Update: Spendy Art is Trendy Art

It's such a perfect day here in Austin -- the sun is shining, birds are singing, and I should be outside planting fall trees, but no. Huh uh. I'm huddled in front of the computer screen, waiting for last night's vodka to relax its greasy fingers and release my poor pounding head. The upside? My Obsessive Computer Disorder always reaches epic proportions in the fever pitch of my worst hangovers, and as a result, I found this on the Domino website:

Another Robert Longo sighting! All five of you who have been reading DC since the very beginning know I have a wee fixation with Art trend spotting, and months ago I wrote a post on the flurry of Longo prints that were cropping up in interiors. For the vast legions of our new readers, time to review:

Seriously -- how apropos are these 80's Longo lithographs of suicidal stockbrokers? Remind you of anything?

(Thanks to the lovely Raina at If The Lampshade Fits for this excellent montage)

But wait! There's more! While some folks may be downsizing or downright panicking about market volatility as a financial harbinger of the end of days, others are comforted by the fact that art is always a sound investment... Right? Right???!

Architect Peter Marino's clients certainly seem to think so, as the now ubiquitous Yves Klein table continues to make its rounds in the homes of the well heeled. A few months ago I chronicled the rise of the Klein blue table in tony interiors, like the home of design superstars Yabu and Pushelberg:

But if you'd like to review, check out the post here, where you'll find such gems as this quote by designer David Netto: "You're not living until you have an Yves Klein coffee table." Newsflash -- I'm dead! Well, that explains the tremendous headache and dizziness, now accompanied by nausea. Thanks!

Suddenly, though, I am struck by the thought that an Yves Klein coffee table might not be such a bad investment after all.

Just make sure you get the one stuffed with 24 karat gold flakes.

Oh Happy Day!

Something a little more cheery from painter Inka Essenhigh...

Love, love, love those colors! It would be the perfect thing for The Hole on my wall. But perhaps you are looking for a little bit of fall inspiration?

And I also just like these:

Thus concludes my Super Monday Art Roundup.

We're Not Out of the Woods Yet

I once saw Sally Mann speak at Stanford, and although I've had the pleasure of meeting many exceptional photographers over the years, I think she stands out even among such illustrious company. For one thing, she wields language like a weapon -- sharp and to the point. Every statement has the edge of conviction and inevitability, like that's the only way things could be. But what she argues for is complexity, for layered readings of simple things, for the "mendacity" (ambiguity, to us regular folks) of photography. With that in mind, view these images from her Deep South series which are printed from wet plate, or Collodion, negatives that she made in the back of a van converted into a traveling darkroom, much like a 19th century photographer would have done during the Civil War:

Maybe I've been worrying too much about the impending election and all of the hate and bitterness that's floating around right now. It occurs to me that, like the scar on that tree, some wounds don't heal easily.

And also, I really, really, love those pictures.