Monday, November 26, 2007

Alice Was a Punk Rocker





World meet Alice. Photos I took yesterday of my friend (and curious contributor) Tara for my Alice in Wonderland series. Yes, Tara rocks and having quit smoking last year, she only agreed to smoke in the photo in the interest of art.

L





curiousroom.com

Monday, November 19, 2007

Eduardo Recife



The guys work is excellent. I love the "Design Destruction" as I call it. (more on this later) He blurs the line between art and design and it makes me wonder if there is any difference.
Crowned a Larry favorite indeed.

Check it out
misprintedtype.com


curiousroom.com

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Mark Bradford



I saw this artists work tonight on a tv show. I love collage and this work rocks!
Some of his work is here: http://sikkemajenkinsco.com/markbradford_works.html

What to write?

Hello All!
I've had a few people ask me what they should write about for this blog. Anything having to do with style, design, art, music or culture that you find interesting we would like to read about!
Ok, now you can write guilt free.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Rehab



The queen is dead drunk. #2 in a series for a show at Wallyworkman gallery in December. The theme is Alice in Wonderland.

L




curiousroom.com

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pay yer Guitar Now.




Yesterday I played my guitar. I dragged my amp out of the garage, and my dusty guitar out of the closet, and I hammered on it with my blocky hands with the amp on 10 with the intent of pissing off the neighbors. They didn't complain so I failed in that regard, but I did something that I hadn't done in a long time, I had fun. I used to play guitar all the time, in fact, I was obsessed with it. Then somewhere along the line I just stopped playing. I felt too old and was always busy with business affairs and money worries. I was crusty inside. Stiff and hard and tired. Not a good thing. I had forgotten how important it is to do things you love. I think that people who are always pissed off, worn out, and fed up haven't done what they love in a long time. In some cases since they were kids. But sometimes it works in reverse. I was painting the other day and nothing was working and every stroke I put on the page was crap. In frustration I gave up and symbolically put all my paints away. I sat on the porch and though about it. Had I forgotten how to have fun when I paint? I was trying to paint for everyone else except myself. Trying to satisfy the gallery and everyone else was killing me. So I stopped. Once again no fun equals a crusty, unhappy Larry.

My mother told me about a friend who has terminal cancer. He is my age. As you know time goes fast and you never know what's going to happen. Do what you've always wanted to do now. I'll tell you a secret, no matter how much money you have it will always be a problem. The definition of money is problems. Go to Italy, eat ice cream, write a novel or whatever. Just do it.

So go play yer guitar–now.
The photo above is me playing my guitar (on the left, and looking silly) in 1993.
Luck for you there are no photos of me playing guitar now. (and there won't be)
till next time....

curiousroom.com

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Lost in Tokyo with an Italian!




I find Japanese design wonderfully whimsical yet a bit confusing. The jamming together of old world ethstetic and the hyper-new design of the 21st century makes for some strange creations. Does the normal Japanese person feel the same? I wonder if they have the same visual sense of history about their cultural past as us westerners (probably somewhat distorted) perception of Asian culture? Or are they, for the most part, caught up in the modern visual vernacular, unaware of any blending of styles? Having never been to Japan I can only surmise from photos and movies the design truth of the Japanese environment. I usually find beautiful and unique images better than real life. That said, I think that well designed environments can trigger the same feeling that beautiful film, photos, paintings and style can evoke. Have you ever thought, "wow, I feel like I'm in a film". Possibly this is because you're responding to a visceral response to your current environment and a longing to be somewhere else beautiful and interesting. When I watch a modern Japanese film I notice that I'm as drawn to watching the cities in the background as I am in the story. It's facinating to see all the crazy buildings and signs. In the film, "Lost in Translation", I enjoyed the two nightclub scenes. Indeed the two scenes made the film for me. One was very organic, in a modern sense, with lots of blue crazy light flashing from wonderful globes of light. The other club was a stark fetish club, very stylish and clean. In both cases the club goer, because of the environment, knows exactly what kind of experience they are in for. The design was of the highest focus and clairity. In our world we suffer greatly from lack of design focus in our everyday life. How are we suppose to feel good about the environment we are in if the design is unfocused. It makes us uncomfortable and breeds a subtle discontent in our daily life.

Enter Claudio Colucci. A Italian designer working in Japan merging Italian style with Japanese culture resulting in interesting work. I put a couple of photos of his work above.

His site: www.colucci-design.com

Monday, November 12, 2007

Lin Swanner


Hey All,
you should check out my friend Lin Swanners paintings. Very cool work. Wonderful semi-abstract figurative work.You can view her work at swannerart.com.

Contribute!

Damn if my fat fingers didn't hit the return key and post - nothing!
Anyway, you guys listed as contributors please contribute something about cool art, style and whatever .... or not is ok to, as you will.

Contribute Please!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Kuba retro design rocks








I found this great site for a defunct German TV company. Talk about amazing retro design! I really love retro design and I think it's interesting how design that seems "dated" can eventually become "hip" again. The site also got me thinking about a design "factory". Notice the advertisements featuring pictures of the Kuba factory. A large building filled with people creating ideas and turning the ideas into physical products is appealing. In today's world where everything is digital I have a romanticised (and totally unrealistic) longing for the days when people sketched on tracing paper and built things by hand. Early in my design career, my first year working in an ad agency, we didn't have computers yet and I had to layout every thing by hand, and that was a bitch. In any event check out the pics from the Kuba museum, very interesting.
www.kuba-museum.de

What kind of art would you buy?


Hello all,
Since this is a blog for Curiousroom.com (among other art related things) and curiousroom.com sells art (mostly hi-end prints) I wanted to ask your opinion.
1. Would you buy signed prints?
if so,
2. What is the price you would be comfortable paying for say a Terrell Powell print? Currently Terry's prints are priced around $500, is this too expensive? He sells them for more than that at shows.
3. If the price was cheaper would you be more inclined to purchase a piece?
4. Would you like to see works by other artists on the site? Such as custom clocks, furniture, original paintings, ect...?
5. What do you think could improve the curiousroom.com site? (I am considering a redesign)

Thank you very much for your feedback!
Larry

Monday, November 5, 2007

New Terrell Powell Book


I'm designing a book of Terrell's new work featuring his animal theme. It will be available on the curiousroom.com site in a couple of weeks. Books will be signed by Terry with a small hand drawn illustration unique to each book. Enjoy.

Some images from the book.

The Queen is Dead (drunk)



Here are some of the photo I took yesterday for my "queen of hearts" piece. I'm planning on making a collage out of them. My tiny digital camera rocks!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Alice in Wonderland



Damn it's been along time since I've posted! Where does the time go?

I've been working on a series for a show at Wally Workman Gallery here in Austin, the theme of the show is "Alice in Wonderland". I really like box construction so I took some photos and built a collage. I'm feeling pretty good about how it turned out. Next I'm working on Alice, The Catapiller and the Queen of Hearts.

Whenever I think of Alice in Wonderland I get a creepy feeling. Maybe it has to do with Louis Carroll's preoccupation with little girls - ick.

As you probably see if you're reading this blog I am having a home show with Terrell Powell on Nov. 17th. We'll be selling originals and some prints. If you need a Christmas present then this might be the place for ya.

Terrell Powell Home Show Nov. 17th

Hello Everyone!
Were having a home show featuring the exquisite and wonderfully raw work of Terrell Powell and myself on Saturday, November 17, 10am - 6pm. 2016 Brentwood St, Austin, Texas 78757. Many original works for sale.

Hope to see all you art lovers and don't forget to check the curiousroom.com site for new work and prints.