Frédérique Morrel Gives New Life To Old Tapestries And Needlepoint In Her Sculptures.

Vintage tapestries become 'skin' for people, animals, trophy heads and even homewares in the laboriously beautiful work of Frédérique Morrel. A self-proclaimed latex, leather and fur lover, she has given old tapestries new life as integral parts of her sculptures.

Tapestries of all styles; erotic, kitschy and traditional, blend harmoniously and conceptually to add texture and narrative to the artist's free standing and wall mounted sculptures of deer, horses, unicorns, foxes, rabbits, dogs and the human figure.



above: Rembrandt, Bambi and Ma Biche from her Visitors and Passe-Murailles series.

She has three series of these sculptures. The Visitors consist of life sized animals covered in vintage tapestry and needlpoint and accented with real antlers, horns and hooves. Her Passe-Murailles are wall mounted trophy heads and G.Host are life sized human figures.

She starts with fiberglass molds injected with expanding foam, reinforces them with steel rods and hand applies the vintage "found" tapestries to the forms. The results are unusual and compelling pieces of art.

G.Host series

Eva, profile:

Eva, front:

Tony (front and back) and Eva:

Tony:

Tony, detail:


Three views of Diana:


Diana, detail:

Diana, back detail:

Legs:


All the pieces are made by hand in France by Frédérique, whose husband Aaron serves as the brand's artistic director.


above: artist Frederique Morrel and Damien

Frederique, husband Aaron Levin and their three boys:


Their adorable Jack Russells, Maggie and Godard:

All photos by Philippe Cluzeau


Be sure to see Frederique Morrel's Visitors and Passe-Murailles series here.

Ad Agency TBWA Chiat Day Celebrates Creativity With 5353 MUSIC\ART\FEST

If you thought that über cool and award-winning advertising for such clients as Nissan, Gatorade, VISA and Pedigree was the only thing to come out of the cool looking building by architect Clive Wilkinson located on 5353 Grosvenor Avenue, wait until you see what other talents are possessed by those employed at one of Los Angeles' hottest and hippest ad agencies, TBWA/Chiat/Day.




Across the entire agency are painters, photographers, fashion designers, poets, sculptors and musicians who will be sharing their works in the Southern California sunshine to the strains of some of LA's best local bands tomorrow, September 16th from 12-4 pm in the parking lot of the world-famous ad agency.


The featured bands include BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB, DJ JAYANTA, FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS, FOOL’S GOLD, LOCAL NATIVES amongst others.


The myriad of art will include photography, paintings, installations, video art and much more.


Food, too! The Greasy Weiner and Kogi truck will be at the festival from 12-2pm providing delicious food.Yum!

The 5353 MUSIC\ART\FEST is a celebration of the creative culture at the agency and the people who make it.

Learn more about it here.

Benjamin Lacombe's Beautifully Illustrated Pop-Up Book, Once Upon A Time.

above: spread from Little Red Riding Hood, illustration by Benjamin Lacombe

Il Était Une Fois (Once Upon A Time), is a beautiful pop-up book which features eight classic fairy tales; Alice In Wonderland, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, Peter Pan, Little Red Riding Hood, Madame Butterfly and Thumbelina rendered in splendid 3D illustrations/paintings by the handsome and talented french illustrator Benjamin Lacombe with paper pop-up construction design by Jose Pons.


above: detail from Madame Butterfly illustration by Benjamin Lacombe

The book was first published November 2009 in France by Seuil Jeunesse, then recently published in Spain by Edelvives and soon to be published in Italy. The book is not available in English- at least not yet.

Below is a spectacularly produced promotional video (truly as beautful as the book itself) for the book by Romain Berthou and Laurent Covet from B&C Wall , a Paris collective of directors, character designers and CG animators.



The cover and some images from the book:









Here are some of his background illustrations or the book before the mechanics and 3D pop up parts were added.

