“Open-minded art: New MOCAD exhibit a beguiling mix of whimsy ... - TMCnet” plus 3 more

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• Open-minded art: New MOCAD exhibit a beguiling mix of whimsy ... - TMCnet
• New Orleans' plan: Shake, rattle and roll - Minneapolis Star Tribune
• 8 Bay Area designers' furniture lines - San Francisco Chronicle
• Tarkanian trips over Reagan's credo - Thehill.com

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Open-minded art: New MOCAD exhibit a beguiling mix of whimsy ... - TMCnet Posted: 07 Feb 2010 05:54 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.	Feb 07, 2010 (Detroit Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Lighten up, folks! the new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit seems to say. Art isn't about the answers, it's about the questions. It's about playing along with the artists, having fun, stepping out of your comfort zone and opening yourself up to images and ideas. Stop worrying so much about what it all means and go with how it makes you feel. Organized by curator Anthony Huberman of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the show sprawls into every corner of the museum and features about 20 works, mostly large-scale installations, by an international cast of artists. The prosaic title -- "For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn't there" -- descends from a famous description of mathematicians (often dubiously attributed to Darwin) and it suggests a kinship between artists and scientists: Both are explorers working in the dark. Lots of the works wrap metaphysical, existential and philosophical musings into goofy riffs. An hour-long video of Peter Fischli and David Weiss finds the Swiss artists romping through the lovely countryside, debating the meaning of life while dressed as a panda bear and a rat. Rachel Harrison's beguiling series of 58 photographs of faces, busts and mannequins, from Barbie and Abe Lincoln to stuffed animal heads and sculptures from antiquity, meditates on evolution. Some 2,000 heavily marked works on paper by Matt Mullican transform an entire gallery into a massive, nervous bulletin board. Sometimes, the work dares you to call b.s. -- Belgian Eric Duyckaerts spins out a fog of highfalutin absurdities in a video monologue. And sometimes old-fashioned beauty stops you in your tracks: German Hans-Peter Feldmann's 34 portraits of strawberries, a full pound, presents each berry as a biological and physical marvel, pregnant with feeling yet elusive of meaning -- each a work of art. Contact MARK STRYKER: 313-222-6459 or mstryker@freepress.com To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com Copyright (c) 2010, Detroit Free Press Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
New Orleans' plan: Shake, rattle and roll - Minneapolis Star Tribune Posted: 07 Feb 2010 01:46 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. The Saints defense takes it immense swagger from first-year defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, a Buddy Ryan disciple who, like Buddy, is known for talking tough and doesn't back down when it creates controversy. He also transforms defenses into aggressive units that take the ball away and aren't afraid to push the envelope when it comes to the NFL's rules against roughing the quarterback. The Saints are working against their third future Hall of Fame quarterback in three postseason games. They've beaten up two of them so far in Arizona's Kurt Warner and the Vikings' Brett Favre. After defensive end Bobby McCray leveled Warner with a crushing blind-side block during an interception return in a divisional playoff game, Williams shrugged when asked if the hit was necessary. "I'm not going to apologize," he said. "Football's a contact sport." Against the Vikings, the Saints were penalized twice for unnecessary roughness on Favre. Later in the week, the NFL came out and said there should have been a third penalty when McCray went after Favre's legs from behind before Favre threw an interception. He also suffered ankle and hamstring injuries on the play but didn't leave the game. Williams upped the ante for Manning when he went on a radio show last week with former Titans safety Blaine Bishop. Williams said he was speaking tongue-in-cheek when he told Bishop the Saints would be delivering some "Remember Me" shots on Manning. Williams spent this week explaining what he meant. He wasn't offering any apologies. "When Blaine played for me, if he'd get irritated at a particular guy, he'd abort responsibility, he would abort the next two or three plays," Williams said. "I'd say to him, 'What are you doing?' And he'd say, 'I'm sending some "Remember Me" shots.' So Blaine is the guy who coined the phrase." What controversy? Williams said he was surprised his comments created a controversy. "But it didn't bother me because it's true, I do believe in playing that way," Williams said. "I like those kinds of players. And guys who don't want to play that way, it's my job to make sure they go play for somebody else as soon as possible." Williams also joked that maybe he should have sent a kinder, gentler message to Manning. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
8 Bay Area designers' furniture lines - San Francisco Chronicle Posted: 07 Feb 2010 01:39 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. They weren't going to skim any more off the house price, but they said she could have the black lounge chair and ottoman left in the living room. They were probably purchased in the late '50s or early '60s. She rolled her eyes, "How's that going to repair the leaky roof?" Later she learned they were iconic midcentury pieces designed by the late Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller furniture company - so famous that they're in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. A quick Internet search showed that the used lounge and ottoman could fetch as much as $4,000. Although she would have liked to have kept the Eames pieces, the idea of staying dry seemed somehow more practical. Hours after she posted an ad on Craigslist, they sold. Most of us don't think of furniture as art, but there is a group of Northern California designers who wouldn't have it any other way. Many of them are designing their own furniture lines after years of making custom pieces for their clients. The furniture is expensive, but designers say that's the price you pay for one-of-a-kind pieces, often made locally with the finest materials and craftsmanship. "When people hear $8,000 for a chair, they freak out," says Gary Hutton, who launched his line of furniture in 1986. "But every piece I design is made in California, and everyone involved in the production of my furniture has health insurance and paid vacation." If you're lucky, a local designer's piece may someday have the staying power of an Eames lounge chair and ottoman - sort of a cash investment. Or, if a leaky roof takes priority, you can wait until a national chain does a knockoff. There's already a riff on Hutton's signature Ciao table at Crate & Barrel. (Note: All prices listed here are the designer's best estimate of what a piece would sell for at retail.) Erin Martin St. Helena designer Erin Martin launched her eponymous furniture line in the fall. There are 25 pieces in her collection, which she describes as "refined but raw." Martin, whose interiors include everything from green contemporary design to farmhouse chic, likes to use recycled wood, found objects and natural fabrics such as leather and linen. Her chandelier (facing page, $15,000), made from iron and salvaged rope, has a sophisticated Western feel and can come in custom sizes. The limited-edition Octopus coffee table (pictured below, $18,000) is one of 10 and features hand-tooled leather on a carved-steel base. Philosophy: "Design is not freaking brain surgery. I look at how people really live. Anything that's uncomfortable is going to be a disaster." Details: Martin Showroom, 1350 Main St., St. Helena. (707) 967-8787. martinshowroom.com. She sells retail and to the trade. Gary Hutton Gary Hutton started as a sculptor. But that didn't necessarily pay the bills. So the artist gravitated toward interior decorating, making a name designing Today's, a little restaurant on Stockton Street that had become popular with hotshots in the retail world. As business grew, Hutton began creating pieces for discriminating clients. In 1986, he launched a furniture line. His signature piece, the Ciao table (right, $6,750, pictured with the Lafayette chair), has been imitated and replicated by other designers for a smaller price tag. Hutton says many of his pieces were inspired by clients and their needs. The Lafayette chair, which retails for about $12,675, not including fabric, was originally done for a Lafayette couple who had changed their decor from traditional to more modern. Hutton says the piece is a contemporary take on the wing chair. Philosophy: "These are pieces for life," says Hutton of the workmanship that goes into his furniture. "These are the kinds of things that can be covered over and over." Details: Shown at Studio Workshops, 411 Vermont St., San Francisco. (415) 864-0212. garyhuttondesign.com. He sells to the trade. Jiun Ho San Francisco designer Jiun Ho launched his furniture line in 2000, and it now includes 100 pieces. He says he's "all about style rather than fashion, all about relaxed living rather than studied formality." Travel, he says, is his first source of inspiration. Lately, that inspiration has come from the Loire Valley in France, which evoked the idea for his Usse chair. In the fall, the designer unveiled the chairs (armed version, left, retails for about $2,275; without arms, right, about $2,191, not including fabric) - his take on a Louis XVI. He says he gets a lot of requests for upholstered high-back chairs but typically finds them to be overstuffed and too fussy. He wanted something streamlined and sophisticated. He says the chairs are versatile, equally at home around a formal dining table or in front of a desk. Aesthetic: "I like to design pieces that are timeless and classic, furniture that can fit in either a traditional or modern home." Details: Shown at Sloan Miyasato, 2 Henry Adams St., Suite 207, San Francisco. (415) 431-1465. jiunho.com. He sells to the trade. Nicholas Phan An interior decorator who works out of Santa Cruz and San Francisco, Phan released his 36-piece World View Collection by Hayes de Fer in 2008. The line, inspired by French Art Deco, Chinese classicism and American industrialism, contains Phan's "dream pieces," says the designer. "It was always a goal to have a product line as an extension of my design," says Phan, adding that his furniture and accessories are as much about fantasy as they are about craftsmanship. His 22-karat white-gold-framed antique mirrors include the Monaco (above, $9,400) and Kyoto Grande, which retails for about $14,800 and was purchased by the princess of Riyadh for the vestibule of her Paris apartment. His Bendorf Bridge Bench (right, $6,300) is made from laser-cut steel and finished in oil-slick bronze. The removable chain pays homage to Gucci, Phan says. Aesthetic: "My pieces range from spare and elemental to over-the-top gorgeously glamorous." Details: Phan's work can be found at the Enid Ford Atelier at the San Francisco Design Center, 101 Henry Adams St., Suite 130. (415) 255-1777. hayesdefer.com. He sells to the trade. Maloos Anvarian Maloos Anvarian says she's first and foremost a decorator. But people would see pieces she had designed for clients and ask, "Where did you purchase this?" So in 2006, she opened her DWM Maloos showroom featuring her own line of furniture specializing in pieces made from Plexiglas. "I love to work in it because of the transparency," she says, adding that it mixes well with antiques. Despite its contemporary appeal, plastic has been around for 100 years, she says. "We saw it in Bauhaus design and in Art Deco." Her Baroque Lucite table (above, $3,000-$4,000) is made using a silk-screening process and comes in an array of colors and designs. It can be customized for size and is made in the Bay Area. Anvarian says the tables are particularly popular with young people who want to transition from classic to contemporary. At some point Anvarian would like to do a less expensive line - pieces for less than $1,000 that could be sold directly to the public. Her staff has also been in some very preliminary talks with Target. Philosophy: "These are one-of-a-kind signed pieces, not mass produced. I'm hoping that they one day will become collectibles." Details: Shown at DWM Maloos, 2 Henry Adams St., Suite 349, San Francisco. (415) 864-3857. dwm-maloos.com. She sells to the trade. Andrew Fisher and Jeffry Weisman Andrew Fisher and Jeffry Weisman of Fisher Weisman, are San Francisco's consummate design team. In addition to creating interiors, the pair custom design furniture, lighting and textiles. They also license Fisher Weisman product designs to well-known retailers, including Gump's. The Acanthus major table desk (right, $28,000 at Gump's) is part of their bronze collection, which includes tables, lamps and candlesticks. The desk is made of hand-cast bronze and olive burl. "The idea was to have classically sculptural bronze legs that support and frame a crisply modern box, much the way the setting of an elegant ring holds and frames a large jewel," says Weisman. "The wood veneer is book matched to give it a classic, symmetrical feel." Weisman says the desk would fit nicely in a library, bedroom or even a corner of a living room. Philosophy: "We approach our work with imagination, careful attention to detail, restraint and a sense of humor," they say on their Web site. Details: Their work can be found at Gump's, 135 Post St., San Francisco. (800) 766-7628. fisherweisman.com. Craig Leavitt and Stephen Weaver Craig Leavitt and Stephen Weaver of Leavitt-Weaver Inc. grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. Although they say there is no one style that defines them, they often lean toward