If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

Photographer Christian Tagliavini And His Unique Paper, Plywood and Cardboard Dressed Portraits.

Recently, artist and photographer Christian Tagliavini completed a stunning series, 'Cartes', an artful take on playing cards using models clad in his paper fashions and decorative accessories.

above: Christian crafts the hat for the "Carte" shown below

Seeing those here on Huffington Post, inspired me to take a look at more of his work. As a result, I want to share with you two other series of his, Dames di Cartone (Cardboard Women) and 1503, both of which are formally photographed portraits of models clad in artful representations of historical fashions crafted out of cardboard, paper and plywood.

Dames di Cartone (Cardboard Women)
His series, Dames di Cartone, consists of two dimensionally outfitted portraits that emulate Cubistic, 17th century,and Fifties fashions. Using corrugated, cut and colored cardboard and plywood, the craftsmanship applied to live models makes for an interesting series.

#1, Dame di Cartone, Cubism I:

#2, Dame di Cartone, Cubism II:

#3, Dame di Cartone, Cubism III:

#4, Dame di Cartone, 17th Century I:

#5, Dame di Cartone, 17th Century II:

#6, Dame di Cartone, 17th Century III:

#7, Dame di Cartone, Fifties I:

#8, Dame di Cartone, Fifties II:

#9, Dame di Cartone, Fifties III:

1503
Similar creations of his can be found in his 1503 series. These represent 16th century fashions and combine textiles with paper and cardboard for a unique look. Several of these photographs have been featured on the cover of many photography and arts magazine worldwide.

#1 1503, Lucrezia:

#2 1503, Donna Clotilde:

#3 1503, Bartolomeo:

#4 1503, Ritratto di giovane donna:

#5 1503, Ritratto di signora in verde:

#6 1503, Ritratto d'uomo:

#7 1503, Artemisia:

#8 1503, Cecilia:

#9 1503, Ritratto di giovane uomo con cappello piumato:

Born in 1971, Christian Tagliavini was educated in Italy and Switzerland, where he lives and works as a photographer. This provides him the perfect frame and background to invent, create and totally produce images that blend fine arts and craftsmanship.

above photo of Christian Tagliavni by Paola Bergamaschi (courtesy of his Facebook page)

Christian Tagliavini

Lipstick Sculptures by Artist Maya Sum Will Leave Your Mouth Agape.

You may have seen some novelty shaped lipsticks such as the cute cat-shaped lipsticks by Paul and Joe and the Pipedream Products Lipstick Penises, but Hong Kong artist May Sum takes the concept of a sculpted and shaped lipstick a step further.

above: Tilda Swinton in Mark Fast

She may look a bit alien, but Scottish actress and artist Tilda Swinton knows how to strike a pose. The muse for many fashion designers, you can see why in these stunning photos. AnOther Magazine has a flashback section in which they show the best bits from their archives and these images stopped me in my tracks. They are from the magazine's S/S09 issue's cover shoot, in which Tilda was photographed by Craig McDean and styled by Panos Yiapanis wearing some of that season's most exciting new designers and looking like a million bucks. May be a few years old, but Tilda, the photography and even the fashions hold up nicely.

above: Tilda Swinton in Craig Lawrence

above: Tilda Swinton in Peachoo + Krejberg

above: Tilda Swinton in Mary Katrantzou

above: Tilda Swinton in Louise Goldin

above: Tilda Swinton in Peter Pilotto

Read the article and interview with Tilda in AnOther Magazine here.

Architect Zaha Hadid Designs Unique Bottle & Box For Leo Hillinger's Icon Hill Wine.

Leo Hillinger presents an iconic wine with packaging created by an icon herself. On October 4th of this year, at the Albertina in Vienna, Austrian winemaker Leo Hillinger unveiled his exceptional red wine blend, the 2009 Icon Hill in a precious bottle and box created by Pritzker-winning architect Zaha Hadid.

"With the unique design and the ICON HILL is optimally presented. Powerful and intense it is drawn from the creation in its spell. Zaha has perfectly embodied in the wine bottle shape."-- Leo Hillinger

Zaha Hadid, above, says of the design:
"The elongated volume of the bottle has been derived from the profile of liquid droplets. A continuous spatial curve was then projected onto the bottle’s surface, defining areas for the concave indentation and suggesting the waves created when droplets break a liquid’s surface.

The concave indentation and the bottle’s surface have the same curvature, enabling a set of bottles to interlock and be perceived as singular whole. A smaller indent and volume has been created at the base of the bottle for correct handling and to accommodate any tartrates.

To achieve the precision and accuracy required for production, the shape of the bottle was created using NURB-based CAD software. The bottle manufacturer directly implemented this 3D master geometry to produce the cast iron moulds for the glass forming process."

