miss · k

While Rebecca was hanging out with the whole Project Runway gang (including Heidi Klum, Christian Siriano, Austin Scarlett, and Tim Gunn) Leti and I were on the 13th floor of an apartment building in the West Village celebrating a book launch for some book about psychedelic 60's crashpads. Complete with Oakley from the Rondelles / The Witnesses playing guitar and peace sign cookies, champagne cocktails, and a slew of people who probably pranced around naked, high on LSD, with flowers in the hair. Circa 1968.

what was surprising was that icons that are so played out at this point (the finch, the cupcake, the mustache, the deer) are still going strong. seriously? haven't we reached a saturation point where things i found "cute" in 2003 and 2004 are finally dead? moveon.org people.

what would have been cooler: tie dye, string art, moroccan tiles, ancient egyptian necklaces, friendship bracelets, doll houses. actually, no, because then i'd be sick of them.

maybe i'll just go to macy's.

i also just renewed my lease and have now officially given up trying to find a "charming" one bedroom that james could theoretically move into. everything is overpriced, gut renovated, or doesn't have closets or won't allow me a portable dishwasher. who knew i had such a love for a machine that can wash my cereal bowls? i'm irrational. i guess i don't *need* to go, so i'll spare myself the stress. even though, literally checking out fifty apartments was stress enough.

here are two swimsuits i have been feeling. when i go to la and sf in two weeks i plan on taking a dip in a pool. it's been a year and before that it'd been four years. i'm modest and the idea of prancing around half naked scares me, so a one-piece seems ideal. i don't know which of these i like best. it's annoying that they're only available at urban outfitters online.

has anyone ever done an ear candle? they are sort of crazy but awesome. i would like my hearing to improve about a million percent. although i don't know if this happens, but i have heard....

i wish i could see the show i just did this poster for. i love yacht and mika miko make the crowd go bananas.

art:
http://neongray.info/
http://www.helterline.com/
http://www.miikasaksi.com/
http://www.kakoueda.com/

fashion:
http://rumplo.com/
http://www.jargol.com/

flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benpearce/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kromatika/

memorial weekend involved multiple bbqs and burgers everyday. now it's time to join a gym. equinox or nyu's "alumni" center. it all depends on where i move. which, might be nowhere. checking craigslist several times a day is beginning to wear on me.

James said he'd like to come with me, so I'm going to meet his parents and unleash him upon mine. Maybe take a drive to Mexico and stock up on some summer dresses and sandals once we have his parent's car.

Maison 140 (Beverly Hills):

Ace hotel (Seattle):

(I think) I want to stay in the Ace Hotel and Kelly Wearstler's designed Maison 140. Since I grew up in the Bay Area I've never stayed in a hotel there, nor do I know any that are cute.

Any suggestions?

Today I headed back to school for my first (post info session) Fulbright interview. Dean Solomon gave me some feedback about what I should include when I submit my application in July and offered a lot of encouragement. She said I have an excellent chance, which seems totally ridiculous to me. Now I have to start contacting professors at Kunstfact and researching textile designers and Swedish design history.

Parsons just asked me to participate in a "media charette" next Wednesday. I didn't even know what that word meant when they wrote me. So I looked it up, and it's a fancy way of saying "workshop." I get paid to give them my take about how they can improve their "pedagogical approach" down the line. It's sort of perfect because I have attended one million colleges (if you count summer programs).

Post-Birthday party, I'm starting work on my Ladytron music video pitch. The Black Ghosts opted to go with a different treatment, but with a bit of tweaking I think it can work for their next single. Plus, their budget is 10 not 5k, Which rules.

on a different note, I want this bed. Even if it is rather Anthropologie / shabby chic.

However, I am obsessed with moving to a place with architectural details. Something where a crazy velvet couch and deco wallpaper will not feel out of place.

