Aanteni – Rodarte Spring 2010
Directed by Todd Cole
Featuring Guinevere van Seenus
Score by No Age

Last week, amidst the hullabaloo of New York Fashion Week, The Block team threw a party to celebrate the Fame Issue, and to show off the runway rag dolls Andrew Yang made for our Spring Fashion Preview story. All nine and a half dolls (one is a conjoined twin) hung like paintings on the white walls of the envoy enterprises’ gallery space in the Lower East Side, while hundreds of adoring fans, editors, and bloggers filed by – absinthe in hand – ogling the miniature Lanvin, Rick Owens, Marc Jacobs, and more. Discussions swirled over which doll was the favourite, but all agreed the party was a smashing success.

The Block’s Editor-in-Chief caught up with the dolls’ creator the day after the party to ask him about the process of making these one-of-a-kind beauties…

Susan Locht: Hi Andrew! How are you? That was quite the party last night, an incredible turnout.  Did you have fun?

Andrew Yang: Hi Susan! I had a blast. It was surreal. From the moment I walked in the door it was like riding a wave of good energy.

SL: Yeah, you’re right. The excitement in the room was palpable. I think seeing the dolls in-person is a very different experience from seeing them in the magazine. People kept saying, “I didn’t realize they were so tall!” And it’s just so incredible to see all the detail you put into them up close.  … Can you tell me a bit about how and why you started making your own dolls in the first place?

AY: I’d thought about doing it for a long time, but it was always like, “when I get around to it.” I was doing all this other crap to make money on the side – silkscreening t-shirts, sewing dollar-store dishtowels together into scarves, selling at markets. And then one day I was like, what if I silkscreened a doll face onto fabric? That’s when I realized how I wanted the doll to look.  …But by the time I had sewn and stuffed my first prototype, I didn’t have the patience to bother silkscreening. and I had already done so much handwork in the assembly, so I just drew on her face.

SL: What was the process for the runway dolls for The Block?

AY: For The Block project specifically: I mapped out how many dolls, and traced the patterns onto muslin. For nine (and a half) dolls, that was eighteen legs, eighteen arms, nine and a half torsos, and ten heads. Then I kept a folio with all of the runway looks on hand and went into the garment district and sourced as many fabrics as I could find for each look. The fabrics I couldn’t find, I figured out how to replicate on a smaller scale – buying paints, making stencils, etc. …Usually on the train rides between the garment district and my studio, I was stuffing body parts.

SL: You stuff body parts on the train?

AY: Yes. I get a lot of strange looks, to say the least.

SL: And tell me about those gorgeous little faces… You interpreted the makeup looks from the runway, right?

AY: Yes, I did some additional research to find close-up shots of the makeup, which aren’t always as easy to find as you’d think. I like to study the clearest pictures I can find, and then put my spin on it.  …The faces are the last thing I do, after hair and assembly. I paint with watercolor pencils, acrylics, and makeup, and then I use a fabric sealant to keep any of the colours from scuffing or bleeding.

SL: So you paint the faces after the doll is completely assembled? What happens if you make a mistake?  Or, maybe you don’t.

AY: Well, mistakes generally figure themselves into the face, if there are any. Besides, would your mother tell you your asymmetrical smile was a mistake?  …I am usually in a very calm, Zen state when doing faces. I work slowly, but non-stop until it’s done. It’s the most magical moment of the process: the birth. Sigh.

SL: Sounds like you have a somewhat emotional attachment to the dolls.

AY: I am way too emotionally attached to the dolls.

SL: I see. Does it help to know the girls are going to homes where they will be loved?

AY: Yes. My mother always told me that the point of having any talent at all is to share it with the world.

SL: What’s next on the horizon for the girls? What new dolls are you working on now?

