EXHIBITIONS: "Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia" at Michigan's Cranbrook Art Museum now, coming to Berkeley in Feb.

Roll up for the mystery tour ...

Jimi Hendrix, 1968, photo by Ira Cohen

All photo credits to the Cranbrook Art Museum, with thanks

For those who are too young to have experienced the freewheeling and hyperpolitical 1960s, or for those who did, but can't remember anything ("If you can remember the 60s, you weren't really there"), Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia provides an illuminating window into that singular era. Currently running at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI (in metro Detroit) and moving to UC Berkeley in February, the exhibition -- which curators say is "loosely organized around Timothy Leary’s famous mantra, 'Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out,' ” -- examines the art, architecture, and design of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. 

“Everyone at that moment expected that life in the very near future would be different and better,” said Andrew Blauvelt, new director of Cranbrook Art Museum. “Immersive experiences offered a taste or glimpse of that life. Installations were filled with new media like slide projectors, films, video, light, sound, but also wind, scents, elements of nature.”

Below:

Clark Richert, view of Drop City "The Complex",

in El Morro, outside Trinidad, CO, 
 c. 1966

Drop City was a countercultural artists' community in Colorado
inspired by the architectural ideas of Buckminster Fuller and Steve Baer. 
As word about it spread, people came from all over the world to
participate in its experiments with structure, function, environmentalism 
 and communal living. Residents constructed domes and zonohedra 
 (crystal-like shapes ) for shelter, using geometric panels made 
from car roofs and other found materials.

 

Hippie Modernism focuses on the centrality of design during the ascendancy of hippiedom. It showcases furniture and architecture created to suit the countercultural lifestyle, psychedelic photographs and graphics demonstrating the influence of consciousness-altering drugs, and avant garde films and magazines that both propagandized and informed. Video and music are all utilized in the show with intelligence and good humor.

 Superonda Sofa,
Archizoom Associati, 1966 

 The Superonda was a whimsical, modular piece of furniture
whose undulating form could be configured in several different ways.
According to its designer Andrea Branzi, it was "either a chaise longue, sofa or divan. 
It is a highly interactive design, functioning more as a plaything than as 
a serious seating solution." I wonder how much pot was smoked on these things!

Women in Design: The Next Decade

 Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, 1975

It may be hard to believe now, but there was plenty of misogyny and

sexism within the "progressive" politics of the 60s and early 1970s. ("The only position for women in the movement is prone" was an infamous statement made in 1964 by Stokely Carmichael, on the role of women in the civil rights movement.) This poster would probably

have been considered fairly radical in its time. 

Below:

Environment Transformer/Flyhead Helmet, 1968

 Haus-Rucker-Co

This attention-grabbing machine/hat was

intended to be "a mind-expansion device, meant to completely 

 change your relationship to your environment—your personal, physical, 

and social world. What’s not to love?" say the designers.

 

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia 

will be showing at the  

• Cranbrook Art Museum, June 19–October 9, 2016, and at the 

• University of CA, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 

February 8–May 21, 2017. 

~oOo~

EXHIBITIONS: "Isaac Mizrahi: An Unruly History" brings riotous color and joie de vivre to NYC's Jewish Museum

In its last week at the Jewish Museum in NYC -- catch it if you can! Ends August 7.

 
Portrait of the artist as an ever-young man, 2015

Through his unique combination of charm, inventiveness, pizzazz and entrepreneurial 

savvy, prolific designer Isaac Mizrahi has earned a special place in the hearts 

of fashionistas all over the world. An exciting exhibition of his clothing, 
hats, jewelry, shoes, accessories, as well as costumes for theater, opera, 

and dance opened on March 18 at the Jewish Museum in New York. 

Mizrahi was born in Brooklyn in 1961, to observant Jewish parents who had 
emigrated from Syria. His father gave him his first sewing machine
when he was 10 years old.  

 Orange Orange jumpsuit, 1988
Mizrahi was still an unknown when his first-ever runway show
in 1988 received rave reviews from the fashion press.

At that time, the NY Times wrote:
"Remember the name Isaac Mizrahi. He is this year's hottest new 
designer. His first and only fashion show, in April, was so professionally 
executed, so tasteful and imaginative, that it catapulted him into the big time."

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A color extravaganza at the Mizrahi exhibition

 Elevator pad gown, 2005

Grosgrain-ribbon bodice, quilted silk and lamb’s-wool skirt;

inspired by the "workhorse elevator padding used by movers."

(Sketch, above, and fabric design, below)

 All photos courtesy of the Jewish Museum, NYC, unless otherwise noted

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"Isaac Mizrahi’s inventive and provocative style brings complex issues into the arena of fashion, igniting a spirited discourse about high versus low, modern glamour, and contemporary culture. His runway shows were cast with unconventionally beautiful models of all ethnicities, dressed in Star of David belts, Western wear infused handmade lace, Adidas sneakers in place of high heels, handbags worn as hats, or a humble cotton undershirt paired with a floor-length taffeta skirt."

... curatorial note 

Blossom Blazers, double-silk jackets with ruffle collar, silk crepe pants, 1991. 

“I tried to take the silliest things, like ruffles, and toughen them up,” Mizrahi says. 

Evening dress or blazer? You decide. 

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Uniting opposites -- casual and formal, playful and elegant, couture and 
off-the-rack --  is a Mizrahi signature.
 

Sketch for Hologram Leaves Dress, 2008

Inspired by ... “Kitchen towels. O.K.? 

Where they’re printed with fruit and leaves in the fall? ... 

Those prints made me super super happy when I was a kid. 

I don’t know why.”

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 Below are a couple of photos from Mad for Mod's
stylish NYC correspondent, Murphy Birdsall.