Current Ebay obsessions:

anything hand beaded
rompers with tie-dye and watercolor prints
rose gold and signet rings
hand-tooled leather
flapper dresses and clothing with neo-deco details
1920's ancient egyptian inspired jewelry
liberty prints and grunge-era florals
moroccon (specifically berber) coin necklaces
heimstone, jerome dreyfus, lyell, vena cava, sigerson morrison,

Won:

Want:

i'm not going to commencement, nor is my sister who graduates from hunter at the same time. it seems pointless when you know zero people in your graduating class. my family lacks all school spirit! yet are absolutely adament about education and finishing college. my mom is getting her phd and is a professor at uc berkeley and my little sister is moving to new zealand to study at peter jackson's studio for her study abroad. it was cute that for a year or two there my dad had all four of his girls in college at the same time.

but no more!

friday i celebrate. after my birthday party, i think james and i are going to take a road trip to the south.

here you go: http://paperhouses.muxtape.com/

Rebbecca got me in on the Yelle list the other night. Yelle is fucking cute energetic fantastic. The crowd went bonkers. Best show I've been to in ages.

James and I ended up heading to the Tribecca Grand and running into Sheal (who'd just djed) and then to some bizarro secret party in a meat packing district loft. Followed by five am dinner at Florent. It was a very "New York" night, filled with pretty girls in six inch heels puking on themselves on cobble stoned streets and girls sitting next to us yelling, "OMG I love Courbet-- Let's go to Sothby's this week and check out the post impressionist works!!!" it was weird.

and like everyone else, i made a muxtape (aka an online downloadable mixtape)

http://notkeren.muxtape.com/

leti, james, and i trekked to chelsea and it was sheer pandemonium. nobody who was on the list (vip or or pleebs) seemed to get in. we gave up, had dinner at cafeteria, and then as i hailed a cab to go home i caused a FOUR CAR ACCIDENT as the cab driver abruptly halted to pick me up and three cabs plowed into him. safe to say, we walked.

recently i started working on a boost mobile campaign that has turned out to be super fun. i get the impression they're re-branding their phones from being the hip hop communication of choice to that of the bangs/glasses set. which is why i come in i guess. step one in repositioning involves them sponsoring a series of indie "off center" concerts for the likes of i'm from barcelona, man man, cold war kids, sunset rubdown, and matt costa. i draw each artist and they make silkscreened show posters and t-shirts and then "phone bars" where kids can test out the products. they all take place in san francisco, new york, and la and i can't wait to see them in real life.

the lyell dress, blouse, jacket, and cami i scored (each for 75 percent off) the philip lim dress (also 75 percent off) at jumelle... for starters.

but. no. now i want a jerome dreyfus bag, a necklace by aesa, and some lattice flats from f troupe. dying!

i will be on the canal-street hunt for a dreyfus fake, although the chances are slim. but they did make gryson fakes, so who knows!

from oak from bird from shop bop

i found a nearly new (bought in december) imac on ebay and bought it. saved over a grand too. it arrived two days ago and my friend just gave me the whole adobe creative suite (still trying to get lightroom, which beats iphoto hands down) and word.

oh. my. god. i love this computer so much! i keep squealing in delight. designing and making illustrations on a 24" screen is such a pleasure. bye bye art making on a small laptop hello fancy time computer, i love you.

ps the photo is this guys

our studio neighbor, eric elms, is creating a permanent installation for the d.c. stussy store, opening this week. he needed her to sew this huge joint that will lay alongside a pencil and switchblade, on a mousetrap. you know, "traps" in life. the whole thing is very Oldenburg. and by that i mean, awesome.
of course, i will take took a picture of myself holding it and it will end up on comically large.

speaking of oversize things, you remember this guy?

vans decided, based on the trade show sales of my first sneaker, that they want me to do a second. but, because it's a last minute decision they are giving me zero time to decide what to do and zero time to make new art. they suggested i tweak some floral art from an old image because it's a spring shoe. so i did.

janky quick mock up of the first round they nixed:

but then they said they actually wanted a landscape, and since i'd have no time to do a new one, could i just give them some old art? but, the work they want feels so dated. or else i've already used it on blood is the new black shirts that were sold at urban outfitters.

