Blog Posts: March 2010
Missed Connections
Looking for a job? a house? or a service? Then you’ve probably looked through craigslist, the online classifieds born out of the US in 1995 and exploded in popularity in 2000. They now serve 700 cities in 70 countries.
But you may have missed a section on craigslist called ‘missed connections’. A section devoted to people posting about particular encounters with strangers that they may never see again, or hoping to see one more time. Some people read to find a ‘reconnection’, some read out of pure entertainment.
Sophie Blackall, in particular, saw it as endless material for her art. Check out some of her work representing ‘missed connections’:
I Wish I Could See Inside Your Head
Monday, November 23, 2009
-m4w
You were wearing a green dress with white buttons. We made eye contact at least three times on the 6 train this morning. All of a sudden you gave a little smile, and looked down at your lap, as though at some secret joke. You never looked up again and I had to get off at Bleeker. I wish I could have seen inside your beautiful head.
You Left Your Coat Here Last Winter
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
You left your coat here last winter - w4w
... or rather, you let me wear it home.
I found fun dip in one pocket and your NYPL card in the other.
It’s going to keep me deliciously warm this winter as I rack up mountains of overdue fines.
The Coming And Going Of Bicycles (that’s life)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
sorry your bike got stolen. its beautiful. when some guy offered it to me for 40 bucks, i didnt even think twice. i was drunk, missing my bike and figured if not me, someone else would buy it anyways. also, my bike got stolen last week. who knows, maybe you bought it for 40 bucks from some guy on the street. so if you see me riding it, feel free to say hey. maybe we could trade back. if not, you can buy it from me for 40 bucks. id buy my old bike back for 40 bucks. it was way more comfortable than this one.
Blackall’s art has become so popular that, after repeated requests, she finally started to sell her work on Etsy. A book is also in the works.
Plaster of Paris
Okay, okay. This entry is a tad girly (hello, dolls?!). I know, you’re thinking, “what the hell” right? But look past the fact that it’s about a doll and a world famous shoe designer and you’ll see that this is a fantastic marketing endeavor. Last year as part of the 50th anniversary of Barbie (yup, expect more from Barbie’s mid-life crisis) Mattel has collaborated with the Paris based shoe maestro Christian Louoboutin (if you haven’t heard of him, your girlfriend or sister probably has) to act as her yearlong “godfather.“ Not only did he create a Barbie inspired shoe collection, but he also tweaked certain physical attributes of the iconic doll to better fit the high fashion world (he proclaimed that her ankles were “too fat” and her feet needed to be “more curvy”).
”Barbie has a long history of working with various designers and artists who use Barbie as a muse,” said Stephanie Cota, senior vice president of marketing of Barbie brands at Mattel. “It was a natural for Barbie, not only with her fashion heritage, but also because of her passion for shoes. She has a billion shoes and we needed to do something special for her shoe collection.”
Released just last month to accompany this make-over is Barbie’s diary “My Year in Paris with Christian Louboutin” are photos and scenes of Louboutin and his plastic muse around the city of lights in a wide array of stylized situations including shopping in a Louboutin boutique, a day as a Parisian burlesque dancer, a high fashion shoot, and a sexy jewel heist.
Perhaps if Barbie looked this damn hot in our childhood days more boys would’ve played with her.
