Magazine Fiends

Spread from Paradis Magazine Issue #4



A magazine subscription can be the perfect Christmas gift to bestow upon friends or family. So, in order to pre-lick your fingers for the holiday season, BusyBeingBetter has compiled a list of several publications that will remind you once again of why you gloat over gloss.



Dazed and Confused (UK)£75 p.a.
Not to be confused with its lesser Australian counterpart, the UK version of Dazed is quite a well balanced representative of the alt vox populi. Even if you find it can't impress you with reviews of the young brit-pop stars of tomorrow, there's at least one obscure reference made per issue thats worth a wiki.

Paradis Magazine30,00€ per issue
The one thats taken top spot on my own Christmas wish-list, Paradis Magazine is a bi-annual publication with an archive only 4 issues deep. Distributed in both French and the Queen's English, dense sections of prose have so far articulated the life and times of Damien Hirst, Rupert Murdoch and Simon De Pury to name but three. No cheap thrills here, Paradis lay the pulp to rest and opt for opulence.

Gotham Magazine US$70 p.a.
Heavily NYC orientated, Gotham is the magazine you'd be reading if you found yourself twixt the glammer and glitz of anything Josh Schwartz has lent his production talents to. A mature outlook on the best the Big Apple has to offer.

Forbes 17 issues for US$19.99
It's no guarantee but if you're brushing breadcrumbs off the pages of Forbes whilst you tuck into your toast, your shares are going to be moving on up. Or given current conditions, falling less fast.

Alaska Magazine £25.00 per issue
A photography publication for those who demand a little more than a combination of Google image, FFFFound and some Tumblr's in your favourites, Alaska is more of a book than a magazine. Again, it's bi-annual, so I don't know if it's safe to call it the gift that keeps on giving, but it showcases fresh photographic talent from all 4 corners of the globe in a crisp graphic-conscious format that could easily outstay its welcome on your coffee table if you pushed it.

Russian Vogue ??????
Yes, Vogue Russia. With Anna Wintour's reign over the fashion mega-mag due to come to a close any day now, all eyes are on Aliona Doletskaya, editor-in-chief of Russian Vogue. Her editorial skills are hard to fathom when you can't read any of the articles, but Russia has it's finger on the pulse and features generally 100% original content, only sharing perhaps one shoot with it's US sibling per issue. It should be noted that Russian Vogue also boasts higher paper quality and printing resolution for the videophiles.

Purple Fashion Magazine 64.00 € p.a. (2 issues)
Purple magazine, curiously created as an 'anti-fashion' magazine of the earl 90's is anything but. Bi-annually released, each issue comes with an artist book, arguably more valuable than the magazine itself, which is so thick it's more of a tome. Artist books to date have included Terry Richardson, Hedi Slimane, Dash Snow and Juergen Teller.

ZINEZ
For those discontent with culture rags, hit the above link for all you could ever want and then some re: homemade zines. From design, to fanzines to even lofi porn pulp all you need to do is let the links point you in the right direction. A lot of content to get through, so if your down for the independent press and have no desire to better yourself through contemporary knowledge, dive into the piles of pages that await!

No Shades Of White, Fiona Foley 2005





Artists creeping their way under the roof of Sydney's MCA in 2009 include Yayoi Kusama and Olafur Eliasson both with solo exhibitions, as well as numerous other artists whose work deserves your aesthetic assessment (Right click THIS, save target as for the PDF file of all upcoming exhibitions).

Hipgnosis, the design firm that spawned such timeless album covers as Pink Floyds 'Dark Side Of The Moon' and Led Zeppelins 'Houses Of The Holy' are in town (well, Storm Thorgerson is) for an exhibition opening this Thursday at Paddington's Global Gallery. Featuring prints that span Thorgerson's 40 years in the industry, the inspiration literally drips off the walls (just ask KROZM). If your mind isn't buzzing after a quick lap around the premises, it's time to suit up and ship out to an office cubicle somewhere, strap in and slave over some spreadsheets or something.



