chiuso or venetian blinds

The always stunning Present /&/ Correct directs our attention to a photography stream focused on closed Italian shops and stalls, Chiuso di Domenica (Closed Sundays, new additions appearing on Sundays)—which when the display windows are protected behind the roll-down metal security slats (la serranda), the typography of the signage—of all vintages and eras—is really teased out of the background. Explore a whole gallery of storefronts after hours at the links above.

bildnerei der geisteskranken

Having visited the Prinzhorn gallery in Heidelberg recently, I had a deep appreciation for this extensive and respectful curation of some of the Outsider Art that comprises the collection from Public Domain Review.
Inspired by Swiss psychiatrist Walter Morgenthaler published his studies on the creative and therapeutic energies of Adolf Wölfli, a patient under his care at the Waldau Clinic, assistant to the director of the psychopathology school Hans Prinzhorn amassed a catalogue, drawing on his training as an art historian and informing his overarching theses that we are driven by urges and tendencies to create—to leave traces of ourselves—that are revealed in the repertoire of the mental ill, whose upbringing may not recognise the same norms and mores that would otherwise inhibit examination. Especially worthy of note are the sculptures of former bricklayer Karl Brendel (several pictures at both sources), who until given wood to carve as a medium expressed himself with masticated bread.  More to explore at the links above, including pages and pages of unique and insightful images with attributions at Public Domain Review.

riverboat soul

My Mom introduced me to the musical stylings of Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, a rambling quartet that defies categorisation, referencing ragtime, bluegrass and swing but refined as to not come off as period or nostalgic. Take a sample with a performance of three songs from NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series that comes a few years after their first album, “Marmelade.” One on of the artist’s new pieces that’s also really catchy—“Something in the Water”—should pop up next in the playlist right after this medley finishes.

daisy bell

Somehow this 1962 MacLaren’s Imperial Cheddar Club Cheese (club referring to a style that blends cheddar with other mature cheeses is flavoured with peppercorn and garlic, the label since wholly acquired by Kraft) advertisement subtlety prefigures the whole distracted boyfriend, me—also me meme.