This is what I'm seeing at the moment, sitting at my desk...
Most of my beloved novels and magazines are placed on the bookcase in the living room and I noticed that I don't pay much attention to what I usually keep at my desk. If I come home with the latest copy of Harper's Bazaar or a novella I stumbled across at a bookshop, then these end up on my desk bookshelf for a week or two.
I also keep books that I like reading over and over again on this shelf: Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and Rainer Maria Rilke's "Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties." I see the 'street style' calendar from my friend Nati and a new leather-bound agenda book for 2010. The little jeweled rabbit with a pom pom tail was sold as a christmas ornament at
Anthropologie and I decided to display it on my desk for winter months...
Two things I'm particularly in love with are Autumn/Winter 09 Ten Magazine and a little art book on "Artists' Sessions at Studio 35 (1950)."
First off, this issue of Ten Magazine had editorials and articles full of inspirational quotes and images. Gossamer mint silk gown by Dior with ivory embroidery thrown over leathery bodysuit was a good example of pairing romantic girliness with tough chic. Second editorial was by far my favorite in this issue: vivid color of that coat, the placement of objects, and the way she's wearing her pumps.
Next editorial was on fashion and attitude of New York City and this is the shot I enjoyed the most: Vivienne Westwood shawl casually thrown over a Gucci suit. Love the way image turned out with a passing stranger on the right and the use of accessories! (I think I might get that Statue of Liberty hat from one of those Time Square souvenir shops...fun!) I even liked the magazine cover, which rarely happens to me. Look at those white sports socks worn with a sexy, skin-baring dress. Would've been a completely different cover had they put on a pair of skyrocketing stilettos on her, but this way, it's less obvious and I find it more convincing.
Before I say anything about this tiny 4'' by 6'' art book, I must say the shot on the cover is a dream. You're seeing Willem de Kooning, Richard Lippold and Adolph Gottlieb sitting together having a beer and conversing on topics such as 'when do you know a painting is finished,' or 'an emphasis of geometry as an emphasis on the 'known.'' These are questions that many art students and art observers like myself have from time to time and the questions seldom get lost without being answered or even discussed. I think these are thoughts worthy of exploring and to that extent, this little book does a remarkable job, letting me into that specific art world that I have never been and never will be a part of.
The book takes a form of Plato's dialogue text and it is essentially a dialogue among abstract painters who were invited to join a 3-day forum hosted by New York University school of art education from April 21, 1960 to April 23, 1950. I leave you with a couple of discussions I found interesting and powerful:
Baziotes: ...this Particular time has gotten to a point where the artist feels like a gambler. He does something on the canvas and takes a chance in the hope that something important will be revealed.
Reinhardt: I would like to ask a question about the exact involvement of a work of art. What kind of love or grief is there in it? I don't understand, in a painting, the love of anything except the love of painting itself. If there is agony, other than the agony of painting, I don't know exactly what kind of agony that would be. I am sure external agony does not enter very importantly into agony of our painting.
De Kooning: I feel it isn't so much the act of being obliged to someone or to society, but rather one of conviction. I think, whatever happens, every man works for himself, and he does it on the basis of convincing himself. I force my attitude upon this world, and I have this right - particularly in this country - and I think it is wonderful, and if it does not come off, it is alright, too. I don't see any reason why we should go and look into past history and find a place or try to take a similar position.
Biala: I don't think a work of art is finished until it has found its audience.
Moderator Moherwell: Is the artist his own audience?
Biala: Nothing exists by itself. It only exists in relation to something else: when it can find one other person in the world.
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Moderator Motherwell: ..."Beauty" is not for her the primary source of inspiration. She thinks that "beauty" is discovered en route.
Reinhardt: Is there anyone here who considers himself a producer of beautiful objects?
Smith: ...the question of "beauty" does not inspire the creator, but is a result of recognition.
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Gottlieb: Isn't it possible that a straight line could develop on your canvas? I am inclined to think that it does not appear because it is excluded. Swirling shapes are not just the result of unconscious process.
Brooks: It is not as deliberate as you think. I have a preference for it, but that is as far as I can go.
Ferber: Why is geometry more clear than the use of swirling shapes?
Reinhadt: Let's straighten out our terminology, if we can. Vagueness is a "romantic" value, and clarity and "geometricity" are "classic" values.
De Kooning: I meant geometry in art. Geometry was against art - the beauty of the rectangle, I mean.
Moderator Lippold: This means that a rectangle is unclear?
De Kooning: Yes.
Moderator Motherwell: Lippold resents the implication that a geometric form is not "clear."
De Kooning: The end of a painting in this kind of geometric painting would be almost the graphic for a possible painting - like a blueprint.
Smith: ...a straight line is a form which is the most abstact thing you can find. It is a support, not an element.
De Kooning: I think a straight line does not exist. There is no such thing as a straight line in painting.
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Moderator Motherwell: It would be very difficult to formultate a position in which there were no external relations. I cannot imagine any structure begin defined as though it only has internal meaning.
Reinhardt: I want to know the outside truth. I think I know the internal one.
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How great is it that you feel like you have become a part of the discussion through their dialogue? I felt my head spinning during my reading, turning from one artist to another, as if they were real people sitting at a table with me. Not only do you get to look at how each artist thinks, but also, you get a glimpse of who they are as individuals - as different thinking minds.
I particularly enjoyed the dialogue form of this text. It truly reflects how artists view themselves and view their contemporaries. How else would you get to know one artist's attitude towards another if not in this dialogue form?
I also found it satisfying that these abstract painters were going on and on about geometric shapes and the validity of a straight line. I've always wondered about this in abstract painting and it is a relief to know that even the painters themselves could not reach a conclusion. In fact, how would they? They were abstract painters.
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Source:
Artists' Sessions at Studio 35 (1950). Edited by Robert Goodnough. Soberscove Press/Wittenborn Art books, 2009.
A vintage store like this is a designer's heaven. Indeed, this small place hidden in East Village is where Michael Kors, Nicolas Ghesquière of Balenciaga and Anna Sui come in to buy exquisite vintage designs collected from all over the world from various fashion periods. Designers buy vintage pieces as an inspirational source for their collections and at times, these pieces can save designers from what I like to call, 'designer's block.' 