AY: Well, I’m working on my new personal collection – which is going to be a lot more decay, a lot more ruffles, paler colours: The Ghosts of the French Revolution. The next collection of fashion dolls is going to be huge. I’m calling them Kouklitas Couture. It will be more of a retrospective. And, of course, all I really want to make right now are some Alexander McQueen dolls. Just for me though. I know it sounds so redundant, but he really is what made me want to work in fashion.

SL: So, now, if our readers want to get their hands on one of your dolls, how can they do that?

AY: Well, the best way would be to email me privately, TheKouklitas@gmail.com. The prices range from $1,100-1,300 US, and I will be putting a few on eBay soon.

Very special thanks to envoy enterprises, Pernod Absinthe, Pangea water, and Home Sweet Home. And thank-you CJ Swanton, Alison Munn, The Cruciforks’ Christian Joy and Jason Grisell, The Second Comings, and Evaan Kheraj.

Photography by Evaan Kheraj and Alison Munn.

And be sure to check out the dolls in Pethidine, an art film made by Ryan F. Kennedy.

Glassy-eyed beauties rolling around in the sheets. Drugs. Money. Religious iconography. No, this isn’t the lost film of Roman Polanski: it’s the amazing little short that artist Ryan F. Kennedy made for The Block’s Issue 20 launch party in New York. The film is called Pethidine, which any of the dolls captured by Kennedy could tell you is the scientific name for Demerol. Warning: watching this video may cause drowsiness and euphoria.

There’s something about the joyful psychedelia of Animal Collective that gets us all wide-eyed and giddy (and maybe a little dry-mouthed, but that’s a minor side effect). So you can only imagine how excited we are to let the band guide us through a totally immersive sensory experience at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

On March 4, Animal Collective and video artist Danny Perez’s sold-out collaborative installation show entitled Transverse Temporal Gyrus transforms the Guggenheim into a magical mystery world of recorded music, original video projections, costumes, and props, all designed to bathe us in “intense abstractions” (read: trip us out). The doors of perception are only open from 9 pm until midnight, but we’re pretty sure the flashbacks will keep us up till dawn.

Sad that you can’t get a ticket to this sold-out mind warp? Animal Collective and Perez have also put together a “visual album” called ODDSAC, which will be touring across America through March. Check out the trailer below.

Gambling is an unattractive vice. But looking dapper and smart could surely be your redeeming quality, and Adam Kimmel’s fall 2010 menswear collection can help you do just that.

Kimmel’s fall 2010 lookbook, which is photographed by Gerard Malanga (Andy Warhol’s right-hand man), is like Ocean’s Eleven meets The Joker. George Condo’s mischievous, monstrous-looking masks create an unsettling juxtaposition to Kimmel’s clothing. The fall collection shows structure and fine tailoring, while cheeky card-table prints reveal a bit of unexpected fun.

Though we’d probably have trouble deciphering these men’s poker faces, we’d happily lose to a man dressed to the nines.

The ethereal Kate Moss hologram from Alexander McQueen’s 2006 show

At first glance, you probably think this Hermès Kelly bag is a beautiful use of alligator hide. But you’re dead wrong.

This bag is made of paper.

“When I illustrate, I usually work with paper cut-outs, watercolour, and ink – all mixed together,” explains Hanna Albrektson, the Swedish artist responsible for these incredible paper satchels. From her fashion portraiture of Sonia Rykiel and Vivienne Westwood, to the haute couture shoes series “Let Them Eat Cake,” to The Block’s exclusive feature of truly faux designer bags, Albrektson sure knows how to fold ‘em.

“I’ve got a passion for paper!” proclaims Albrektson, whose paper bag pieces were photographed for The Block by fellow Swede Emil Larsson (whose work you’d recognize from campaigns for Absolut, adidas, and H&M). Regular coloured paper, glue stick, and Winston & Newton ink for emulating stitching and patterning are the secrets to the surreal replicas: Chanel’s 2.55, LV’s Envelope Clutch, YSL’s Y-Mail Clutch, Hermès’ Kelly Bag, and Longchamp x Jeremy Scott’s Le Pliage Bag.