what they want:

it was drawn in 2003 and produced in silkscreen form in 2004. by the time it comes out in 2009 it will be SO OLD. and do i really want an image of a deer and an owl gracing 50,000 sneakers? no no no.

so this is what i drew last night:

i stayed up till three rushing to do a new graphic that hopefully they'll pick instead of something old. but it really isn't something that feels that i'm particularly proud of. is it better to give them something new and janky than old and "better"?

should i
1. just give them the deer graphic
2. give them the deer graphic and tweak it (take out the owl and deers, add some more current iconography. but really then, it's not even the image they want)
3. force them to use the beehive image
4. force them to use the archery image
5. not care anymore

i am stressed out.

rebecca and i ended up at the karen walker fashion show (which wasn't very good. but the gift bag was fancy time, so at least there was that) and she was sitting in the front row looking haggard, with some bruise or scab (who knows) on her face, all trashy and dirty looking, and spent the whole time texting and not looking at the clothing. and you know what? her fucking stupid inane annoying text messages were recounted today in new york magazine. WHAT? seriously? devote more space to her?

why is this girl even famous besides she boned mark hunter a bunch of times? she is unphotogenic, looks perma-stoned, and has lame style for someone who is totes loaded.

vans just called me and said my sneaker has been doing so well at the tradeshows that they want me to do another sneaker for spring. yessss!

i didn't go out last night. missed both the ben cho fashion show and the opening ceremony party. instead, rebecca and i worked and worked. i held out in the studio from noon till three am (she didn't sleep). i painted and paintstakingly cutting a few more pieces, and then covered each with resin. if they are not dry by noon i am dead. i need to research the harmful effects of using resin in a room without a ventilator (the windows and door was open. is that enough?) combined with the absence of glove and goggles. am i going to now have cancer? what about when i use enamel paint? fuck.

while she was sewing, next to all my toxic glory, she made herself a fancy silk number (grey circle skirt, pintuck blouse, with gradated silver detachable collared necklaces) for the new york magazine feature. at this moment she's being photographed and i'm headed to cinders to drop off our work.

at 2, i'm going to try to sneak into karen walker's show at the altman building. turns out alyssa's kiwi husband knows her. maybe that will help our chances.

friday night, rebecca and i stopped by catherine holstein's party at the thompson hotel, then onto samantha pleet's show in nolita where i saw elizabeth spiradakis, the scanlon twins, and leti and ami. we piled into a cab, after pizza at ray's, and made it to a photo exhibit at the soho grand.

saturday morning, rebecca, james, and i caught abaete and alexandre herchovitch at the tents. we stopped by kinokuniya and picked up some cute office supplies and i bought a book by paul arden. i meant to go to a house party after, but i was so sick, i took a fifteen hour "nap." tonight is the ben cho fashion show and the chloe / opening ceremony party that the slits are playing at. i would like to just stay in and work, but i think i'd regret it.

tomorrow, new york magazine photographs rebecca for a feature on monochrome characters of nyc. i loaned her some of my grey clothing because she doesn't yet have a full closet's worth. stephen merrit is also going to be featured i guess.

fashion week begins today. i'm not sure what i'll be able to sneak into, but i've rsvped for some parties sponsored by daily candy and surface and who knows what else. stefan sagmeister has a show that goes up tonight at deitch and i'm heading to that in ten.

i started a new series that took my interest in islamic and scandinavian patterns and swapped out the enamel for metallic origami paper. i never had much luck with metallic paints, so i worked it out using paper and plan on coating everything with resin. my first attempts at tissue paper failed because the transparency i was going for just looked too kindergarten. the origami paper is more forgiving and i like the intensity of the color.

cutting with an x-acto is pretty simple and the whole process becomes meditative through the repetitive cut cut cuts. it's probably somewhat like knitting except more dangerous.

