Aline Weber Hangs Out At Prada As We Drop Into Marfa, Texas
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Snuggled in a vast expanse of desert, nearly 20 miles from the next town and some 200 from the nearest major airport, the place is the subject of much modern lore—people return awestruck from the tours of the Chinati Foundation, filled with wonder from the desert landscape and starry nights, and amped up on their great Instagram snap in front of Prada Marfa. Needless to say, Marfa has amassed a lot of hype.
Aline Weber Hangs Out At Prada In Marfa, Tex By Marc Pilaro For ODDA Spaces Issue
When Prada first opened a store in Marfa, Texas, lots of people were incredulous. After all, in 2007, Marfa Texas, population 2,485, went dark. The town was so broke that it couldn't pay its electricity bills, requiring the new mayor to turn off Marfa's streetlights -- every last one.
"Today, Marfa lights up the sky," wrote City-Journal in a recent article. In 2015 an estimated 38,000 tourists -- mostly art lovers -- traveled from worldwide destination to this West Texas town. More than 45,000 are expected this year.
Marfa has become more than a place. It is a “destination,” an arts-world station of the cross, or, to mix religious metaphors, a mecca of minimalism. What Lourdes is to ailing Catholics, Marfa is to aficionados of conceptual sculpture and painting. Think Art Basel in Miami, or Documenta in Germany. The temperature here in June can be scorching, but Marfa, in any season, has become supercool. “London, Paris, Rome, Marfa,” boasts a popular T-shirt sold at Squeeze, a tiny deli in the heart of town that specializes in chocolates and fruit and vegetable drinks.
In March 2016, Vogue writer Steff Yotka spent a weekend in Marfa, writing:
Snuggled in a vast expanse of desert, nearly 20 miles from the next town and some 200 from the nearest major airport, the place is the subject of much modern lore—people return awestruck from the tours of the Chinati Foundation, filled with wonder from the desert landscape and starry nights, and amped up on their great Instagram snap in front of Prada Marfa. Needless to say, Marfa has amassed a lot of hype.
GQ toured 7 of the Coolest Homes in Marfa, Texas in their current issue.
Writing about Tom Ford's new Golden Globe nominated film 'Nocturnal Animals', Mr. Porter drops into West Texas, with a stop in Marfa. Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Amy Adams for Best Actress. Tom Ford received nominations for Best Director of a Motion Picture and Best Screenplay of a Motion Picture.
On Site: Decoding Betye Saar's Uneasy Symbolism At Milan’s Fondazione Prada
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Writing for Hyperallergic.com, Seph Rodney surveys the work of American artist Betye Saar at Milan's Fondazione Prada. AOC wrote about Saar in advance of the exhibition opening, but Rodney's impressions put the works in an environmental context and also filtered through the writer's own personal thought universe.
My favorite work in the show is a small teal room titled “The Alpha and the Omega” (2013–16), which contains a related suite of individual works, including a suspended structure threaded with neon tubes and representing a ship. Below, a small playpen holds a collection of inflated balls, two empty chairs face each other across a board set up for an unfamiliar game, and two fancy birdcages sit quietly with entire worlds contained within them. This room is a bit more enigmatic and quietly serene. According to the gallery guide, the installation looks to represent the entire journey of a human life. “The Alpha and the Omega” also demonstrates that Saar can do more than manipulate racist icons; she can give you a glimpse of her internal life, tell you that she is ready for tomorrow to arrive.
Related: Racist Objects: Confronting Racist Objects The New York Times
A Painful Past Still Present The New York Times
For a more detailed discussion of the art of Betye Saar, read our exhibit opening overview: Assemblage Artist Betye Saar Shows 'Uneasy Dancer' At Fondazione Prada Opening Sept 15-2016
Diana Gordon, Beyonce Songwriter, Launches New Feminist Anthem Called 'Woman'
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Songwriter Diana Gordon has written memorable lyrics for Beyoncé, including three song on 'Lemonade': 'Sorry', 'Don't Hurt Yourself' and 'Daddy Lessons'. Having worked for years in dance clubs under the name Wynter Gordon, the songstress just premiered her first music video on Vogue.com: 'a feminist anthem called 'Woman'.
