Nosideup: ethics

26.3.10 0

Give orangutans a break

You are Nestle, and Greenpeace targets you for your unethical practices. What do you do?

a) Establish a dialogue with Greenpeace to see how can you improve such practices

b) Ignore it

c) Try getting the campaign banned

Well, Nestle was uncoscious enough to pick c. That's making a statement, twice: I do not intend to change, and I inted to keep it quiet. Lovely, isn't it?

12.3.10 0

the answer is Schiaparelli, Elsa Schiaparelli

And the question was about a dress worn by Lady Gaga. I had not seen this piece in a long time and, the other day, google randomly offered it to me. Then everythingmade sense. It so happens she was not necessarily promoting extreme thinness, but illustrating the public about her Surrealist influence. Kudos, Gaga.

1.3.10 1

At the zoo!

This is a hard one.

This semester half of my drawing lessons are going to be at the zoo.

Now, as a vegan, I feared that I'd find it hard to swallow.

But the truth is, I have not seen mistreated animals (admitedly the big felines didn't seem very lively); and it's been well, fun! and challenging, too.

You see, the last semester we had endless (a class is 3 hrs long) amounts of fun drawing toga-ed up statues and architectural elements and vegetables (which I liked the most). All, with no pictures or rulers or any other accessory than eyes and hands.

I look forward to understanding better how zoos work and how I feel about them, and, in the meanwhile, draw a lot.

(I befriended a goat which seemed to really like my coat; a great, wise turtle sniffed me out and decided to walk away; a vulture as tall as me kind of charged towards me, a dolphin pooed right on my face (there was glass in between us), flamingos wore fluorescent feathers; and hippos had really tiny legs)

8.2.10 2

Balthus and Hamilton

...That very fine line between inspired and perverted (or how OK is it to view teenagers as sexual beings).

And an obvious connexion between the two.

Hamilton discovered via Mnemosyne.

20.11.09 1

The implications of Lady Gaga's dress

Lady Gaga belongs to the type of people that you love or hate. I realize I look at her more as a performance artist than as a musician. Her job is to "épater le bourgeois", to make you look twice at the universe she's managed to create, to make you be opinionated. I think these type of people are healthy to have in the public shpere.

But now, let's look a bit closer to her new video, Bad Romance. Again, leave the music and what you think of it behind. The imagery (courtesy of Haus of Gaga) in these video call for words such as alien, futurisic, beastly, vampire, robotic, and, well, in her own way, sexy. You just need to take a look at the mad McQueen pieces and shoes. But there's one Haus of Gaga dress in specific that has risen a lot of questions for me.

Bearing in mind that there is a certain look all throughout the video, what does this dress imply?

We have all seen breast padding, even ass padding. But this is a very tight fitting one-piece outfit with... extra rib and spine. Following this line of thought... if women wear something to artificially augment their breasts it's because they are considered sexy or sensual. Does this mean that there is a sense of erotism in having one's bones so marked? Or is this to remark the otherworldliness of the whole thing? What do you think?

26.8.09 1

African Moroso

Remember I was telling you about African textiles?

These is what Italian company Moroso has made inspired by them and all African crafts (I know, we are all asking: what did African crafters get out of this? Apparently they've set up a small atelier for 20 artisans adn the industrial designers were African, European and American).

I like them. Let's see how this all goes for everybody.

22.10.08 0

Gone rural

I hope yesterday's last post didn't make everybody feel too downbeat!

I am very, very honored to introduce you to Gone rural. Gone rural is a company that mixes beautiful, classic-with-an-edge design with traditional and local resources, crafts and, on top, empowers women. What else could you possibly ever ask for? The word is starting to spread; I've seen their stuff in Liberty of London (I am 99% sure) and it says on their website they're now available in Anthropologie stores.

I lived in Swaziland for two years, and I can only admire and love what Gone Rural stands for. They remain the closest to an ideal business I've ever come accross. Check their products out, they something to celebrate.