript building on East 47th Street, acquired visual uniqueness with its aluminum-foil walls. These walls evoked silver-backed mirrors—emblems of the narcissism that suffused the times. The Silver Factory served as a galvanizing forum for artists, silkscreeners, actors, filmmakers, debutants, activists, hustlers, and misfits—all of whom somehow contributed to the creativity. It was here that Warhol emerged as an avant garde filmmaker, pop art progenitor, and all-around superstar.

Arriving December 1 - US$230, for 3.4oz

Available at Bond No.9

More Street Art in Williamsburgh

A few more cool graffiti images I found along Bedford Avenue in Williamsburgh, NY. As I neared the subway station, or "downtown", the quality of the artwork really improved and some really interesting pieces started popping up. The top two are my favorites in the kawaii-department and would make great vinyl figures for the collectible toy-art market. The green gecko was part of a mural on a Mexican restaurant but I thought he was a charmer too.



The first piece of great street art I saw in Williamsburgh was actually the stenciled graffiti piece above. It is posted right outside of the subway exit on Bedford Avenue and I have to say that it strikes me as being quite sophisticated in design and concept. It did remind me right away of the graffiti art that I used to see in Rio de Janeiro in the mid-80's, as this stencil graffiti style was quite popular in the more new-wave artsy set. Love it!

Those Pesky Neighbors!

Exterminator shop sign in Williamsburgh and a little friend taking a nap in Soho, NYC