To view more of Albrektson’s work in The Block, pick-up a copy of Issue 20: Fame, available on newsstands now.

www.weekendform.com

Whether it’s the twisted violence and erotic drawings referencing children’s books by Dzama, the logically painted spilling paintbrushes by Zack, or the abstract and jarring, labour-intense crafting by Martineau, the exhibition is bound to engage audiences in conversations of awe and confusion. After all, art’s meant to push, even if you’re standing still.

Exhibition runs until April 25. www.macm.org

Images Amy Troost Words Susan Locht Style Editor James Worthington DeMolet Model Rie Rasmussen at One Management

Hollywood siren and couture model Rie Rasmussen has spent the last few years more-or-less off the radar, but now she’s back, and once again poised to stun everyone watching. But this time, Rasmussen isn’t just under the spotlight: she’s directing it. Human Zoo, a feature film she wrote, directed, and starred in, is making waves at festivals around the world.

Rasmussen’s earlier creative endeavors include a role in the 2002 Brian De Palma film Femme Fatale, modelling in Tom Ford’s Gucci campaign, and walking the Victoria’s Secret runway show. But back then, Rasmussen wasn’t looking for acclaim. In fact, she claims not to have accepted the Victoria’s Secret gig for career reasons at all. “I did it as a sort of personal performance art experiment. And so that I could fuck a supermodel.” She laughs, adding, “And I did.” She won’t go on record to say who it was, of course, but explains the affair inspired a lot of incredible paintings. “I paint and draw a lot of female nudes, and this woman was one of the most beautiful subjects I’d ever seen.”

Never one to follow convention, the Denmark native avoided the spotlight despite her high profile, choosing, rather, to focus on her personal art and film projects. But today, after having worked tirelessly on Human Zoo, Rasmussen is more than ready to share her work with the world. She’s been touring the film for the past nine months to rave reviews and an official selection at the Berlin Film Festival.

The film follows the character of Adria, a woman struggling to survive after the Kosovo conflict. She is half Serbian, half Albanian, and was raised strictly in a male-dominated context. With this, Rasmussen explores what it means to have an “identity,” to be male and female, and to be born where you were born. Rasmussen believes borders act as human cages, and that our passports are our prisons. “So much of how we define one another is based on manmade global borders, the invisible lines men have placed on the map to protect the little piece of land they’ve fooled themselves into believing is their own.”

Now that Rasmussen has had a few years to explore some of the things she is most passionate about, which, as she explains, really focuses on championing the “underdog” – namely women and, more recently in her art, gay men – she says she’s been able to revisit modelling from a new angle. “I feel more available to model now. I’ve laid down my hard work, my credibility. And what woman doesn’t want to play dress-up from time to time?” She says that now, thankfully, people want something more from her when she’s in front of the camera. “They want some sort of expression, something wilder, or crazier, harder or more involved. Like really giving the image a certain emotion, be it joyous, freaky, hysterical, sad.”

On the set of The Block shoot, Rasmussen explored emotions of inner joy and pleasure. “All of it was really centred around that one sunny moment in winter when the sun comes through your window for the first time in a while and your body contorts with that feeling of pleasure. Almost like a cat stretching in that joy.”

Hair Rita Marmor at Streeters NY
Make Up Sil Bruinsma at Streeters NY
Photography Assistants Mark Champion
Digital Technician Justin Shaffer
Retouching Norkin Digital Art Ltd

Amongst the bright lights and hot starlets of Hollywood, it’s easy for promising young actors to lose their way. But talented and charismatic rising talents Ezra Miller, Carter Jenkins, and Charlie Bewley won’t let burgeoning fame distract them from their silver screen dreams.

