For someone so clumsy with food and beverage, I've been wearing a lot of white lately. I'm yet (keyword) to dirty this, but my other one-week-old, white shirt already has sleeves covered in coffee stains so let's see how this 90s boy band ensemble goes. I may be pushing it.
I've teamed up with Boohoo for this post to bring you a white-inspired outfit for Melbourne White Night, where the city transforms into an interactive experience of music, film, performance and culture. Culottes are a drug to me now so I had no shame when I saw this co-ord set on the website. Also bonus points to Boohoo for having an Adidas Superstar-esque pair of sneakers which are cruelty free.
P.S. In our time apart I moved out officially + booked a little roadtrip to the Sydney countryside with pals for the first weekend of March so get ready for raw foods and farm animal grams. Also my NYC photo diaries are still coming... promise (it's just a matter of time).
Yes that's three galleries on the trot and a lot more than three artists. And as as is often the case, at Roslyn Oxley9 gallery there where two shows, Julie Rrap, Remaking The World and Jacqueline Fraser (pictured immediately below) , The Making of L’Eclisse 2016. Both thought provoking shows but I did love Jacquline's playful approach to Art and FASHION! Did I just scream in all caps, yes I did, the fashion in the art, inspired by the idea of Michelangelo Anonioni's L'Eclisse 1962. Now Antonioni knows a thing or two about the importance of fashion as part of identity himself - Blow-Up, Identification of a Woman.. But I digress, Jacqueline, looked fabulous in her Teddy Girl inspired outfit, thank you so much for the portrait. Everyone reading; go see the show I was too excited to snap the exhibition!
Jacqueline Fraser 'The Making of L’Eclisse
That said I did do some shots of the crowd looking around the Julie Rrap show "Remaking The World", the video above is called 'Double Eclipse, 2015'. Coincidence? Who knows.. What is not a coincidence is the sound, the noise you hear at each and every art opening you attend. If you have never been to an art show you may be quite surprised at just how loud and noisy an art opening can be. Of course if its not noisy no-one is there which is of course a disaster! If you can't make an opening to hear what its like, do not worry I have made two short 40 second videos of the 'Sound of the Art Opening' below. Turn the volume up loud while reading the blog for the full art-show effect - the visuals are simply a bi-product of the device I used to capture the sound.
Judith Wright 'Significant Others' at Jensen Gallery.
If you are so worried you can't even begin to afford a forged Mark Rothko, (well your art priorities are pretty skewed anyway) it might be time to look a little closer to home and into your heart. If there is something I have been concerned about of late it's art being more design, or even worse, clever!!! Whatever happened to the spiritual in art? Jensen Gallery is right in the middle of all the art happening in Hampden Street Paddington, go check it out on the way to Oxley9, Sarah Cottier, Australian Galleries, Martin Browne Contemporary... Judith Wright's large works on paper in 'Significant Others' are probably going to be just your cup of tea.
Alaska Projects on William Street.
Bradley - Looking at art - Alaska Projects on William Street.
Close to the heart of the CBD Alaska Projects, the people who put the art into Kings Cross car park and made it work! Have launched a space on the corner of William and Riley St East Sydney. Bradley who seems to be always there let me grab a shot of him in front of one of the artworks (I will find out who's and credit later). How much better is William Street looking with the Art and Craft initiatives going on, fantastic! Check out my second soundscape video - turn it up loud - Sound of the Art Opening - Alaska on William, enjoy the shots, enjoy the noise, grab a beer or a glass of wine and it's just like being there!
I'm back! Woah, that's been a bit of a hiatus there. Spurred upon by the many long Summery days I didn't want to miss and a few black-out periods between Christmas and Australia Day, but, I'm back. Let's get started by looking at my favourite little discovery over my break, and hopefully you'll be as excited as I was when I stumbled upon it!
The famous Urban Decay NAKED palette is something every make-up enthusiast should have in their routine. Known for being an extremely high quality, buttery application with an easy to blend formula, this palette rakes in a 4.6 our of 5 on MakeupAlley and is known as a HG product for beauty lovers everywhere.
Although, this product is also cruelty-free, it carries a heavier price tag of $81AUD. While that still works out for a great price for quality at $6.75 per shade, this can still be a big purchase for girls (like me), who are studying and love to shop Drugstore brands (like me).
But, who doesn't love a good dupe?!
HELLOOOO CHI-CHI!
Chi-Chi Cosmetics has a few good products out there in the Makeup Market, you'd remember the hype and evidential pull-through of their Brow Pomade, which received amazing reviews from beauty lovers and some even prefer the formula over the Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow.
But today I'm telling you about the Chi Chi Cosmetics NUDES Eyeshadow Palette. Why is this palette so exciting? Because it is noted to be a well-known dupe of the Urban Decay NAKED Palette.
Before knowing the dupe, I already used this ChiChi Palette as my weekend go to! I love the lighter shades, along with the perfect darker shimmers for depth and blending. The palette colours aren't exactly identical (shown below), but you can see the colours are easily similar enough to use your Chi Chi palette when following along to NAKED Youtube application tutorials. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the darker shades in the Chi Chi palette, maybe it's personal preference of not using too many dark colours with a blue base, or maybe because they don't hit the dupe mark as easily as the lighter shades. If you're looking for those darker dupes, check out BYS Nude 2 Eyeshadow Palette.
