A few weeks ago, at PACE Gallery in New York, Jay Z performed his song “Picasso Baby” over and over and over for six hours. He sang face-to-face to individuals, in an attempt to create a personal connection and shared energy… kinda like:

Yep. In a very similar {yet totally different because he sang, danced, and laughed with his audience} way, this was not too far off from what Marina Abramović did at MoMA with her “Artist is Present” performance. Well, she showed up so that she could have her personal {yet rap filled} moment with Jay Z. I wonder if she was kinda there to say “Yes, cool. But you know I kinda did this already, right?” … or maybe she just loves hip hop as much as I do! {really, I do – so, so much!}

Lots of people including actors, artists, writers, musicians, collectors, and kids showed up to watch Jay Z. Oh, but make sure you cover the kids ears every few minutes {enter explicit lyrics here}.

It seemed like everyone there had an amazing time! My favorite moment was when this lovely lady in rose-colored glasses {Sandra Gering, Art Dealer} walked up, sat down, gave a huge smile and a little shoulder dip … completely throwing Jay Z off his game {around 2:28 in the video} He lost his words for a second and needed to regroup … ahh, nothin’ like a lady in rose-colored glasses to shake you up a bit:

Now, there’s lots of talk about this New York “happening”. Was it real art {whatever that means}? Was it just a really cool way to do a music video {which is actually an artistic project as well}? Was it a blatant copy {with music} of Marina’s performance? And then this question has also come up… if hip-hop is art for the people, why didn’t this happen in the streets instead of in a gallery with a very fancy invite list. Honestly, I’m not sure how to answer all of those questions, but I also don’t know that I need to. That’s what being creative is about, right? Just doing, and making, and sharing – and I think that Jay Z did it in a way that made the most sense for him and his medium. At the end of the day, it looks like it was a crazy fun, energy-filled six hours, and I am totally jealous of everyone who got to be part of it {including Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine art critic, who wrote a great article about his experience}

The only question left to ask… I wonder what Picasso would have thought? Given the images below {Picasso dancing with a poodle; Picasso dancing in his underpants; and a drawing of one of his dancers} I think he might have put on a stripy shirt and rocked it out with his new friend, Hova.

Here… you and Pablo can watch this together {the song, and a snippet of what went down that day – here’s the newly released video of the event}:

{Images: Various sources including Vogue, and grabs from the video above}

I can’t even make my real hair look like this, let alone draw hair that looks like this! Upswept, long n’ flowing, twists & braids…. these gorgeous hair studies are mixed media drawings on canvas by New York based artist Brittany Schall.  Do I want to become her BFF so that we could braid each other’s hair {and then have her draw it}… yes, yes I do.

Oh, Wayne Mcara, you had me at “gold-dipped ice cream cone”! Then of course there’s the porcelain paper dishes, and the perfectly pastel ice cream cones too. Sigh. Gorgeous. Happy weekend, everyone!

{Thanks to photographer Rebecca Kammer for pointing me to Wayne’s work}

A unicorn covered in cute food? I’m in. This crazy unicorn is the work of Spanish artists {and brothers} Juan and Alejandro Mingarro, aka Brosmind. Their Barcelona based studio is the hub for their very successful illustration company, but it’s their wacky personal projects that got me… like the unicorn, and this completely padded art show viewing wagon, for example:

Watch out for the ice cream on the seat! Ok, so I have no idea what the unicorn is about {except that it’s awesome}, but here’s the scoop on the wagon:

Brosmind WAGON is a hilarious car covered with beanbags and powered by pedals. It was created for the collective exhibition ON! Handcrafted Digital Playgrounds, taking place at the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, Ohio (March-September 2013). All the visitors attending the exhibition are invited to drive it in order to tour the exhibition from a funny point of view. Technical support by Isaac Salom. Pillows manufactured by Woouf.

Sigh. Pink hair, tiaras, and flower garlands. These are the lovely portraits of Italian artist Annaclara di Biase. I wish I could tell you more about these paintings, but that’s all I know. If only we could ask these girls what they’re painted with, and how big they are. Although, I suppose, it’s not very polite to ask a lady for her dimensions!

{Oh! thanks so much to Yasmin! She tracked down the info [oil on canvas and the dimensions]…. which you can find here.}

Ah, poetry & art… a perfect combination! This is a beautiful book of poetry, written by American poet Hannah Stephenson. She is an amazing writer/editor/teacher, with a great love for visual art. In fact, a lot of her poems are inspired by art… sometimes even work that she finds here! For example, after seeing the ceramics of Caroline Slotte, Hannah wrote this:

Great Migration

Patterns on china have begun

to show evidence of a great migration.

Waves roll out to a plate’s edges,

drop off, are absorbed into carpet.

