Park Sanssouci, Potsdam, Germany, January 2010

There's something about palaces that make me stop and gawk. While I love grand cathedrals and marvel at the wonders of the world, I've always been fascinated by the lavish in the mundane, the Hollywood production value of the home. Ancient bathrooms and marble-laden ballrooms with perfect vistas of parks? Bring it on! Indeed it is fascinating to wonder how many bad political decisions have been made from such places of residences and how one building's architecture can provide enlightenment or influence madness. Mainly, I constantly wonder how it took so long to get indoor plumbing...

So it makes sense that whenever I have a chance to visit a big house, from Hearst Castle to Versailles, I'm all for an afternoon of wander.

When Erin and I decided to go to Berlin for New Year's, I knew she wanted to visit art galleries. And I knew I wanted to visit Sanssouci, the German answer to Versailles. So on a freezing weekday, we took the express train out to Potsdam and found ourselves trekking through the cold and snow to the castle for a tour. There were but a handful of us. I was relieved actually - the problem with my interest in castles is that it is common - and hence, usually loaded with annoying tourists. But the cold kept most away and I was delighted to have the park as our domain.

As we approached the gift shop to buy our tickets, I noticed that all the ornate statues outside were styled. They were literally wearing their winter costume. Someone had obviously spent some time making sure that the snow didn't cover their faces. Or was there a treatment on them so that the snow didn't stick? I wondered - and I still do - perhaps someone else can answer the question. But I quite liked that even in the harshest of conditions, the statues outside Sanssouci remained in character and with accessories. They were objetsmarts! That is they were - until they would melt - thus rendering them back to their native form - until the next season...

Blue Bottle Desserts, SFMOMA, Winter 2010

1 Jeff Koons hot chocolate & 1 Luc Tuymans parfait

The best objetsmarts are one-time only use. Blue Bottle Coffee, the notorious purveyors of bespoke caffeination, have created a series of desserts inspired by the SFMOMA's contemporary art collection. Sweets inspired by art...truly inventive.

To my delight, I've tasted Piet Mondrian cake, devoured a Katharina Fritsch poodle ice cream sandwich, snacked on Andy Warhol cracker jacks and now, have reveled in the combination of a Jeff Koons' white hot chocolate with marshmallows accompanied by a Luc Tuymans vanilla parfait...

What will be next? If only they had a Charles Ray tree, then I would happily indulge in some chocolate bark...

In past years, remixing or re-editing my favorite film of all-time, Albert Lamorisse's "Le Ballon Rouge" would have been heresy. It is perhaps one of the most beloved pieces of art in my life and has been since I was a child, when my mother used to screen a 16 millimeter print on our living room wall.

But the times are a changin' and sometimes it's interesting to see others re-interpret source material. Enjoy this edit of the film with a Jose Gonzalez soundtrack. Not until I watched this, did I realize how important the original score of the film was in setting the playful tone that permeates the work. By changing the score, the pace of the film alters and the initial moment of Pascal's discovery of the red balloon becomes even more monumental.

What do you think about this re-edit?

Since I concocted the term objetsmart 2 years ago, my definition of it has changed a number of times. Originally inspired by many years of obsessing over the late 60s Roy Lichtenstein's series of paper plates he created for Bert Stern's concept shop, On 1st, over time, I allowed the definition to meander. I admit: I abused the term to define anything I felt was cool. I justified it by believing that if I created the term, I could define it as I pleased.

But as time has passed, I've actually been able to discover objects that are closer in vein to the original proof of an objetsmart: a useful tactile object that when engaged, even in 1 time use, transforms into another, often useless object. Just think of it as a high-art glow stick.

Lichtenstein plate in point: it's a paper plate. Study it in all its graphic splendor, perhaps even frame it, but god forbid you actually use it as a paper plate! It's a real-life Lichenstein. But really, it's just a paper plate. In an era before mass modern art merchandising, the Lichtenstein paper plate was a strange and funny object to own, because it wasn't thought of as disposable. Everytime I look at my friend's one, I imagine him telling me, "I couldn't afford a painting, but I did manage to get a paper plate!"

