Work in progress, done. Plus, other art happenings I’m excited about.

 
Having attended more than a few art openings in New York, I was especially psyched to participate in the installation of one. Matt McGuinness, the painter and collage artist more commonly known within the Muse family as my other half, drafted me to help paint the camouflage portion of the backdrop for his series, “Casper [...]

Posted: January 12th, 2009  Category: Life  Comments: No comments#

Sign of the times: Christmas comes early at YSL

 “You know things are bad when YSL is on sale,” said a friend during an iChat conversation. “Wha?? Are you talking about last season YSL?” I replied. Surprisingly, she was not. I visited the Web site and, lo and behold, certain shoes from the autumn/winter ’08 collection were listed for as low as $169 (a [...]

Posted: December 10th, 2008  Category: Life, Wardrobe  Comments: No comments#

Basel blogging: 30 Americans

 
Arguably the most beautiful (and most talked about) show going during Basel week, the Rubell Family Collection exhibition, “30 Americans,” was so good that I went to see it twice during the same day. Don and Mera Rubell along with their kids Jennifer and Jason have collectively amassed one of the most significant collections in [...]

Posted: December 6th, 2008  Category: Life  Comments: No comments#

Basel blogging: Hey Mickey

Thanks to Mickalene Thomas I will never hear the ’80s hit “Hey Mickey” the same way again. The Brooklyn artist, who is a Muse favorite, had a crowd of people surrounding her video and painting installation at the main Art Basel fair. The video featured a sassy nude black girl dressed in knee-high gym socks [...]

Posted: December 5th, 2008  Category: Life  Comments: No comments#

Basel blogging: He’s a hit

 
While pounding the pavement at the seemingly endless satellite fairs during the Art Basel Miami over the past week, it has become pretty clear that the art world loves Barack Obama. Paintings featuring the President elect are now as popular (and ubiquitous) as those bejeweled Damien Hirst skulls were two years ago. I can’t help [...]

Posted: December 5th, 2008  Category: Life  Comments: No comments#

Artwalk: Kehinde Wiley’s Down and other cool happenings

Kehinde Wiley: Down
Deitch Projects, New York
Through December 20

Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of Cool
and
Shinique Smith: Like it Like that
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
November 12 - March 15

Shinique Smith: Good Knot
Yvon Lambert, London
November 21 - January 24

Posted: November 19th, 2008  Category: Life  Comments: No comments#

Remembrance: Miriam Makeba

A Miriam Makeba concert in Central Park was one of my first outdoor music experiences in New York. I began to associate Mama Africa with good times under the sun in the city and long nights dancing at Afro-Beat parties. So her death is not only a huge loss for the arts and culture world [...]

Posted: November 10th, 2008  Category: Life, Sounds  Comments: No comments#

It’s raining role models

Thanks to my friend Amy who forwarded me Vogue’s great article on the co-chairwoman of Barack Obama’s transition team and long-time friend, Valerie Jarrett. It has already sparked several rounds of group emails among my friends.

A few excerpts:

“Now we will see black women in magazines who are important because of what they’ve done, not who [...]

Posted: November 9th, 2008  Category: Life, Trends  Comments: 2 comments#

Spreading the good word aka How two credit-crunch facials rocked my world

I’ve replaced my expensive cleansers with the bargain drugstore staples Epsom salt and aspirin. The backstory: in preparing to move here, I purchased about $400 worth of my favorite facial cleansers and moisturizers. I did this to keep me out of pizza face territory through autumn until my trip home for Thanksgiving because I wasn’t [...]

Posted: November 9th, 2008  Category: Life, Palette  Comments: No comments#

Hair wars won

Crikey! After three long months of searching, I finally found a good London salon to go to for my winter weekly wash and sets. It’s a cute little mother and daughter owned shop called SVB (call 011 44 20 8291 5555 for appointments). I’ve tried several stylists during my time here but few knew how [...]

Posted: November 8th, 2008  Category: Life, Palette  Comments: 2 comments#