Monarch of the Glen

Kit: Last weekend I went to  a viewing of Wes Anderson's film, Moonrise Kingdom, which was full of period detail, pretty much in sync with my own childhood. In the scoutmaster's (Ed Norton) tent hangs a painting of a stag in the wilderness.
There was always a copy of the same painting in my grandfather's house. It has a hole which we decided was the gunshot that killed the stag so he could be put in a painting. My grandfather's came with him from Maine and was probably painted between 1860-1880. It is a terrible, but charming copy. I was curious to find the original that had spawned an apparent Victorian repro business and dropped the image into google image search. Up popped the Landseer original, whose fate appears to be to have been made for appropriation. It was wonderful to discover the Peter Blake take on it, then Peter Saville's version of Blake's version of Landseer's original.
I have my Monarch close to me in my London studio. As an epilogue, this morning I walked past one of my favourite buildings on Giltspur Street, just near St Barts. Over the door is a huge stag's head, very similar to the Landseer… I had never realised why that building gave me so much pleasure until now- a cross Atlantic palimpsest of the best kind.

Original: Monarch of the Glen 1851, Edwin Landseer

Giltspur Street stag

Korean bojagi

Beautiful examples of Korean bojagi - silk squares traditionally used to wrap and carry virtually anything. In Modern Korea bojagi (also pojaki/bojaki) are primarily used to wrap presents.

The first image is a print by South Korean artist Sookang Kim, 2004.

Monday Portrait: Vivienne Westwood by Juergen Teller

Vivienne Westwood No 3, London, 2009

This week we have chosen a portrait by German photographer Juergen Teller to mark his upcoming show at the ICA. 'Juergen Teller: Woo' opens Jan 23 at the ICA and both his Fine Art and commercial work will be exhibited.

Greater Shakespeare

The tube is 150 today! Our local station Farringdon has been gearing up for weeks.  A few years ago we co-designed the Greater Shakespeare map for the RSC (with a lot of help from Cambridge academic Dr Hesters Lees-Jeffries).  Have you seen it before?

Large version here.

As we're looking at the tube, here are a few great old tube posters.




'Keeps London Going'  designed by Man Ray in 1938


































David Booth's 1986 poster for the Tate

Dover Street Market

This Christmas we swooned at all six floors of Dover Street Market; there are few shops that summon unadulterated admiration (and greed) from everyone at Kit Grover.




Where else would you find T-shirt vending machines, a giant Octopus sculpture and portaloos - albeit repurposed as changing rooms - under the same roof? On January the 26th DSM close for their biannual 'Tachiagari' during which they redesign the space, creating installations and making room for new designers. This exercise ensures that the concept store is constantly evolving - as fashion has seasons it makes perfect sense that a fashion store should too. So much sense that we can't work out why all of them don't do it...

A 'Tachiagari' for our office may also be in the pipeline.

See a comprehensive report by the Clothes Whisperer on the SS11 Tachiagari here.

Monday Portrait: Georgia O'Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz

Aside from the warm sepia tones, the colour scheme of this Monday Portrait reminds us of early January mornings in London.


Gelatin silver print, 1920.

See a later portrait of O'Keeffe taken by Ansel Adams here.

Oblique Strategies

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Image c/o www.gourmet.com

On the first day back after the Christmas holidays Kit rediscovered Oblique Strategies on his desk.
This deck of cards created by musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt in 1975 will help break through a creative block. Though produced with musicians in mind, this selection of aphorisms can be applied to most creative practices.

Each card offers a strategy to overcome a creative block.
Ideal for those deciding on their New Years resolutions or needing to resolve a dilemma.


A random selection of Oblique Strategies:

Give way to your worst impulse
Question the heroic approach
What would your closest friend do?
Is there something missing?
Use 'unqualified' people
Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics

Christmas Gift Guide: Part 3 of 3

Mark Titchner at Tate
UP! Badge £4






















Bob and Roberta Smith at Tate
Blocks £30

Royal Shakespeare Company
Hamlet pencil 85p

Richard Wentworth at Tate
Meniscus glass £8.95

Spotted! Duro Oluwu umbrella

Spotted! The Duro Oluwu umbrella brightening up a very rainy Farringdon last week.

We made the umbrella for OFT (the collaboration between Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Frieze and the Tate) with print designed by Duro Oluwu.

Read more about the umbrella on the Swelle Life blog, and the rest of the range at kitgrover.com.

The umbrella is available now from the Tate Modern shop.

