meredith cutler :: arts marketing :: artist

I'm not sure why Valentine's Day brings out the evil in me. After all, I'm safely married off, so I can no longer play the "I'm so sad/lonely/bitter/ *locked in my house because the doorknob on my front door just broke off in my hand" card.

In any case, let's get back to the evil. I have a special appreciation for evil, especially when disguised within otherwise innocent looking artwork. And so, when I came across today's Design*Sponge post on Wilhelm Staehle's "Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre" (via jared and eryn’s site), I clapped my little hands with evil glee, and decided to show them some evil blog love. I'm particularly fond of these:

*One Valentine's Day, not so very long ago, I was celebrating a week-old traumatic horrorshow breakup. To cheer me up, my wise girlfriends had plans to take me out for single, bitter drinks and laughs at the expense of others. I pulled my tearstained face off of the floor, put on a breakup revenge outfit, and headed for the door...only to find that I was locked inside my apartment as the faceted crystal doorknob rolled uselessly in my hand. To make a long story short (too late), I had to call my landlord, at home, on Valentine's Day evening, and plea with him to release me from my lonely, bitter trap. He promised to send over the live-in super. Meanwhile, I called my dad, who instructed me in detail how to fiddle with the errant doorknob. After several minutes of fiddling, I triumphantly wrenched open the door to my freedom...only to find Sherrod, my live-in super (a six-foot-five bodyguard type with no sense of humor) hulking on the other side wearing a bright red leather suit with matching fedora. Apparantly, I had interrupted his hot Valentine's Day date with the lady. Not happy, was he...sorry Sherrod! I miss you!

While researching the RISD furniture design program for an upcoming Artscope article, I came across this unassuming, secretly magical reclaimed oak sconce on graduate student Zeke Leonard's website. If I ever get to build my coveted wooden A-frame in the wilds of Maine, these will have to line my hallways.

It may have something to do with my wedding last weekend, but I am suddenly taking much more notice of girly things like china, silverware and bedding. Okay, it may also have something to do with le grande "furniture fund" that we are now squirreling away in the face of the crappy economy. In any case, this superfly new take on delftware by designers Lovegrove & Repucci caught my attention in a big way as I was leafing through my latest copy of Bon Appetit Magazine (thanks for the subscription, Aunt Gloria!)

I'm digging the taxi plate and the graffiti'd van...note the tags creating the plate borders. Killer...