demarchelier

after doing some heavy research on sasha, i came across a famous fashion photographer who is responsible for all the beautiful shots in vogue and bazaar. patrick demarchelier is a french born photographer who was raised in new york city. he has worked with all the top models, the likes of kate moss, naomi campbell, gemma ward etc.

sasha pivovarova

i have recently begun to be intrigued by strange looking models.
one that striked me was sasha pivovarova, mainly because of her interesting, out of this world alienly strikingly beautiful face. after looking around for her on the internet, i discovered that she was actually an artist herself. before getting into the modelling business, she never even thought about it, she was a struggling artist in russia who was discovered randomly.
she carries her art equipment everywhere, even during catwalks. in between walks she would work on her art. i find this extremely awesome. how unfair that a person with such a perfect physique has true talent as well. she looks so ethereal to me, she's like a little ghost who could catwalk.

barge! barge! barge!

i just got back from the revolting biology barge trip this morning. the barge itself was relaxed and really nice, especially with a nice breeze. however, the activities we had to do were boring and not to mention the 3 minute showers were harsh.
on the bright side we had a lot of funny moments and it was quite an artistic experience as well.
the sky was always beautiful, the water sparkled in the sun and some spots we were at had interesting things to look at.
one was definitely the gothic temple. this temple was built by some thai king (i dont remember) to prove to the westerners that thais have just as good architectural skills as they did. i walked through there at around 8pm with a couple of friends and the buildings were quite creepy yet magnificent.
we also visited ayutthaya and went to the ruins of the kings temple. this temple was built in respect for the kings mother in the style of the angkor wat in cambodia. however it was burned down by the burmese when ayutthaya was invaded.

my favorite spot on this whole trip has to be the little pier that i discovered with akasha, alexis and li. it reminded me of the pier in the notebook. i dont even know if pier is the right word HAHA. but that place had lots of lilly pads and it was just beautiful.
here are four more photos i took during the trip:

cultural development

i have started a new piece for our second culture theme. this piece is based on how some people let go of their cultural ways in their blood and adopt modern materialism instead. i have painted an asian looking naked woman. i plan on letting her smoke a cigarette and then painting a large part going up for the smoke. i painted the cigarette and the nakedness to represent the taboo that is against asian cultures for women. im not sure what to do next but whatever my brain wants me to do. i do.

fingers crossed photography

i have an unhealthy obsession with internet phenomenon "hannabeth" on myspace. she is a very very pretty model. anyways, whilst lurking her myspace (which i don't do very often..) i came across a photographer whom she has worked with a lot. dirk mai is his name but he is known as "fingers crossed". he is a californian based fashion photographer. his work is still quite amateur-ish but i like his style a lot. check out his myspace : http://www.myspace.com/thebearsandi

ten million dollar fashion show

karl lagerfeld and fendi held a monumental fashion show, one of the most expensive ever, strangely held at the top of the great wall of china. the likes of kanye west, marc jacob, olsen twins, thandie newton, tinsley mortimer and amanda hearst attended the event. talk about taking fashion to a new height. i can't wait to be part of or be invited to these events. :D

techno heels

ghesquière has done it again. him and his psychotic imagination, makes me so jealous. i don't know how anyone can just wake up one morning and say "OH i am going to make lego inspired, vinyl stilettos today! :)". these shoes are fabulously made with plastic, leather, vinyl and rubber in lego colors. ghesquière himself claimed that he just got inspired by his childhood, playing with lego combined with his love for womens footwear. outrageously amazing.

her own culture.

my second topic for ib art is "culture". i decided to explore one of my closest friends culture in depth and chose to do facial paint on her because i thought it was an interesting media. my friend, ting is taiwanese and the colors of her flag is red, blue and white. however, ting is in love with the color pink so i decided to include it in the painting because it is part of her OWN culture. i let her choose the pattern because it is to represent HER self. i used acrylic paint on her face and photographed her in the outfit she chose herself to wear. the tiara is to show that to herself, she is her own princess. she said so herself. :P. the phone is an important object to her, she can't live without it so i included it. i took pictures of her on her balcony. since she is so naturally stunning, it only took a couple of photos until i was satisfied. with the help of li, i edited the photos making it all black and white, except the parts that i wanted to keep in color (face, lips, pink high light, shoes, phone). i want to explore this style more, so i have decided to do the same to a couple of other friends of mine as well.

ice cream-tastic.