machinery for inspiration. "Part of it is growing up on a farm and being around all that equipment," says Weaver. They began creating their furniture after becoming frustrated by not being able to find the perfect piece for an interior they were working on. The pair's clients include the Getty family and the widow of Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss). In 1986 and 1987, they launched their furniture line. The collection ranges from about 40 to 60 pieces. Recently, the duo introduced their Vortex table (below, about $9,230), a 22-inch-tall coffee table made from aluminum and accented with a glass bowl. On working together: "We have quite different points of view," says Leavitt. "But we play off each other's skills." Details: Headquartered in Ceres (Stanislaus County), the company is working on finding a new Bay Area showroom. (209) 521-5125. leavittweaver.com. E-mail: info@leavittweaver.com. They sell to the trade. Vernon Applegate San Francisco designer Vernon Applegate and partner Gioi Tran of Applegate Tran Interiors started out custom creating furniture for their clients. Then other designers began asking if they could buy a few pieces for their own projects. Two years ago, they launched their 21-piece line. Now they have most of their furniture made in Tran's native Vietnam. Their Goldstein table (below, $1,472) was originally designed for a client who had a small space to furnish. "It's a very petite piece," says Applegate, who has a pair in his own living room flanking each side of a sofa. He says all the designs can be customized for size and taste. Aesthetic: "We like to borrow from traditional pieces and do something contemporary," says Applegate, adding that they like to mix simplicity and elegance and play with color and surprising materials. Details: Shown at Beckmann MooreYaki Studio, 2 Henry Adams St., Suite 331, San Francisco. (415) 863-0304. applegatetran.com. They sell to the trade. The bottom line on buying designer furniture Many designers sell only to the trade, meaning to another designer or architect. Although it sounds daunting - who wants to hire a decorator just to buy a couch? - it's not as involved as it seems. In fact, the San Francisco Design Center has a buying service group, four designers who will make the purchase for you at a markup - typically 25 percent for fabrics and 25 to 30 percent for furniture - still well under retail prices. They also offer complimentary consultations. For more information, call (415) 490-5800 and ask to talk to a designer in the buying service group. Occasionally, the center holds sample sales in which the public can buy from various showrooms. Complimentary tours are also available. Check the Web site sfdesigncenter.com for specifics. The SFDC complex includes the Showplace and the Garden Court buildings at Eighth and Townsend streets, and the Galleria building just one block south at 101 Henry Adams St. Open to the public 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. - Stacy Finz E-mail comments to sfinz@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page O - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. 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Tarkanian trips over Reagan's credo - Thehill.com Posted: 07 Feb 2010 02:22 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Did Danny Tarkanian confuse Ronald Reagan with ... Harry Reid? The clip above shows Tarkanian, who is in a wide open GOP primary to face Reid this year, stumbling over his words as he apparently tries to talk about Reagan's "11th Commandment" -- thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. Tarkanian repeatedly says Reid's name rather than Reagan's and calls the pledge the "11th Amendment." It's rather bizarre, really. Here's a transcript of Tarkanian's comments: I must correct the gentleman over here who made the comment about Harry Reid and the 11th Amendment. Harry Reid's comment about the 11th Amendment was, 'Thou shalt not attack a fellow Republican personally.' If you remember Harry Reid, in his campaign against George W. Bush -- George H. Bush -- there was a lot of differences in philosophy that Harry Reid brought up and distinguished himself from. In this campaign, my campaign has done exactly the same thing. The clip was posted to YouTube by a user called "AnyoneButTark." That YouTube page also includes video from the same forum of Tarkanian talking about being recruited by the NRSC in 2004 -- which his opponents will use to try to question his outsider credentials -- and a clip of him admitting he has had "problems with the NRA." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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