Noon Solar Fashion: Bags That Take Charge

Noon Solar creates bags for people who are equally conscious of style and sustainability. Their bags combine durable solar power charging capability with sustainable design and American based, socially responsible manufacturing.

Their previous collection (which is sold out):



.... and a sneak peek at some of the new, soon to hit the market, styles (courtesy of Goldarths):




Noon carefully chooses materials for their sustainability, longevity, and beauty, to design and create the next generation of totes and satchels. Using natural pigments, we hand-dye our hemp and cotton fabrics in house and feature only chrome-free leathers which have also been naturally dyed and tanned. Because natural dyes can vary from dye bath to dye bath, each bag is one-of-a-kind.

Their Noon Solar line integrates a flexible solar panel into the body of each bag, allowing it to charge your cell phone or iPod. By integrating solar panels into our bags, we offer not only the convenience of portable power, but also a means to incorporate renewable energy into your daily life.

As stated above, the following styles are all sold out, however, their new 2008 Spring Collection is supposedly available any day now and you can sign up to be alerted as to when, by signing up on their website.

The Cortland:
available in black (shown below) or chocolate



The Willow:
available in steel (shown below) and chocolate



The Logan:
available in chocolate (shown below) or black and chocolate



Solar power:
On the outside of your bag, there is a paper thin, flexible solar panel. This solar panel charges a battery pack located inside the bag to supply power for your cell phone or iPod, day or night. Simply place the solar panel in the bag towards the sun to collect usable energy.



Put it in your window at work, home, car, or on the train; face it towards the sun at a café; or walk/bike around town with the panel exposed. Even on cloudy or rainy days, energy is collected through the UV light of the sun.

On a bright, sunny day the battery should be fully charged in 6-8 hours. On a cloudy day the battery will require a bit more time. The battery pack will hold the sun’s energy for several days.



Included with each Noon Solar bag is a user manual explaining the specifics of solar energy and how to access and use it.

Specs:


Power Bank
* Selectable output voltage of DC 5.2V, 6.2V, 7.2V. Max output current is 1.8A, working current is 1.1A.
* Internal battery is 3.6V, 3600mAH.
* The battery box will change to power saver mode to conserve the battery while the output cable is NOT plugged in. If the output cable is plugged in, the battery box will change to work mode and will drain the battery even if your device is not plugged in.
* The Power Bank has overload and short circuit protection.
* FCC certified and CE approved.

Solar Panel
* Output is 7.2v, 300mA.
* The solar panel is completely water and weather proofed, and will continue to work even if it wears with age.
* You will not be harmed if the solar panel gets wet.

Precautions
* Do not damage the battery box or solar panel
* Do not burn or expose the battery box or solar panel to fire
* Please recycle the battery box, dispose of it properly, or mail it to us for recycling
* Do not open or dismantle the box

In addition to the solar bags, they plan on launching a collection simply called "Noon" this coming fall that offers the bags without the solar panels. Find out all about Noon Solar here.

Funky Find Of The Week: Randy Wood's Rubber Pillows & Erotic Homewares

The 12" square pillows made by Randy Wood are three dimensional and cast from a single mold. Available in red or black, you can choose from nose, face or... a dick.



Made with rubber, canvas and filler, they are bizarre but beautiful in their own weird way.


above: The face pillow

above: The nose pillow

above: The dick pillow

He actually has some G-rated ones like wings and hearts (shown in the first picture in this post) which I found over at urban peel. Those sell for $75.00 a piece, but the site is presently under construction.



Want to see the Randy Wood website? Check it out, but be forewarned, you should probably be 18+ because he clearly has a fixation with the male anatomy. The site sells erotic homewares (knobs, wall hooks, trays, candleholders, leather notebooks... even carving knives) all with the cast head of a penis as the design element:




The site proclaims that Porno vases and table Lamps are coming soon!

Buy the pillows and the above erotic items here at Randy Wood's site.

The Last Supper. And the one after that. And after that. And then, even more.