The Works Of Storm Thorgerson
Global Gallery 5 Comber st. Paddington
Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 4pm

(Drinks and BBQ with the artist, 2pm Saturday 6th Dec)

INSENS8

CLICK

Gareth Pugh, in collaboration with SHOWstudio's Nick Knight have just completed their 'Insensate' project, which sends us on journey through space and time, as well as his aw08 collection. Monochromachaos engulfs Pugh's creations, as we wade through a thick Pughvian fluid, our feet cautiously seeking our next sure step, accompanied only by a minimal soundtrack mixed/created by Gareth's musical oracle, Matthew Stone.

Dry Spells

Do Not Pose

Cattle Crucified

I'm not too into Sienna Miller, nor am I into The Hours, but Damien Hirst co-directed this new video and it's worth it just to see the crucified cow scene.

Jean Baptiste Mondino

Before THIS, Jean Baptiste Mondino was filming music videos for Prince, Bjork, Madonna, Bowie and even Chris Isaak. One of his first was Don Henley's - Boys Of Summer, which won 4 MTV Video Music Awards in 1985.

Vogue Vivisection

For Vogue's December issue over in the United Kingdom, the hired help was a little more assuming than a run of the mill waif-with-a-nice-jawline-and-some-dark-eye-makeup that you so often find sunk into the pages of numerous fashion rags.


Tim Walker is represented by Thomas Treuhaft.

Murakami

Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton


"First of all, distinctively situate his/her position in art history. Second, articulate what the beauty of his/her art is. Next, sexuality. Then, death."



The MMK is currently hosting the largest Takashi Murakami retrospective to date. Perhaps best known to western audience's for his album covers commissioned by rapper Kanye West, the artist is one of Japans most prolific contemporary artists, producing work heavily influenced by Otaku cultures. The accesibility of his work, deemed to be in the same pop vein as Warhol, has even encouraged the sponsorship of Louis Vuitton, who commissioned artwork for handbags released as recently as June of this year. This came shortly after he auctioned off his controversial sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy at Sotheby's for over 15 million American dollars.

An interview with the man revealing his art philosophy can be found here

Jeff Koons

Designer Tom Ford on Jeff Koons



Getting a rare chance to re-fit the baroque halls of France's Palace of Versailles, Jeff Koons has chosen the palace for a 17 work retrospective exhibition. Ruffling the feathers of French monarchist pheasants, who are outraged at the 'kitsch' stylings of Koons invading there beloved palace, he hopes that the setting will bring to light the more philosophical aspects of his work.

Jeff Koons - Versailles

Video link. N.B. Extremely boring. Although relevant interview with the man himself in regards to the current exhbition

Updates

(David Perry, despite his speech impediment, hammers home the value of video games. Suss his statistics and leave your commerce degree to get into some game design)

Paris fashion week showed us that Karl can still regulate at the age of 70. Gareth Pugh makes it interesting (again).


Annie Leibovitz is documenting Obama's campaign trail, reportedly for another Men's Vogue feature article. Evidence HERE


In reference to my post about the Four Seasons water menu, and it's status as a luxury good, Jean Paul Gaultier is now on board with Evian. See for yourself HERE


CERN shut down its accelerator for repairs, but gave this song new relevance as it commenced trafficing data through the LHC Computing Grid. "When the LHC turns on, data will be transferred from CERN to 11 large computing centres around the world at rates of up to 10 gigabits per second". Beats your bigpond.


Ex gay pornographer and now homo-erotic visionary Jeff Burton and high profile designer Kris Van Assche collaborate again on 12 homo-erotic advertising layouts, running in 12 select magazines around the world in a unique campaign to promote Van Assche's new 08/09 range.
"Jeff Burton pulls (poetry) from the world of pornography : a place where it is hard to find"
Find it all at KrisVanAssche.com


Jay Walker's library. Housing articles from a legit Sputnik satellite to the original prop for The Addam's Family's 'Thing', it has to be seen to be believed.

(Updates soon)