i bought some concentrated pigment today at guerra paint and pigment and tomorrow i'll mix it with urethane and see how it goes. they said it'll be less toxic than the enamels i was using.

rebecca, leti, and i began our sunday evening at sway for their smiths night. it was a ridiculous tangled mess of kids dancing and spilling drinks and we held camp in the back because it was too too crowded since it was the day before a holiday. i stumbled upon a freshly vacated table replete with bottle service and happily began making us cocktails with the bottle of belvedere. after a bit, sarvia decided we should all follow aron to beatrice inn, so we hurried, screaming at the cold, and quickly piled into two cabs, while rebecca nearly got run over as it peeled away with her body half inside.

we arrived at beatrice, finally get inside after some string-pulling, and head to the back where the kids are happily dancing to 90's hip hop. i sit down to avoid the gaggle of drunk chain-smokers. shortly, a homely hip-hop kid sits down and introduces himself. i'm clearly not interested. so he tries (unsuccessfully but hilariously) to impress me.

hip-hop dude: hi, i'm j. mello
me: ....hi
j: do you ever watch mtv? do you ever watch fuse?
me: sometimes... why?
j: well, next time you watch mtv, you should vote for the j.mello video with dave navarro
me: huh? what's your name?
j: j. mello
me: oh
j: have you ever heard the song "celebrate good times come on"?
me: yeah
j: that's my dad
me: oh... that's cool....

then he proceeded to tell me he's flying to dallas in the morning to do some promo with paris hilton. i slinked off after entertaining him a bit and went up to some familiar kid and asked him if he had gone to nyu back in the day (he used to put up stickers in the hallways that were of him holding a 40oz and smoking). we chatted but he was not very friendly. leti then came up and asked me why i was talking to mary kate olsen's boyfriend and i was just so confused at the way the night was turning out.

rebecca, leti and i went back to my place and had a big slumber party complete with dancing around in my underwear to the velvet underground as if it was a scene in charlie's angels.

i'm also going to apply for skowhegan for this summer (the deadline is fast approaching) and a marine headlands residency. i'm scared to do anything outside of a major city, since i can't drive, but maybe it won't be an issue. all of these applications want slides and the procedures seem daunting, but i need fire under my ass and come may i won't know what to do with my life.... so might as well paint some place far away for free.

i've been reading pamela des barres' i'm with the band recently. it followed my attempt at reading the marianne faithful biography, which i never quite completed, because she turns into a total junkie and it just became depressing.

pamela's makes me cringe, but the descriptions of outfits or rooms and activities she participates in i find intiguing. what's the i ching? there was a burgundy velvet couch? what did gram parsons look like in 1968? but her endless talk about lusting after certain boys and frequent bouts of total crying, vapid observations, and constant obsessiveness frustrates me.

i may be boy crazy, but god, thankfully never to this degree. and for the most part, she sounds completely stupid. but perhaps it's because she didn't have this book co-written like marianne faithful did. by contrast, in hers she appears well-read and with impeccable taste. plus, her delivery is often so deadpan and frank it's refreshing.

one of my goals for the new year is to get more work. today i began making a series of postcards that i'll target to different magazines and art directors.

this image i redrew from one originally used as the interface for hartley goldstein's website. i think it looks better now that the line weight is the same and it has a more streamlined color palate.

sister nancy: bam bam

the feelies: dancing barefoot patti smith cover. i've been listening to a lot of the feelies lately. recently i rewatched the late 70s punk film smithereens (staring richard hell) and by the director who went on to direct desperately seeking susan. the feelies do the soundtrack and it's perfect.

coconut records: west coast this song is cute. it's also by jason schwartzman

sexbeat: sexbeat from a batcave comp

zeitgeist: yellow fidgets from a messthetics comp

friday hyvonen: the modern discovered her via new york noise. her music video was good and this song is catchy.

last week i visited the bay area for six days and returned on xmas eve because the flights were so cheap. 240 roundtrip during the holiday season can't be beat.

