Weekend Adventures

This weekend I traveled to Pittsburgh with my roommates to visit the talented and attractive Colin O’Brian. He says “hi” to all of you. On our way, we stopped to see…

1) Cold War Kids in concert at Mr. Small’s Theatre, which was awesome. These American indie rockers put on a passionate performance that brought the audience to push-and-shove excitement. The power to actually physically move people is pretty inspiring, especially when a full house is involved. I would so love to capture some of that passion in my own work.

After a night of dancing and an extra “fall back” hour at the bar, we woke up just in time for brunch at…

2) Zenith, a super-vegan-friendly restaurant that doubles as an antiques store. This ultra-hip place is jam-packed with treasures from other decades from wall to ceiling – and it’s all for sale! Not only is the environment incredibly stimulating, but the food itself is healthy and amazingly delicious – even for non-vegan food. I had a pretty hard time leaving without buying all of their outdated, kitschy treasures, but a stomach full of beans and coffee can only hold for so long.

After experiencing the incredible success of the “hipness” of Zenith, I was inspired to look into some artists who exemplified the same sort of aesthetic.

3) Alphonse Mucha, for example, was part of the Art Nouveau movement. He created paintings, illustrations, and advertisements that were in vogue at the time, but quickly became outdated. As trends go, however, this style is about due for a comeback. A quote: "The fundamental starting point of human communication is the expression of the face and the movement of the figure that is connected to it." (This is why he became outdated so quickly.) Ironically, few of his femme fatale characters seem to have any expression at all. Perhaps this is a perfect angle at which to target the modern “hipster” audience? We’ll see.