Oh Damian....

Damien Hirst
With Dead Head
Estimate: £30,000 - 40,000
Sale 7619 Lot 352

From the catalogue:
Damien Hirst's photograph With Dead Head is one of the most iconic images of the artist ever taken. Hirst, currently on the path to becoming one of the rare mega artists who are a living legend during a considerable amount of time in their lives, is known to have a rather non conformist relationship with death. "I think I've got an obsession with death, but I think it's like a celebration of life, rather than something morbid. You can't have one without the other" (D. Hirst in interview with G. Burn, reproduced in "On the Way to Work", in The Guardian, 6 October 2001, interview date 1992). Hirst about the photograph: "It's me and a dead head. Severed head. In the morgue. Human. I'm sixteen. If you look at my face , I'm actually going 'Quick. Quick. Take the photo.' I wanted to show my friends, but I couldn't take all my friends there, to the morgue in Leeds. I'm absolutely terrified. I'm grinning, but I'm expecting the eyes to open and for it to go 'Grrrraaaaagh!' I was doing anatomy drawing. I took some photos when I shouldn't have done. To me, the smile and everything seemed to sum up this problem between life and death."

Vegan Crackers

To any of the Daring Bakers who somehow ended up here expecting vegan crackers- I apologize but it just wasn't happening this month... Not because of the challenge itself, but just life being a bit unexpected. So onto next month, where I promise not to disappoint!

Jonathan Yeo

Just came across an article about Jonathan Yeo who has gathered a bit of blogosphere fame recently for his collage portrait of Bush using photographs from porn magazines.


Although my first thought was to dismiss this as a gimick, reading this article may have convinced me. Plus I love the idea of what he's working on now:

"Currently, there are photographs of women's naked torsos pinned to his studio wall, evidence of Yeo's next project – painting the before and after of plastic surgery operations. "People will look back at this time in horror. I will paint torsos or faces, but not together. The dismembered bodies will be a nod to classical sculpture: it's a way of exploring an area that is current while painting straight-forward classical portraits. I'll call it You're Only Young Twice."

Update on the Bag portrait

My incredibly knowledgeable colleague Colin pointed out that the Bag portrait by Hendrik Kersten is a play on this painting which is in the National Gallery, London:

Robert Campin. Portrait of A Woman. c. 1430.

If anything- I love it even more now.

Never Forget- The Musical

I don't know that I'm qualified to comment on this musical because most of the people I went with were British and thought it was pretty entertaining but I couldn't help thinking that it is, bar none, the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

For those who aren't up on their 90's British music; Never Forget is a musical using the songs from the boy band Take That. I was hoping it be semi biographical and I would get some useful insight into British culture. But instead of creating a stand-alone story around the existing catalogue of music, they tell the story of some blokes from Manchester who decide to audition for a Take That tribute band in order to win the £10,000 prize to save someone's mother's pub.



So I spent the first half of the first act wondering which one was supposed to be Robbie Williams and not "which one is pretending to be a bloke from Manchester, pretending to be Robbie Williams. " If you're not already familiar with the boy band and their history, you just won't be able to keep up or appreciate some of the banter. Heck, if you're not familiar with at least 4 different types of Northern English accent you won't be able to understand half of them.

I will admit to laughing a LOT- but it wasn't always when they would have been expecting it... During the lead actress's one big solo number, the atmosphere in the theatre was that of a karaoke bar, with people talking and giggling while others sarcastically waved their lit lighters. But at least she inspired a big whoop and holler during the obligatory key change.

Check out those red pleather man undies!! with belt!

I think the biggest problem I had was that everything seemed pretty sub-par. The sets consist mostly of two big boxes which are shifted around the stage to create a bar, a salsa club, a strip club (no, seriously...) an alley, an office etc... The only exciting features of the entire show had to be the pyrotechnics during the ridiculous "Relight my Fire" scene (see above) and the rain to end Act I. It's probably a big spoiler to tell you that not only do the actors get rained on during a "heartfelt" ballad, but the engineers have somehow managed to make the rain spell out "Never Forget". I want to know who woke up in the middle of the night thinking that was a good idea.

In the end, although I managed to see this gem for free, I'd say the show is worth about £10.
As my colleagues explained to me later- this show is far too "camp" for words.

Just a quick word

To say that I love this portrait which has been shorlisted for the National Portrait Gallery's 2008 Prize.

Bag by Hendrik Kersten

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever

Doesn't that title alone make you go "ick"? Doesn't it sound slightly pompous and self-involved? Well it's the title of the sale of work by Damien Hirst organized at Sotheby's this week. The event was split into an evening sale and a day sale featuring about 200 items overall and from what I can tell, all made within the last year. That's one busy artist. *furrows brow*

I mean, look at him up there. Kinda smug, non? Almost like he knows he's full of shit. I didn't really know what to expect having never seen his stuff first hand. We've all heard about his pickled sharks, the diamond crusted skull, the spin art etc. but finally seeing them in the flesh made it all very clear to me. Hirst is a businessman.

Although the butterfly works were breathtakingly complex and delicate, all I really saw was the effort behind it. Hirst has a studio of slaves. A factory full of artists at his disposal. I can't even fathom what it must have been like to be given a doodle, several thousand butterflies and some paint and told to put it all together with minute precision.

Hirst believes that Art is in the conception, not the execution- which I respect to a point. One of my biggest "Ah ha!" moments was understanding the concept behind Mondrian's work as it related to the war and bringing the world back to basics: primary colors and straight lines at 90 or 180 degrees. But Hirst seems to pluck his concepts out of already established ideas. Case and point: his Midas pieces. Seriously- how ground breaking is that? Diamonds and gold to symbolize the materialistic society we've become. Throw is some butterflies to tie it into the other works- it's more like designing for Target. One small and reasonably priced piece had been executed in about 8 different colors, giving the budding collector a chance to own a "real" Hirst in his favorite hue. Hirst might as well be printing his own money. I can just imagine him getting a call from Sotheby's saying that this piece would have been great as a pair flanking the doorway and Hirst saying he could just whip up another one. *ka-ching* that's another £60,000.

Love Bite: Autumn, 2008- £58,850 /Love Child: Winter, 2008- £73,250/ Love Bite: Spring, 2008- £73,250

What I'm really saying is that we often ask ourselves the question: "Is this really Art?" and we turn to the critics for assurance. I think Hirst managed to fool the critics early on and has stopped trying to produce anything worthwhile. It's either a re-hash of an old idea or something akin to the art at Habitat. I think Hirst knows that his work is bullshit and he's loving it.

Skimra lamp shade, Ikea- $6

The two day sale made over £110 million- of which Hirst is donating a whopping £1.4 million to a children's hospital. I honestly believe he's only doing this so people don't judge him and his millions. To sum it all up- Although I really like the below painting (which was surely painted by an intern) I can't think of anyone who makes me roll my eyes more than Damien Hirst.

Some Brother/Boyfriend Banter

Floatingdog: you could always try to write a witty protest sign concerning the state of the economy and how you can't get a job and become a national icon
Sloth514: I could write it ont he back of my diploma
Floatingdog: be this guy: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2305/1761692638_b58e57d0ea.jpg?v=1205707956
Sloth514: the witty protest sign market is flooded these days anyway
Floatingdog: that could be your sign
Floatingdog: and then be like (I need a job, will work for money)
Floatingdog: also, i wonder if one of the trade that guy has is lettering
Floatingdog: because that's some pretty good lettering
Floatingdog: you could also just become a political activist blaming everything that has ever sucked in your life on "THE ECONOMY"
Sloth514: IT'S THE FAULT OF THIS THING I DON"T UNDERSTAND
Floatingdog: heheh
Floatingdog: that could be your slogan
Sloth514: "Look, I don't get your Wall Street magic, just make it so I can get a job doing what I want"
Sloth514: Yours could say "THE ECONOMY TOOK MY FAMILY :["
Floatingdog: this is 500 words away from being an onion article
Sloth514: heh heh
Sloth514: Witty Protest Sign Market Flooded
Sloth514: I like it.
Sloth514: "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to break into the protest sign business," says local man Michael Waters. Exasperated he continued "I knew I should have majored in graphic design!"

The Last Night of Proms

As I dragged my boyfriend last year to the Last Night of Proms, I knew that I would have to continue the tradition this year with the surrogate boyfriend, Colin. (Hi Colin!) When I first considered going to this huge event, I thought I should look into how exactly one gets tickets that aren't £2,200. The ushers weren't able to really tell me, but the box office said to show up on the day at about 8am with a lounge chair and picnic and that I should be able to get a ticket for a fiver. And so we did. And that's really the trick folks! It's that easy. You're not guranteed a ticket- but at about 10:30am they hand out numbered "raffle" tickets (so as to keep an ordered queue) and tell you to be back in the queue for a count at 3pm. At which point you can pop over to the Kensingon Gardens for a picnic or if you're lucky enough, just head home for a couple hours.


There are in fact two queues for arena tickets. One for season ticket holders and one for everyone else (ie: me and probably you too). The season ticket holders get to buy their tickets first and then *if* there is still more room, they start letting in everone else. But I've never heard of people not getting in . I'm sure they run out of room eventually- but I've never actually witnessed this.... In any case, my raffle ticket was No.68, my actual ticket was No. 467 and I remember reading somewhere that they have about 750 tickets up for grabs.


What I'm trying to say here is that you should make the effort to go if you happen to be in London at the begining of September. I'm sure every Brit knows about it but thinks it's too difficult or expensive to get into the Hall- which is fair enough considering it already costs £25 to go see the Last Night in Hyde Park, which isn't even the "real" thing. On the other hand, most foreigners who aren't in tune with the goings-on of the classical music world won't even know what the Proms are!

The Proms are the world's largest classical music festival, running from mid June to mid September every year, culminating in the famous Last Night which usually features some of the newest, best and/or most promising classical musicians in the world. And if I had access to Youtube I would now link you to videos of last year's proms, featuring the gorgeous and hilarious opera singer Anna Netrebko.

The Last Night of Proms might be the most patriotic event I've ever attended and even though I'm in no way British (in fact my American and French blood quite possibly makes me the opposite of British) you can't help but wave your union jack, learn the melody to "Jerusalem", sing along to "Rule, Britania!", stomp along to the sailor's song and shake hands with your neighbors during "Auld Lang Syne" at the close of the night. I'd say it's really something worth seeing at least once.

"The World's Fastest Indian"

This is one of those movies that no one has ever heard of and I never would have either if it weren't for my mother's particular taste in movies. When my family still all lived together, we shared a Netflix account which was a bit like sharing a family computer back in the day... Someone always changing your favorite features or adding their two cents- but the interesting thing is that Netflix has a system by which you rate the movie you've seen and they will then recommend movies based on your likes and dislikes. Now our ratings were probably a bit bi-polar, but I can only imagine they worked because I don't know how else my mom would have stumbled on this movie.





With just the title to go on I assumed it would be one of those "inspirational" movies about an impoverished kid overcoming adversity to win some sort of prize for running. Well I couldn't have been further from the truth. This film starts in New Zealand in the 1960's and follows an old man's (Anthony Hopkins) voyage to the salt flats in Utah to break the record for the world's fastest Indian motorcycle. It doesn't take much to win me over with a period flick, but I have rarely seen anything so sweet and inspiring. It made me love Anthony Hopkins that much more and I dare you to not like this movie.

Yeah, We Sold That. The Look-a-Like Edition

So this is just a couple items that struck my eye for one reason or another- well that's a lie isnt it? These are all pairs of works that either rip each other off or just happen to look strickingly similar.

It may be a gimick, but I always love art that acts as a tribute to another famous piece. Like this work by Dubossarsky & Vinogradov- someone is photoshopping Las Meninas....



Ordinateur (série Dans l'Atelier de l'Artiste)
Estimate: £25,000 - £35,000
Unsold

Diego Velazquez

Las Meninas

This oil by Signac was advertised to death during the run up to the Impressionist and Modern Evening sale.

Paul Signac
Collioure. Les Balancelles
Estimate: £1,800,000 - 2,500,000

Sold for: £2,953,250

So I guess it's no surprise that I instantly recognized the location in this "cheaper" painting by Lauge:

Achille Lauge

Bateaux à Collioure

Estimate: £18,000 - 25,000

Sold for: £31,200

Now who can honestley tell me that they don't instantly think of suntan products when they see this:

Josepg Gott
An English Statuary Marble group of a boy and dog
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000

The following painting is another example of over-advertising. This lovely lady was everywhere for the couple months running up to a 19th European Art sale. We even had a large than life reproductiong hanging in a street window and that's when it hit me- She looks a lot like a famous starlet... can you guess which one? You may not agree... maybe you had to see it in the flesh...

William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Boucles d'oreilles: The earrings
Estimate: £300,000 - 500,000

Speaking of flesh....

Scarlett Johanson- barely contained.

Do you see the resemblence? Or am I just crazy?

Mixed Berry Pavlova

I probably should have mentioned that with all those eggwhites leftover from the Eclairs, Jeremy and I thought we should put them to good use and make a Pavlova. If truth be told, Jeremy made the pavlova on his own while I fiddled around with the eclairs... but it was a midnight triumph! And a great way to enjoy the last of the summer berries


Mixed Berry Pavlova

From Ina Garten's recipe

• 4 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Sweetened Whipped Cream, recipe follows
• 1/2 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1/2 pint fresh blueberries
• 1/2 pint fresh raspberries
• Triple Raspberry Sauce, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees F.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a sheet pan. Draw a 9-inch circle on the paper, using a 9-inch plate as a guide, then turn the paper over so the circle is on the reverse side. (This way you won't get a pencil mark on the meringue.)

Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat the egg whites on high speed until firm, about 1 minute. With the mixer still on high, slowly add the sugar and beat until it makes firm, shiny peaks, about 2 minutes.


Remove the bowl from the mixer, sift the cornstarch onto the beaten egg whites, add the vinegar and vanilla, and fold in lightly with a rubber spatula. Pile the meringue into the middle of the circle on the parchment paper and smooth it within the circle, making a rough disk. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the oven, keep the door closed, and allow the meringue to cool completely in the oven, about 1 hour. It will be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Invert the meringue disk onto a plate and spread the top completely with sweetened whipped cream. Combine the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in a bowl and toss with about 1/2 cup of raspberry sauce, or enough to coat the berries lightly. Spoon the berries carefully into the middle of the Pavlova, leaving a border of cream and meringue. Serve immediately in large scoops with extra raspberry sauce.

Sweetened Whipped Cream

• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (you can also use a hand mixer). When it starts to thicken, add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until firm. Don't overbeat!
Yield: 1 cup

Triple Raspberry Sauce

• 1 half-pint fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup seedless raspberry jam (12-ounce jar)
• 1 tablespoon framboise liqueur

Place the raspberries, sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 4 minutes. Pour the cooked raspberries, the jam, and framboise into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until smooth. Chill.
Yield: 2 cups

Jeremy and I were nice enough to share this with my brother who had to stop mid-way through his first bite and ask: "What is this called again?" A pav-loh-va- why? "This is definitely in my top ten of all time. Why didn't I ever think of this combination before? It's so obviously perfect." And I'll drive the point home by saying that my brother is a bit of a picky eater- even with desserts.

Eclairs

Well it's been another month and I really can't believe that this is my 6th challenge with the Daring Bakers. I still feel like such a newbie!! And yet this challenge didn't kick my ass for once- maybe it's because I was back home for 2 weeks and had free range on my mother's supped up kitchen or maybe it's because I was lucky enough to do the challenge with Jeremy, who is well versed in the Science of baking- because baking IS a science and I just can't be bothered to keep up.


So this month we were given the task of making eclairs based on the recipe by Pierre Herme; baking god, revered by us mere mortals. Although I love baking, I'm not really a fan of patisseries. Maybe I'm just not a fan of pate a choux. I can remember the cake my grandmother special ordered for my communion- a ridiculous folly of pate a choux with caramelized sugar strands and marzipan. something like this. It's called a Croquembouche and incorporates almost every baking element I don't like. But enough about things I don't like! Let's move onto things I loooove- like the coffee pastry cream we made. And how delicious these eclairs became after a night in the fridge! Have you pulled out your baking essentials yet? Because I'm ready to make these all over again. Ready? Let's go-

Let's start with the Pate a Choux which you make in a saucepan! You then put it in an electric mixer (praise the heavens for my mother's Kitchen Aid) and add 5 eggs- one at a time.

