French Film Fest: Comme Ci, Comme Ca

I love foreign films more than most. I don’t mind the subtitles. I can get over slow-moving plots. And I definitely don’t need a star, action sequence or CGI to get sucked in. I’m looking for escapism at the movies and what better way to get it than by looking through the lens of another culture.

So, one of my favorite weekends in Richmond is when the VCU French Film Festival takes over The Byrd Theatre, the gorgeous old movie palace that’s just two blocks from our house. French natives and Francophiles come from all over (this year from Oregon and Washington state and elsewhere), the streets were filled with buses from area lycees, or French schools, and Can Can Brasserie was brimming all weekend with espresso-sippers (including us). But the French Film Festival let us down this year.

Warhol Getting Another 15

Could it be said that Warhol was an early, embedded paparazzo?

Close to 30,000 images taken by the artist were recently unearthed and donated to universities across the country by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Considering the artist’s obsession with fame, it sounds like a strategic move by the foundation to insure his popularity among the next generation of art collectors. Note to artists: Save everything.

The University of Richmond held an opening last Thursday to show off about a third of its new gift of 153 photos, both candid and studio shots. UR was one of 183 collegiate museums to receive the gift. Take a look at some of their pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mick Jagger, Mackenzie Phillips, and Nicky Lane Weymouth, circa 1970-1987; gelatin silver print on paper

Enough About Art, Lets Talk About Me

I interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to make a small announcement:

I won some stuff!

This past weekend I was presented with three awards for my writing in Richmond Home from the past year at the Virginia Press Association Awards. No, unfortunately the awards were far, far less weighty than the above trophy, but hey, a piece of paper with a gold-ribbon sticker is cool, too. I mean, I’ll take it.

So what did I win? 

“Bubba Likes Trees”

A friend decided to impart this particular nugget about her boyfriend, Bubba, while taking a road trip during college, and boy did that stick with her. But, you know, Bubba has a point. I was reminded of this notorious quote recently when I spotted this amazing house on interior designer Amanda Nisbet‘s web site.

Nothing can make a house like trees.

I wrote about this eco-friendly house in the Woodland Heights neighborhood in Richmond several years ago. Architect Patrick Farley designed the structure, and its bridge-entrance, narrow enough to squeeze between mature trees on the property. The owner helped maintain the character of the ‘hood by building around the land’s already existing occupants. How refreshing. Apparently he liked trees, too. 

In other tree news

This Man Will Not be Throwing Stones

After researching the post about the new Kimber Modern hotel in Austin, I got curious about architect Burton Baldridge’s other work. Turns out he caused a stir in a one of Austin’s historic bungalow neighborhoods when he built this amazing glass house (below) for himself.

Mid-Week Escape: Far Out Stay in Austin s

The South by Southwest festival is upon us, do you know where you’re staying? The first (and only) time I was in Austin we stayed at the super-funky (in a good way) Austin Motel, with its irresistible slogan: “So close yet so far out.” I remember we shared some pooltime with a band named Estradasphere who played a gig nearby. Although that felt like the quintessential Austin experience, this time, I’d like to bump it up a notch and stay at the five-month-old KimberModern.

Built by two women who love to travel and had hospitality in their blood. Partners Kimber Cavendish and Vicki Faust spent $1 million to build the modernist five-room hotel in the South Congress neighborhood. With rates at $250 to $320 a night it\’s a tad steep, but take a look at some of the cool features.

Black and White and Cool All Over

A little Ikea goes a long way. Or make that A LOT of Ikea.
Richmond interior designer Janie Molster used this graphic, black-and-white Ikea fabric to great effect in her son’s room by repeating it for curtains, headboards and bedskirts. See, even designers shop at Ikea.

Here’s a latter version of the same room. No doubt an interior designer’s home is always in flux.

Robots Invade Brooklyn

One-time Richmond artist, Nick Kyuzyk, is still working on his robot invasion. A Culture Fix associate was recently in New York and spotted a Kyuzyk mural on the side of a bagel shopin Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Makes me wish I bought one of his paintings when they were $25 at Cafe 821 in Oregon Hill.

Kyuzyk’s last appearance in Richmond was at ADA gallery in September and according to a story in Brick Weekly at the time, he illustrated a children’s book for Penguin coming out July 2009.

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Falling for it?

Two years ago I walked into the Irvine Contemporary gallery in Washington, D.C. to see this startling photograph by Brooklyn artist Kerry Skarbakka. I was transfixed and it stayed with me.

Recently I was reminded of Skarbakka’s work when I came across Elijah Gowin’s “Of Falling & Floating” series while researching a previous post on his recent exhibit at Richmond’s Page Bond Gallery. Both photographers explore a loss of control and those slow-motion, mid-air moments of terror or joy. Take a look…

ABOVE: Skarbakka’s “Studio,” 2002

LEFT: Gowin’s “Falling in Trees 2,” 2006

Gowin collects images from the internet and layers them together. He’s interested in questions of doubt and faith. Who are these people and what is happening to them? We know less information; their clothes are ambiguous and the locations a mystery.