franco fontana

Photographer Franco Fontana was born in Modena, Italy in 1933 - his first solo show, exhibiting his technicolor landscapes, was held there some years later in 1968. I am so in love and impressed with Fontana's technicolor images - the fantastic array of primary colors found in Italy's natural landscapes - rolling hills against bright blue skies, fields of flowers, a lonesome tree - and his studies of American urban landscapes - the harshly geometric color blocking created by buildings and walls and oh yes, pink rooftops, too. They're so modern! So now! (They remind me so of the color palettes present in Amanda Jasnowski aka @hokaytokay's photographs). See more of Franco Fontana's work here. Happy Friday!

overgrowth

Overgrowth is an collaborative project between photographer Parker Fitzgerald and floral designer Riley Messina. I am so enchanted by the underwater images particularly. They feel to me like old master paintings of bathing gods and goddesses.

"Inspired by a pursuit of beauty, Riley combines classically thoughtful botanical designs with Parker's carefully considered film images in an expression of the multifaceted relationship between humankind and nature. The two artists contrast anonymous portraiture with sweeping landscapes in an attempt to capture both the malleable and untamed aspects of the natural world" (Overgrowth).

Browse the collection here.

Gordon Parks at the beach

Aren't these color-poppin' vintage photos from LIFE Magazine so so great? How about that turquoise bodysuit, eh? It has been HOT here in Los Angeles so far this year - I am crossing my fingers hard for some much-needed rain - but in the meantime, it is actually warm enough to don a bathing suit... and so, why not? Get crazy. The iconic Gordon Parks, best known for his black and white photographic essays for LIFE and his 1971 turn as director of Shaft, is behind these snaps; I kind of can't help but love their campy, sunshiney charm.

Michael Lundgren

Michael Lundgren's series After the Fall is quiet and eery, it's colors pristinely monochromatic or awash in an alien palette of pastels rarely found in our natural world. Paper Journal offers analysis of Lundgren's unique ruminations on landscape:

"Lundgren conjures into being a landscape that is suggestive of a moment before the advent of human civilisation or in the aftermath of its fall, save for what we assume to be a solitary, impersonal observer; these are most emphatically not human landscapes, or at least have not been cast in such a fashion. Rather they are necessarily conceived of in terms of a fundamental human absence" (Paper Journal).

Today, while a wind-whipped wildfire rages in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, its dusty pink clouds thickening over the freeways, a sooty grayscale settling over the ocean, these photos carry a kind of poignance. Our earth is fragile, and powerful. And tremendously beautiful, in both forms.

jimmy marble (& happy weekend)

Happy Friday, ya'll. Sorry for the slight radio silence over here this week - work & less pleasant responsibilities have been lurking. This week I had to give in a bit. Lots of good stuff and plenty in the works for this here space thooough! Yah-oo.

In other news, sometimes, Los Angeles is just plain cool. I was buying jeans at Madewell and Amanda aka @hokaytokay and Jimmy aka @jimmymarble were hangin' out hosting a fun little event. They were the sweetest humans. So down to earth. And then, as you might do once putting a face and a smile to a killer Instagram account, I dove back into their impressive, inspiring work that despite having already been familiar with, revealed itself as completely cosmically awesome to me all over again. The best. I thought I'd post some of my favorite photos Jimmy's taken recently and the 2012 video that killed me when I first saw it, as well as direct you to his shop where you can buy the charming "BE COOL BABY" and "FEAR IS FOR JERKS" banners you've maybe seen around the neighborhood.

Be more like Amanda and Jimmy & fill your days with fearlessness and colorcolorcolor! this weekend. 

boots and pine (& weekend links)

I love websites that visit with creative people in their homes and work spaces. Some of my favorite daily visits are of this ilk - the gorgeous and ever-inspiring Freunde von Freunden, the amazing Closet Visit (which I still cross my fingers will return before too long), The Selby back in the day, Austin-based Rad Lady, and now a new one to add to the list, Boots & Pine. Arden Wray's (um, best name ever?) project began in Toronto, but has recently taken her to New York state, from Manhattan to Brooklyn to the Catskills Mountains. I love the people she has featured so far - so many creative people whose work I admire! - and I can't wait to keep up and see who's next.

Required weekend reading:

⌇A lovely piece in the Paris Review reflecting on one woman's findings from within the pages of the books lining her shelves.

⌇An extensive discussion exploring art as therapy, and the psychological functions of art.

⌇A successful-by-all-Western-standards father muses on his desire to retire as his 20-something musician son.

⌇Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka exposed a block of crystal to 6 months worth of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Swan Lake. The tonal vibrations of the piece helped form the structure of the crystals. Beautiful and fascinating.