i need this...2012

Mother Again

I AM A MOTHER...AGAIN. Each time of the three, I have given life, there is always something new about it...my daughter Iman Mayari made her way to this world on May 9th...almost on the steps of my building, but we made it with time to push three times and have her in a more sanitary place.

I always pick a song for my kids to sing to them. Amir's was "Redemtion Song" by Bob Marley; oddly enough Rami's was "Hello Tomorrow" by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs...and now Iman's is "Love Song" by the Cure and revived tastefully by Adele.

Although I am with all three so often...I still am alone with Miss Iman every night...and she makes me feel whole again, fun again, young again...among many other things. Thank you Iman.

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again

However far away I will always love you
However long I stay I will always love you
Whatever words I say I will always love you
I will always love you

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am clean again

However far away I will always love you
However long I stay I will always love you
Whatever words I say I will always love you
I will always love you

rabbit freaks

i guess since it's easter people want to exhibit their inner rabbit freak for some reason...and i realize i don't have an inner rabbit freak. perhaps all of the baby clothes with animals' cartoon, yet human expressions have turned me off...maybe Donnie Darko did the job? no telling...however, one of my aunts is a rabbit freak and her years long astounding collection of all things rabbit has thoroughly freaked her husband out consistently...now that's love, because let me wake up to a room full of these point-eared fuckers and i would bug out!

nice play on an easter bonnet by Aturo Rios,amazing milliner

all bunnies go to heaven

dark chocolate bunny soap

Lovers and Thieves

For all my lovers-

And to the heartbreaking fools-

Happy Valentine's to you, yours and mine.

Don't Call Me Baby

by Zena el Khalil

"I take that which is rooted in violence and then I de-contextualize it so that it no longer exists. The pink objects and embellishments are my weapons of positive energy. I take aim and shoot them at objects of war, ideas of fear, techniques of alienation. I want to negate the negative. I would not say that my work is “feminized”; it is simply an extension of myself... and yes, I happen to be a woman. I don’t believe the word “feminized” exists; our present world is very complex and layered, with a lot of crossing over. It would be unfair to narrow things down to the word “feminized”."

Contradictory Healing

"They carried him in on a make-shift stretcher made of two wooden logs and burlap. He was bleeding heavily; "they got me, the bastards got me." I was a young girl, and my eyes were bright with amazement, I knew what Grandfather was capable of. They laid the man on the stone and Grandfather reached for the crystals and the shells. "C'mon now medicine man, help me."

New series of spent bullet casings repurposed into healing talismans...But,
what is more dangerous? The bullet above...or Alexander McQueen below?

That's just sex right there.

Bitches Be Trippin'...Fashion Craving

Fashion baby...and bitches Do be trippin';

Even a pregnant woman can rock that collar by Dimepiece.
And then there's Grace Jones...I just want to wear her.

Oooooo la la, Thierry Mugler Menswear Winter 2011/2012 - "ANATOMY OF...

I am so glad that this man can actually make a living tatted up that way. I wonder if he has kids man...

The Persianz Are Coming

Stop all this nonsense and show the love. Here are some old school pics of some of my beautiful, funny, eccentric family from the Motherland, not so dangerous, eh? And I will add, go eat Persian/Iranian food and experience what world peace would feel like. My Aunt Soraya even started a home cooked catering company called Soraya's Silk Road. It basically is like eating euphoria.

Sisters

Hello little freaks above. Sisterhood does not always necessarily arrive to us via bloodline, it lives in the comradery between women. We build a creative connection to one another and we hold it sacred. I find that in terms of men, they're relationships are built on different foundations, I don't say this critically, but I just seek to point the difference.

Old School Twurk

Show me what you're workin' with.
I am impressed with acrobats.
My daughter is an acrobat. She is doing all kinds of flips in here.
It's strange to say "my daughter".
It's wonderful to say "my daughter".
I know her name...I'm just not telling yet.

falling birds

Apparently on New Years Eve between 4,000 and 5,000 red-winged blackbirds were found dead in Arkansas due to massive trauma...hmmm, how strange. Article.

Look at this beautiful print from Sarah Blank. I was looking for interesting images of red-winged black birds and behold this. It's great, no? I like that the ladies are a bit Boudoir....

In matters of birds, over the weekend me and my husband snuck away while over family's and saw The Black Swan...that Nina is crazy as hell. The movie is Oscar bound, but it will make your skin itch and crawl for days after...trust me.