Above: The Sopranos Last Supper for Vanity Fair magazine

Whenever I see popular blog posts and online articles about something in pop culture that references something historical, I always wonder if the ... ahem, younger generations know the origin of the original and how many other interpretations had been created prior to the one they tweeted, tagged, posted on 'digg' or shared on facebook.

Such is the case with a link someone sent me of fun parodies based on Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. I'd seen the Soprano's Last Supper photo in Vanity Fair and was familiar with the Legos one, since it had been e-mailed to me a ways back. Along with those, the link included just about every pop culture version you could think of -from the Simpsons to Star Wars.


Above: The Last Supper made of Legos

This got me wondering if the people viewing it were aware that The Last Supper was a subject for many well known artists from the 14th-20th centuries, not just da Vinci. From Albrecht Durer to Rembrandt, Tintoretto to Blake, the subject was interpreted by almost every painter who painted for money for centuries. Common sense would tell you that, given that biblical scenes and stories dominated the art world long before any other subjects. But I wondered how many people e-mailing that very link also know that the piece has since been interpreted by the likes of such artists as Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and even photographer David LaChapelle, to name a few.

Well, if they didn't, you can e-mail them this post.

I'm not going to show you the scads of photoshopped and parody versions out there in cyberspace because so many other bloggers have done that already*. Instead of parodies, I wanted to show you other fine art and photographer's interpretations of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting. Don't groan... you may just learn something.

You are probably used to seeing the original like the one below:

But that is very enhanced for reproductions like posters, etc. To be more accurate, see the next two images (and click on them to enlarge)


Let's start with the original:

Above: before cleaning

Above: after cleaning

Facts:
The subject: The Last Supper
Painted by: Leonardo da Vinci
Where: Milan, refectory of the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent
When: From 1494 to 1498
Size: 460 x 880 cm (181 x 346 in)
Technique: Tempera with oils on white lead and calcium carbonate


A site where you can see the Leonardo DaVinci's Last Supper in amazing detail, down to a pixel.

Wanna see it in person? Please note that starting from April 28th it is possible to book until 30/09/2008. entrance booking info here.

And now some wonderful fine art interpretations of the Last Supper, in chronological order:


Above: Marisol Escobar's Last Supper (1930) installation


Above: Salvador Dali's The Sacrament Of The Last Supper, 1955


Above: Mary Beth Edelson's feminist interpretation, 1971


Above: Hermann Nitsch's Last Supper (1976-9)


Above: Andy Warhol's Last Supper (pink), 1986


Above: Andy Warhol's Last Supper (Dove), 1986

above: Andy Warhol,Last Supper, 1986


Above: Damien Hirst's "Last Supper", 1999


Above: two of the 13 screenprints from Damien Hirst's "The Last Supper" collection, 1999




Above: Devorah Sperber's unusual installation, After The Last Supper, 2005




Above: Francine LeClercq's impressive Last Supper Untitled (installation), 2007

Now, some photographic interpretations of the The Last Supper for both advertising campaigns and personal collections:

above: Underwater Last Supper by photographer Howard Schatz, 2008


Above: by photographer Marcos López, 2001


Above: by photographer Cui Xiuwen, 2003


Above: by Russian film director, Mamedov


Above: by photographer David LaChapelle


Above: unknown photographer, an ad for the Folsom Street Fair


Above: controversial recreation by photographer Elisabth Ohlsen Watson


Above: Fashion shot by Frank Herholdt


Above: unknown photographer, ad for Francois Girbaud


Above: shot by Annie Liebovitz for Vanity Fair & HBO

Okay, now I know you're dying to see all the parodies (like the one below), so here are the links to those:

above: Clowns Last Supper by artist known as Dark Vomit

*An enormous collection of pop culture and television interpretations of the Last Supper from the Slog, posted by Dan Savage

And yet another collection, Suddenly Last Supper, of photoshopped, staged and fun pop culture versions from The Sopranos to Legos of The Last Supper can be found here.

