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Archived entries for BFFs

Tobias Wong, 1974-2010

Today we learned that Tobias Wong passed away early last Sunday morning, May 30 2010.  He was 35.

Our regular readers know that on this blog we normally keep things pretty light.  We draw on pictures to make them better, we make up fake trends, and we barely get let into shows to “review.”  The strategy here is something that we felt was underrepresented in art & design writing:  take a passion for a serious, academic topic and present it in the conversational style that we use in our actual lives.  That concept-based objects can be both inclusive and taken seriously, and that the public is smarter than they’re usually given credit for.  They don’t need more pedantic curators.  What they need are friends that respect their intelligence and that can lead them toward real ideas in an engaging way.

Tobias was one of the people who made us think this was possible.

Tobias’ creative work was a constant source of inspiration, and that was the idea.  In a design landscape where much success can be had using juxtaposition & irony without conceptual backing, he held strong that “leaving room for meaning is a cheap cop-out—the best designers/artists have always been focused on what and how they want to be read. Leaving room for meaning is for those not so confident with their ideas.”  Again and again, he managed to present us with objects that hooked us with beauty, challenged us intellectually, and sent us a tiny shiver of danger.  Aric Chen put it well in the press release:

… [Wong] held a mirror to our desires and absurdities; upended the hierarchy between design and art, and the precious and the banal; and helped redefine collaboration and curation as creative practices. Working within what he termed a “paraconceptual” framework, Wong prompted a reevaluation of everything we thought we knew about design: its production, its psychological resonance, its aesthetic criteria, its means of distribution, its attachment to provenance, its contextualization and its manner of presentation. Wong was a keen observer, an original mind, a brilliant prankster, and an unerring friend.

Thank you, Tobi.  You will be missed.

-Andrew

New Smarties! Let’s all welcome Mike Clare

It's Mike!

I’d like to introduce you to No Smarties’ latest contributor, Mike Clare.  Mike is one of the founding members of bbbbrainbow (our bbbbff’s) and designs things like this RFID pendulum synthesizer which, as our twitter followers know, made us crap our collective design/art pants when we saw it on display last month.

Welcome Mike!  May your stolen photos be renamed swiftly and your publish button well-worn.

Blade Wynne’s paintings are the most lovable, least pukey

"Veil" 2008. watercolor and gouache on paper. 10"x13"

"Veil" 2008. watercolor and gouache on paper. 10"x13"

Whew, we’ve sure been looking at a lot of slick stuff lately, haven’t we?  You know what I’m talking about: the squeaky clean stuff like this, and this, and especially this.  Not that I don’t totally love that shit, but quoth Roberta Smith, “we cannot live by the de-materialization — or the slick re-materialization — of the art object alone.” Right? Oh, Roberta <3

So if you will, please allow me this opportunity to present to you how much I love Blade Wynne’s stuff. Blade is a No Smarties BFF, he’s both a sweet painter and a Totally Nice Guy, and obviously has one of the most ridiculously badass names you’ve ever heard.

His stuff tends to be modest in scale and maybe humble in content, but hugely ambitious in color range and thoughtfully plotted out spaces. His paintings feel like they happen really slowly before your eyes, and make me so excited that I want to run into the woods live in a tent and look at leaves and live like a crazy woman and do nothing but draw for weeks. Ummmyeah.  He makes some of the best observational work I ever see around these days; a tradition that, lets face it, gets clogged with a lot of pukey painting.

Click through for MORE!

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Opening Tonight! New Painthings @Nudashank

ted-gahl_tatiana-berg_new-painthings_nudashank

Alert!  Remember when we told you all about that group show CHROMATOSE that was happening at Nudashank in Baltimore, and how it featured Smarties Tatiana Berg and Ted Gahl?  Well they evidently stole the show and Nudashank has given them their own show to say “thanks” and also “you are fucking awesome.”

Opening tonight, New Painthings:  Tatiana Berg/Ted Gahl
Reception 6-10pm

Friday, February 12
Nudashank Gallery
405 W. Franklin St.
3rd Floor
Baltimore, MD

more info at nudashank.com

Alert! Dan Golden started a blog!

dan-golden_sad-but-beautiful

No Smarties’ newest BFF and all-around wonderful man Dan Golden has become a fellow bloggeur!  His recently revamped site includes not only his fucking great designed objects but also Sad But Beautiful, his holla at yo’ journalism.  You might want to subscribe to that shit.  If you don’t know who Dan is you can go over and read this interview he did with Design Glut.

Bonus:  Check out this old drawing he dug up and sent over.  Love that guy.

dan-golden_smartees

Congorock!

Love the Jungle-Book-meets-Seventh-Seal vibe of this new video for Babylon by Congorock, directed by No Smarties BFF Pomp&Clout.

We Hearties 1.13.10

linz_hocker

Interesting read at Sight Unseen about the creation of the Linz stool by Thomas Feichtner, using the apt words “hexagonal spoon,” “milk crate,” and “spaceship part.”

da-sul-kim

The very nice photography work of No Smarties bff Da Sul Kim

id_wake_5251

Former I.D. editor Julie Lasky exposes the short-sighted executive foofaraw that killed I.D. Magazine after 56 years in business.

debroin_disco

Holy crap look at this disco ball!

Living in Delusion (Downtown)

The ladies of the Delusional Downtown Divas do something you don’t see all too often: make fun of the art world through being root-tootingly HILARIOUS (as opposed to normal art world criticism, which is often pedantic and hypocritical and snoozerfest).  Maybe it’s because by “art world” we mean “themselves.”

Meet Oona, Swann, and AgNess: hyped-up versions of their real world selves, who were artworld born-and-raised, but are 1000x more embarassing and 1000x more entertaining.

They’ve just launched their second season which you can watch here. And if you don’t you are making a SAD SAD mistake for yourself and your sense of humor. Watch it and laugh until you wonder how many people are actually unselfconsciously like this all the time? Answer: Um actually quite a few.

Cheers, ladies!

Party Pics: Noir

Jerry Magni & Liz Kinnmark

Jerry Magni & Liz Kinnmark

Last weekend was the magnificent dual birthday party of bffs Liz Kinnmark and No Smarties cofounder Leslie Ruckman.  The party was held at Design Glut HQ, a.k.a. their rambling Brooklyn apartment, and the theme was Noir.  Hit the jump for more giant scissors, black cheesecake, naked ladies, and eventual drunken but stylish slumber.

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CHROMATOSE @Nudashank

Big Rock Candy Mountain, 2009, by Tatiana Berg

Tatiana Berg, Big Rock Candy Mountain, oil/glitter/gimp on canvas, 2009

Those of you in the D.C./Baltimore area should be aware that Friday, August 21 is the opening of CHROMATOSE at Nudashank Gallery, featuring the likes of Smartie Tatiana Berg along with a slew of talented others (such as Erik Parker & Darren McManus, pictured below).

Friday, August 21
Nudashank Gallery
405 W. Franklin St.
3rd Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201

more info at nudashank.com

Erik Parker, New Freedom, acrylic on canvas, 2008

Erik Parker, New Freedom, acrylic on canvas, 2008

Darren McManus, Monad 1, acrylic on wood, 2007

Darren McManus, Monad 1, acrylic on wood, 2007



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