Once you've made your dough, you're supposed use some pastry bags to pipe out the eclairs' shape. We didn't have the pastry bags but we had the tips! So we settled for a Ziploc bag.

I'd say that it worked pretty well:



This little number made me feel very professional. It's in the recipe, folks!


All lined up...

Now at some point during the baking, Jeremy and I will have made the coffee pastry cream and the chocolate sauce to use in the chocolate ganache (and this annoyed more than a little bit... a recipe for something to use in another ingredient which itself is ALREADY an ingredient for the overall recipe is ridiculous. I'm not sure if you followed that but I saw the chocolate ganache as the square root of the eclairs....(i don't think that makes things any clearer)) Moving on....
Look! Delicious coffee pastry cream!

And here are the tops after being drizzled with that super-special-multi-multi-step chocolate ganache:

And the money shot-

And I know I've already said this- but the recipe says to serve immediately and I thought these were EXPONENTIALLY better the next day. Honestly when I tried one immediately after finishing them, I wasn't too impressed and kept thinking "I can't believe I spent all that time and effort making something so 'meh'!". So if you don't love them right away- let them mature overnight. I promise you won't regret it!

The Proper Chip

Growing up in France in the public school system, meant that we had Wednesdays off but then had class on Saturday morning. And just writing that sentence made my brain convulse. Waking up for school on a SATURDAY?! You've GOT to be kidding. But it really wasn't that bad as those half days were always devoted to something less academic. In CP, CE1 or CE2 we might have an Art lesson, designated reading time or sometimes English- and let me tell you just HOW MUCH FUN learning English as a second language can be when you already speak English.... OK I think I'm already digressing here because I could go on and on about what it's like being the "American" growing up in France when at the time I couldn't even remember living in the States. The point is that on Saturdays, right at noon, my father would pick me and brother up from school (a treat in itself) and we would all go home where my mother would be cooking up a feast, which usually involved home made French Fries. And we're talking properly fried French Fries- in this kind of contraption. And because my mother no longer has the fritteuse and I truly missed those deliciously soggy fries, it was time to find a good substitute and I think Gordon Ramsay had it right with this recipe.

The Proper Chip

from Gordon Ramsay's live Cookalong

• 4 large Desiree potatoes
• 2 tbls groundnut oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• generous pinch chili pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 220 C

Boil up a large pot of water.

Meanwhile, cut your potatoes in half lengthwise then put the cut part on the cutting board and cut them again lengthwise into chips. Boil the potato chips for about 10 minutes (this is just to speed up the process).
Drain your potatoes. If they still seem wet, place your colander (if you're using a metal one) back over the empty pot to dry them out a bit.

Place your chips onto a baking pan and drizzle on the oil, salt, pepper and chili flakes. Mix well.


Spread the chips out evenly in the pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. You may want to shake the pan a couple times while they're cooking to ensure even baking.

Drool. Eat. Repeat.

Introducing...

Someone got a new toy....

"Feed the Animals" by Girl Talk

So I'm probably about 3 years behind here with this news but Girl Talk might be the most rocking guy out there. His mashup remixes are totally jamming. Seriously- I CANNOT stop listening to his new album Feed the Animals and you want to know the best part? He's letting you download it for free. Or you can choose to donate however much you feel is appropriate.


My brother and boyfriend keep telling me that his first album Night Ripper is even better, but I can't help but freak out every time I hear him mix Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" with Nine Inch Nails. This album is quite simply brilliant.

Do yourself a favor and download Feed the Animals for free and then go back after you've had your "OMG-THIS-IS-AMAZING!"-freak-out to donate something to help fund this musical genius. I promise that in no time you'll be dying to learn the dirty lyrics to "International Player's Anthem" by UGK (the verse by Pimp C).