In the video, shot by director Cameron McCool in grainy black-and-white around New York City, Gordon and a group of bare-chested pregnant women in tailored topcoats are the ultimate symbol of bad-ass feminine power. “We shot this video on a cold day in November; five pregnant women on the cusp of giving birth, and hungry, everyone having to pee at the same time,” wrote Gordon in an email. “This song, that celebrates your mother, my mother, your sister, and my sister, is just my way to stand up for the woman next to me and all those unseen. In a time when we are still defending our right to choose, pay equality, moral and ethical equality; a time where single motherhood is on the rise and women are in the trenches raising the next generation largely by themselves, we have to be all-encompassing and stay strong through the worst of situations. We need to stand together.” Words to live by. Watch below.
America's Alt-Right White Men Attack Liberalism With Pizzagate & Moral Outrage
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Over the past six weeks, the alleged story of Hillary Clinton and other prominent members of the Democratic Party establishment participating in an international child sex ring has morphed into a front page story. "It began in October, when a baseless rumor about emails allegedly discovered on Anthony Weiner’s laptop made its way through Twitter and 4chan and conspiracy-theorist websites", writes Slate.
Self-deputized online investigators combed through the emails of Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, dumped by WikiLeaks. Finding only campaign talk and recipes, the 'investigators' concluded that innocuous terms used in Podesta’s emails were actually a series of secret codes: “pizza” for girl, “ice cream” for male prostitute, and so on. Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C. pizzeria that had hosted a Democratic fundraiser, was identified (also baselessly) as a headquarters for sex-ring activities. The conspiracy theory acquired a name, “Pizzagate.”
On Sunday a man wielding an assault rifle entered Comet Ping Pong, saying he was there to investigate Pizzagate. 4chan users are confident that the man is part of a false-flag operation being carried out by the establishment to discredit their investigation. Consider that every falsehood has another one to explain why it isn't.
The Clintons have been accused of every possible crime over the course of their 30-plus years in politics, but this one takes the cake, so to speak. We should remember, however, that America has been obsessed with child-sex-rings for the last 30 years. Slate reviews this sordid history of false allegations.
Related: Trump Fires Adviser's Son From Transition for Spreading Fake News The New York Times
'Loving' Star Ruth Negga Tells Vogue US She's Territorial About Her Identity
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“Loving Star Ruth Negga on Biracial Politics: “I Get Very Territorial About My Identity””
With her mesmerizing performance in Jeff Nichols’s subtly groundbreaking film 'Loving', the Irish-Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga has become a star for our time, writes Vogue about their January cover star.
Negga is 35 (though she feels she “was about 22 a second ago”), and her powers of transformation are such that she’s been cast, with striking frequency, as people who look and are nothing like her. Tulip is a busty blonde in the original. Nichols thought at first that she was too petite to play Mildred. Six years ago, she became the National Theatre’s first black Ophelia and let a troubling force of revenge seep through her sweetness. She embodies these characters so fully, you forget they could have been otherwise. At a time when most British exports to Hollywood have tended toward the aristocratic, this Irish-Ethiopian actress is a different kind of royalty, a “brilliant chameleon,” in the words of her friend the director Annie Ryan, fit for a world of equal rights and dissolving borders.
Related on AOC: Ruth Negga & Joel Edgerton In 'Love Story' by Mario Testino for Vogue US November 2016. Read on.
Leonardo DiCaprio Meets With Trump & Ivanka To Talk Green Jobs
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Just as Al Gore talked green jobs in his recent meeting with president-elect Donald Trump, Leonardo DiCaprio and the head of his foundation Terry Tamminen focused their 90-minute environmental presentation on job creation in the green sector when they met with Trump, his daughter Ivanka and other members of the Trump team on Wednesday at Trump Tower in New York.
"Today, we presented the President-elect and his advisors with a framework — which LDF developed in consultation with leading voices in the fields of economics and environmentalism — that details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure," Tamminen said. "Our conversation focused on how to create millions of secure, American jobs in the construction and operation of commercial and residential clean, renewable energy generation."
The Oscar-winning actor has been a strong advocate of fighting climate change and preserving wildlife, and his recent documentary, "Before the Flood," addresses the peril that the world faces because of climate change.
DiCaprio previously met with Ivanka Trump and presented her with a copy of the film.
On Wednesday Trump also announced that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt -- a tremendous foe of the climate change and environmental protections -- will head the Environmental Protection Agency.
