Philip Crangi by Thomas Dozol (click to view larger)

Philip Crangi is quite an interesting character, let along a master jewelry designer! In 2008 he was awarded the Swarovski Accessories Designer CFDA, and has been catching many an eye. His pieces are very unique… part baroque, part punk and grunge, part apothecary, part scrap metal. So of course he has my attention!
I can completely relate to his desire to collect things of this certain aesthetic, I came across an interesting video of him at home with some of his strange collections and creations.

This photo of him, to the left, by Thomas Dozol caught my eye.
Dozol’s image collection, titled Once and For All, takes a stark look at the resurgence of the tattoo phenomenon. Scans are taken of the subject’s ink and then projected back onto their bodies and faces. I think they are quite beautiful and a nice social commentary on how the body modification subculture has been pushed so far into the limelight that it is no longer shocking or special.

“Each person’s tattoo is a visual manifestation of a specific time, and thus a specific aspect of their personality that might have been forgotten otherwise.”

See this COACD article for more scans of Dozol’s photos which were printed in Kaiserin Magazine.

Lucian Matis Fall 2010 (click to view larger)

TWO: Fashion

How stunning was the Fall 2010 Lucian Matis collection??! I was absolutely blown away by this Toronto designer! Such detail in the cuts, the richness of the fabric, and the jewelry – AMAZING.
It was definitely a step into the macabre from the usual light and fanciful designs of previous seasons, but I am glad to see he still used some of the large classical-painting-prints on some designs. (see the full Fall collection and review here. I completely agree with the writer that his use of embellishment is such a relief from all the restraint and “camel-neutrals” we’ve seen this season. Solid neutrals – really? That is too safe for me ahaha!)

Also check the Lucian Matis website;it has the previous collections and is super cute to navigate around with the vintage circus feel.

- Morbid Anatomy Library (click to visit site)

Lastly, today at my internship I was researching some medical woodcuts and found myself completely enamored with Morbid Anatomy.
For some reason I have always been fascinated with human anatomy, the way the muscles run and interlock over the skeleton, the functioning of it all… it was probably because of all my dad’s medical text books laying around the house as a kid! And of course it is essential that you know anatomy to be comfortable drawing the human figure… but anatomy as art?
Why not? I’ll admit some of the displays look quite freaky! I’m not one for taxidermy and detailed amputation diagrams, but some of it is very intriguing to me in a surreal sense… the shell of an organic machine that’s no longer functioning. It reminds me of those Italian mummies that look like sleeping people covered in soft wax. So eerie! (Maybe I should have gone into medicine! I’m such a creeper haha.)
Morbid Anatomy Library is an actual place, not so far away, in NYC. They describe themselves on the blog as “a research library and private collection available to the interested public. The library makes available a collection of books, photographs, ephemera, and artifacts relating to medical museums, anatomical art, collectors and collecting, cabinets of curiosity, the history of medicine, death and mortality, memorial practice, art and natural history, arcane media, and other topics…”

Road trip anyone?