The Reviews
If you are wondering whether or not the wine is as good as the bottle, it has received a rating of 95/100 from Falstaff, the ultimate Austrian wine guide.

Falstaff chief Peter Moser who tasted the wine in advance and gave the following critique:
"Deep ruby garnet with purple hues, subtle edge whitening. In the nose with fine Kräuterwürze backed mature heart cherry fruit, a hint of dark berries, spices in the background and nuances of fine wood, a delicate hint of nougat, multifaceted bouquet that develops well with air. On the palate, complex, extraktsüße dark fruit, prominent and well-integrated tannins that give the wine length, hints of blackberries and ripe plums, pleasant acidity that for vitality provides, salty minerality on the finish holds good, disposes of secure aging potential, fine cherry fruit in Rückgeschmack. If one were to fully enjoy this wine at this youthful stage, it is advisable to decant the bottle for a good two hours." (optimum eating ripeness 2016 - 2030)

and from René Gabriel:
"The color is a deep dark red with black core. On the nose the wine is fresh, cool and seems so very precise, fruit and seasoning are very harmonious with black berry fruit, smoky Brazil tobacco, licorice and black pepper. ICON HILL displays a beautiful concentration. On the palate it is creamy, with dark caramel, prunes and ripe, balanced tannins stützende. This is not a wine that comes as a new multi-bomb wine, but considered his future and first in terms of class and harmony. Its beautiful balance we must here assume a potential that is loose and overheating of the first 10 years. His most beautiful ripe to eat I expect in about three to four years."

Only 999 bottles of ICON HILL are available. The ICON HILL is available at 99 euros per bottle in all Leo Hillinger retailers and online www.leo-hillinger.at.

Using The Force To Fight Diabetes. 6 Year Old's T-Shirt Would Melt Even The Darkest Sith Lord's Heart.

Now, here's a product that could bring light, love and hope to the Dark Side.

Six year old Audrey Chau has an older sister, Natalie, who has Type 1 Diabetes. In hopes of one day finding a cure for her sister's condition, Audrey has drawn her favorite characters from Star Wars, with much love and care (and talent). The adorable, yet recognizable characters, have been turned into a t-shirt for adults, youths and toddlers to wear, with all the proceeds from the sales going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Audrey and big sister Natalie:

Buy one - I did. The price is right ($12), the cause is just and the drawings are great.

Audrey graciously thanks you for your support and says, "May the force be with you!"

Buy your T-shirt (American Apparel adult crew tee, Hanes 5.2oz Youth or Gildan Toddler Tee) here

The Mercury Project: Dancers Painted Silver Form Ballet Imagery for the West Australian Ballet's 2014 Program.

To celebrate its Season 2014 launch and Artistic Director Aurelien Scannella's first year of programming, West Australian Ballet collaborated with Artist and Photographer Emma Hack to create a series of striking images for its 2014 program.

WAB commissioned the well-known body illustrator and artist who painted the dancers' g-string clad bodies in silver and then positioned them so that they created human sculptures to represent next years' performances.

Snow White:

A close-up of the apple:

Inspired by the beauty, the fluidity and the smoothness of the element mercury – a metaphor for dance – Emma created a series of images to celebrate Aurélien Scannella’s first curated season. She has also worked with WAB dancer and upcoming choreographer Daniel Roberts on a performance piece which will be unveiled at the company’s launch event on 17 October. Together, Scannella and Hack developed the project to showcase what ballet is capable of.

Radio (that's not a typo) and Juliet:

close-up of lips and chin:

In painting them silver, all dancers merge together as one to create beautiful things. It embraces the traditional elements of ballet by creating silhouettes that are classic looking, paired with something as progressive as body painting and building structures of twisted bodies. It has never been done before.

La Fille Mal Gardée:

Giselle:

detail from above image of Giselle:

Images from behind the scenes, courtesy of The West Australian:

Check out this behind the scenes mini-documentary, the making of 'The Mercury Project':

WAB SEASON 2014

•RADIO AND JULIET: BALLET AT THE QUARRY
7 February > 1 March, Quarry Amphitheatre, City Beach

•GISELLE
9 May > 24 May, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth

•LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE
5 September > 20 September, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth
15 October > 18 October, Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra

•SNOW WHITE AND THE 7 DWARFS
21 November > 14 December, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth

Bookings:
Season Package Subscriptions are available from West Australian Ballet from 10am, 18 October. Call (08) 92140707, go to waballet.com.au, fill in the form inside the Season 2014 Brochure or visit the West Australian Ballet Centre. Individual tickets are available from 18 November.

For Radio and Juliet: Ballet at the Quarry contact Ticketmaster on 136 100, visit waballet.com.au or any Ticketmaster outlet.

For Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardée, and Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, call Ticketek Theatre and Arts Hotline 1300 795 012, visit waballet.com.au or any Ticketek outlet.

See more of Emma Hack's work in these previous posts: