Tiny Bands, Big Paper-Mâché Sculptures, and Small-Town Satire
In this edition of FGM, we’re not going to talk about New York Fashion Week, nor will we be discussing Queen Elizabeth—not because we don’t care, but because you can go pretty much anywhere else for that. Fair enough? Oui? Bon. Instead we’ve got something to see, something to laugh at, something you’ll absolutely want to eat, and more.
1.
I missed last night’s gallery opening because of the week of fashion shows I will not be discussing here, but I can’t get uptown fast enough to see the artist Bernie Kaminski’s first show at Turn Gallery (ongoing through October 20). Kaminski’s offbeat, sculptural practice started inadvertently after his daughter brought home a papier-mâché seahorse she made at school. As a form of amusement, he started to construct his own paper-mâché versions of common objects found throughout his family’s apartment. There’s an element of nostalgia (combined with a touch of the late Claes Oldenberg) imbued in his large-scale pieces, including a manila envelope, a Kodak film roll, the New York White and Yellow pages, and a stack of 1960s National Geographic magazines…relics of not-so-distant days gone by.
2.
I’ve been really interested in nail polish hues that conjure up reliable color combos in fashion: navy nails with a sweatshirt grey top, for example, or more recently, this leathery orange color, that weirdly works as well with black (for a VERY Hermés-feeling look), as it does with aquamarine and lilac.
3.
After hearing that I’d just returned from a too-quick trip to Greece, one of my two friends hosting me for the night at their Long Beach home pulled this lusciously spreadable feta from the fridge. The cheese is young and mild in flavor, which makes it the perfect base for any kind of open-face toast situation. I picked some up for myself last weekend and I have a running list of pairings I’m trying out: roasted cherry tomatoes, chopped pistachios, honey…
4.
Deez Guyzz! I’m psyched about booking this supremely talented band of pre-adolescents to play at my next big garden party or milestone occasion. Just have to ensure it’s not a school night, and they’re all home before curfew.
5.
One of the best—or at least the funniest—outcomes of all the yuppies moving upstate to my small hometown village: this anonymous meme account, that makes fun of pretty much everything: the new as well as the old and long-established. The nearby city of Hudson has its own small-town satirist (or satirists), too. The somewhat heartwarming thing about any hyper-localized mockery of this nature is that if you get the jokes—even if you’re the butt the of them—at least you have some sense of belonging.