Big Day Runway

   Michele & John hosted a fashion runway show at their Olathe store, Big Day Boutique, tonight to premiere their summer collection, which will be featured on Zulily.com soon. A bunch of our friends & their adorable kids all turned out, in Squeaks & Beeps wear...

Showing off the merchandise

YUM.

The Kings

Jill

Stacy

I think Laura may be overserving...

A-dorable!

Jasper busts a move. Has he been in the wine?

Squeaks & Beeps Are in the House!

Teddi's house, to be exact. Holiday open house tonight...

    And in case you were wondering, the bibs fit adults too. Mine has Space Invaders. Don't be a hater!

Italian Lesson: Sprezzatura

   Okay, I'll admit it. I watch The Bachelor/The Bachelorette reality show on TV. And I consider it to be a very guilty pleasure, because it usually has so little redeeming value. (Other than the hilarity that ensues every Monday night as I enjoy it with John, Michele, Maureen and a stack of Spin! pizzas. We're very, very good at making fun of it.)

   But this last season surprised me a little bit; there was a male contestant, Ames, who maybe wasn't the best-looking (our nickname for him was "Superface" for his weirdly chiseled superhero features). But Ames had to be the most genuine, smartest, and sweetest man ever on the show. And in one of the final episodes he mentioned the Italian principle of romance called "sprezzatura." I'd never heard of it, so it intrigued me enough to look it up.

   Here's what Wikipedia says:

   Sprezzatura (Italian pronunciation: [sprettsaˈtura]) is an Italian word originating from Baldassare Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier, where it is defined by the author as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.” It is the ability of the courtier to display “an easy facility in accomplishing difficult actions which hides the conscious effort that went into them.” Sprezzatura has also been described “as a form of defensive irony: the ability to disguise what one really desires, feels, thinks, and means or intends behind a mask of apparent reticence and nonchalance.” The word has entered the English language; the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "studied carelessness."

   So it actually can be applied more broadly than romance, and Wiki goes on to say that sprezzatura is a necessary component for glamour. There are both positive and negative connotations to the term. I'm guessing that most films, songs, books, whatever that we are most drawn to, is due to the artists' mastery that allows us to be completely drawn into them to a point where the work feels natural and effortless, when in fact if you are aware of that and dissect them, you see endless evidence that most everything was intentionally and skillfully executed.

   I believe that I've been successful in achieving this principle (at least some of the time) in my drawings. When inspiration strikes me, I can usually sketch out something fairly quickly and without appearing to have expended much effort. If anything, all I give away for spectators is a grin on my face as I set to work, particularly if they're the unwitting subject and I'm about to zing them.

   Over the years I've been reasonably adept at channeling this same easy demeanor in my day job and have been commended for it. I can handle many projects and a ton of ambiguity without appearing flustered, and use that to help keep my coworkers calm (humor helps diffuse this as well).  Lately, the speed, complexity, heartache, and frustration have been building and I've lost my sprezzatura. My team talked to me about it—and thank goodness they did! So that's my new mantra. Italian is fun. Maybe I should learn some more of it...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

   Please enjoy this festive photo of three of my favorite coworkers, Ginny, Kim and Dave on one of the three days it's acceptable to wear that much red (Valentine's Day, Christmas, and Cheifs' Red Fridays. When the Chiefs are good. Which has not been the norm in my experience).
   Tonight I will be joining my good friends John and Michele for our weekly ritual of watching this idiot make a fool of himself. Really, in all of America you couldn't find a single dude better than Brad? TWICE?!? Every time he opens his mouth I think he's had a lobotomy.

   The show gives us plenty to laugh about. Michele's "Michelle" lookalike stunt last week was classic. Too bad John's hand got there in time to protect her identity!

   Mich—oops! I mean "Brad"—surprised me tonight by thoughtfully leaving a card and a giant blown-glass rose just for me. I thought it would be funny to take a seductive photo with it, and it was...

    ...except that the rose is over 15" long, and VERY heavy, and it nearly pulled out all my teeth. John and Michele, my lawyer should contact you within three business days.

Love you guys!!! Happy Valentine's Day!

A humbling experience

I believe that amazing, serendipitous things are around us all the time, & they'll happen to you if your mind is open to them.

