maira maira!

maira kalman makes my day as much as sagmeister. top image is from her book, principles of uncertainty, which was inspired by/collected from her nytimes blog. if you want to have a nice transcendant sunday afternoon experience, read through some of her blog (my favorite: january) while listening to 'dreams' by cat power. that would be made even more supremely ideal if you were to add in a glass of fresh squeezed OJ like we had mornings at this place, while rubbing our eyes at this.

back to cat power, i just heard 'dreams' on radioIO acoustic cafe, then i tried to find it online but with no luck. dreams is from a 2-song japanese import. you can buy the CD or LP of from matador records. but i'm so impatient... if you (david?) can find me a downloadable (i'll pay!) version of dreams online i'll be your best friend (david)... so lovely. if you can't find dreams, and need a sunday diversion or just generally some more breathing power, listen to any of the new cat power album or turn on acoustic cafe and maybe something surprisingly uplifting will be on.

back to maira...kalman has illustrated for the new yorker (a lot), designed fabric for isaac mizrahi and illustrated for kate spade bags (i think the ones with dogs on them)...i adore her ability to capture the everyday beauty of little things (popsicles and empty boxes) and to crystallize through visuals the most (painfully human) benign and loveable side of complete strangers in cities where most people are too busy/afraid/distracted/annoyed to be sensitive to such nuances of individuality (like her photographs of people walking through the city from behind). very bruegel-ian! she also has a dozen brilliant children's books. we own what pete ate, which ruby is crazy for.

maira was also married to prominent and groundbreaking graphic designer tibor kalman, who passed away in may of 1999. amongst other positions and work, tibor was creative director at interview magazine and founding creative director of the controversial colors magazine. what a duo, these two. and what a heartbreak, his death. . .his last large project being a retrospective of his work entitled tibor kalman: perverse optimist. the book has contributions from some great people, including jenny holzer, david byrne, isaac mizrahi and oliviero toscani (from colors) and kurt anderson. who i shared an office with when the mag i worked for (brill's content) merged with his cybermag (inside.com). ("with" meaning he was in the same offices, along with other illusive writers such as seth mnookin). i guess that's my two degrees of separation from the dynamic kalman duo.