My other favorite example of an objetsmart is Christian Marclay's glass drumsticks. A gorgeous object. 1 beat only!

Now Jheri Redding has molded hundreds of hammers out of wax. Perfect objects, they're in rainbow shades and on display this summer at the Samuel Freeman gallery. I'm tempted to buy one, just to see how long it can survive life in my house, before I try hanging up some art using it. These hammers are endlessly fun to contemplate and at the end of the day, what more can you ask for in an object of art?

But Manzoni's gold does make the original proof of objetsmart. Something valuable untouched, a numbered work of "art," even if it seems worthless to most. But it possesses value until used, when it is no longer an objet, when it ultimate transforms into its original state: something entirely disposable.

Cheers to this 2009 first piece of objetsmart.

6:!5pm, New Year's Eve. I sit here in San Francisco at Maz and Cez's, 10 years to the night we all met in London, preparing for a big night out. But before I do, I felt like writing a little note, a final entry in a year of few posts.

It's been one of those years where I've thought a lot about the meaning of objetsmart, but in the process of working on my photonovel, as well as multiple projects, I've spent little time creating content for objetsmart.

When I first created this blog in January 2007, it was my secret vice, a way to transcend work I found unsatisfying, an escape from reality. Several months after this began, I got a job I love, which involved blogging, and hence, my desire and need to create interactive content has gone into my work. Subsequently, I know, I don't update this enough and when I do, don't often say much with my posts.

That said, I enjoy keeping objetsmart, because it helps remind me that if you want to create something in life, you can't wait for others to pay you to do it. You have to begin yourself. You have to make that first move. As a child, I remember watching "The Red Balloon" in the living room of my parent's house over and over and as an adult, I wondered why I adored the character Pascal so much and why of any character in film, it was little Pascal Lamorrisse that has been my life-long hero. I think I've always admired this character for taking this red balloon that catches his eye and running with it. While his friendship, care and allegiance for this shiny piece of red mylar interferes with the world he lives in, it simultaneously transcends the difficulties of his life too. It's a story I've always related to, and one I think I always will, no matter how old I become.

While this site looks the same as it did some time ago, it still is the story of a woman that looked around at the ephemera and objects she had collected in her travels that she knew were not always art, but she found rather smart, and wanted to begin explaining why. I don't think I have ever really written that down before here, so I figure after 200+ posts, I probably should.

So here's to good health and great fortune to all in 2009.
Enjoy the last moments of "Le Ballon Rouge" and have a fantastic New Year's Eve.
Cheers.

My favorite part, about 1:23, when they flash across the bottom of the screen, RICK ASTLEY, in case you didn't know...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My beloved 3 wheel adult trike, aka Max, has been stolen. He was locked in front of the French Market on Abbot Kinney and someone cut the lock and left with him.

If you have any leads, please email me at moi@objetsmart.com

Reward offered.

Brilliance.

˙ʇɹɐɯsʇǝɾqo uɐ ʎןnɹʇ puɐ ˙ǝʌıʇɔıppɐ s,ʇı ˙ǝɯıʇ ǝɥʇ ןןɐ ʎןǝsɹǝʌuı ǝʇıɹʍ oʇ ʇuɐʍ ʇsnɾ ı ʍou ˙ɹǝʇʇıʍʇ ɐ ɟo ʇunoɔɔɐ uo ʎןdɯıs ɯoɔ˙ʇxǝʇʎɯdıןɟ oʇ pǝʇɔıppɐ ǝɯ uǝʇʇoƃ sɐɥ ǝɥ ˙8791sʇʇɐʍpıʌɐp puǝıɹɟ ʎɯ ǝɯɐןq ı

(I thought Wasilla would win) but I guess I'm no maverick.