Blog — Page 87 of 283

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Enmore Theatre

April 22, 2021

Sydney, Australia

Claiming that the collective known the world over as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is “prolific” and “productive” would be an understatement par excellence: The band has steadily pumped out quality releases ever since their inception ten years ago, clocking in at currently seventeen full length albums.

If I had to pin down the DNA of King Gizzard to the uninitiated, I would probably start by explaining that they have created their own microcosm, i.e. “The Gizzverse”, where psychedelic rock is married with a knack for catchy and innovatively compact song writing with enough space for all things weird to be incorporated, not for novelty’s sake but to add to their idiosyncratic allure. Needless to say, with close to twenty albums under their belts, the driving force is the will to consistently reinvent oneself and avoid stasis at any cost. It also allows to confidently march down off the beaten track routes and if it proves not fruitful, the sheer volume of outcome helps to make it fade in the wealth of goodness that is being produced.

Having used the lockdown period to work on new material and with pandemic related restrictions easing on terra australis, I was excited to celebrate the attendance of a proper live show with the sextet.

The ability to draw from an extensive, stylistically varied catalogue bode well for an evening that proved to be a celebration of music and life within the realm of the Gizzverse. With an unrivalled fluidity, the King Gizzard was not only frenetically welcome by a hungry audience at the sold out Enmore Theatre, but incarnated with a nuanced set synthesizing their entire musical prowess, taking detours via Kraut rock, microtonal Middle Eastern influences, Americana, homages to proto punk and metal, world music and everything in between. The fact that it never feels overloaded, speaks volumes about King Gizzard having finetuned carefully calibrated their live performance while still allowing for improvisational impulses to blossom, which because of their surprising nature and crescendos the whole band gets involved in, become highlights in themselves.

Set against projections framing them in their own worlds, King Gizzard in a live environment is a treat to be savoured and a mesmerizing and  unique experience where a band is unveils its very own distinctiveness by being musically chameleon-esque as they could be.

A much needed life-affirming musical rollercoaster ride.

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photos by @k.a.vv

Design Innovation and Integration 

BIS Publishers

The times and circumstances we live in force us more than ever to innovate and adapt to new ways of living and working, moving. Being open to change is the vital first step to ensure and facilitate innovative transitions.

Design Innovation and Integration tackles the aforementioned by not merely providing and elaborating on the tools needed but through a guiding mentorship in written form to transcend into a realm beyond the mere inception of creative ideas, but to make design an integral part of one’s practices and DNA.

There is a myriad of approaches and theoretical solutions to problem solving and overcoming complex hindrances, however, what often lacks is a true understanding of how these can be made a reality. Enter Design Innovation and Integration, which sheds lights on underlying principles, the alignment of methods and tools needed and how to use, apply and adapt them in the most practical manner to meet the requirements of the respective context.

Via case studies and resting on a sound foundation of ten years of independent research, design integration is illustrated, highlighting both best practice as well as pitfalls and opportunities for improvement.

Summa summarum, an engaging book that marries accessible practical approaches with theoretical concepts and thereby enables growth.

Turbonegro, Tom of Finland and High Gloss

My first exposure to Turbonegro must have been via the triumvirate that are the Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives, Helta Skelta and Never is Forever albums, which entered my rotation in the early 1990s.

However, it was not until the 1996 release of the defining Ass Cobra album and the subsequent tour, where I got to meet them the first time, that it clicked.

What Happy Tom, i.e., Thomas Seltzer, the creative force behind the band, and his worthy constituents had created was a refined and deliberate signification of styles and influences, which the band channelled into their own boundary pushing brand of alchemy.

Musically, Turbonegro have never not been beyond all doubt and when they started to adapt their denim and moustache look in the mid-90ies, after trials and errors in the style department, things really took off.

To understand the nuances of the homosexual innuendo of Turbonegro, the oeuvre of Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, i.e. Tom of Finland, is indispensable. In essence, each constituent of Turbonegro modelled themselves in a subversive manner after Tom of Finland’s characters.

Abrams book’s ode to the queer cult artist, i.e. Tom of Finland: The Official Life and Work of a Gay Hero, was created in close collaboration with the Tom of Finland Foundation and not only pays homage to the well-known artwork celebrating every facet of the male body, archetypes and hyper masculinity, but also sheds light on rarely seen materials from the archives.

The book is not only introduced via a foreword by Jean Paul Gaultier, but the pencil drawn depictions of gay erotica are substantiated by an extensive interview with the man himself, which is not only lending perspective but makes this tome one of the few on the subject that resemble having an authorised, official seal of approval.

