Tamarack Swamp, Algoma, by Lawren Harris
1920, oil on canvas
Check. These. Colours.
Lawren Harris was a Canadian painter (oh Canada!), and I'd never heard of him until Jen emailed Salazar and I yesterday to tell us that his art was this week's SIA pick. Surprise! Harris was actually a very influential Canadian artist and pioneered the school of Canadian painting, and I think he's to Canada what Andrew Wyeth was to the Brandywine Valley. Jen told us that in addition to using oil paint, he sometimes mixed wax into his paints to add what I imagine is a very unique texture. One of my favourite things about Harris is that he eventually stopped signing his paintings, because he wanted viewers to judge the artwork based on the art alone, not by the merits of the artist. An interesting discussion of this concept--art separate from artist--take place in one of my favourite books, The Submission by Amy Waldman.
Now that I've successfully gone off topic: send Jen your inspiration by Monday, May 5th! Holy cow, it's almost May. That's insane. Enjoy the inspiration!
Spring Rain, by Erté
Medium and date unknown
Salazar picked this week's inspiration, Spring Rain, which is actually (from what I've found online, anyway) a reproduction of a costume design by the artist. If Erté's style looks familiar, it might be because he illustrated and designed 200 covers for Harper's Bazaar in the early 1900s, as well as a lot of costume design for the theatre and for film. He was one of the most popular artists of the Art Deco period, which is evident in a lot of his artwork.
So! Now that I've told you what little I know, it's your turn to interpret the art! Email your designs to Salazar by April 21st to be included. Jen pointed out that this is good inspiration for some pattern mixing, so let's see it!
Happy 29th birthday to the biggest asshole I know. Right after I took these pictures, Jehossee slammed his head into my ribcage and tried to run away from me.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
CANCELLED: Bangerz Tour
Miley Cyrus with Icona Pop
April 7 @ 7pm
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
S. wore:
I wore:
I guess that when one goes to a lot of concerts, one should expect that a concert or two will be cancelled at some point. But one does not expect the biggest tour of the year to get cancelled, and certainly not the one night of the tour that one purchased tickets for over three months ago.
But this is what one gets for wishful thinking.
S. and I had just hopped onto the beltway around uptown Charlotte (277, for those of you wondering), when S. scrolled through her phone and said "oh shit, this better not be true". And just what we didn't want to be true was true: Miley cancelled, and Miley is not rescheduling.
I get a lot of crap for being a Justin Bieber fan (though I've kind of moved on to One Direction), and a lot of crap for being a Kesha fan, and a whole great lot of crap for being a Miley fan. For me, life's too short to lie about what you like, so fuck the rest and enjoy what you will. This is why I have such bizarre tastes, probably: because I refuse to confine myself to any one thing. But it's good, because I go to concerts with basically ALL my friends. I take different people to different shows depending on what they like, and it all works out. (Though S. seems to appear most often, because she's always down for Kesha.)
When we found out that impossible had happened, we trolled the streets of uptown Charlotte, where hundreds of heavily eyelined youth in crop tops and black leggings wandered aimlessly outside the arena. The crushing blow of defeat, to say the least. We went to the mall and bought lipstick at Sephora and ate cheesecake outside the mall. It would have been a good night, had it not been filled with things that we did only because Miley Cyrus stood us up.
So anyway, here's a photo of a lionfish from the zoo in Columbia, SC. I was there on Saturday.
At least the lionfish didn't cancel on me.
Against Me!, with Laura Stevenson and Cheap Girls
April 6th @ 8pm
The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC
T. wore:
I wore:
T. and I have been a team when it comes to two bands, which to me have had similar histories for their lead singers: Say Anything (who we will be seeing for a sixth time in June) and Against Me! (who we saw together for the third time Sunday night). We saw Against Me! once at Warped Tour and once a couple of years later at The Handlebar in Greenville, SC, which is the concert at which I was sucked into a mosh pit and punched in the face. (I'm not big on mosh pits.) This concert was the last of Against Me!'s tour supporting their new album, which is the first since their lead singer, Laura Jane Grace, came out as transgender and began living as a woman.
Against Me!'s performing style has always been one song to another, almost without pause most of the time, and constant sweaty screaming and wailing while an aggressive mosh pit blossomed in front of the stage. (The Orange Peel, thankfully, has an enormous ceiling fan that keeps the hall from overheating.) Against Me! has always been an exceptionally tense and taut band live, which I chalked up to the pretty political punk rock that they play, but a change in lineup over the last year (the drummer and bassist are both recent additions, but the guitarist and lead singer have been the same since 2002), along with a new album and Grace's transition, have seriously changed the band's behaviour on stage in what T. and I both think is a really good way. Their latest album is a lot different from their pervious sound, but it's still Against Me! in there, it's still the same music. But it's being performed by people who are clearly happy, and that's something I couldn't say with any certainty before.
Say Anything has followed a similar path--massive lineup changes over time, major struggles by the lead singer/mastermind of the band until reaching an acceptance of who he is and finally being loved--and the changes have reflected on the band in a healthy way. Their last tour in 2012 (which we also went to at the Peel) was incredible. I'd never seen their lead singer so happy. And it made me happy.
I've been nervous to see Against Me! again because of what happened at The Handlebar, but I'm glad that T. dragged me out to see them. We parked in the back on some bar stools and took it all in. Against Me! played some new music but they also dug deep into their discography for some of the songs they performed on Sunday, and the crowd was deeply appreciative of that. We're getting a little old for the punk rock scene (we were definitely among the older 30% of the audience and I was the only one in the room in a cardigan), but we were still happy to be there. And to see a woman on the stage clearly beaming from all the way in the back, finally at peace and being who she is and doing what she wants, was inspiring. She put on a tiara at the end of the encore, and the Peel nearly fell apart from all the screams and cheers.
It's amazing what a little love can do.
Hello everyone! My apologies for getting this week's Style Imitating Art up a day late! I was busy going to--and then NOT going to--the Miley Cyrus concert, which is a post for another moment. But anyway--here are this week's submissions! As a reminder, this week's inspiration was the beautiful Bonfire, by Andrew Wyeth.
First up is Isabella of Adventure in Helsinki. She translated a little poem, which I'm going to stick in my next blog post! She also looks adorable (your hair's getting long, Isabella!).
Next is Stephanie, who found out about SIA from Jen. She doesn't have a blog yet, but I'll be reading if she ever decides to start one. The tan cardigan is perfect for the painting!
Next is Gretchen, who blogs at One Crazy Beautiful Life. She's a children's librarian! In Hawaii! With a killer purse! So many good things.
Next up is Jen of Librarian for Life and Style, who says her shirt reminds her of smoke. I think she's right.
Kezzie of KezzieAG isn't thrilled with her outfit, but I really like it, especially the skirt.
Grace of Living with the A-Holts picked a really awesome necklace, so click the link to see it. The whole outfit is awesome too though! Uhhhh and her shoes were $2. That's amazing.
Erin of Loop Looks always looks great for SIA, and this week is no different--I love the colour of her blazer, and overall she just looks fierce. It's awesome.
Every once in a while, someone submits two outfits to SIA. Sometimes I post both, sometimes I post one, depending on how many people have submitted. Salazar, my SIA cocreator over at 14 Shades of Grey, sent me two, so I squished them together--the one on the left was the one she actually laid out for SIA, and the one on the right was a happy accident. I think they both look great.
And then there's me. Have I mentioned how happy I am to have lipstick back? I have? OH WELL, HAPPY TO HAVE LIPSTICK BACK.
Thank you ALL for participating, ladies! Everyone looks absolutely fantastic this week. Well done, y'all!