Above: Poppy dress and elegant outerwear w/floaty skirt

"I was really interested in the background outfit with the down-filled evening jacket. 
That’s my kind of thing -- I always fear being cold when I get dressed up."... MB

Below: One of Murphy's favorites, "Duckie"
"I like Duckie because it looks like something a child (or childish adult) would 
put together for a show in the living room."  ... MB

Mizrahi's propensity for zany showmanship is evident in his many
theatrical costume designs. "Duckie", made of cotton and tulle, was created for
a production of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf that was held in Central Park in 2013.
Acording to Mizrahi, Duckie is "an NPR-listening, PBS-watching,
school-teachery kind of duck."

To see a video of the designer in action as a director, link here.

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Above: Mizrahi costumes for Beaux, choreographed by Mark Morris, 
San Francisco Ballet, 2012. 

Right: Blackbird w/Star of David belt 

Ostrich-feather hood, stretch wool jersey bodysuit

and pants, suede and brass belt, 

from fall 1991 collection.

“If crosses are everywhere, why not make the Star of David ubiquitous too? Just another thing?”

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The Jewish Museum's retrospective encompasses three decades of Mizrahi's work. It runs through August 7, 2016. 

Originally posted 4/22/16

~oOo~

BOOK REVIEWS: Fascinating!

Watch for this new picture book, written by poet and children's book author Rich Michelson about his friend and colleague Leonard Nimoy. It will be released on Sept. 8, the 50th anniversary of the first ever episode of the original NBC Star Trek series. I'll be reviewing the book soon here, on Mad for Mod.

"Fascinating tells the story of how this child of Jewish immigrants, who often felt like an alien in his Boston West End neighborhood, discovered a love for acting and photography. He worked hard, followed his dreams and reached for the stars. The book begins with Lenny’s secret discovery, as an eight year old child, of the Hebraic blessing which would become known throughout our galaxy as the Vulcan hand gesture of greeting and peace."

Live long and prosper! 

~oOo~

EXHIBITIONS: Seattle Art Museum's vast and fascinating collection

The Seattle Art Museum (affectionately known to the locals as SAM) comprises not just a single building but three different venues: the tony, modern SAM itself (very close to the Pike Place Market -- but do not expect to be able to check your fish in their cloak room!); the Olympic Sculpture Park, a 10-minute walk away; and an Asian Art Museum, located in Volunteer Park.

Exterior of Seattle Art Museum

all photo credits to SAM, unless otherwise noted

SAM's permanent collection includes African art (both traditional and contemporary),

ancient Mediterranean, Australian aboriginal, decorative arts and design, 

Native American, and of course art of the Pacific Northwest. 

Special exhibitions and new acquisitions are always being added.

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Hair Portrait #20, Mickalene Thomas (2014
Plastic rhinestones and acrylic on panel
photo credit to Michael Schonbach 

The shimmering silvery chic of this piece, an homage to Andy Warhol's style of  
celebrity portraiture, acknowledges the glamour of black women that has
often been overlooked by modern artists. Here, thirty repetitions of the same image  
segue from light to dark, assertive presence to ethereal shadow. The piece is an especially beguiling new acquisition to the museum; it greets the visitor quite close to the main entry, 

and is difficult to pull oneself away from (especially if "oneself" loves glitter!)

 Tumbleweed, James Rosenquist, 1963-1966
Chromed barbed wire, neon and wood
Photo credit to Michael Schonbach

This is a rare sculpture by Rosenquist, who was primarily known as a painter.
The piece, which was donated to the museum in 2014,
was intended to allude to the political turmoil of the 1960s. I see it also as
expressing the feeling that even in the darkest of times, there is always a ray of hope.

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The special exhibition Go Tell It: Civil Rights Photography
is a stunning pictorial narrative of the decades-long struggle to end segregation and
discrimination against African Americans. Depicting daily, small indignities 
suffered by black citizens, as well as great leaders and the momentous
events at which they were in the forefront, the exhibit is a deeply moving 
and profound journey through a time that changed America forever.
Go Tell It will run through Jan. 8, 2017.

Above: A Negro Entering a Movie Theatre by Outside "Colored" Entrance,

Belzoni. Mississippi
Marion Post Wolcott, 1939
Gelatin silver photograph 

Above:

Harry Belafonte, Martin Luther King Jr. and

Coretta Scott King arriving at Montgomery Airport,

March 24th, 1965

Photo by Dan Budnik

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At the Asian Art Museum, the current special exhibition 

Mood Indigo: Textiles From Around The World 

is proving to be a hit. It's a wide-ranging homage to the color blue and the many 
moods it evokes, from the cheerfulness of a bright sky, to waves sparkling in the ocean,
to the sultriness of dancers under a midnight moon. 

The exhibition is drawn mainly from SAM's global textiles collection, and includes
tapestries from Flanders, a silk court robe from China, batiks and ikats from 
Indonesia and Africa, an extensive array of kimonos from Japan,
and ancient cloth fragments from Peru and Egypt.

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And don't forget the Olympic Sculpture Park --
"a free museum without walls"!

 Above, at Olympic Sculpture Park: 
 Father and Son fountain and Eye Benches by Louise Bourgeois

Below: Alexander Calder’s Eagle 

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There is always a plethora of new exhibitions coming to SAM, way too many 
to mention here! A brief preview would include

• Big Picture: Art After 1945 (opening July 23, 2016)

       • Yves Saint-Laurent: The Perfection of Style (opening Oct. 11, 2016)

 Mondrian dress by Yves St. Laurent

Photo by Alexandre Guirkinger

            • Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors (opening June 29, 2017)

For more information about the Seattle Art Museum, visit seattleartmuseum.org

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And from the Okumpku Masquerade Players,
 happy trails until we meet again ... 

Photo credit to Michael Schonbach

~ oOo~