The Birth of Us by Anders Krisár

Blurb from YAMS:

Who doesn’t have a thing for skin? We’ll wait. Artist Anders Krisár is a Swedish sculptor, photographer, and contemporary artist who captures the “touch” so nicely. This work is on sale for 20-30,000 dollars; created in 2005. To view his most popular work, kindly visit this link. Above (l-r) “The Birth of Us (Boy)” and “The Birth of Us (Girl)”.

Anders Krisár

Cuirass by Anders Krisá

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Blurb from YAMS:

Since the phenomenon with Chyna and the scenes from Napoleon Dynamite including Rex Kwon Do’s wife, I’ve taken a liking to muscular, woman who are cut-the-fuck-up! A few years ago, I had the opportunity to shoot with a muscular woman who goes by the moniker SuperFrench, but Miss French has nothing on these babes! I wish I took these photos. Photographers unknown.

Kindly take a look at my photography of SuperFrench by clicking here and watch the video below!

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Blurb from YAMS:

I have seen nothing like this! I just read Dezeenmail #53 containing the technicolour crucifix by Stefan Strumbel and I was blown away by his concept. It has never crossed my mind to see the crucifix like this. Moreover, in saying so, many questions come to mind: Does he know he is brilliant? Is he aware of how much shit he is going to get for doing this? [Laughs] Man, he has to be over it [religion]. Is he is non-Christian? Is he mad at something? Is he telling us something that we will refuse to see? Is he fed up with Christianity? Is he a Catholic? Why now? Why does he call it “Home Sweet Home”? Was this a way to get attention? Well, it worked.

As blasphemous as this might read, I like his willingness to just do it… and prepare for the backlash and hate crimes behind your actions. Leave a comment, tell us what you think. Are you for it or against it?

Click here to see the others.

Members Only: A GrungeCake Party

On Monday, June 28, 2010, GrungeCake Magazine debuted its artists for its new venture, GrungeCake Records. With our special guest performer, Dai Burger and special guest host, Peter Hadar, the Members Only party was hot, smooth, raw, and uncut. We encourage you to sign into your Yahoo account to see photos from the beginning, leading up to the show. We would like to take the time out to thank everyone who attended our Members Only party.

For more photographs from this event, kindly visit our Facebook and like it. Feel free to become a contact via our Flickr. Thanks.

Photos: Isabella Blow

Blurb from YAMS:

Isabella Blow > Lady Gaga

Isabella Blow’s Bio:

Isabella Blow was an English magazine editor and international style icon. The muse of hat designer Philip Treacy, she is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl as well as the fashion designer Alexander McQueen.

Blow moved to New York City in 1979 to study Ancient Chinese Art at Columbia University and shared a flat with the actress Catherine Oxenberg. A year later, she left the Art History programme at Columbia, moved to Texas, and worked for Guy Laroche. In 1981, she married her first husband, Nicholas Taylor (whom she divorced in 1983), and was introduced to the fashion director of the U.S. edition of Vogue, Anna Wintour. She was hired initially as Wintour’s assistant, but it was not long before she was assisting Andre Leon Talley, now U.S. Vogue’s editor-at-large. While working in New York, she befriended Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 1986, Blow returned to London and worked for Michael Roberts, then the fashion director of Tatler and the Sunday Times Style magazine.

In 1989, Blow married her second husband, art dealer Detmar Blow, in Gloucester Cathedral; he is a grandson (and namesake) of the early 20th-century society architect Detmar Blow. Philip Treacy designed the bride’s wedding headdress and a now-famous fashion relationship was forged. Realizing Treacy’s talent, Blow established Treacy in her London flat, where he worked on his collections. She soon began wearing Treacy’s hats, making them a signature part of her flamboyant style. In a 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard, Blow declared that she wore extravagant hats for a practical reason:

“…to keep everyone away from me. They say, Oh, can I kiss you? I say, No, thank you very much. That’s why I’ve worn the hat. Goodbye. I don’t want to be kissed by all and sundry. I want to be kissed by the people I love.”

In 1993, Blow worked with the photographer Steven Meisel producing the Babes in London shoot featuring Plum Sykes, Bella Freud, and Honor Fraser. Blow had a natural sense of style and a good feeling for future fashion directions. She discovered Alexander McQueen and purchased his entire graduate collection for ₤5,000, paying it off in weekly ₤100 installments. Spotting Sophie Dahl, Blow described Dahl as “a blow up doll with brains”, and launched the model’s career.

