The Death of Ivan Ilyich...

Pixelated Polo Ponies Series # 1

For those of you who know me personally you're (I believe that's anyone who has actually looked at the blog- but just in case you're stumbling across is for the first time) aware that I've recently started my B.F.A specialising in Photography at Ryerson University.

Pixelated Polo Ponies is the first conceptual series that I've actualized and I am very pleased as its turned out exactly how I'd envisioned.

The Ellsworth Kelly-esque pixelation over the iconic Polo insignia represents the uncertain and often misleading luxury brands of today. Ever suggesting the notion of exclusivity, limited quantities, high quality and status these brands have traded skilled, artisnal craftsman for offshore sweatshops which furthers the unobtainable and disturbing illusion that is all too often fashion.

Damen und Herren können ich den Porsche Panamara vorstellen...

Please take a look at the video. I've been waiting a couple of years for this vehicle to debut. It's finally here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25iaE_ay8aM&feature=fvhl

How does $5,000,000 per bedroom sound?

During a little Sunday perusal of the NY T's Real estate section and archives I stumbled across yet another stunning creation by McKim, Mead & White- 998 Fifth Avenue. Read my favorite snippet and search "998 Fifth Avenue" on the NY T's homepage for the full article or google images for jaw dropping floorplans.

"In 1909, Lee and Charles R. Fleischmann bought the northeast corner of 81st and Fifth from the financier August Belmont, who had contemplated building his own mansion there. Lee hired the firm of McKim, Mead & White, which designed many of New York's grandest buildings, ranging from the Metropolitan Club at 60th and Fifth to the old Penn Station.

Residential Fifth Avenue had seen a few apartment buildings by 1910, but nothing like the 12-story 998 Fifth Avenue. McKim, Mead & White developed an all-limestone exterior in the Italian Renaissance style -- the exterior, for its time, looked more like a bank or a private club. Lee had the vision to combine the sensible efficiencies of a multiple dwelling with the scale of a country house, using an architectural language understood by families with housing budgets measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That vocabulary included wine rooms, safes for jewelry and silver, elevators paneled in French walnut, non-tarnishing gold-plated hardware, nine coats of paint, refrigerators six feet wide and eight feet high, and seven bedrooms. In the typical apartment the dining room was 21 by 25 feet, a central oval salon was 16 by 20 and the living room was 21 by 24; all were flanked by a gallery that was 14 by 36. There were six to nine servants' rooms per apartment."

Written by: Christopher Gray.

a couple of items that would be a nice addition to any home...

1. Set of eleven Vintage Gucci "Stirrup" Cocktail Picks

$450.00

2. Jackie & JFK Portrait #4 by Mark Shaw. Hyannis Port 1959.

$1800.00

if interested please contact- I'll direct you to where you can purchase

Here's an idea...

Buy Land. Never sell it off. Hold on to it forever- it is finate- and will always be worth MORE.

"Mr. White described the challenge of his mission — reconciling turn-of-the-last-century splendor and turn-of-this-century living — with a simple question: “How do two people live in a 40,000-square-foot house with nearly 15-foot ceilings and not make it look ridiculous?”

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/garden/06white.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1

GREEN LIVING: Vrai ou Faux?

Attached are a couple of articles that I feel channel some info that I've been thinking about for a long time. The first article focuses on competitive altruism within the 'Green Campaign'- and the second- a review of the new Honda Insight and what it actually takes to make a hybrid car.

1. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1902361,00.html

2. http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=89448434319&h=cSFEK&u=VDz-6&ref=mf

REMEMBER: ''Mass producing a canvas bag is a plastic concept''