I love Peter Stitchbury’s hyper-real portraits. I wish I had bought one of his vintage bowling ball portraits when I had the chance… his paintings are now selling for upwards of 50 grand a pop. If any of you are heir(esse)s, I urge you to get commission a Stitchbury painting of yourself. Swish.
“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”
- Francis Bacon, 1625.
And if you have a moment, read this lovely story by Zach Klein, who had his portait painted by Stitchbury. It’s a small world.
Now here’s a yuletide soundtrack that’s sure to be a favourite for years to come:
A Very Little Christmas is a non-traditional carol album, compiled by Auckland’s Little Monster Studio. It’s a diverse set of songs from a loosely affiliated group of local bands who were all given the freedom to make their own musical take on the festive season. Artists include Luckless, Tono and the Finance Company, Canadia, Great North and The Crawley Christmas Singers. My picks of the bunch are Chelsea Jade and James Duncan’s romantic French Kissmas, Hold Dear’s melodic Anthem for An Orphan (for those celebrating in a big lonely city), and The Gladeyes’ lo-fi Carols and Parties.
Being no longer stuck in the year 2006, I find cuppycake iconography totally overcooked and a bit twee. But I can’t help but smile when I see this “Bake Someone Happy” tee by Parinto. It’s true! Baked goods make the world go ’round.
Designer Stephen Richardson says “Back in the 1970′s my dad’s advertising agency produced some sweaters for a client with the slogan “Bake Someone Happy” on them. He gave one to my mom and for whatever reason that slogan has always stuck in my head. To cut a long story short, this design is a nostalgic nod to that long-gone sweater.”
Bee-eater.Kowhai Squadron Letterpress Print by Walter Hansen. Inspired by ‘the love of making model jets as a kid and tui’s’. It comes in a fancier edition – a 3 colourscreenprint on plywood – but the embossing on the 600 gsm art board has me weak at the knees.
New music for a Monday? Hold Dear, aka Chloë and Jonny, make lovely pop that’s a little bit achey. Kinda like fairy floss for your ears – sweet like clouds and leaves you wanting more. I like them a lot. Head to their Myspace page and listen to Electrons.
After a decade of flirting, I have finally entered into a committed relationship with the gorgeous, bustling, and nefarious Karangahape Road.
K’Road – as it’s commonly known – holds a lot of fond memories for me. Moments such as: skipping school to go drink bitter short blacks at Brazil (I was 14 and remember trying to make myself like coffee); evenings spent eating hotter-than-the-sun pizza at Crazy Crust; watching my friends start their musical careers along the strip; attending a wealth amazing art exhibitions and parties.
Now I am living a nano-second away from the strip and am having the time of my life. Vintage stores, cute cafes with vegan cupcakes, the Film Archive, wine bars, and army surplus stores are all on my doorstep. There are also ladies of the night dancing on my doorstep occasionally! It’s never boring…
Here is a portrait of my beloved road in 1987. The film is ‘Walkshort’ by The Front Lawn:
The big smoke in New Zealand in the eighties was small just a little village. And it still is today. I think as I get older I appreciate this more. Alright, I’m off to go get a coffee!
Youth, summer, hopes and dreams. This is the video for the song Young Blood by Auckland band The Naked and Famous. It’s an apt name, I think know they have a grand future ahead of them.
Dear Grayson Gilmour, first up I have to say, you have a fantastic name. Entirely based on your nifty moniker, I would assume you were a total hot babe. Ahem.
Swoon fest aside, if his name sounds familiar, it’s because Gilmour is the keyboardist for Wellington band So So Modern, and an accomplished solo musician in his own right. Preceded by Chapters, You Sleep, We Creep, Phantom Limbs, Behind Locked Doors and Abstract Arrival, No Constellation is Gilmour’s fifth solo album.
No Constellations is a wee bit special. It arrived in my PO Box earlier this week, and aside from a few melodramatic detours (Triple J’s Hottest 100, 1997) I’ve been listening to it ever since. Described variously as dream pop and anti-folk, the songs all twinkle; and are characterised by earnest, albeit cerebral, lyrics. As they say, it’s all killer no filler. Gilmour’s MySpace has the first three songs to sample before purchasing the album – try I Am A Light (energetic chanting).
Aside from the actual sounds, I really like the ziney-aesthetic of this album: letter-pressed, grainy and found photography. GG DIYed it himself.
Visit GraysonGilmour.com for conversation, reading, meaningful, assemblages, lyric zines, previous albums and downloads.
On Friday night I went to the cinema at the Matakana village. We were early, so we visited The Vintry – a wine bar that exclusively sells local wine. Oh, and they sell bottles of apple cider made ‘just up the road’. Yum!
Eventually it was time to enter the Paradiso theater, glasses and strawberry ice-creams in hand. Your eyes tell you no lies; there are over 1000 tangerine and orange blooms covering the ceiling. Cheeky tuis and fantails scale the walls, with a few hardy fellows peering out from the floral sky.
It’s pretty idyllic, with big lazy boy seats at the front and super wide seats for everyone else. The other two theaters are just as gorgeous.
Sticking with our ‘keep it close’ theme, we saw a New Zealand flick. Boy is written, directed and stars Taika Waititi:
It’s hilarious yet rather poignant movie, punctuated with sweet hand-drawn animations. I spent a lot of my childhood at very similar coastal settlement, in the same era. The garage could be my grandmothers, the rituals ring true and yeah, I even slept under the same orange candlewick bedspread. Boy is definitely a film to see if you can.