Styling/Casting James Worthington DeMolet

EZRA MILLER

Images Nagi Sakai Words Susan Locht

If you’ve seen Afterschool, an unnerving independent film released in 2008 about a New England prep school rattled by the violent deaths of popular twin girls, you already understand the buzz circling Ezra Miller. Miller played the melancholy loner who accidentally caught the deaths on tape, and took the role so seriously that he was plagued by existential angst for four months after production. “Playing Robert forced me to explore the most introverted, self-deprecating, victimized part of myself –– what I think is a part of every teenager. And I was sort of stuck in that struggle for a while, that void within the self.”

Afterschool was Miller’s first film. Since then he has performed in the tragicomedy City Island and the lead in the soon-to-be-released Beware the Gonzo. His most recognized role was on Showtime’s Californication, but his earliest performance was in opera, of all things. “When I was six years old, my teacher tried to get the entire class to listen to opera,” he explains. Miller was smitten, and his mother started taking him to the Met. Soon after, he was cast in Philip Glass’ contemporary opera White Raven. “It was such a trippy opera: I brought up the sun and conducted the orchestra… That pretty much sealed the proverbial deal on me needing to be artistic and exhibitionistic in my life.”

Photographer’s Assistants Maciek Jasik and Peter Panszczyk Digital Tech Lolly Koon Fashion Assistant Lauren Deleo Hair Andre Gunn at The Wall Group Make-up Kaori Yanagida at Marek & Associates Location Fast Ashley’s Studios

CARTER JENKINS

Images Jason Nocito Words Ileana Lagares

Make no mistake, young Hollywood actors have it tougher than it seems. Bereft of parents (and rules), they flail to stay afloat in a deepening talent pool as the tabloid maelstrom rages around them.

But Carter Jenkins was never set adrift. The Florida native started his career at the age of seven in community theatre and commercials, and, when he moved to California three years later, his dedicated family followed. He earned his kid-actor chops in the sci-fi television series Surface and Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous, and made his big-screen debut with Billy Bob Thornton in Bad News Bears. And this February, he shares the limelight with an ensemble of A-listers like Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, and many more in Valentine’s Day, a romantic comedy directed by Garry Marshall.

Jenkins admires the work of actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ryan Gosling for both their role choices and their staying power. “There aren’t many actors who have been able to make that kind of transition [from child actor] and come out good at the end and still have their career and have played good roles.” Jenkins is clearly focused on working on-screen, not playing off-screen. “If the actual act of acting isn’t the payoff or isn’t the reward, all the ridiculousness will get to you and I just don’t see it being worth it… I don’t want to be a celebrity, I want to be an actor.”

Fashion Assistant Ileana Lagares Groomer Lisa-Raquel at See Management Special Thanks Kristin Benedetto & John Aduna

CHARLIE BEWLEY

Images Ryan Pfluger Words Susan Locht

Only 10 short months ago, Charlie Bewley was working in a cocktail lounge in Vancouver’s West End when he got the phone call that changed his life: his agent told him he had landed a roll in the mega-popular Twilight Saga. He would play Demetri, the Vulturi guard in New Moon and the upcoming Eclipse. “I was so thrilled, so excited. That day, my friend and I went running and I don’t think I’d ever run so fast in my life. I was running and jumping and hitting branches on the trees. I was like a kid.”

Bewley, who grew up in Middle England, comes from a family of performers, but only recently started to pursue acting himself. Originally in Canada to snowboard and work in Whistler, he always knew he’d eventually work in some creative capacity. “I’ve wanted to do so many things with my life. I think I have a sort of creative A.D.D. I’m very indiscriminate when it comes to creativity. I just think every single art form is cathartic. Each one allows a different kind of outpouring, and I want to immerse myself in as many as I can.” Bewley believes his role as Demetri gives him a huge jumpstart into pursuing the things he loves. He writes and sings, and plans to direct and produce in the very near future. “To go from waiting tables and bartending to suddenly having all your dreams start to open up in front of you… I’m going to need to step back and assess what’s going on. It’s time to make good on all those things I’ve been dreaming about.”

Fashion Assistant Lauren Deleo Groomer Amy Komorowski