...basking under my yellow sky...: December 2010

"Everyone has been through this & I'm here to tell you. Once you have a child at home, your job better be really good to go back to because its hard to leave that kid at home. Your job needs to be challenging. It needs to be rewarding. You need to feel like you're making a difference"

- Sheryl Sandberg

INFLUENCERS

Street Knowledge

An encyclopaedia of street culture for those who love Banksy or Irvine Welsh and want to know about the cutting-edge talents, past and present, who have shaped urban cool. This eye-catching insider's guide includes old-school graffiti legends, avant-garde street artists, film-makers, DJ's, designers, writers and poets who have influenced urban culture.

From the ground-breaking New York artists of the 1980s to the unique work of modern-day Iranians -- this book shows how street culture has penetrated every aspect of modern life. It looks at the cities where all this is happening right now and gives the reader a mini city-guide to where the hottest spots are to be found and where to eat sleep shop drink and check out the freshest art, design and fashion. This is the first time there has been an in-depth look at street culture by a major publisher. Literally too much going on within the pages of this unique book to do justice in one paragraph!

Breezy Art

Mentalgassi for Amnesty International

Brothers and Sisters creative team Lisa Jelliffe and Kirsten Rutherford have teamed up with the anonymous German street art collective Mentalgassi, to create art installations for Amnesty International.

We've called the installations 'Making the invisible visible'. They highlight the case of Troy Davis, a man who has been on death row for 19 years in the USA, despite serious doubts about his conviction. The posters are displayed on fence railings. Front on, you see nothing but bars. Troy's face only becomes visible from an angle.

Africa's Demons

For decades, parts of Africa if not all; has been ruled by psychopaths. Pathological narcissists that share nearly the same mindframe with the likes of Mussolini, Hitler & Mao (to name a few). What all of the ideologies that help catapult these dictators to power have in common is a gross misunderstanding of economic reality. That & the obvious guiding force that is ofcourse - self-aggrandizement! Here we go:

Mobutu Sese Seko (Congo - Zaire)

This nigga seized control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a 1965 coup which seems like a very popular method & "ruled" for more than three decades, stifling political opposition and amassing huge sums of money while the country's economy crumbled. Look at him *smh*. How can they let this puny creature be the boss of em?!

Theodoro Obiang Nyuemo Mbsofo (Equatorial Guinea)

Known as " El Jefe " (The Boss) LOL. Ahem, so according to a state radio report, Obiang is "in permanent contact with the Almighty".

"He can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to hell because it is God himself with whom he is in permanent contact, and who gives him his strength," a presidential aide told listeners.

He overthrew his uncle and had him executed. His government has been described by several human rights groups as among the worst abusers of human rights in Africa. The tiny west African country has grown to become the continent's third largest exporter of oil, but despite the new-found wealth most of its 500,000 inhabitants still live in abject poverty. Go figure!

Idi Amin (Uganda)

Who hasn't heard of this guy?! Africa's boogie man. Characters like Freddie Kruger & Jason Voorhees were based off of this madman.

His reign was marked by brutal repression, torture and other violence. Bodies were found with genitals, noses, livers, and eyes missing. Prison camps began filling up with common citizens, where prisoners were forced to bludgeon each other to death with sledgehammers. Most sources suggest that around 300,000 people were killed by Amin's forces.
Another 60,000 Kenyans of Asian descent were expelled from the country.

In 1976, Amin declared himself president for life. Ha! Amin has been proclaimed as 'Africa's Adolph Hitler' but I think he's worse!

Omar Al Bashir (Sudan)

Ah, pig-face!

Since his ascendancy, Amnesty International claims some 1 million people have been killed in the Sudanese civil war, whilst another 9 million have either fled the country or been subjected to 'internal exile', which basically means 'stay inside or be shot'. Al Bashir has also dissolved Sudan's parliament, banned political parties and closed down all independent media outlets. He has imposed a strict version of Islamic law (shariah) and used it to brutally repress the predominantly non-muslim people of Southern Sudan.

Charles Taylor (Liberia)

Taylor was actually elected as president by the people of Liberia in 1997. Amnesty International says that Taylor's military forces regularly use rape and torture as instruments of terror and suggest that he used his civilians as virtual slave labour.

Estimates suggest that Taylor's personal fortune is greater than Liberia's Gross National Product. This fortune was amassed by looting Liberia's natural resources, including gold, diamonds, rubber and timber. Asshole.

Jean-Bedel Bokassa (Central African Republic)

Take a moment. Lol. Get this, In 1972 he declared himself president for life, and in 1976 he adopted the title of 'emperor' after a US $30 Million coronation ceremony. What a megalomaniac!

Whilst enriching himself to the tune of US $125 Million, Bokassa brutalised and exploited his people with apparent flair. His 'hands on' approach led Bokassa to be personally involved in atrocities including torture, executions and even cannibalism.

Bokassa was ousted by a French backed coup in 1979, but arrogantly returned in 1986, only to be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death for crimes against humanity. This sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and yet Bokassa was released in 1993. As if he wasn't busy enough, Bokassa apparently found time to have seventeen wives and around fifty children! He died of a heart attack in 1996.

*Sigh*

Tony Porter: A call to men

"I am a Parisian Lady" by Baudouin -- ((Room Inspiration))

The “I am a Parisian Lady” concept by French photographer Baudouin is to shoot some Parisian Ladies from unknown background at home and in the middle of their daily life. Going away from the cliche of the actress or celebrity to the unknown who represent the real Parisian Lady.

Chouette!

Source: Trendland

Want. Need. Must Have.

Source: Adore Clothing

Dragon in the Clouds

Takashi Murakami’s latest work is on display at the Gagosian Gallery opening in Rome. The new piece is simply titled “Dragon in the Clouds” and features two dragons in monochromatic blue and red. It’s definitely very different from his usual work, most evidently the lack of a huge color palette.

According to Murakami, “the combination of red and blue with a creature that has long been thought as a symbol of one’s destiny is my attempt to reaffirm my devotion to art – the creative process for the paintings resembled a prayer offering.”

Do the usual nothing until you find something to do.

"When it comes to artist block, and you are stressed out and anxious all the time and there is a deadline and you just can’t get into ‘the zone’ no matter how many coffees you may have had, just leave. Go see a movie. Go driving. Meet a friend. Get drunk. Have a nap. Do anything other than sit in front of the computer or easel or whatever. Just don’t think about it. I find that if you force it too much then it’s a crap time for everyone. It is no fun and the artwork suffers.”

– James Jirat Patradoon