Top five - 8 oct 24

Yohji 1999, Marco Pariani, kid art, a personal low, a-gotta-have-it home device

1. Yohji Yamamoto Spring 1999 - the fantastical collections of 1998-1999 adoration parade continues! I was hooked into this one by the performance of model dressing model here:

   

   

   I love the backpacks

   But the collection continues to deliver:

   

   I'm really a sucker for anything avant-garde bridal, which yohji always gives in spades

   “Models sauntered down the open runway, transforming garments and undressing for all to witness. These simple, somewhat erotically driven acts of manipulating silhouettes or removing articles to reveal new garments below, was a creative means of illustrating the layers of stories and underlying intricacies associated with marriage.”

   

   

   

   

   

   

2. Marco Pariani. Painting Bakery opens at Skarstedt in London this month. I’m totally enchanted!

   Marco Pariani was born in Busto Arsizio, Italy, in 1986 and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, but he is by temperament, personal choice, and aesthetic instincts a New York artist. Pariani began visiting New York in 2016, and moved to Brooklyn in 2019 to be close to contemporary artists he was looking at, including Katherine Bradford, Katherine Bernhardt, and Chris Martin. The large scale of his paintings — typically more than six feet tall — is the first signal of his affinity with mid-20th-century American abstraction. A close look at the material interactions on his surfaces, however, reveals a tumult of ideas about the power of pure paint, with the emotive gestures of Abstract Expressionism, the lyrical flatness of Color Field Painting, and the raggedy friction of Street Art all vying for primacy.

   marcopariani

   

   A post shared by @marcopariani

3. I discovered this pinterest account when doing research for a recent design project (client who designs interiors for mostly kids bedrooms wants new logo and site face). The folder I love is called Kid Art - 2003. It seems most of them are made by a girl named Sophie, as many are signed by the artist. This paper cut out sun is perfect according to absolutely every design rubric. Top marks.

   

4. If my Top five newsletters are meant to be like 5 highs—things I’m really into, things that excite me— I will break the rule for today’s Top five no. 4. I am now nearly 4 months post-partum. Most of what has passed has been kinda blurry but now things are starkly clear and the high definition can be rather overstimulating. I wrote in an instagram post today about I feel like there are two of me, and the one seemingly in charge is painfully hazy and unclear. I am managing but I think to some degree I am also numbing. Creating (homemade dog costume, substack, endless failed recipes) is helping me ignore the big A (anxiety) for the time being. I’m reminded of this passage in Brodsky’s Less Than One that I reread last year:

   

   please ignore my nails

I know everyone is pushing Prime day, which I understand because I admittedly fucking love the Amazon, but I was honestly going to share this days ago and I’m not even sure it’s included in the sale. It is one of those rare, valuable objects that any girly with a small budget, capsule wardrobe and big dreams comes to cherish. A high quality steamer. The Bear is massively cute with the cartoon contour of a little bear for the “I’m hot!” light, steams laying flat (unbelieveable! no drips), works well and fast.

Ok thanks! That’s it.