All that glitters is not superficial. Last week with Laza, post ramen feast, I checked out Dear Beauty, Dear Beast; Reuben Paterson’s recent exhibition at Auckland’s Gow Langsford gallery.
The series began for Paterson as a reaction to New Zealand’s provocation debate. In the way that previous bodies of work have honoured his whakapapa and found basis in the emotional responses to his genealogy, Paterson views these works, in part, as a personal homage to the victims of murder cases which have successfully used the provocation or “gay panic” defence. The work suggests that in the same way that we have an underlying culture of racism, there is also an underlying culture of homophobia.
The result is a series of strong images representing a weak outcome for victims and their families. In person the works are dazzling – and had a depth that in no way can be replicated through a photograph. Paterson commissioned custom glitter colours for each individual piece of work in the exhibition. In an interview with Radio New Zealand he said: “Although the imagery may be familiar, you’ll probably never see it again because these colours will never be manufactured again.”
Reuben Paterson
b.1973, Auckland (Ngati Rangitihi and Ngai Tuhoe)
Lives and works in Auckland
Last night I saw Wellington band Can We Talk play; they had won a competition to support The Mint Chicks with their cover of ‘Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!‘. While the Mint Chicks’ performance went somewhat astray, Can We Talk were really good. Like, super good. At the end of their set they kindly handed out copies of their EP to people in the crowd. This morning, faced with a 1.5 hour drive into the countryside, I popped it on in the car and listened to it.
Their sound is soothing folk-pop; made with keys, guitar, drums and a mandolin. I really like the girl-boy vocal play – especially on the song ‘New Season‘. It reminds me a little of early Los Campesinos! and Architecture in Helsinki. All in all, a fun, uplifting, toe-tappy sound that’s worth checking out. I’m looking forward to hearing more from Can We Talk.
Can We Talk playing at Bacco (picture swiped off their myspace).
At the recent First Thursday I came across Ferrit’s pretty and precious handmade pieces. I did not buy anything at the time (mini dilemma – spend my pennies on cute or on cider?) but I picked up a business card. I’m so happy I did… look at how awesome her creations are!
From the cardboard frame brooches:
To the bouquets of flowers:
To Be Fri and St Ends declarations of love:
Everything is just really lovely:
“Once upon a time in a beautiful island called New Zealand lived a Ferrit. She loved to scavenge, search and fossick for interesting old things like fabrics, ornaments, books and clothing from around this island. Miss Ferrit loved collecting so much that her small home was filled with many piles of things she had collected over her years of fossicking. She had always dreamed of one day becoming a real crafty Ferrit and using all the interesting things she had gathered to create new things to share with others from around the island.”
You can often see the Ferrit scurrying around at Auckland’s regularcraftmarkets; or for those of you a bit further away, perhaps you could get your paws on something directly from her.
Once upon a time in a beautiful island called New Zealand lived a Ferrit. She loved to scavenge, search and fossick for interesting old things like fabrics, ornaments, books and clothing from around this island. Miss Ferrit loved collecting so much that her small home was filled with many piles of things she had collected over her years of fossicking. She had always dreamed of one day becoming a real crafty Ferrit and using all the interesting things she had gathered to create new things to share with others from around the island.
A little while ago I was lying in bed, having a nice daydream (probably about having a pet narwhal), when I abruptly remembered that somewhere in my boxes of ephemera I had a letter from Keri Hulme. I dug it out.
Hulme is the author of the bone people – winner of the Booker Prize in 1985. It tells the story of 3 characters, shifting perspectives and weaving their dreams, aspirations and fears together. From Amazon:“[It] explores the potential within families for both destruction and healing, as well as the great personal costs of the disintegration of individual connections to traditional communities and cultures – in this case, the indigenous Maori culture of New Zealand.”
the bone people has been a a bit of a contentious book over the years, garnering both good and bad reviews. I recently reexamined it and found while the non-traditional shape of the book is deliberate decision, it would have perhaps benefited from a thorough edit. Positively, I found the exploration of Maori spirituality and language to be absurdly refreshing. (That said, it shouldn’t be, why isn’t this expression more common in the literature of this country?)
In any case, the letter my younger self received is so nice and generous I thought I’d share (and yes, I love the astrology references):
My request was for a barely remembered school project – an illustrated calendar with a different literary figure for each month. I also found it hilarious that I had clearly said to her “I want to be a writer”. Funny how things turn out.
My mother is a big fan of ‘reaching out’ to people, so as a kid I also had correspondence with British poets, a builder based in Antarctica and other amazing people.Have you ever connected with someone you admire?
Karen Walker has just released a new fistful of sunnies under her Karen Walker Eyewear range. The ‘Sun Gods’ collection builds on previous shapes (retaining the popular circular frames) and introduce a pretty coral colour. The look-book is golden too, a Ra inspired series shot by Derek Kettela, who is behind her previous years’ advertising too.
It’s the fashion equivalent of cuddling up to a SAD lamp! I just feel so joyful looking at these pictures.
Hello! My name is Amber Parkin. I'm a New Zealander living in London. I'm a writer obsessed with fondue, chesterfield sofas, vintage dresses, foxes, and 35mm.