Isabella Blow arrives as a guest at the Turner Prize, December 2005.

Blow was the fashion director of Tatler and consulted for DuPont Lycra, Lacoste, and Swarovski. In 2002, she became the subject of an exhibition entitled When Philip met Isabella, featuring sketches and photographs of her wearing Treacy’s hat designs.

In 2005, Blow starred in a project by artist Matthieu Laurette, commissioned and produced by Frieze Projects 2005 and entitled “What Do They Wear at Frieze Art Fair?” It consisted of daily guided tours of Frieze Art Fair led by Blow and fellow international fashion experts Peter Saville, Kira Joliffe, and Bay Garnett.

Shortly before her death, she was the creative director and stylist of a series of books about beauty in the Arab world; the books were being produced by Kuwaiti fashion entrepreneur Sheikh Majed al-Sabah. Blow was dismissed from the project for unknown reasons and attempted suicide. For more about blow, kindly click here.

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Photos: http://brickartist.com

Blurb from YAMS:

I think the tech geeks will get a kick out of his ‘brick iPhone’. I mention Sawaya in the first GrungeCake Magazine. Click here to purchase.

Nathan Sawaya is a New York-based artist who creates awe-inspiring works out of some of the most unlikely things. His recent North American museum tours feature large-scale sculptures using only toy building blocks. LEGO® bricks to be exact. For more Sawaya, click here.

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Photos: Julia Fjelddalen for GrungeCake Magazine

Blurb from YAMS:
Julia Fjelddalen captures Norwegian Model and Wardrobe Stylist Beryl for GrungeCake Magazine! I love these Norwegians. Stay tuned for the slideshow.

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Photos: Sunna Gottshalk

Blurb from YAMS:

Model Sunna Gottshalk is a Jamaican model born in Burnt Savanah, Westmorland, Jamaica. She stands at 5’11″ and is 180cm tall. According to her website, she was discovered when she was 17 years old. She has worked with the British Vogue, Elle, and countless other prestigious magazines. She’s also modeled for Alexander McQueen, and H&M catalogues. There wasn’t much about Gottshalk online, as far as her biography, so I wrote this one.

Photos: Charlie Lucas

Blurb from YAMS:

Lucas’ work reminds me of Short Circuit‘s Johnny 5. Birmingham native Charlie Lucas is a self-taught artist known as “Tin Man” for his sculptures made from found scrap metal. His pieces have been showcased in museums and galleries across the U.S. and in Europe. Enjoy his quotes below.

I think I been introduced to art, whatever you want to call it, a long time ago. That I didn’t even know what it was is I’d say when I was a kid. I was always making things and nobody never told me that it was art, and I don’t even see it as art anyway.

I go to like the scrap yards. I go to dump sites. And I want kids to see this thing.- I don’t want them to see it in the shiny, in the newness of it. I don’t even attempt to paint so much of my work. My sculpture I kind of leave them natural with the pieces. Because you want the kids to see the whole society is not shiny and pretty, glamorous that we pretend it is, because it’s not. If we was to really peel ourselves back and look at the true part of ourselves, we would be some of the ugliest things you want to see.

It’s kind of like being a kid. You get to play with your toys and you get to play with them in a way that people look at you and say,” he’s like in the back yard but he won’t bite”. You’re content to be who you want to be inside of the back yard. This is to me is basically my back yard in a way. I’m content to come out and work on my toys.

Blurb from YAMS:

We need a “lifeguarded Domino effect.” I am willing and ready to snowball it. Here is my beginning. For great reviews on “Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags,” visit the LA Times and PopMatters. Photographs by George Lee for The Push Episode.

GrungeCake: As a young tailor, I felt it was important for you to equip yourself with the raw knowledge about where your future [trade] has gone. Ninety-five percent of your business has left your country and only five percent remains. I can make a bet that colleges, institutes, and universities are aware of it, yet they are still enrolling students’ and promising jobs-careers after graduating. Does this analogy make you feel hopeful?

Ny Wesson: No, it doesn’t at all. Knowing the economy doesn’t need fashion in their time of crisis because people can’t afford to spend extra money on garments is very frightening. Universities such as OTIS and FIDM guarantees their students a stable job in the industry after attending their programs and graduating, so with such a great promise behind their names, determined dreamers such as myself get sucked into believing, “that will be me.” Therefore, it’s that will power that keeps us designers motivated and going. Schmatta has displayed the truth behind the scene. Sharing what’s really going on and it’s quite discouraging seeing how the industry has declined within such a short time span. I actually had a serious talk recently with my mother who is a RN and finds her job the best for me as a young woman. She’s not looking at my talent as a gift anymore because people need money, not talent. It’s not me that she doesn’t believe in, but the economy that gives us broken promises is what shifts her mind about my career path.