No matter your sexual preference or the often hyperbolic aesthetics, it would be difficult to argue that Tom of Finland lacks a liberating, keen and cheeky sense of humour and artistic values that go far beyond mere graphic and explicit sex content, which ultimately helped to create a new identity for the gay scene. With over three hundred photographs and illustrations, a beautifully curated and authorative coffee table book on the subject and one that is bound to raise eyebrows.

Change of gear?

Let’s transition to the comparatively tame heteronormative mainstream realm: After starting out as the assistant of David Chapelle, Vijat Mohindra has established himself firmly on the firmament of a new generation of idiosyncratic photographers and has refined an aesthetic of his own.

While there are no pre-defined boundaries as to the subjects of his lens, the common denominator could be pinned down to hyper-syntheticism and defiance of the portrayal of candid realism.

High Gloss: The Art of Vijat Mohindra is a monograph dedicated to his fantasy worlds and his unique collaborations with brands and artists. While it is not further wondrous for musicians like Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj to be depicted in Mohindra’s over-the-top glossy manner, things get interesting and nuanceful when artists like Amanda Lepore, Tyra Banks, and A$AP Rocky enter his microcosm.

The eye candy found in High Gloss not only comprises the photos widely known from mainstream publications, but entail footage specifically shot for this tome, which not only looks ace across the table from Tom of Finland, but should be of interest to anyone remotely interested in the art sitting at the intersection of photography and fashion.

Monet & Friends: Life, Light and Colour

Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park

Sydney, Australia

April 17, 2021

After first incarnating with a multi-sensory ode to the Dutch master van Gogh, 2021 sees the Royal Hall of Industries hosting Melbourne-based Grande Experiences’ homage to the French impressionists, with an array of artist flanking luminary Claude Monet, e.g. Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley, Gustave Caillebotte, Armand Guillaumin, Paul Signac and Georges Seurat amongst others.

As the name of the exhibition suggests, it is not merely limited to a visual feast based on the backbone of huge choreographed projections, but an immersive tour de force as it also incorporates carefully calibrated lighting and sonic arrangements to shed light on both the artistic emissions and the lives of the protagonists on display as well as olfactory facets, through aromas which are subtly injected to permeate and enhance the exhibitions, thereby giving it another level of depth enhancing the experience and engaging all senses.

Employing state-of-the-art projection technology based on Grande Experiences’ dynamic SENSORY4 multichannel motion graphics, and serenaded by a classical score delivered in saturating  surround sound, one finds oneself mesmerized and transported into a world of nineteenth hundred artistic excellence.

Not unlike Grande Exhibitions did with Van Gogh Alive, they have created another captivating and enthralling experience, which is not only bound to excite the inducted but is suited perfectly for families and the uninitiated to gain access to the world of not only what Monet has accomplished with his plein air landscape painting style but to the realm of art at large through a fun and engaging way – a way that despite all technology involved still feels organic and not gimmicky.

Hope to be able to witness Grande Experiences’ other travelling exhibitions soon and visit their Museo Leonardo da Vinci in Rome once travel restrictions are lifted.

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image from exhibition website

Vogue X Music

Vogue Magazine

To say it with the words of the ever so eloquently Marge: “…Greta Garbo and Monroe, Dietrich and DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean on the cover of a magazine. Grace Kelly, Harlow, Jean. Picture of a beauty queen. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, dance on air. They had style, they had grace, Rita Hayworth gave good face, Lauren, Katherine, Lana too - Bette Davis, we love you. Ladies with an attitude. Fellas that were in the mood Don't just stand there, let's get to it - strike a pose, there's nothing to it…Vogue, vogue!”

You’d find yourself hard pressed claiming that throughout the last four decades, Vogue has not been at the forefront of popular mainstream culture, at times making or breaking artists with their features and trademark photography.

After the Vogue book series has zeroed in on fashion, accessories and shoes before, it was about high time for a tome like Vogue x Music to emerge, which, as the title suggests focusses not only on the iconic portraits of the who-is-who of mainstream music culture from Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Madonna via Patti Smith to Debbie Harry, David Bowie, Kendrick Lama and everyone in between, but substantiates them with extracts from interviews with musicians with the selection being defined by quality and significance and refreshingly agnostic of genres.

Drawing on a history of close to one hundred and thirty years, Vogue X Music focusses on the last century and  it should not come as a surprise that Vogue X Music effortlessly showcases both the timelessness and evolution of glamour and captures the X factor, i.e., the “je ne sais quoi” that makes some artists bigger than others.

Apart from the well-known musical personalities, what I like most about the book is the non-hierarchical, non-chronological arrangement, which helps to put the art of photography front and centre and offers the opportunity to closely inspect how e.g. Richard Avedon, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot captured the essence of musicians through their unique lenses.

Summa summarum, an exercise par excellence and tour de force in the eye candy department and a beautifully curated coffee table book, recommended for any music lover.