Les bancs publics*

What would you do if you were stuck in Mexico City on a Monday?

Few weeks ago, I was stuck in Mexico City for one day, on a Monday.

On the plane, the night before, I had read attentively my guide and was truly excited by the perspective of visiting the many museums that the city possesses.  Unfortunately, I did not pay attention to a small but essential detail: almost all the museums of Mexico City are closed on Mondays.

Goodbye Templo Mayor. 

Adios Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Au revoir Museo Mural Diego Rivera and Museo Nacional de Antropologia.

Luckily, the Catedral Metropolitana was opened. So was the Torre Latinoamericana (a small version of the Empire State Building).  My day was not completely wasted although at that point I was pissed off.

At the hotel desk, I asked for the best way to get to the Catedral Metropolitana.

“Can I hail a cab?”

“I don’t recommend because of the abductions.”

“Can I take the subway then?”

“I don’t recommend it either.”

“So, can I walk?”

“It’s too far.”

“What do you suggest then?”

“You can use the services of the hotel cab.”

I felt trapped but since I had heard so many things about this city I did not take any chance and resolved myself on the last solution.

I am not fond of cathedrals and churches and my visit of the Catedral Metropolitana was expeditious.  So was my visit of the Torre Latinoamericana.  By the way, I still don’t understand the interest of the latter.

As I was growing more and more upset I decided that I needed a good walk.  I first headed to the Monumento de la Revolucion.  Snap, snap.  Done.  Then I made up my mind to try the Museo Ripley, which was opened to my greatest surprise.  Of course, it does not compare to the Museo Mural Diego Rivera but I had fun seeing a Mona Lisa made from 60 pieces of toast and walking in the tunnel that imitates the physical effects of an earthquake (avoid any Starbucks before).

My biggest surprise was yet to come.  I walked to the Paseo de la Reforma and there, I could not believe my eyes: a playing cards bench.  This was not on the guide!  I ran and sat there for a while just enjoying this crazy arty bench.

Who would expect to assist to such a street art exhibition in Mexico City, all the more for free and physically accessible?

Walking along the Paseo de la Reforma I discovered that the playing cards bench was one amongst many other arty benches (70 benches total) representing either a couple or a sofa set made of steel and bronze. 

I was eventually happy that the museums were closed because otherwise I doubt that I had had the time to enjoy all the benches of Paseo de la Reforma. 

Intrigued, I made some research and learnt that this incredible art exhibition is part of a project initiated in 2007 by Isaac Masri, called “Dialogo de bancas” (Benches Dialogue).  The idea behind this atypical exhibition was to favor the dialogue between Mexicans.  As Masri said, it has no other claim but to “offer seats for people to sit down and talk”.

Amongst the artists who participated in this project there was Leonora Carrington, who died last year.

So if you ask me what I would do if I were stuck in Mexico City on a Monday I would answer to you that I would enjoy a Bench Dialogue.

Alda Mori

* Les amoureux des bancs publics - G. Brassens

200 Pesos Art

La Novia del Viejo by Ricardo Tames

Mexico.  Playa del Carmen.

5^th Avenue.  The Habana Cafe.  One night.

Half laying on a red stained couch, I am smoking a hookah.

Slowly, really slowly, I am savoring every scented puff.  The sweat smell of the apple smoke blown out of the pipe softly invades my delighted nostrils.  I feel calm and alone despite the surrounding tourists’ mayhem.

It’s the power of the hookah.

Salsa rhythms from everywhere no longer reach my ears.  It’s a moment of self-awareness.  I think about nothing.  I just feel each beat of my heart and enjoy every pulse of my dying life.  Pure bliss.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man’s voice breaks off my trance.  Fuck!  It must be one of those guys who wants to sell me one of those horrible colorful bracelets. Worst, a mariachi.

But no, this time it’s not a street dealer.  This time, it’s a young guy. 

He says he’s a photographer. 

He says he’s selling pictures.

He says he has a portfolio.

He asks me where do I come from.

France.

Oh!  What a coincidence!  One of his pictures represents a roaster.  He tells me that French tourists love this picture, that they buy it.

I tell him that I don’t and that I won’t.

I want to peruse the book.  With my own eye. At my own pace.  Like a hookah.  My eyes melt.  This mofo is talented.

One of the pictures called “La novia del Viejo” catches my eye. There is something of a Diane Arbus’ picture, the one representing a transvestite at a drag ball***.  Same weirdness. Same humanity.

He says he also takes conceptual photographs.

Let’s see. Hum.  Yes, he is gifted.

How much?  200 pesos.  3 pictures, 200 pesos*.

