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News

Brooklyn’s Jose Parla

March 6, 2012 — 0

Loving Jose Parla. 

The enigmatic Brooklyn painter has been called a “raconteur,” a conceptual documentarian, a “transcriber.”  Parla’s work, which I wish we had on our walls and hopefully, one day, will, uses markings and layers of distress to chronicle the passing of time and neglect across their surfaces. 

The work is beautiful, cerebral, emotional.  Like, say, Cy Twombly, it feels like code for a truth we can’t reach but need.

Parla combines calligraphy and brutal erasure, urban landscapes full of pedestrian accident and also intention. 

In some of Parla’s work, signs of the original platforms begin — as if neglected for decades — to reveal themselves.  That’s when more of their narratives begin to surafce like evidence.  The more time we spend with them, the more they tell.

 

Now there are some other platforms for Parla’s work.  Like these: 

 And these:

(Parla only made 500 of these, last year.  I don’t have a pair.  Yet.)

(Go Brooklyn.)

News

Palladium Boots Presents: TOKYO RISING, Featuring Pharrell

September 9, 2011 — 0

Palladium Boots always surprises me. I guess I first took notice when Johnny Knoxville and Palladium teamed up for the DETROIT LIVES series, which is so worth checking out if you haven’t yet.

Lately, I’ve been watching TOKYO RISING, a new shortform series from Palladium, in which Pharrell takes us back to the city in the aftermath of the 3/11 natural disaster.


From the description:

“Tokyo faces a new reality after the tragedy of 3/11. While persistent challenges still lay ahead, the city’s creative class is hell-bent on making sure that their hometown thrives. Innovative and resilient, they are defining the future of Tokyo on their own terms. We put our boots on and went exploring.”

Watch the video here.


(YOON — designer, blogger, DJ, international style icon, and one half of Tokyo’s premiere creative collective Ambush Design)

I could write with self-importance about how all this “branded entertainment” shit works, but I fucking hate branded entertainment, as you know, I never want to be accused of making any, and I’ll leave the marketing blogsterbation to other dickheads with a media job and a spastic twitter feed.

I’d rather just tell you that I watched all of TOKYO RISING, am sharing it with you right now because I like it, and have decided I want to take my wife to Tokyo. Oh, and also I am buying these boots from Palladium, which caught my eye as I watched the videos on their site:

A word or two about Palldium Boots…

Palladium didn’t start out making footwear. The company was started in 1920 and make tires by layering canvas bands underneath vulcanized rubber for the fledgling aviation industry. Palladium’s expertise was so advanced that soon the majority of Europe’s aircraft were using Palladium tires.

In Palldium’s own words: “After World War II, with aircraft manufacturing screeching to a halt, the demand for tires decreased dramatically. Palladium decided to open a plant in Pont De Cheruy, France, to start producing footwear that was as hard wearing as their tires. In 1947 the legendary Pampa boot was born, and the functionality, comfort and durability were so outstanding that the French Foreign Legion adopted it for their use. The Foreign Legion put the boot to the test in the harsh desert conditions of North Africa, and throughout the rugged terrain of the Atlas Mountains.”

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