Sleeping Beauty:

Alice in Wonderland:


About the artist (from his site):

Benjamin was born in Paris in 1982.
In 2001, he attended the ƒcole Nationale SupŽrieure des Arts DŽcoratifs of Paris (ENSAD) where he pursued his artistic education. In addition to his studies, he worked as an advertising and animated movie artist before completing his first comic series at the age of 19, along with a few other illustrated books.

His final project "Cherry and Olive", which he has both written and illustrated, became his first children’s book and was published by Les ƒditions du Seuil in March 2006. The following year, it was released by Walker Books (USA) and nominated one of the top 10 children’s books for the year 2007 in the U.S.A. by the prestigious weekly news magazine Time.

Since then, Benjamin has written and illustrated numerous books. He has notably worked with Albin Michel, Barefoot Books (USA), Edelvives (Spain), Hemingway Korea (Korea), Milan, MaxMilo, Sarbacane, Soleil, Walker Books (USA) and of course Le Seuil Jeunesse, the publishing house which has issued most of his books.

Benjamin exhibits his work on a regular basis. Among others, it has been displayed in the following art galleries: Ad Hoc Art (New York),L’art de rien (Paris), Dorothy Circus (Rome), Maruzen (Tokyo), etc...

Benjamin lives and works in Paris with his dog Virgile, often found hiding among the pages of his books.

Benjamin Lacombe

Mattel Taps Into Sexy Classic TV Icons For 5 Soon To Be Released Barbie Dolls.

Mattel has already created wonderful Barbie dolls from some of cinema's sexiest female characters, such as Marilyn Monroe and the James Bond Girls set 1 and 2 , as well as the hot female 80's music icons Joan Jett, Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Harry (Blondie).

But now they are reaching back to classic TV pop culture and filling the prepubescent fantasies of many of my male peers.

Now available for pre-order at $34.99 each are a slew of female tv series characters that set many a young male's loins ablaze in the 70s and 80s.


above l. to r.: Barbara Eden, Elizabeth Montgomery, Donna Douglas, Linda Evans and Joan Collins

The new I Dream Of Jeannie (Barbara Eden) Barbie doll, the Bewitched Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) Barbie doll, the Beverly Hillbillies' Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas) Barbie Doll and the cat-fighting rich bitches from Dynasty, Krystal Carrington (Linda Evans) and Alexis (Joan Collins) Barbie dolls will be released this coming December, 2010 and in January 2011.

As often is the case with these collectible Barbie dolls, they sell out quickly once they hit the stores, so snap them up via the pre-order links I've got here for you.

Jeannie

The I Dream Of Jeannie doll is complete with Jeannie's sexy bared tummy which drove Major Nelson mad with desire and her little genie bottle:

Pre-order the I Dream Of Jeannie Barbie doll here.


Samantha Stephens

The Samantha Stephens Bewitched Doll, wife to two different Darrens who wrinkled her nose to conjure up magic, comes dressed in her signature outfit from the show's animated opening, complete with broom:

Pre-order the Bewitched Barbie here.


Elly May Clampett

What young man didn't lust after The Beverly Hillbillies' Elly May Clampett with her little girl pony tails and Southern accent?

Pre -order the Beverly Hillbillie's Elly May Clampett Barbie doll here.

Dynasty

The Alexis Carrington Dynasty Barbie doll and the Krystle Carrington Dynasty Barbie doll come with their classic 80's primetime shoulder padded gowns and lots of diamond jewelry, but no John Forsythe.

Alexis Carrington

Pre-order the Alexis Barbie doll here.

Krystle Carrington

Pre-order the Krystle Carrington Barbie doll here.

New Architectural Rings From Philippe Tournaire - Archipolis, Paris, Moscow, New York & More.

above: Philippe Tournaire's New York Ring in white gold with an aquamarine representing the Chrysler building

One of my favorite posts of all time was the one in which I featured the amazing Villa de Reve Collection (dreamhouse rings) by jeweller Philippe Tournaire. The miniature custom hand crafted replicas of personal residences, mansions and villas in rose, yellow, white gold and platinum, some accented with gemstones are still on my "If-I-Ever-Win-The-Lottery" list.