Patti Smith and Lizzy Mercier Descloux as Arthur Rimbaud and his sister, Isabelle Rimbaud. Photographed in 1977 by Michel Esteban.
 

 

 
More after the jump…

 
Sydney-based fashion designers Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales—whose label is called Romance Was Born—showcased their spring / summer 2012/13 collection yesterday at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.

There’s some debate on the Internet whether or not these designs are Jack Kirby inspired. Maybe the backdrop behind the models?
 

 

 
More after the jump…

 
It was 13 years ago today that Sergio Leone died, but dead or alive, his influence on film makers over the past two decades has been nothing less than formidable. Young guns like Quentin Tarantino, Takashi Miike, Kim Ji-woon and Robert Rodriguez, as well old skool, cutting-edge auteurs like Martin Scorsese. John Carpenter, Alex Cox, Tsui Hark and Alejandro Jodorowsky, owe much to Leone’s widescreen visions of a mystical and mythical American West where men face down death with the cold-eyed detachment of Zen monks staring into infinite space.

Leone’s films need to be enjoyed on the biggest screen possible. Decades ago I saw a restored 70mm print of Once Upon A Time In The West presented by Martin Scorsese at New York City’s Film Forum. It was a breathtaking experience. And for those of you who live in NYC you have a chance to see a newly restored 35mm print (presented by Scorsese) this coming June at the Forum. Details here.

As a reminder of just how splendid Leone’s epic is and to inspire you to see it when you can on the big screen, here’s the full-length Italian theatrical version:
 

 
New campaign for MASP Art School with the tagline “MASP Art School. Open enrollment.” features recognizable dead artists pinned-down like dissected frogs. Their inner-workings reflect the artists’ signature styles and brush strokes.

DDB, Brazil is the advertising agency responsible for this, er (effective?) campaign.
 

 
Via My Modern Met

 
Spotted in Hamburg, Germany. Photo by Christian Berg.
 
Via KMFW

 
Alan Govenar and Bruce Lane’s Stoney Knows How is a short and sweet look at one of the tattoo world’s great characters.

Stoney St. Clair started developing his craft at the age of 16. He learned the art of tattooing from some of the best skin pounders in the business, including Ted and Bob Liberty, Frisco Bill Moore and a stint with Charlie Wagner on New York City’s Bowery.

Stoney tattooed while using a wheelchair, which he called his “struggle-buggy.” It didn’t keep him from doing what he had to do, which was “to pursue my profession with intelligence and skill, wishing not to offend anyone, but instead, with my love of mankind, to do what good I can before I die.” Stoney passed away in 1980.

Director Bruce Lane describes his film:

Stoney Knows How is a visit with a master of the Oldest Art In The World - Tattooing. Disabled by arthritis since the age of four, confined to a wheelchair, his growth stunted, Stoney St. Clair joined the circus at 15 as a sword-swallower. A year later, he took up tattooing, and traveled with circuses and carnivals for 50 years. As we watch him at work, we see the determination which led Stoney to use his crippled hands in an art where mistakes are permanent, and we realize Stoney has overcome his handicap to heal himself and others with the magic of symbols. The film ends with a visit by New Age tattoo master Don Ed Hardy to Stoney, who gives him a souvenir tattoo.”

Here’s Stoney Knows How in its entirety. Cinematography by none other than Les Blank.
 

John Lennon and Amos Vogel.
 
Amos Vogel, one of cinema’s greatest friends and supporters, has died at the age of 91. Founder of Cinema 16 and director of the first New York Film Festival, Vogel championed and helped introduce the works of film makers like Roman Polanski, John Cassavetes, Luis Buñuel, Robert Bresson, Richard Lester, Yoko Ono, Maya Deren and Stan Brakhage to American audiences and the world at large. Vogel authored Film As Subversive Art (1974), a hugely influential book in which Vogel celebrates the…

[...] accelerating worldwide trend toward a more liberated cinema, in which subjects and forms hitherto considered unthinkable or forbidden are boldly explored.”

Vogel deeply felt that cinema could and was changing consciousness by altering our perception and challenging our values.

The most interesting films are precisely those that show things that have never been seen before or show things in a completely new way. This is something that upsets many people or prevents them from appreciating what is being shown to them. I, on the other hand, prefer to be upset, and one of my main criteria, in fact, in looking at films and in writing about them is the unpredictability of what I am seeing.”

Martin Scorsese on Vogel:

If you’re looking for the origins of film culture in America, look no further than Amos Vogel. Amos opened the doors to every possibility in film viewing, film exhibition, film curating and film appreciation. He was also unfailingly generous, encouraging and supportive of so many young filmmakers, including me when I was just starting to make my first pictures. No doubt about it — the man was a giant.”

Paul Cronin’s 2004 documentary Film as a Subversive Art: Amos Vogel and Cinema 16 is a wonderful introduction to a celluloid hero.
 

 
Huge bouncy Stonehenge titled “Sacrilege” is an art installation located in Glasgow for the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts by British artist Jeremy Deller.  “It’s something for people to interact with, it’s a big public sculpture,” says Deller, “It is also a way of interacting with history and archaeology and culture in a wider sense.”

“Sacrilege” will be at the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts for 18 days.
 

 

 
Via MMM

 
Well this is thoroughly disgusting! Apparently this is a “mummy” made from McDonald’s hamburgers, other McDonald’s food items and resin by Texas-based artist Ben Campbell.

Ben says:

McDonald’s food doesn’t decompose if left to dry out. Seriously, just google it. As such archaeologists from the future will be digging this stuff up thousands of years in the future. Especially if something cataclysmic happens to our society.

Currently I have two McDonald’s food mummies completed and would like to make many more. Other works include preserved hamburgers in commercial plastic cases, McDonald’s food skulls, and large scale paintings.

I’m not sure how to process this. But “yuck” comes instantly to mind.

McDonald’s Food Mummy Art Show

Via BuzzFeed

 
Film-maker Jules Nurrish filmed and edited this homage to Gilbert and George’s dance sculpture Bend It. With Los Angeles-based performance artist and body builder, Heather Cassils and London-based performance artist and musician, Anat Ben David, who together perform their own version of the famous dance. Neat.