In the stock-still water, feeling no wind,

cranes panic and launch, beat their wings

with such force that nearby villagers

mistake them for dragons.

Smaller birds leave their nests in the trees,

head for the dark, unporcelain woods.

Lovers no longer come here

to sit on the grass together,

discovering speechless ways to speak.

They stay away from this place.

The land here isn’t fed by any source.

Parents shield their children’s eyes,

pull them close when passing the pond.

Someone should do something, they mutter

and leave the land to its calm disintegration.

Whoa. Her newly released book, In the Kettle, The Shriek, is filled with beautiful poem after beautiful poem… but I also wanted to share something that isn’t in this book. Now, you know I realllllly don’t like showing my own work, but… last year I had a show at Seattle’s Assemble Gallery. Hannah saw one of the pieces, wrote a poem, and sent it to me. I almost cried. I could not be more honored… and I love the poem so, so, so much… I love it so much in fact, that I’ll even show you my work that went with it, titled “Jeremy Brown jumped over this at a bush party.”

Living Daylights

To find that part of me
still flickering,

to chew and exhale flames,
a dragon with a mouth
crammed with Bazooka Joe,

to use my heart
as a flashlight,

to meet my ghost
as a dance partner,
spinning away from me,
and back toward me,

to sift out the glowing shards
with unshaking hands
and swallow them back down,

to greet my fiery shadow,
saying, here is our bed,
our mirror, we can learn
one another again.

LOVE! Thank you so much to Hannah for this amazingly creative gift. Ok, now let’s all go buy this book : )

{cover art by Aron Wiesenfeld}

Sigh… I would love to stumble across these mirror-covered chunks of wood while out for a stroll in countryside! London based installation artist Lee Borthwick uses “natural, organic and reclaimed materials, allowing the viewer to recapture the sense of reflection offered by dramatic landscapes.” Yes. Yes she does! Luckily, if you live in the UK, you don’t have to hope for a chance encounter with her work in the woods – she has recently been commissioned by Anthropologie EU to take her gorgeous wood/mirror/wire tapestries {each one is totally unique and hand-made by Lee} from the woods, to your wall:

Oh my.

{ps. if you live anywhere other than the UK, you can try contacting Lee directly if you want to buy one of her tapestries}

Ok. This is taking affordable prints to an entirely new place…

Vintage paint-by-number. On circular, salvaged wood. For $22. Gah!!! These cool little nods to the past are the work of Canadian couple Patrick Lajoie and Mara Minuzzo. At their home studio, in the rolling hills of beautiful Caledon, Ontario {just outside of Toronto}, they manually transfer the pigments of an archival print onto wood… 1/2″ thick birch plywood scraps left over from the construction of their studio workshop. LOVE!

{ps. I bought one before I posted this just so I could be sure to scoop the one I wanted! Any guesses?}

Oh, you guys. This is gonna be good!

So, just to refresh your memory: I’ve been asked, by the lovely Emily Henderson, to curate a show in LA at The Fig House, a new event space that Emily is designing/styling. I received zillions {literally} of submissions and I want to thank you all so much for that! Now, I’d like to say that made my job easier, but it really just made everything a whole lot harder… there was sooooooo much fantastic work to choose from, and I had the tricky task of getting it down to TEN ARTISTS! Impossible? It felt like it a few times. Well, after much back and forth, I’ve got a truly amazing group lined up. Yes, there was really great work by lots of people, but this came down to finding pieces that will work well together, and work well in the space that Emily is creating {art deco meets the 80’s. For real, people.}.

Here is a little taste of what will be on the walls when The Fig House opens this fall:

YAY – I love it all! As soon as I know the exact date of the opening party, I’ll let you know. See you soon, LA!

{1.(and right *) Stephanie Vovas 2. Kai Samuels Davis 3. Jaime Derringer 4.Ellen Heck 5. Clare Elsaesser 6.(and left *) Emily Rickard 7. Max Wanger 8. Nike Schroeder 9. Amy Wilson Faville 10. Zoe Pawlak}

You know how I feel about Polaroids, right? And, you probably also know how I feel about geometrics… not to mention found image collage. Ok then, check these out:

Oh! So good. Canadian artist/curator/all-round creative guy Randy Grskovic is the man behind these lovely gems, which are an exercise in exploring memories whose documentation has been lost {ie., your mom threw out a bunch of your childhood photos when you left for college – why would she do that?!}.

Now, what I love even more than these images is that Randy didn’t stop here. I’ve often talked about how much I admire artists who continue to push themselves and evolve their work – well, have a look at part II in this “Found Photographs” series:

Are. You. Kidding?! ♥

{ps. Randy has an indigogo project happening right now, titled “100 Patrons” – it’s all about the artist/patron relationship, and making affordable art accessible to all. He’s half way to his goal with 17 days left. Pop over there and help if you can.}