So not IKEA: The cozy cottage of Carl Larsson

This week's post on decor8 (don't you love decor8?) about Swedish design happily reminded me of an art exhibit my aunt and I saw waaaaaaay back in 1997 at London's Victoria and Albert Museum: the first major exhibition of artist Carl Larsson outside of his native Sweden.

Neither my aunt nor myself had heard of Carl Larsson before the show (and we both like to think we know a lot of stuff about a lot of things), and we each stepped out of the show a little smarter, a little wide-eyed, and a little bit in love with the artist and his family.

Larsson frequently painted his wife Karin, their eight children, and their life at their cottage in the village of Sundborn. His work is almost magical, but the best thing is the way he and Karin designed their home:

Larsson's work, unsurprisingly, has heavily influenced Swedish design through the years. Case in point: most of these watercolors are over a century old, but their design elements could easily fit today in Country Living, Cottage Living (RIP), or a look-at-my-sweet-'n-chic-weekend-cottage-in-Lancaster-County feature in Domino (God rest its soul).

And is it just me, or does the Larsson pad seem like the happiest, most rainbow-iest place on earth?

(Thanks, Holly, for the inspiration.)

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Michael Pellew’s “Celebrity Sightings Series”

For the past few weekends in DUMBO, I've been noticing some fun-weird cartoon cards that have been placed just within eyesight at LAND (League Artists Natural Design), an art space from a non-profit agency for mentally disabled adults and kids called the League Treatment Center. The gallery, much to my chagrin, is always closed when I'm around, so I've never been able to get a good look at the cards until this Sunday when SCORE!--the center placed them in the front window.

I did a little digging, and it seems that these clever little pieces of handmade art are created by an autistic adult artist named Michael Pellew. Michael's subjects are often celebs, musicians, and politicians, and if you take a look at the pics below, you'll see that he not only has an extensive knowledge of pop culture, but he also has a great sense of humor.

These are hands-down my No. 1 card pick for Holiday 2009:

"Eddie Murphy, Michael Jackson, Mos Def, Mayor Bloomberg, and Barack Obama would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving."

"The Cure's Robert Smith, Marilyn Manson & Siouxsie Sioux would like to wish you a Merry Christmas."

"John Goodman, Mos Def, LL Cool J & DMC from Run DMC would like to wish you a happy Birthday."

"Adam Sandler, Frankie Avalon & Annette Funicello would like to wish you a happy Bar Mitzvah."

"Skid Row's Sebastian Bach, Poison's Bret Michaels, Michael Bolton & Judas Priest's Rob Halford would like to wish you a happy Birthday."

"The Jonas Brothers would like to wish you a Merry Christmas."

Have you met Clyfford Still, my new old art crush?

So why has it taken me this long to discover Clyfford Still? And am I about to book a ticket to Denver to visit the new Clyfford Still Museum that's opening there in 2011? Because this art crush has just started, and by then, it could be a full-blown love affair.

The below works from the American Abstract Expressionist are all featured for sale at artriver.com, mostly as book plates. My favorites are almost sold out, but take a gander--they're totally making me swoon (in an artistic way, natch).

[gallery link="file" columns="7" orderby="rand"]

Photo of Clyfford Still © Bert Stern, 1959

Check it: Carter Kustera on 10/22

Oh, I do love a portrait (I think it's the Southerner in me). And yes, I know that the whole silhouette trend is a little, well, overdone. But oh, I do still love Carter Kustera's cute portraits with those clever descriptions underneath. And if I had the bread, I'd head up to Jonathan Adler's Madison Avenue store this Thursday and get myself all draw'd up (only $450 for a small! Click for event info):



In the meantime, here are a few of my faves: