Of Town & Country

I recently helped clean out the attic of my grandparents' house - a veritable time capsule of furniture, clothing, and piles and piles of papers and magazines accumulated over the past 65 years.  In one particular box, I came across a stack of vintage Town & Country magazines, some dating back as early as the 1920's!  Among the other books and papers, these stood out because of their magnificent covers.  The painted scenes depict upstanding individuals as well as document the leisure activities of privileged American life.  As the oldest continually published general interest magazine, in print since 1846, the cover artwork offer a surreal glimpse into a gilded period of our nation's past.

I think they would look really neat framed in a series - perfect for a hallway or study.  Conveniently, the Town & Country website offers a link to purchase hundreds of vintage cover prints.  I've picked out a few of my personal favorites...

Images via Art.com 

Nine Types of Light

Image via Interscope Records

Just as television provided a platform to view music during the 80s with MTV, today many artists have opted for a more cinematic approach to their music videos complete with famous directors, celebrity cameos, and special effects.  TV On the Radio took that concept a step further and with their most recent album, Nine Types of Light, released a full length "music movie" that corresponds with each track on the album.  The Brooklyn based ensemble has such a wide variety of sounds, it's really hard to pin them down to one particular genre.  No matter what you call it, the movie is a poetic art-piece, which I think is pretty rad.


Each song has a unique music video strung together touching on topics of dreams, love, fame, and the future.  The results are incredible both visually and musically.  Composed of a variety of interview, animation, and live action, it is nearly a full hour of highly cerebral, eerie, experimental artistry (to be watched full screen in 1080p).

Famous Films in Famous Places

If you happen to be around northern Texas tonight, you should stop by the Royal Theater in Archer City to see a screening of The Last Picture Show (1971) at 9:15pm.  This evening wraps up an awesome month long project by the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema called the Texas Monthly Rolling Roadshow.  All month the project has paid homage to the 10 greatest Texas films ever by screening them in the locations where they were filmed.  And the best part, is that admission is free!  


Shown in 35mm and preceded by a reel of vintage trailers, you can rediscover these classic films on the big screen and journey back in time.  Check out their website for future dates as the Rolling Roadshow screens "famous movies in famous places."





All of the trailers for the selected movies are on the Apple website and each films' poster was  re-imagined by artist Jason Munn.  Simple and to the point, but really visually striking - they're super cool.  

Munn has designed many other posters, which you can see on his website.

To Judge a Book by Its Cover

Recently while strolling through the bookstore in search of some summer reading, I found myself ignoring the age-old idiom to not judge a book by its cover.  At the checkout counter I realized that inadvertently the cover of every book I chose had a visually striking or innovative cover.  As I opened my first book, I realized that it was designed by Chip Kidd, famous for his iconic Jurassic Park cover, and more recently the cover design of Lisa Birnbach's True Prep.  Kidd has designed covers for hundreds of books redefining literature as art. 

Image via Metropolismag.com

Dwell Magazine's "Design Leaders Film Series" offers a nice retrospective of Kidd's work in graphic design and also his extensive Batman collection.  He's a really fascinating guy with a great sense of humor, and this video will make you realize the visual influence of design and style.

L'Art de L'Automobile

Last week the Louvre in Paris unveiled to the public a collection that previously only a select few had ever seen.  Ralph Lauren himself is showcasing his exquisite private collection of classic cars at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs from April 28th to August 28th.  This exhibition proves that cars are truly an artform, reflecting the human relationship with form and design.  Each one of these automobiles exudes classic style and their sophisticated elegance serves as an inspiration to find beauty in our surroundings.

Images via Polo.com

Listen to Ralph talk about his collection and be sure to visit the Polo website to read more about the cars in the collection and even hear their engines!  


Also, here is an article featured in the Wall Street Journal about the exhibit.

Orange Èlectrique

Woah! This is a crazy cool French sidewalk art instillation by Tropicana using the natural power of citrus. Who knew?