Butterflies, Sunflowers and Steering Wheels

New at the MoMA store the George Nelson Flock of Butterflies wall clock by Vitra. It's an early 60s design of wood and polished metal, part of the “Clocks Ahead of Time" series. This one would make a real statement on the kitchen wall - it's a full 2' in diameter, which is probably a little more manageable than my (until now) favorite George Nelson design:


The 1958 Sunflower Clock. The extra-large size - 29.5" makes it the ideal clock for my kitchen. I know because we bought a floor model when we got the Platner table but had to return it when the hands dropped off. It fitted exactly into the style of The Cool House and the space on the wall. We plan to put a new model there after we paint...


but if I had a slightly more mod house - and only needed a 12" clock - I'd definitely pick The George Nelson Steering Wheel clock. It might be a 1948 classic but it reminds me of Mini Coopers and pop art mini dresses. Available from Velocity Arts

Tails 'n' Fur

Three images from a morning at MoMA.


Appropriate for this time of year, Tim Burton's Deer Topiary from Edward Scissorhands, part of the Tim Burton retrospective that runs through April 26, 2010. Look at Rudolph's rear, it's almost wagging.


Merrit Oppenheim's sensual Object, a fur cup, saucer and spoon from The Erotic Object: Surrealist Sculpture from the Collection. Until January 4, 2010.


Mobile Matrix (2006) the breathtakingly beautiful reassembled sculpture of a whale skeleton, part of the Gabriel Orozco exhibition that runs though March 1, 2010.

Tiny Wooden Objects

MoMA Design Store catalog is out and full of more uniquely modern objets. Several are on my covet list including these four wooden pieces:


Sang-bum Kim's mini cube I.dear speakers (also in faux marble) are sold exclusively by MoMA. They include a USB connector for charging and a standard jack to connect to your iphone or other portable audio player. $36.00.


Bamboo Desk Clock by Japanese designer Yusuke Tsujita that is just 3" square. Perfect simplicity for a minimalist bedside table. $88.00


via Japanese design emporium MUJI comes New York City in a Bag , wooden representations of NYC landmarks (and six cars), that would look great on a bookcase and cost an budget friendly $15.00


From the NYC borough of Brooklyn come these gorgeous Spice Blocks made from repurposed mahogany from a window factory. Food safe, they'd be welcome in my kitchen. Designed by Nick Foley and Diane Ruengsorn $50.00.

Satellite Fruit Bowl of Love

The Satellite Bowl designed by Carlo Contin for sale at MoMA. The simple, geometric and uniquely modern fruit bowl I've been lusting after for a long time. The one The Guy drove all the way into Manhattan two days before Christmas to get for me.

Calorie-free Gingerbread House

Do you think I'll make a better Gingerbread House with this holiday card and its stickers?


With luck it may end up like this. Lots and lots of luck, that is. And a steady hand. Hmm, don't hold your breath. I think I'll just send them out.
Available from MoMA at a huge discount if you buy any three packs of cards and are a member.

Streetwalkers

We'd gone to the Moma to see the Van Gogh and the Colors if the Night and the Joan Miro: Painting and Anti-Painting exhibitions but it was Kirchner and the Berlin Street that really thrilled us. This small show, that sadly finished its run on Monday, was a true delight. Depicting Berlin's working women in the years just before World War I, the colors are thing you notice first about Kirchner's art; vibrant pinks and luminous yellow, moody greens and blues. The stylised figures, elongated streetwalkers and their furtive clients with blackened eyes, reminded me both of El Greco and the masked characters in James Ensor's paintings.

Potsdamer Platz, 1914

Danger is here on the Berlin streets, you feel the furtiveness of the figures in the background, but there is also vitality, the women dress alluringly in furs and plumed hats. It's almost like looking at stills from My Fair Lady or mannequins in a department store window.
This exhibition along with other works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner can be seen next at The Brücke-Museum in Berlin, if you are planning a visit to Germany between December 13 and March 15 2009.

Pulverise It

When we were at the MoMA recently I professed interest in one of these and instantly I had two people fighting to buy it for me. Isn't that nice?
I'm usually a "smack a couple of cloves with the blade of a knife, then finely chop" girl but I loved the shape of this Garlic Crusher from Dutch designer Ineke Hans, and the weight, too. Seriously, this thing is heavy. Were you to drop it on your bare toe or bring it down upon the head of your loved one during the course of a disagreement over, for example, the best way boil pasta, you could inflict some major damage. Use with caution, that's all I'm saying.
Anyway, I've been cooking with garlic a lot this week, Spanish food, pasta with garlic and olive oil and Thai Prawn and Noodle Soup, and I've found this crusher much easier on the hands than the back of knife when dealing with 6-8 cloves of garlic at a time. Bash, peel, roll and voila pulverised garlic. And the handles, when rinsed, really do absorb the smell.
I hesitate to call something this simple and good-looking a gadget but it's proving very useful and I'm glad I made room in the kitchen drawer for it. $25 from The MoMA Store.