BACK FROM THE BIG CITY. a very relaxed and fun weekend. an exhibition that really interested me was Confectioneries and Cosnurbations at the Tonson Gallery, especially the works of Chila Kumari Burman. she is an indian who was raised in the uk. her pieces are based on her childhood experiences with her father as the only indian ice cream man around that time. she has collages and her pieces are often mildly humorous as well as colorful. i like her style because it is bright and happy looking. :D

the city of angels.

this weekend our art class is going on a trip to the big fat stinky city of bangkok. im very excited because i want to get away from the small town of chiang mai and the SHOPPING. OH HYES. but of course im also very excited to see the art exhibitions. i had a check through the itinerary and the artists and places we are visiting seem very exciting. the place i am most excited to go to is the TCDC Mechanics Alive exhibition because the objects can move and seem really fun to go look at. i just cannot wait to go and splurge on something ridiculously expensive as well. :)

shoes. that make you want to have sex//

one of my close friends, jaquelyne marie in LA is overly obsessed about heels. whilst browsing on the internet she came across an article which really interested me. and i just had to share it with the world. world famous shoe designer Christian Louboutin, known for his red backed black stiletto heels and fashion photographer David Lynch did a collaborated exhibition in Paris called "Fetish". I am really intrigued by the shoes and the style of the photography as well, very FETISH and SEXUAL i must say. the link for this site is as following : http://kostasvoyatzis.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/louboutin-lynch-exhibition-paris/

nicolas ghesquière.

my all time favorite designer. at only the age of 25 ghesquière became the head of fashion house balenciaga. the house was losing its high fashion status and needed a change, ghesquière made the change happen. he is known for his sense of silhouette, pairing high skinny pants with flowy dress tops wayyy back before it became a trend. he brought back the trend of platforms, which at one point were thought to be completely slutty. however, he turned that stereotype around by making them unique, beautiful and completely classy. now, platforms are back in trend and all designers can just say that ghesquière himself is responsible for this. fans of his creations include the likes of mary kate olsen, kate moss, sienna miller, chloe sevigny, and even the ice queen herself, anna wintour. i myself want to make a difference in fashion and be orignal with every outfit i create, just like him.

sadly, we have the same blood.

our first topic for ib art is the 'self'. to express this, we can create anything that we perceive as something that shows 'self'. for this piece i have chosen to create something small but detailed. i got my inspiration from the movie "queen of the damned", at one of the end scenes when there was a family tree, blood was going through it to represent how the family is connected by blood. i painted on thick cardboard which i cut up myself and used water color for the humans and the small features, and acrylic for the blood so that it will overlap the watercolor.
i named this piece, "sadly, we have the same blood" to represent my dysfunctional family which "sadly" makes up who i am. i ripped off the father figures face for personal reasons which adds some depth to the piece i guess. the blood coming out of the eyes also shows the sadness of the relation. at the end of the day, without your family you wouldn't be the way that you are now, which is basically what this whole piece is about.

self : why ib art.

my name is alexander kessler and i am a junior (g.11) at prem center international school in chiang mai, thailand. i am 16 years old and i am from a mixed culture background. i chose to do ib art as a higher level subject because it will have a great influence on my future and what i want to do with my life after high school. i want to do fashion design and fashion photography because that form of art to me, is astonishing. beautiful clothes on beautiful people, what more could i ask for?

i have always been interested in the arts since i was younger, i loved to copy my favorite cartoons and paint them. however, i have only recently begun to realize my interest in the fashion side of art, and the life that comes with the fashion industry makes me even more exhilarated. flicking through vogue and harper's bazaar makes me want to graduate NOW.