<span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">a studio visit with </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stephen Kenn</span></span>, <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">L.A. designer</span></span><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6813950403_f1b913aebd_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6813950403_f1b913aebd_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 701px; height: 251px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />I spent this morning with <a href="http://stephenkenn.com/" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stephen Kenn</span></span></a> drinking <span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.handsomecoffee.com/" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Handsome coffee</a></span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">(L.A.'s finest)</span> while talking about Stephen's collection of interior inspired works at his home / showroom / cafe in a warehouse space in downtown Los Angeles. Stephen, who once designed fashion is now reflecting on art, object making, and furniture. At an accelerating rate, designers are launching companies with items produced locally in this city.<br /><br />Stephen mentioned <a href="http://maxlamb.org/"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Max Lamb</span></span></a>, and design icons <a href="http://www.vitra.com/en-us/"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">VITRA</span></span></a> as models of inspiration. He is attracted towards work that speaks of a story. It's also extremely important to Stephen that his products are made locally. His Inheritance Collection is from repurposed materials combined with a modern, comfortable design that is conducive to community and conversation. If you are in L.A., I suggest dropping by, drinking some coffee, and having old fashioned conversation. Get in touch. <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">- David John</span><br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6813919655_809569f89a_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6813919655_809569f89a_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 701px; height: 467px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6813805741_16bb0cbab0_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6813805741_16bb0cbab0_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 701px; height: 467px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The <span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >Inheritance Collection</span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span>is designed, sourced & crafted in L.A.<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1250 </span>Long Beach Ave Suite 120 Los Angeles, CA 90021</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">(</span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Thanks Stephen and Bek for being so generous with your time....)</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-----------------</span><br style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></span>

a studio visit with Stephen Kenn , L.A. designer I spent this morning with Stephen Kenn drinking Handsome coffee (L.A.'s finest) whi...

Read more »

<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span>"I’m trying to communicate <span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">transparency.</span></span>"</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The reward for good work</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> is more work.” – Tom Sachs</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6805119475_faf2f377ca_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6805119475_faf2f377ca_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 553px;" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Intermission Magazine</span></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"> recently posted an interesting interview with <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom Sachs</span></span>, artist.</span><a href="http://www.intermissionmagazine.com/2011/12/tom-sachs/" style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(read the interview here)</span></span></a><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">. His thoughts are reflections on "object" making, both as consumers, viewers, and voyeurs. What do our objects mean? </span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >"</span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">I’m trying to communicate transparency.</span></span> I’m looking to show the scars of labor and the evidence of construction. <span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">I can’t afford to make things that are perfect </span></span>– if you look at your phone, or your computer, everything that you buy looks as though it was miraculously hatched out of thin air. One way of making things special is to make them by hand. That’s what people look for in your jewelry as well; it’s hands-on, which is part of its charm. I would like to be an advocate for this particular politic of building. Being a builder, I think ideas translate beyond the realms of painting and sculpture. <span style="font-size:100%;">We’re seeing a global recession because we’ve been making terrible shit, terrible cars and so on, and as a result the chickens have come home to roost.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" > </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">But if we create things showing how they’re made, showing transparency, we’ll know how to fix them if they fail. </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span>And maybe they won’t fail because we’ll be able to see the cracks before it happens.</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >"<br /></span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6805119439_b074b9931c_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6805119439_b074b9931c_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 553px;" /></a><br /><br />"<a href="http://tomsachs.org/"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">TOM SACHS</span></span></a> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">is a sculptor, probably best known for his elaborate recreations of various Modern icons, all of them masterpieces of engineering and design of one kind or another. In an early show he made Knoll office furniture out of phone books and duct tape; later, he recreated Le Corbusier's 1952 Unité d'Habitation using only foamcore and a glue gun.</span><span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class=" down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"><img alt="Link" border="0" class="gl_link" src="img/blank.gif" /></span></span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> Other projects have included his versions of various Cold War masterpieces, like the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module, and the bridge of the battleship USS Enterprise. And because no engineering project is more complex and pervasive than the corporate ecosystem, he's done versions of those, too, including a McDonald's he built using plywood, glue, assorted kitchen appliances. "</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><a href="http://tomsachs.org/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Tom Sachs here..</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.intermissionmagazine.com/2011/12/tom-sachs/"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Read the interview here.</span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">---------------</span>

"I’m trying to communicate transparency. " “ The reward for good work is more work.” – Tom Sachs Intermission Magazine recentl...

Read more »

<span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span>a room by </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shelton, Mindel & Associates</span><br />vs.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Robert Ryman's </span></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">paradoxically “realist” paintings</span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6792995911_507ea0e826_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6792995911_507ea0e826_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 552px;" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6793005091_79e5f7f1f9_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6793005091_79e5f7f1f9_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 561px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />"<span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >White actually means taking away, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">eliminating</span></span>. It’s not the case of painting white paintings. It’s a question of using white pigment. Of course, I use it differently today because the issues have continued to develop. I never thought that there should be a lot of things in a painting that don’t necessarily belong there. After all I didn’t simply make a decoration or paint an accumulation of things in order to see what works well.<br /><br />My main concern was<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"> to develop the structure</span></span> of the paintings so that it contains the essentials and everything superfluous is eliminated…the composition extends to the wall and becomes a part of the wall… when you take my paintings off the wall, they don’t exist anymore.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The painting needs a wall in order to exist.</span></span> Otherwise it makes no sense."<br /><br />- <a href="http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/september-october-2004/an-interview-with-robert-ryman-by-peter-blum"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">Robert Ryman</span></a>, <a href="http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/september-october-2004/an-interview-with-robert-ryman-by-peter-blum">taken from here.</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(192, 192, 192);">Interior space by</span> <a href="http://www.sheltonmindel.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Shelton, Mindel, and Associates</span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-----------------</span><br /><a href="http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/september-october-2004/an-interview-with-robert-ryman-by-peter-blum"></a>

a room by Shelton, Mindel & Associates vs. Robert Ryman's paradoxically “realist” paintings " White actually means taking away,...

Read more »