Current Joys: Early Spring

The Art of Florine Stettheimer

I’m not sure what rabbit hole led me to discover the work of Florine Stettheimer, but I sure am glad I found it! Stettheimer was an American artist that documented the glittering heyday of 1920s New York City in her technicolor paintings and poems. A wearer of many hats, Stettheimer grew up visiting museums and theaters in Europe. Before the outbreak of WWI, Stettheimer was inspired to create her own ballet complete with costumes, after seeing a performance by the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1912. Upon her family’s return to New York during the war, the Stettheimer’s entertained cultural luminaries such as Marcel Duchamp and Alfred Stieglitz, who Florine would go on to immortalize in painted portraits. What I love about her work is the joyful explosion of color and energy, as well as the feminine subject matter ~ gigantic flowers, ornate interiors, bejeweled ladies, department stores and elaborate costumes. Art historian, Linda Nochlin, calls her work “subversive rococo” ~ essentially, in-your-face femininity unabashedly on display during a very male dominated time in art. Into it!

While on my Stettheimer rabbit hole, I found this fun series on the Paris Review blog, in which columnist Valerie Stivers cooks a meal inspired by a famous author or literary work. Her piece on Florine is a witty and slightly Surrealist delight!

Tabula Rasa Wine Shop

If you know me, you know I am an ardent lover of wine and was very happy to visit this gem of a beverage destination in NoHo. Tabula Rasa carries a beautifully edited selection of fine wines and picnic provisions. They also host tastings and fun events. I picked up a bottle of delicious natural wine that is made by nuns in Vitorchiano, Italy - bonkers! If you have a dinner party to attend, may I suggest stopping by to get a bottle here - you’ll be the everyone’s favorite guest! And if you live near Los Feliz, stop by the Tabula Rasa Wine Bar in Thai Town. See you there!

OTHERWORLD PODCAST

I can’t get enough of Otherworld, the podcast hosted by Jack Wagner, that has been lauded as the “Paranormal This American Life.” Each week Jack interviews a new guest about a personal paranormal experience and explores topics ranging from ghosts to UFOs to Bigfoot sightings. I love hearing people’s firsthand accounts of the bizarre and unexplainable. This show really speaks to my inner Fox Mulder and I look forward to it every Monday. Here is one of my favorite episodes to get you started on your Otherworld binge: Everything Goes Black

Olga Tokarczuk

To get myself back in the habit of reading earlier this year, I decided to ease in with a little murder mystery - Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It was a great ice breaker/page turner for my short attention span and got me perusing the fiction shelves at my favorite local bookstore, Vroman’s, where I discovered Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead.  It was described as a fairy-tale murder mystery, so I of course was intrigued. Tokarczuk’s writing is a joy to read, with flashes of wit and humor peppered in with her existential musings. The protagonist of this story is an astrology obsessed woman that lives in relative isolation in the Polish countryside, and prefers the company of animals to people . Things get interesting when neighbors and townspeople start to turn up dead under mysterious circumstances and she decides to conduct her own investigation. Highly recommend anything by Olga Tokarczuk! And also recommend listening to this interview with the author over at The Paris Review podcast.