GrungeCake: Does this give you a completely new perspective on the recession-era we are living? If the major declines of the garment business over the span of 40 years were the main causes of America’s financial dilemma, wouldn’t it be reasonable for our government to rebuild?

Ny Wesson: Very much so. The fact of actually knowing my work might not sell and make business because garments are the main cause of America’s madness can take anyone for a loop. Some days I wake up hungry wanting to be a top designer and other days I wake up hungry because there’s no food. Literally. Meaning, I’m in need of a stable career. Understand? It’s a constant battle on whether, do you keep fighting the war to be where you want to be? Or do you surrender to the economy to be where you need to be and that’s wherever they place you. Might be a dead end 9 to 5, but that’s what is given to us now to survive. As far as the government rebuilding, indefinitely it’ll be very reasonable to rebuild but America doesn’t know how to pick things back up and make it new again.

GrungeCake: In the film, Irving Ruosso explains that he ripped off his uncle to make his fashion business boom. Do you think “knock-offs” are equally or highly responsible for the fail of our garment industry today?

Ny Wesson: With the economy being the root and “knocks-offs” growing into a tree, I believe they go hand in hand. “Knock-offs” have been around forever and slowly, but surely, it caught up with the economy. Designers aren’t getting full pay with people switching up the tags and duplicating a piece matching exactly with the original then charging only half of the retail price. You couldn’t beat that with a stick! So of course, people will wear the generic version to keep extra dollars in their fake LV wallets and YSL bags.

GrungeCake: Do you think “greed” is equally or highly responsible for the fail of the once, robust apparel manufacturing industry?

Ny Wesson: Greed is highly-equally responsible for the fail of anything!

GrungeCake: If you were in the position, would mild “knocking-off” be a consideration?

Ny Wesson: The phrase “fake it until you make it” never popped a great idea in my mind. I prefer quality over quantity.

GrungeCake: Can the fashion communities’ nation-wide revive good-paying jobs? If yes, share your ideas.

Ny Wesson: To be honest, no. Not in this era. People are beginning to recycle, learning how to make their own clothing, loosing weight to get back in a old pair of jeans versus going out and buying new items.

GrungeCake: American Apparel might not be the best brand to all — however, the brand’s made Downtown Los Angeles and for the most part is sold here. Before, watching “Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags,” I thought very little of the company. Knowing that American Apparel has the power of increasing the five percentile, will you support their business? Will you support small businesses with the same basis?

Ny Wesson: Yes, if that’s what it takes to rebuild the industry then why not? If there is a good message behind the company, then I’m all for it.

GrungeCake: As an editor, and bona fied lover of art and expression, I want to see you and people like you happy, always and will continue to support and spread the scheme. Which brings me to “Save the Garment Center.” Save the Garment Center is a campaign spearheaded by designers Nanette Lepore and Anna Sui as well as many local designers, organizations and fashion manufacturers to preserve New York City’s fading Garment District. The loss of jobs and culture as a result of non-conducive zoning laws has led many in the industry to join together on a campaign to save what is left of the once-vibrant garment center. Fashion Week in September 2008 was filled with t-shirts that embodied the cause and provided contact information of city officials. Women’s Wear Daily highlighted the issue during this week, and many designers and members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America lauded the effort. Check it out when you have a moment. Will you let your friends know about this non-profit organization?

Ny Wesson: I will be sure to enlighten friends, family, and bystanders about it. This will help not only me, but everyone else who shares the same passion. I want to thank you for reaching out to the people in the industry and taking the matter seriously as well as bringing this to my attention. People like you gives us hope.

Below are clips that I shared with Ny. I have looked for order links to buy the film and haven’t been successful. If you find any, kindly contact me and I will add it in the post. Thanks in advance.

Lastly, I have searched for Save the Garment Center on Twitter [and Facebook] to find that there were ONLY 39 followers, making me follower number 40 [on Twitter]. Let’s change that and spread the word about “Save the Garment Center.” I have written to Bloomberg, Quinn, Stringer, Burden, Patrick Murphy, Randall, Nadler, Maloney. We hope it helps. Thanks to all in advance.