The Complexity of All Things Persian

Whether it's the art or the food or damn it, the people, all things Iranian/Persian are complex. Especially the traditional miniature art. The detailing is insane, meticulous, designed completely to please and captivate and appear elite. These are three of my favorite examples. The Qajar era of design was during a social time of contradiction and sloth. The kings of that dynasty reveled in riches, harems, sexual exploration, erotica and still imposed on the people, a strict interpretation of Islam in the form of rule while they partied till dawn. The painting of the sexually ambiguous being on the cushion with the tea is actually a man in drag...I love that one, it's curated I believe in London now, not 100% sure though. My beautiful graphic designer and fellow jeweler Leila Marvel took that image and the first and recreated for me some awesome The Hand of Fatima Design art prints last year. I will have to share them.
If your in NYC, a great place to go and see some of the Persian bests is The Asia Society.

May The New Year...

...shine its blessings on you...or a chubby, white cherub in a hot air balloon. xo

Peace out 2010, I am ready to say farewell to you!

More Therapeutic Purchasing

I didn't think I was the moose-loving type, but I like this moose, he's a bit militant, as for monkies...I adore them, especially chimps...as for little girls with big heads, just look at a kid pic of me and you'll see. I hate to say that I am a bit shocked on how I love these prints so, but I am. I am usually not so hipster-drawn, but screw labels anyway.
Now that ambrotype and those daguerrotypes rock my ghostly socks...can't wait to use them. I have soooo many things to put online in the shoppe, it's maddening.

When All Else Is Fuckery...

...buy some stuff you've had an eye on to cheer you...right? Even if your funds are low from disastrous business decisions, or the holidaze...or fuckonomy, you can find a way...right? How worse can it be, right? In Dali's autobiography he said that when he and Gala were at their broke ass-est they would still tip the most and return to their Montmartre apartment that they could barely afford...
So here's what I snagged thus far:

You know that postcard is awesome!! Nothing like some creep sneaking up on you watching you sleep on a hammock to give you "Sweet Dreams".

This little lovely is one of my favorites to collect, an antique "calling card" lithograph or "die-cut". This one has a poem that reads; "Of all that is near, thou are the nearest. Of all that is dear, thou art the dearest."

This is an antique photo of a faceless dude and a horse...I effing love this! It's as if he is death or something coming to take the horse...or his pay? It reminds me of the guy who played the devil in Dr. Parnassus. It gives me the inspiration to create assemblage art again.These are some dope vintage horse medals or "ornaments for the harness of cart-horses were first made in the late 18th century; they became very popular in the 1850s, replacing an older style of adornment with ribbons, woolen fringes, and tooled leather. In some areas brasses were still in normal use in the 1920s, and can still be seen at horse-shows and parades." This is a little French lovely from the olden golden days, porcelain and I cannot wait to get my hands on it...and all my purchases as soon as possible.

Tricks

I feel like her...how she looks at least. I'm a bit sad, and I will have to do some serious tricks to stay sane, get happy and make my way. How do we get back on a road, if the road we took was not good to us? Find a new one? I don't know, but I am swallowing swords for now.

Life's Circus

Antique cabinet photo from victorian age Gustavo Arcaris and Kate ...Knife Throwing in their circus act.

I don't know which direction things are going...as an artist I am in a pickle. I am trying to push through to the next level...how? I need marketing and blah and blah and blah. I feel circus-ish these days. When I was in London I got violently ill, I was hospitalized for three days, I was there told I needed emergency stomach surgery. I opted to return home to be near my boys for the surgery with my own doctors. The issue was that when the hospital gave me paperwork they told me to show American Airlines so I wouldn't be charged a fee for missing my plane...well instead they wouldn't let me board. I had to buy a completely new ticket on Virgin. It was a mess...a circus indeed.
I arrived back in the states where my husband picked me up from Newark and drove me straight to Columbia Presbyterian where I eventually had the operation. Through it all, I worried most about the little baby in my womb. In the end it all turned out fine...isn't that something? Fine. Whatever spirit guides us; science, greater being...whatever, the revolving door of the up and down cycle of life is guaranteed and the gift of having things be okay is a blessing of whatever proportion you make it. I wonder how circus performers felt about their "next level".
"Sideshow-freak" photograph by Edward Kelty. c.1920

Her Immigrant Mother

New piece in the shoppe featuring genuine tintypes. Something quite "forever" about a tintype, no? Even though the tintype is quite older than the buckles surrounding it, I am a lover of all things Art Deco...had to work with this assemblage piece.

Merci a Kaight NYC

Basically a fashion staple downtown has given me a great shout out on her fantabulous blog:
http://kaightnyc.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-coins-will-make-you-blush.html

AND...now carries The Hand of Fatima Design at the Orchard Street Location. Stop in, the Brothel Token Collection is buzzin'.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxooxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxooxxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

What about this photo is not absolutely amazing?