Brutalist Truth.

Love the work of American sculptor Paul Evans. There really are no words, so I'll shut up now.

Sculpted sideboard, 1969 lacquered and gilt steel, wood and slate via Natural Selection

via Modern Design Fanatic

Cityscape cabinet via Treadway gallery

via The Artful Blogger

See what I mean GREAT! just GREAT!

Great article on Paul Evans here

via V&M

1st dibs

Things that caught my eye on 1st dibs today. Wish I had loads of disposable $$$$, I would go apeshit on the 'dibs'.

One-off Brutalist sculpture - Don Drumm

Italian rocking chair

Polished brass Italian Murano Lamps

I got the Bitossi Blues.

Bitossi ashtray and matching trinket box. Photo by ©J.Dias

Italian mid-century pottery. Photo by ©J.Dias

Charles Sucsan mid-century tile. Photo by ©J.Dias

Had a great day of finds at the vintage market yesterday. I love Bitossi and ashtrays, so finding a Bitossi ashtray was a score! I had to adopt the matching little trinket box as well, also in Rimini blue, it would be a sad thing to break up the happy pair. I was very happy to find these pieces because I've had Italian pottery on the brain lately but don't often come across much of it. The same dealer had the great goblet/bowl (2nd pic) also italian, isn't it stunning. The 3rd pick is also mid-century but this time it's by Canadian (Quebec) artist Charles Sucsan. It had a crack repair on the tile but that didn't matter to me because it's a wonderful little piece and heck it was a no brainer at a whopping $2!!! When I got home I googled Charles Sucsan and was very impressed by his oeuvre of work. I'm especially fond of his pieces from the 60's and 70's. I also spotted some of his work on First Dibs and a few other sites online. Check out some of my favourite pieces on the Catalogue Gazette site here

National Gallery of Canada

Portrait of a Woman - Jean Leon Gerome

Detail: Portrait of a Woman - Jean Leon Gerome

Portrait of a Man with a Hat - Lorenzo Lotto

Portait of Pope Urban VIII Barberini - Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Louise Bourgeois' Spider sculpture outside the National Gallery of Canada

I visited the National Gallery of Canada last weekend to check out the Van Gogh exhibit. This gallery has a wonderful permanent collection that's so worth seeing. Every time I visit I find something I hadn't quite noticed before. This time it was the fabulous Gerome portrait of a woman, the tender Lotto portrait of a man and the endearing Bernini bust of Pope Urban VIII.

Prometheus.

Michael Fassbender gave such a great performance as David the robot in Ridley Scott's Prometheus. This clip is an excellent example of well executed and integrated marketing of a product. If possible I highly recommend seeing it in IMAX 3D. 

Whitefriar Glass.

I've been trying to curb my thrift store visits on account of my ongoing fear of being selected by my friends and family to appear on an episode of Hoarders. However.... last week while on vacation I gave into temptation and checked out my local Goodwill. The store felt grosser than usual but I braved the foul and got on with the prowl. Boy am I glad I did! it was sooooo worth it. Check out this beauty I found...

This pic via Pips-Trip flickr

The tiny worn out label on it said 'Whitefriar' (which I wasn't familiar with) so when I went home I googled some info on it. This is what I found via  20th Century Glass:

"James Powell bought a glass factory in 1834, in the Whitefriars area of London, back then the glassworks was called James Powell & Sons. James' three sons, Arthur Powell, Nathanael Powell and John Powell, ran the factory from 1840. Originally the company made stained glass, and scientific and industrial glass. Whitefriars began making glass tableware during the 1860's. in 1875, Nathanael's son, Harry James Powell, joined Whitefriars, and ran the company until 1919 and created many designs. In 1923, the company relocated to a new factory in Middlesex. Designers at Whitefriars during the 20's, 30's and 40's were Arthur Marriott Powell, William Butler, Barnaby Powell, William Wilson, and James Hogan. In 1954 Geoffrey Baxter joined the design team, and launched his very successful textured glass range in 1967, which included bark vases, the banjo vase, and of course the drunken bricklayer vase. The Whitefriars factory closed in 1980."

This particular piece is mid-century and is part of a series which comes in several styles and colour-ways, all of which are fantastic! I find the colour palette interesting because I wouldn't normally associate them as much with mid-century as I would with something more contemporary.

via Whitefriars glass

via Whitefriars glass

via mypotshots

via RedGrey

via littleowlski

Oh yeah and my little $4.04 purchase might be worth somewhere in the vicinity of $150-200!!! so see it does pay to thrift! I think purchasing this piece is only going to further fuel my love for mid-century art glass. As for my little hoarding problem...who am I kidding I don't stand a chance and guess what, I'm okay with that!

Gelato season.

image by ©D. Fernandes

All my colourful Gelato spoons serve as a lovely reminder of last summer in Italy. I can't really afford to go back this summer but at least I can reminisce at one of the many Gelateria shops opening up in Toronto.

Snow White

Costume from Snow White and the Huntsman

designed by Colleen Atwood via Movie Fanatic