Handsome Window Smashing

The Handsome Family

A few months ago I went to see The Handsome Family whose music I fell in love with before I even heard it. How does this happen? Well with song titles like 'The Loneliness Of Magnets' how could I resist?

The first song I heard was 'Bottomless Hole' amazing & so surreal, random & imaginative they really conjure wonderful imagery in their work - worthy of inspiring any artist to create a visual representation of their lyrics.

One of the songs that they sang was about my favourite character in 'Wisconsin Death Trip'. If you are interested in art, documentary & photography you MUST see this film. The person they wrote as song about is a real person called Mary Sweeney.

Here I got a bit carried away with my large wine glass as a vessel to view them through. I think the wine was going to my head at this point or maybe I was just drunk on the music flowing into the room. Why can't all gigs be this good? 

         

However I did come to my senses...

Then the song took me to Mary...

Here is the actress who plays Mary Sweeney in the film. Her story is a fascinating one. Like all of the characters taken from the pages of Lesy's book of the same name following the lives of people in a small town in Wisconsin called Black Rivers Falls in the late 19th century. Mary Sweeney was a teacher who had bouts of mania (probably due to manic depression) which resulted in her smashing in as many windows as she could before she was inevitably arrested. I think there is something of a Mary Sweeney in all of us.  

Lesy's imagery is a delightful marriage of film & still photography. I thoroughly implore you to buy both the book & the film.

Here are two different editions, the latter is the most available.

I won't write any more as I don't want this to be a spoiler for anyone who is new to the work. Just trust me on this one, it is not a cult classic for nothing.

LICA / LICC award & a proud moment

What a great night I had last night with a bonus!

Attending the LICA (London International Creative Awards) on behalf of Christian Tagliavini who was a finalist for the grand LICC prize.

Out of 800 entries he was chosen as one of the 15 finalists. To see more about the competition see here. Although Christian did not win, his selection made me very proud & exited to see his work up on the walls of the gallery. As I sat in the audience watching the short films of images of each finalist I was made aware that I would be asked to come on stage to collect his finalist trophy. This made me both excited & nervous at the same time.

However, when his work came up on the screen the row of people behind me gasped & someone said, "That is beautiful, wow that's my favourite by far." I was thrilled & all nerves vanished.

So I promptly said a few words on stage about how I fell in love with his the minute I saw it & how excited I was that UK audiences will soon have the chance to see it too.

Here is the beautiful trophy, awaiting its rightful owner in November when the show opens.

A lovely dinner followed where I met the winners from  'Campaign' (see their blog here design lovers) & spent a wonderful 2 hours with them, my friend Michael McGuinness & the lovely Myriam Blundell (who had presented them with their award) at the end of a very long table. Conversation flowed from conversations on art, photography, design, architecture & money on balconies...

This may be a short & sweet blog today, but I promise for much more next time...till then TAKE SOME PICTURES PEOPLE!