   Proof #1: John Decastro & I were doing the whirlwind tour of Manhattan on Monday, & we stopped into Kinokuniya books, which has relocated from Rockefeller Center over to Bryant Park. (Which is a gorgeous, serene park loaded with trees, as well as the home of New York Fashion Week.) I was thrilled that John was willing to indulge my Japanophilism. As I was at the register I noticed a postcard advertising a show of Kuniyoshi's prints at the Japan Society. My jaw about hit the floor. I own one of his prints, which I purchased at the Kyoto Handicraft Center in 2006! And given that it's the most stunning piece of art I own (and one of the most stunning that I've ever laid eyes on), I knew I had to get to the show.
   So on Tuesday following the Stationery Show, the shuttle dropped me off in Times Square & I proceeded to hail a cab. Yeah right. It was POURING rain, & all were full. I might as well blow my life savings on lottery tickets. The show was pretty far away. What to do? Call it a loss or go all-out & try to make it. My answer to that type of question is always the same. And so I started walking east as briskly as possible. If I hurried I might get 45 minutes to view the show before they closed for the day. I took a couple of wrong turns. But I pressed on.
   The rain was so heavy & the wind so hard that I was soaked despite my umbrella, which I had to carry in front of me like a shield to deflect the rain & which turned inside-out more than once. Near the UN I passed a gorgeous meditation park. And spotted a woman with a shiba walking toward me! We chatted for a minute & I pressed on. Soon I walked into what I thought was the building, only to find that I was on the wrong street: 42nd instead of 47th. Crap. The sidewalks were full but people could tell I was on a mission: they got out of my way! I finally arrived at the beautiful Japan Society, with a running stream & slender, elegant bamboo growing throughout the lobby. The attendant informed me that the show was free today. So I shed my wet jacket & umbrella & marched up the stairs...

   And my jaw hit the floor again. I expected maybe two dozen prints. There had to have been one hundred, mostly dating from the 1830s-50s. I haven't seen a show of such presence & magnitude in years-- not since I saw Gajin Fujita's large-scale graffiti art at the Kemper Museum. And to think these prints were all from one artist!
   Kuniyoshi's prints are crafted with a delicacy that has become a lost art. Each of the galleries had a theme, from samurai warriors battling giant beastly animals or spirits, beautiful women, landscapes, and Kyouga or "crazy pictures."

My observations:
   Related to my upcoming JAS presentation about the proliferation of character design in Japanese society, I was struck that the geishas were wearing sticks in their hair w/hanging decorations that resembled modern cell phone straps. Between this & the kyouga prints, the roots of modern character design were obvious.

   The kyouga room was full of exquisitely bizarre imagery: animals impersonating people (cats dressed as men), people impersonating animals (men dressed as turtles) and people posed strategically so that when you step back the small bodies come together to form a large face, referencing portraits of kabuki actors, geisha & samurai. The triptych of cats was among my favorites. The "octopus games" (tako no asobi) made me laugh out loud, as the octopi with giant eyes & gaping mouths paraded around in men's robes & headbands, wrestling & strutting about.
   Best name ever: Shouki the demon-queller. (I should be called "Jen the demon-queller" for the shenanigans my shibas get into!) Watashi no shiba inu ha oni da to omotteimasu!

   I saw my triptych from 1851, "The Rescue of Tametomo by Tengu." Mine isn't yet framed (a crime I hope to remedy soon), so it was nice to see the museum treatment. The three pieces were aligned with no gap between them, with a 1/4" border between the prints & the mat, with a white background and a 1/2" warm brown wood frame. Simplicity that highlights the piece.
   Overall, what I admire about Kuniyoshi's work is that every piece is teeming w/life, full of force & motion in both the characters & the backgrounds, as in the warriors fighting tigers or the man kneeling below a waterfall, with the water hitting his body & spraying in all directions. Unity is achieved through repetition of form, such as the undulating rope through the vertical composistion in which the warrior uses immense power to haul a giant bell up a mountainside; or in the intertwined arms & legs of people and animals struggling to survive. The delicacy of the linework was nothing short of miraculous. And the vibrant, rich colors and contrast of flat or gradiated color & inticate patterns were masterfully used.

   Of course, my favorite pieces were invariably the men fighting giant animals personified as fierce demons, with smoking mouths, razor-sharp claws and teeth and ultimate determination to survive. Who knows who won the battles? The beasts included tigers, cats, rats, a toad, "Earth spiders," crocodile-fish hybrids, octopi, tengu, dragons, snakes, a lobster fighting a phoenix, and an imposing skeleton hovering menacingly over men and anatomically accurate. It is thought to have been drawn from European art specimens, but is unmistakably Kuniyoshi. His skill in drawing form is remarkable. His sketchbook blew me away. When I studied the prints up close it brought tears to my eyes. It was a humbling & moving experience!

