Instant Obsession

For my 'Translation' installation project, I had planned on spraypainting all of my dollhouses and Barbie paraphernalia 1 solid color. Then, something caught my eye on Amy Tavern's blog, and there was Denise Julia Reytan, making bib necklaces with collages of crap, all spraypainted the same color! Beautiful, I'll just have to do the same.

What inspires me about Reytan's work, is that she translates her small scale jewelry work, into large scale installation pieces. For example, here she describes her 2010 installation in Berlin, Big Poem:

"I build this jewellery installation for the »Poems on the 
body« exhibition in the gallery ”Schmuckfrage“ in Berlin.
This installation is about the beauty of everyday objects,
which surround us. I used funny hair rollers, yoga mats, 
plastic dishes, crazy silicon kitchenware, coloured wool, 
glossy plastic buckets, laces, spacy cleaning sponges… 
everything that fascinated me. When I arrange an installation, 

it is the same approach as I create jewelry..only bigger."

   

Deborah Brown, will you marry me?

Thank you Simon Doonan for introducing me to Deborah Brown. Flipping through Confessions of a Window Dresser, I spotted a Barbie themed window, therefore it was necessary that I stop and take a closer look. Simon often pairs up with visual artists to create collaborative windows. This particular window by Deborah Brown includes a serpentine Barbie with dismembered dolls that were reassembled with their mismatch parts, seamlessly joined with marabou or pearl trim. I could not find this exact image but her other works are no less stunning.

The Fabulous Simon Doonan

I picked up my book, Confessions of a Window Dresser today to research ideas on designs within a small space. Simon Doonan has been designing windows for Barneys since 1986 and has created some of the most fantabulosa windows in the world (he has a glossary section in the back of his book: "The lost language of window dressers" --> fantabulosa included). You may recognize him from his TV Show Beautiful People and he also writes books, I highly recommend Eccentric Glamour, he is absolutely hilarious.