Shit!  The price of my hookah. I really want them not only because I like his work but also because I find it inspiring to see this artist working hard to promote his art knowing that most of the time the people he will meet do not give a damn about his conceptual shots.

I must also say that I am angry. Mad.  Because today it’s about money and network.  Not about pure talent. Not about art and the love of it.

Ricardo gives me the three pictures I want. I tell him that I will leave an envelope containing 200 pesos at the desk of La Tortuga.  He trusts me. 

Ricardo Tames**. It’s his name.

Alda Mori

*200 pesos = approx. 18$ / 15 euros

**ricardotames.com/

***Transvestite at a drag ball, N.Y.C, 1970 by Diane Arbus

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Ian Bradley: The Man Who Will Dress The World

The first time I met this young fashion stylist I was waiting in a line and trying to get in one the best (if not “The Best”) clubs of Gotham: Le Bain. Those who party hard in the Big Apple know the face, and most of the time the name, of this talented and brilliant character that is Ian Bradley.

Besides being “the face” of this NYC hot spot, Ian is also a fashion stylist whose notoriety is growing every day a little bit more to the extent that I could bet with you that he will very soon become a major figure of the fashion scene.

Ian has an innate sense of style.  When he was four, he once said to his teacher that she should change her shoes because the ones she was wearing did not match her outfit.  How cute? Now his style speaks for itself.

Ian has been styling since his childhood. First, for two of his biggest fans: his grandmother and his mother. Later, for mass-market brands amongst which the trendy Japanese brand Uniqlo, Levi’s and Adidas.

Small talk with Ian Bradley.

Alda Mori: Ian, 2011 is over and 2012 has just begun. So, what did you learn in 2011?

Ian Bradley: Although I have been working really hard over the past years both styling and doing the door, I truly realized in 2011 that hard work is paid off and pays off.

A. M.: And what do you expect to learn in 2012?

I. B.: I could enjoy some business classes and learn to be business savvy.

A.M.: Tell us a little bit more about you and your debut in the fashion world.

I.B.: I left Washington D.C. for New York City when I was 18 years old to study fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.). Soon after my arrival, I started attending a lot of downtown parties. At the age of 19, and while I was still studying, one of my friends once asked me to cover for him at the door of the Lit Bar. I needed money so I thought why not. Some time later, the doorman of the Misshapes gigs, who heard about my performance, asked me to cover for him while he was out of town. After that, the word spread and the next thing I knew I was doing the door for the 205, then the Webster Hall and eventually Le Bain.

A.M.: How did your door activity help your fashion styling aspirations?

I.B.: I got my first big styling gig with one of POP magazine’s stylist after Katy Grand’s former assistant found me at a party I worked at. It is this first eight-month experience that really got my feet into high fashion styling. Of course, styling and doing the door nest a lot. I met many up and coming designers like Alexander Wang but also many friends who ended up filing editor positions in magazines and calling me for styling.

A.M.: Who did you style for?

I.B.: I mainly work for Uniqlo and frequently contribute to Vice Magazine and Fader Magazine. In the past, not only did I style for random publications and cosmetics ads, but I also had the great opportunity to work with Levi’s.

A.M.: Where do you find your inspiration?

I.B.: My primary source of inspiration is my close circle of friends. Some of them don’t even think they are fashionable. I feel however truly inspired by certain things they do such as the way they tie their sweatshirt while dancing like they don’t care. Then, I leave in the greatest city. That helps a lot finding inspiration. For instance, a 70 year-old woman walking in the street with a crazy headscarf will inspire me. A 5 year-old who buttoned his jacket wrong will also inspire me because it looks really cool. I focus on originality, as I want to avoid the déjà vu. I therefore reference National Geographic and old magazines such as Life Magazine instead of anything current that would be redundant.

A.M.: Who would you love to style for in the future?

I.B.: I like mass fashion but I also like minimalism. So obviously, I would love to create, style and direct for a company such as GAP, which to me has the potential to be an A.P.C. for the mass, minimal and classy, selling good sweaters and good jeans. If you take a look at GAP commercials in the mid-90’s, the way they were casted, you will understand what I mean. It is just white button up jeans but still it is minimal and clean. Of course, I would not turn down an offer from Levi’s. These are two strong American brands I would really enjoy to work for.

A.M.: What was your best photo shoot?

I.B.: I had many good experiences since I started in this industry but the best one, which is very recent, was for an Adidas video. I have known the video director, Gordon Hull, forever and some of the models were my friends. The photographer assigned to this job was young. I had never met him before. In the end, it was simply a good creative team, full of energy, who did an amazing job while having lots of fun.

A.M.: And the worst?