Monday Portrait: Cover girl Frida Kahlo

Not strictly a portrait but still - Frida Kahlo on the cover of Vogue Mexico's November edition.

Kit Grover Christmas Gift Guide: Part 2 of 3

STOCKING FILLERS

Sir John Soane's Museum
Inside Out bag £16






























Whitechapel Gallery
Richard Hamilton This is Tomorrow Apron £25

The Royal Shakespeare Company

Brevity. Soul. Wit notebook £5.99

Julian Opie
Flipbook £8.50

Monday portrait: Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama with her 1963 work 'Compulsion Furniture'. Above image c/o the Saatchi Gallery.

Helen Marten at the Chisenhale Gallery

Peanuts, 2012

For those planning their weekend of cultural activities, we highly recommend Helen Marten's exhibition at the Chisenhale Gallery. Read Adrian Searle's rave review here.

Kit Grover Christmas Gift Guide: Part 1 of 3

KIT GROVER CHRISTMAS GIFTS:

Damien Hirst
For the Love of God, 2007
Anamorphic cup and saucer £15
Available at Other Criteria / Tate











Anthea Hamilton
Limited edition, 2012
Fan for House of Voltaire £60
Culture Label



















Kit Grover
A1 bag £29.99
Kit Grover / Culture Label





















Grayson Perry
Table mat set £360
Yoox

Damien Hirst
I am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds, 2006
Bone china plate £22.50
Other Criteria

EVOL tower blocks

On friday Kit discovered the work of German stencil artist EVOL minutes from our office. We can't quite believe these mini tower blocks have been at Smithfield for over a year without us noticing.

Interested? Read more about EVOL and London street art at Hooked blog and see an earlier post about the Barbican area's more famous tower blocks.

 

Kit Grover inflatable wreath

What better time than the first day of Advent to show you our Christmas wreath!

A modern alternative to the traditional prickles, the Kit Grover inflatable wreath is available at Selfridges this Christmas.

Monday portrait: Portrait of a Man, Barthel Bruyn the Elder

Image c/o the Wellcome Collection

Portrait of a Man, Barthel Bruyn the Elder (1493-1555, Germany), oil on panel, 1533-1555.

This belated monday (thursday) portrait was inspired by a weekend trip to the Wellcome Collection's current exhibition Death: A Self-Portrait. A visit is highly recommended for the morbidly curious. 

News: A1 bag

Our A1 bag is going to be on sale this winter at BEARSPACE Gallery's shop as well as from Culture Label. The ideal Christmas present for artists sick of lugging unwieldy portfolios around London.

House of Voltaire pop up shop

We went to the House of Voltaire launch yesterday afternoon and the shop is looking great.

We couldn't resist a beautiful tea towel made by Art House Meath and are seriously considering the Stefania Pramma x House of Voltaire leather bag... Well worth checking out.

News: House of Voltaire

Over the past few weeks we have been working away on some exciting products for House of Voltaire, the pop-up shop from South London gallery Studio Voltaire which opens this wednesday.

We have produced a T-shirt designed by Åbäke, a fan by artist Anthea Hamilton, a silk wall hanging from Cary Kwok and exclusive scarf from Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner.  

Image c/o House of Voltaire

House of Voltaire is open 21 November - 15 December at Jonathan Viner Gallery, 17a Adam's Row, Mayfair.

Monday portrait: Nick Relph by Audrey Mayer

Nick Relph photographed by Aubrey Mayer, 2010
[Image courtesy of RHM Foundation]

Grayson Perry reliquaries

A box of smashed pottery has arrived! While strongly resisting the urge to try and put the pots back together, we are starting to make some more Grayson Perry reliquaries.


Grayson Perry: "I think that the way we look at art comes from religion. We go to special buildings to stare at significant and precious things. We feel it is good for us. Tate Modern is a 21st century cathedral. Artists are its saints and holy fools. Here is a relic of one of them to take home from your pilgrimage."

Plastic fantastic

A couple of days ago Kit came into the office wearing a much loved pair of clear plastic Converse - a great way of showing off an impressive sock collection.

After a distracting twenty minutes trying to find a reasonably priced replacement, we stumbled upon these lovely Opening Ceremony x Adidas Originals brogues above, five stars. 

Obviously we can't discuss plastic shoes without mentioning Maison Martin Margiela's (sweaty) boots from his S/S12 collection:

Monday portrait: Salvador Dali

This image of Salvador Dali is hard to trace, does anybody have any information about its origin?

Naked-ladies-as-skull aside, Dali's clear cane is rather wonderful.