Full review of the show

Japan Society Blog
Examiner article
"As elegantly sumptuous as they are imaginatively extravagant, Kuniyoshi’s greatest prints represent turbulent, epic visions of human protagonists battling supernatural beings on three-page spreads two and a half feet across, a format he invented." —Ken Johnson, New York Times(April 2010)
"The seeds of manga and anime can be seen everywhere in the ukiyo-e prints of Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861), whose eye for the fantastic and the ghoulish remains unmatched." —The New Yorker (April 2010)


Continues with next post...

Running around the city...

After the MOMA experience, John & I started heading towards some of the shops on our list. Take it from me, trying to imitate a giant inflatable rat takes a lot out of you. So we started looking for lunch.

And by a stroke of luck, 'wichcraft appeared. One of a chain of Tom Colicchio's sandwich shops, this was definitely a place high on my list to try. The guy's won like 5 James Beard Awards, and he's the star of Top Chef. (The name is a play on "Craft," his original NYC restaurant.) The atmosphere was spare & casual; a perfect, comfortable lunch spot.

John had the meatloaf sandwich (with cheddar & bacon!) and I tried the grilled gruyère& caramelized onions on country bread. Totally not at all surprisingly, it was delicious! And the gourmet peanut butter sandwich cookies & lemon Pellegrino also rocked. 

I will say, though, I make a helluva sandwich myself. My current favorite is the turkey & bacon with pepper jack & fresh, homemade guacamole on toasted asiago semolina. (Sometimes I switch out the guacamole & pepper jack for goat cheese & balsamic glaze, which is also quite good.) I must tip my hat to Colicchio, though, for the color of the toasted bread. You win this round!

Ok, where was I? Oh yes! New York! Here is a large Hallmark store in Times Square, masquerading as a NY gift shop / toy store / plush jungle / crap depository:

The Shoebox display looked good... minus the SIGNS FROM 2007?! I can hear Steve's eyes rolling in unison with mine.

The storefront at Kinokuniya Japanese Books, which had cleverly sneaked out of its Rockefeller Center location & reappeared in Bryant Park. Took us a while to find it! That shiba book is a must-find (I didn't have room in my bags for books):

This t-shirt is perfect for me, don't you think?

Love the architecture of the police station near Canal Street:

We were down there trying to find a purse for John's wife. (We didn't, unfortunately, though we put in a valiant effort!) I unexpectedly found an awesome Tokidoki purse!

Then we hit kidrobot, Giant Robot and more:

And at some point I accidentally
took a photo of my boob with my phone:

Probably because we were in such a hurry to get over to the reception preceeding the Louies (annual greeting card awards) at Chelsea Pier. The ceremony was fun & some very deserving (and very excited!!) people took home a Louie.

Dunkin' Dawbarns

Tell me these are not the cutest kids you've ever seen: Hazel and Jasper all ready for the Blackbob Pet Hospital pet parade! They are Dunkin Donuts' employees and their dog, Donut, is... a doughnut! Michele made the costumes by hand. Here's the amazing part: they didn't win the costume contest. Is there justice in this world? Apparently not.

P.S. Rahrrrr!!!

Wave: Nomathmatics vs. Quixotic

quix·ot·ic Pronunciation: \kwik-ˈsä-tik\

Function: adjective Etymology: Don Quixote / Date: 1718

1 : foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action

2 : capricious, unpredictable synonyms see imaginary

Last night I went to see "Wave: Nomathmatics vs. Quxotic" at The Foundation in the West Bottoms, which promised to be a high-energy, trip-hop, surreal experience and did not disappoint. The people-watching alone was worth the price of admission! My buddies Johnny D & Shepa played a great set, occasionally accompanied by 2 drummers from Quixotic, and several dancers with skimpy, futuristic, white, hooded leotards amid ethereal, draped fabric. Video of undersea creatures was projected on the fabric, my favorite being the hypnotic jellyfish. I felt like I was on another planet, but these guys are all Kansas City-based. Very cool. Here's an earlier video of the group

Sketches to come...

Guest artists!

Some awesome coloring work by guest artists Hazel, 5, and Jasper, 3. Donut is their lil' rat terrier. I included her on this year's Dog-n-Jog logo. And judging from the speed of that dog, I'm pretty sure she'd win the race if we could find a human fast enough to keep up with her!

Nice work, guys!