I.B.: My worst photo shoot dates back to my first job as an assistant. We were shooting in a park, in the middle of summer. The location was about a mile and a half away from the stylist’s apartment. So I had to bike, back and forth, every time the stylist forgot something and obviously he kept forgetting things. That day, braving the summer heat, I made six trips on his bike with him calling me and telling me “I need this now!”. Since that was my first shoot I thought they were all going to be like that.  Fortunately, experience proved me wrong. Still, it was a blessing that my first photo shoot was that awful because it made everything look fine after that.

A.M.: What can one wish you for the years to come?

I.B.: Without any hesitation, to become a creative director for a mass apparel clothing company. I want to dress everybody, not just fashionistas. I want 8 year-old to see a commercial and whish to dress like that. But I also want a 50 year-old lady from Park Avenue to feel the irresistible urge to buy all those T-shirts. I want to conquer the world. I want to dress the world!

New Year's Eve Rapture



Blondie - Top of the Standard
2012 New Year's Eve Party



When I was a kid, I used to spend my summer holidays in the north of Portugal. Our house was located in a small village inhabited mainly by old people. You can easily guess how dreary my summers were, until one year I found an unsuspected treasure in my parent's room: a record player and a box full of 45 tours records.

I bargained with my parents (I cried and screamed until they agreed) and took my new toy to my room.  I spent that all day dancing and singing yogurt Modern Talking. The following day, after breaking my parents' ears screaming "Oh macumba, macumba, elle danse tous les soirs"*, I came across a gem: a Blondie disk!

I simply fell in love with Heart of Glass and the charismatic slutty version of Barbie on the cover and played the same song all over again until the end of the summer. I remember looking at the cover and stealing make-up in my mother's room to try to look like Debbie Harry.

Until last week, I always dreamt of seeing the woman whose image and voice had turn that tedious summer into a rock'n roll holiday, that icon whose style remains to me so inspiring.

Well, I eventually realized my dream on the new year's eve. Blondie performed a short concert at the Top of the Standard and I was there. And I saw her. 

She sang Rapture.

And I sang in her microphone, for a second when she sang New York, New York. And I felt like the little girl that I was, a little thing full of dreams and faith in the future, in my future.

Alda Mori

*Macumba by Jean-Pierre Madère

Happy New Year!

Become your dream

View from Brooklyn

Christmas Hangover

Street Art Truck on West Broadway

Models in Soho

Koons, Cattelan and Roat

I have never been fond of contemporary art.  

I tried. I really tried.

But I can't take it seriously. 

When I think contemporary art, I see Roat Romano Chucalescu.

Roat Romano Chucalescu is the archetype of the contemporary artist who will shit on a canvas, pretend it's art and sell it a fortune.

Just check this video* and you will totally get the point ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0WoW7hbOWA).  I am sorry for those who don't speak/understand French. I will try to have it translated because it is hilarious.

Some quotes are memorable !

"I do not go to the canvas. The canvas comes to me." or "I am a deconstructor of  timelessness."

Yeah, I see you laughing behind your screen... Go ahead, it's good for your abs.

In other words, to me the contemporary artist was personified by Koons. The man was a broker used to sell crap, who married the Cicciolina.

He sells plastic lobsters and everybody screams : "Genius!"

Come on.

An artist** once said :

"Someone once told me that it  (art) was very profitable profession...

Extract from a NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/arts/design/26private.html?_r=1&ref=arts)

"Still, the art world loves to talk, and in recent months among the expensive paintings that have quietly changed hands are a 1970s de Kooning abstract canvas sold for around $30 million; a Cy Twombly “Blackboard” painting for $12 million; one of Gerhard Richter's “Color Charts” for $18 million; and Jeff Koons’s “Hanging Heart Violet” sculpture for $11 million."

that you could travel a lot ...

and meet a lot of girls (...)."

"There is, at least, a certain amount of respect.  This is one profession in which I can be a little bit stupid, and people will say, "Oh, you are so stupid; thank you, thank you for being so stupid"."  

Yes, to me contemporary art and the contemporary artist were all contained in this quote.


But recently, I had a sort of revelation (not about Koons, of course).


Last Sunday, despite the cold, I went to the Cattelan exhibition at the Guggenheim. At first, I was not really enthusiastic about it.


But what I saw was just incredible. For once there was a meaning  (to me at least).

  

  
I don't know.  I was just captivated.  


All these sculptures hanging from the museum's rotunda seemed so real. There was no cohesiveness but still it was absolutely fascinating.


I must however admit that the taxidermied horses, donkeys and dogs made me feel uncomfortable.


But I guess I come from very far... 


 
Alda 

* Les Inconnus (L'Artiste Peintre)
** Maurizio Cattelan