For girls that want a high quality and cost effective eyeshadow palette, I recommend the Chi Chi Nudes Palette, available from Target, Myer, and on their online site.
SABCO PEROXIDE is Dale Frank's latest show at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Paddington, Sydney. And if that word SABCO seems strange and yet familiar it could well be that you have a broom or a mop or even a paintbrush.. from the South Australian Brush Company, SABCO lying around your house or studio somewhere. I suspect brushes never go anywhere near any of Frank's paintings which are very very shiny and very very colourful too. One certainly gets a feeling of automotive gloss finishes, (now with broken windscreen glass, and recycled tyre rubber..) I thought I could detect that sweet auto-paint-shop scent upon entering the gallery last night.
your mothers name is a real mouthful, Dale Frank 2015
The high gloss reflective finishes offer an irresistable selfie heaven for some and I must say, I am pretty glad I was not commissioned to document the art works! That said, at the opening the peoples reflections became part of the art and all the works really were alive. None more so than the mechanised Mobile Painting (my phrase not the galleries) your mothers name is a real mouthful, 2015, both enchanting and mesmerising, (there's a 29 second video at the bottom of the page). And I finally managed to grab a portrait of the artist, Dale Frank himself, out in the stockroom. Dale has said no to me photographing him before; I wonder if it was that I mentioned that the previous mobile had cats, and this one has butterflies; "and they flap their wings" Dale told me. "I will have a close look" I replied. and they do! A great show, on now until the 18th of February.
She lived with six cats and countless accusations, 2015 (Group Show 2015)
1. Where the journey began, AUS --> LA / 2. I didn't realise how much I needed coconut lattes in my life until Alfred Coffee fatefully ran out of soy milk / 3. Winter apparently doesn't exist in L.A / 4. Shadow play at Nasty Gal - home of the #GIRLBOSS / 5. Show Off Beaded Mesh Bodysuit by Nasty Gal / 6. Had to / 7. THE Paul Smith wall everyone takes photos in front of and I was no exception 8. Coffee in an alley is as good as it sounds / 9. One of my favourite things about Melrose was that every building either had artwork on it, or looked like a piece of art from the inside - so much interior envy was had / 10. And Marc Jacobs was a good example of it / 11. Architecture in DTLA (? I think it was DTLA) / / 12. We spent hours at the Tupac exhibition and remains the best thing I did there / 13. A tourist photo, but when I have a few Grammy's under my belt I will look back on this day / 14. What everyone instagrams when in LA / 15. The sky setting on our last night / 16. LA --> NYC
A quick post from our brief affair with Los Angeles. I saved my DSLR for our New York leg of the trip, so this is mostly an Instagram shot recap while we stayed 5 days in an AirBnb in West Hollywood (this is where I should mention not to be fooled by photos of apartments).
We didn't venture out much as we were just off Melrose, so most of our time was spent shopping in WeHo, me obsessing over how pretty everything was at Nasty Gal, and stay far, far away from Hollywood. We spent a day in Downtown LA though, purely to visit the Grammy Museum for the All Eyez On Me: The Writings Of Tupac Shakur exhibition. I grew up listening to Tupac because of my older brothers, and my love for music and writing later became more evident as I got into more Australian artists (this was me trying to word my sentence so that I don't mention The Veronicas in another post), so I felt in my element being surrounded by music, and hundreds of personal and handwritten artefacts from such a genius and legacy.
5 days was a good amount of time to spent there overall, I think after a while we'd struggle to find something to do, although I would have liked to have taken a dip into the vintage shopping culture but most of them seemed to only open via appointment?
But that was it! It was good weather-wise to spend some time in California before we headed to East Coast, but New York was where all of the magic happened, so until next time...
I have long been in love with this location and wanted to photograph there, although until recently it has not been accessible in the way it was for our photoshoot. I also wanted to keep it simple; energy, connection, emotion, that is the story I am after. So I am very grateful to Vishmi for taking the 'risk' of shooting with me in such a quiet and personal manner. We had an enjoyable time (crew-less but not clueless..) and it all happened reasonably quickly, the magic of the shoot unfolding quite seamlessly. The still life shots of the location were made during the site's transitional phases in the weeks preceding our shoot. You have to keep an eye on things! The idea for the title is from the gas in the street lights that give a yellow cast, they are Mercury Vapour lamps - or at least they used to be..
Thanks to Portobello PR for the great clobber.
Photographer/Stylist - Kent Johnson Model - Vishmi Helaratne Layout & Design - Kent Johnson ROLLA'S - Camille Wrap Dress - Floral Dr Martens - Models Own White Skivy - Models Own ROLLA'S Eastcoast Flare Overall in Salty Rain Dr Martens Boots - Models Own Abrand Jeans - A. Sleeveless Shirt - Check ROLLA'S - Dusters Short - Astral blue Vans Old Skool Sneakers He wears, Levi's Jeans & Commuter Jacket, AKUBRA Hat.