For real art history buffs, here are links to just a few of the other historical religious paintings of the last supper:

Last Supper, Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, 1150-1200. Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church.
Lord's Supper, German Gothic Sculptor, c 1250. Web Gallery of Art.
Last Supper/Communion of the Apostles, Liturgical Veil, 13th/14th century. Benaki Museum, Athens.
Last Supper, Wissington, Suffolk, 13th century. Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church.
The Last Supper and the Agony in the Garden, Spolto, c 1300. Worcester Art Museum.
Last Supper, Fairstead, Essex, 13??. Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church.
Scenes from the Life of Christ: 13. Last Supper, Giotto di Bondone, 1304-1306.
The Last Supper, Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-1311. CGFA.
The Last Supper, Friskney, Lincs, c 1320. Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church.
The Last Supper, Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320-1330. Olga's Gallery.
The Last Supper, Jaume Serra, 1370-1400. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Little Tey, Essex, 14??. Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church.
The Last Supper, Jaume Huguet, 1450. CGFA.
Communion of the Apostles, Fra Angelico, 1451-53. CGFA.
The Last Supper, Jacopo Bassano, 1542. Galleria Borghese, Rome.
The Last Supper, Dieric Bouts, 1464-67. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Taddeo Crivelli, 1469. Getty Museum.
The Last Supper, Jaime Huguet, 1470. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1476. Web Gallery of Art
The Last Supper, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1480. Web Gallery of Art
The Last Supper, Domenico Ghirlandaio, c 1486. Web Gallery of Art
The Last Supper, Pietro Perugino, 1493-96. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Leonardo daVinci, 1498.
The Last Supper, Bernaert van Orley, 1500's. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Last Supper, Little Easton, Essex, 15??. Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church.
Christ Instructing Peter and John to Prepare for the Passover, Vincenzo Civerchio, 1504. National
Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Albrecht Dürer, 1510.
The Last Supper, Franciabigio, 1514. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Albrecht Dürer, 1523.
The Last Supper, Andrea del Sarto, 1520-25. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Albrecht Durer, c 1520. Lutheran Brotherhood's Collection of Religious Art
The Last Supper, Bernart van Orley, 1520-1530. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Last Supper, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1524-25. CGFA.
Triptypch with the Last Supper, Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Plaque with the Last Supper, Jean Penicaud I, c 1530. National Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Jacopo Bassano, 1542. Borghese Barberini Corsini Spada Gallery, Milan.
The Last Supper, Juan deJuanes, 1560's. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Tintoretto, 1592-94. Web Gallery of Art
The Last Supper, Daniele Crespi, 1624-25. Web Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Peter Paul Rubens, 1630. Olga's Gallery.
Glorification of the Eucharist, Rubens, 1630. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Last Supper, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1634-35. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Last Supper, Philippe de Champaigne, 1600's. CGFA.
The Last Supper, Nicolas Poussin, 1640's. Olga's Gallery.
The Last Supper, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, 1664. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
The Last Supper, Simon Ushakov, 1685. History of Russian Painting.
The Last Supper, Sebastiano Ricci, 1713/1714. National Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, William Blake, 1799. National Gallery of Art.
The Last Supper, Nikolay Gay, 1863. Olga's Gallery.
The Last Supper, Carl Bloch, 1875, Hope Gallery.

Of course I've left out hundreds, probably more like thousands, of worthy interpretations so forgive me. But now, when you see photo shopped versions of The Last Supper (and believe me, there are hundreds more to come), you'll know that the aforementioned artists did it first.

UPDATE: See Televisions casts posing as the Last Supper, From LOST to MASH here.

Collaboration of 2 Dutch Designers Yields 2D Furniture

The 2D furniture collection by Wouter Nieuwendijk and Suzanne van Oirschot is a fun collaboration between these two designers from the Netherlands.

The collection was designed for an exhibit in Das Wella Warenhaus at the Keizersgracht 300 in Amsterdam, but it is worth printing here for you to see if you haven't already. Photographic images printed upon white laminated particle board furniture make a statement about storage and items that is in direct conflict with the minimalist look of much of today's modern furniture.






Unfortunately, the pieces are not available for purchase (at least not in the US). But hey, head on over to Ikea, buy some pieces and put your own photos on them!