the trip was pleasant and just long enough that i didn't get bored or frustrated with being car-less. rachel and i hung out and went on a berkeley vintage shopping tour, i spent some time at melanie's berlin's dj show and her dj night at the cassanova, one night at a house party at kat and robert girardin's old place, some time alone at the mary blair exhibit at the museum of cartoons and animation, and later with my mom, after she passed her phd oral exams, at the sf moma checking out the joseph cornell and jeff wall exhibit and having a fancy spa treatment at the red door spa. i'd never had a massage or facial before, fancy!

most of the time was spent with leti, michael and erin fant with their crew of bay area friends either playing rock band or eating at nice restaurants.

the boy showed up towards the end of my stay and it caused me all sorts of stress because he was acting really distant and ignoring me; so i ended it via text message. it seemed only justifiable to be as passive aggressive as he was. the whole thing reminded me too much of my drama with justin and nathan and i just saw where things were headed and needed to end it to save my self esteem and sanity.

oh, and i just had this aim conversation which i found sorta timely:

Gregory Rivera:
haha. you were in my dream the other night

Me:
i take it something funny happened?

Gregory Rivera:
and you were being interviwed because you claimed you had gone on dates with 33,000 boys one year or something like that

Me:
oh jesus

on november 11th my friend and roommate, alyssa, got married in las vegas. it was an odd occasion mostly because the last wedding i went to was in the eighties and my sister and i were flower girls. other friends of mine have gotten married since, but in each situation by the time they did, we had fallen out of touch.

i was half dreading the whole affair, mostly because it was in las vegas, a city i probably hate most on earth and i'd have to deal with seeing a friend whom i no longer speak to. but the ridiculousness of the bachelorette party, complete with stripper club and limo, coupled with a member of zz top marrying them in this tiny drive-through-wedding church, and a penthouse after party at the bellagio, made the whole experience quite fun. plus, my friends were there and oh did they make the most of debaucherous vegas....

since i've been back, i've found a new roommate off craigslist whom moves in friday. i'm a bit nervous, but i seem to have had good roommate situations in the past. plus, she knows two acquaintances of mine and has, it seems, similar interests. i'm crossing my fingers.

vans mailed me some journals and my sneaker finally and it was quite exciting. i finished up a lot of teeshirt graphics, may have found myself an illustration agent based in london, and am doing work for "the littlest art show in the world" at cinders gallery.

rebecca tubow, my studio-mate, is away for six weeks to new zealand to see her boyfriend. it's been lonely in the studio and now, when i'm there till two in the morning, rather than split a cab, i fall asleep on the couch and feel like a total scumbag the next day.

luckily, i've been hanging out with leti daily. she lives only two blocks away from "secret society" (our studio) and so i walk over to her house and we have "breakfast club" complete with oslo coffee. or she comes by and keeps me company, each of us pouring over our laptops working. i making t-shirt graphics and she writing posts for coolhunting.

cmj came and went and most of my time was spent hanging out with friends in town for a short stay and less seeing shows. i did get to catch deerhunter's show with no age and soft circle at a new space in greenpoint called shangri la. which was excellent in so many ways.

i finally bought a record player that won't destroy my vinyl (it's by ion and is cute and white and has the ability to convert songs to mp3s). each morning i now play my magic arm or high places records as i get ready. with my computer and music at the studio, it's interesting to have some songs reserved for home and some for work. oh, and i'm in love with the new animal collective. and the foals.

i've been on a huge dollhouse kick and bought two on ebay that i'm going to use for future artwork. spending time hunting for furniture for my friend's apartment (a new interior decorating project), vintage cowichan sweaters, asian silk jackets, kimonos, and brown stacked boots. this winter i am hoping to dress like i'm lounging on a bearskin rug in a dark wood paneled ski lodge circa 1948.

i got extensions (my friend janell offered to do them for free) and now have straight long hair and bangs. think cher '66. it's the first time i've ever looked like this, and when i go out nobody seems to recognize me. i love it.