But is it lobster-proof?

The new MoMa Store catalog arrived and this Wooden Clutch from the MoMA Store caught my eye immediately. Made from curved hickory, it has a unique sculptural quality that makes me want to rush out and touch it, stroke it and make it it MINE. Unfortunately, it's currently on backorder, even worse it would cost $295 plus tax, and even with my member discount that's still more than I want to part with.
But the real question is: Can I go out dinner with it and not do it some terrible damage?
Last night we went to the south shore of Long Island to eat the lobster I was denied some weeks ago. It was a beautiful evening; the storms that had threatened never materialized so we were able to sit on the water and watch the sun set. This is a hands-on place - no bibs or water dishes - you just grab the seafood and tear it apart. We started with BYO wine, some shrimp and seaweed salad and then moved on to the main event - the much anticipated lobsters. I reached for mine, a 1 lb female, cracked the shell with both hands and showered myself in a delicious red spray of coral or lobster roe.
This was upsetting on two fronts. First, the coral is my favorite part and I didn't want to waste any and second, this stuff stains anything it touches bright orange. The sun was setting, so I figured it wouldn't be too noticeable, and I'd only shot myself, not my fellow diners, so I wiped up what I could, licked my fingers and continued eating.
After dinner we walked the boardwalk at Long Beach and went back to the Music Guy and Opera Diva's place for coffee and dessert. Under their kitchen lights the full glory of the damage I had wrought was revealed: shirt, shorts, skin - everything was orange tinged. Front and back. Don't ask how that was possible. But it was only when we got home that I saw the roe had made its way to my beloved lilac linen Birkin-style bag. Front, back, sides and even underneath, it was everywhere. A huge mess that proved beyond the capabilities of even Tide-To-Go. I've scrubbed it as well as I can and it may yet survive, but I think I will have to cover it in saran-wrap and don a rain slicker and a sou'wester myself before I tackle another lobster dinner.

Prefabulous houses at MoMA

Monday morning's disappointment with The Waterfalls and the delicious make-up-for-it lunch and a couple of espressos behind us we headed uptown for more culture at the MoMA - Home Delivery: Fabricating The Modern Dwelling. This exhibition of prefabrication in architecture from the early 19th century to the present isn't comprehensive - Sears-Roebeck homes get a mention but Macy's Leisurama Homes don't - but it is fascinating nonetheless. I especially loved the 1930's copper houses constructed in Berlin and Haifa, that I previously knew nothing about.
I checked in the all-metal 1949 Lustron House that was reassembled inside the museum for this exhibition but the drawers were clear of used tissues. There was a couple seated at the dining table, she was applying lipstick, checking her blackberry while they chatted about friends and how they could "totally live there right in the middle of a museum". They were completely comfortable, enjoying the Prefab space. It was kind of cute in a life-as-art way.
Outside on a vacant lot adjacent to the MoMA were five prototype prefabs, the installation of which you can watch on video.


I loved the construction of the Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans: no nails, no glue, you need only a rubber mallet to put together the numbered parts.


Open tread staircase in the photovoltaic rich Cellophane House, adds to the open and airy feeling. The house is full of light and feels surprisingly spacious and cool even on a sweltering New York Summer day


The retro feel but conceptually ultra-modern Burst*008, is bathed in a creamy yellow glow. This prefab isn't a box but rather geometrical folds mean each house will be unique. Sunshine bursts everywhere, including this nifty skylight above the double bed, yet the house remains cool.
This was installation design done really well and a fun afternoon at MoMA. They have had some really interesting, informative and thought-provoking exhibitions over the past year, and that's what a culture-fix should provide.

Color Chart

I'd been waiting a month to get to Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today. On Sunday we got there early to avoid the crowds and spent a couple of hours at the exhibition.


The Guy and I were there at the end of February when they were laying out this vinyl tape exhibit, ZOBOP! by Jim Lambie. It's standing up pretty well to thousands of feet walking up the lobby stairs at the Museum of Modern Art.


I can't help but smile looking at the bright colors of Donald Judd's Untitled, 1989, it's happy art.


I was so inspired by Bas Jan Ader's Primary Time that I had to come home and prove myself even more inept at producing a Mondrian inspired flower arrangement than he was.