A steady hand, super sharp vision and infinite patience make artist Dalton Ghetti’s impossibly tiny pencil tip sculptures possible. For the last twenty-five years the Brazilian-born, Connecticut based carpenter has been spending spare moments carving everything from boots to buttons into graphite with the aid of a blade, needle and knife. These miniature masterpieces can take years to complete, and are so delicate that inevitably they often break. But Dalton persists, making miraculous, microscopic art to give away to his friends. So he’s a carpenter, his works defy the rules of convention and he’s generous to a fault. Remind you of anyone?
You don’t often hear Mexico and Sheffield mentioned in the same sentence – but Mexican cover band, The Limits, are the exception. Named after the cult Sheffield club which closed in 1992, The Limits play nothing but covers of songs by the likes of Pulp, Def Leppard, Human League, ABC, Joe Cocker and the Arctic Monkeys.
The truth is, The Limits are the invention of Mexico City artist Laureana Toledo. Her brilliant project – ‘The Name of the Band is The Limit’ is a 30-minute documentary, and a magazine that borrows from the iconic format of The Face – all in their honour. Page after page of primary coloured layouts leave you wishing that the band – and The Face – really existed.
Laureana Toledo’s debut book, ‘The Limit’, is available at Trolley Books, £24. www.trolleybooks.com
Twins share a relationship unlike any other. This was the starting point for psychology student Amber Gayle’s thesis, ‘The Twin Survey’. This rather beautiful hand-sewn tome is published by Evil Twin Books as a small edition, and is put together with Gayle’s identical twin sister, Stacy Wakefield. A personal study, it looks at relationships between 150 twins across the world, shedding light on the closeness, co-operation and complications of twinship. Made for twins, by twins we like the look of this book on a one-of-a-kind attachment.
Twin brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias create fantastic, vivid and abstract works of art. Together, through ceramic sculpture, large-scale woodcuts, gouache paintings and typewriter sketches, they draw on the folklore of their native Transylvania.
Now, the Tobias twins’ work goes on show at Nottingham Contemporary. The pair blend ghoulishness – skeletons and monsters abound – with a bright, bold colour palette that recalls modern graphic design. In their hands, Transylvania’s haunting legend won’t be fading anytime soon.
‘Gert & Uwe Tobias’ runs until the end of October at Nottingham Contemporary.
Holly Miranda is the modest type. Her softly spoken, dreamy debut album, ‘The Magician’s Private Library’, concerns that limbo state between sleep and wakefulness. Even though it’s produced by TV on the Radio’s David Sitek it doesn’t shout for attention like many of its Brooklyn peers. Musically, Miranda inhabits an altogether quieter space. This is soulful, thoughtful and deep-spun pop that requires a bit of hush. And we’re happy to oblige.
Holly Miranda plays Borderline on the 26th July, and Westminster Library on the 27th July. ‘The Magician’s Private Library’ is out now on XL Records.
Twin enjoyed a sneaky peak of Reiss’s AW10 campaign at the Soho Hotel last week. The brand have cleverly commissioned Jamie Morgan to create a fashion film to show off their upcoming collection. Entitled, ‘Elements’ the two minute black and white short heralds dramatic climatic condition – as models battle against wind, rain and blizzards. We love the silent, powerful and symbolic presence of a glossy thoroughbred horse, which leaves one with the question – is style nature or nurture?
As night falls, four spotlights cross the stage at Somerset House to spell out the name of a band whose success this year has been huge. “It’s good to be home,” announce The XX. Without a chart hit, the minimalist Wandsworth trio have found love everywhere from the critics to Shakira, who covered ‘Islands’ at Glastonbury. Tonight, they stick to their simple set-up – the softness of Madley-Croft’s voice complimenting Sim’s deeper, husky tones, while on an elevated platform, Jamie Smith plays electronic drums. Up close, The XX thrill, and in the process give power to all the shy, introverted and Emo kids of the world.
Gil Scott-Heron has come a long way since the Seventies spirit of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’. Forty years on, he’s back, and touring with the self-analytical, poetic and redemptive, ‘I’m New Here’. Scott-Heron offers up the wisdom of his growing years in vocals that are deeper, darker and more resonant than ever. These days he’s more melancholic than anarchic. ‘I’m New Here’ is intense and thought-provoking and rather beautiful – just not what you’d expect from ‘the godfather of rap’.
Gil Scott-Heron plays at Somerset House tonight as part of ‘The Summer Series’. ‘I’m New Here’ (Rough Trade) is out now.
Twin is happy to have been selected for De Zines – an exhibition showcasing the very best of the independent magazine world. Opening at the end of the month in Madrid, Twin will be displayed alongside over 400 international publications that span from the purely commercial, to the crafty and homemade. Curated by Roberto Vidal and Oscar Martin, the show promises to be an amazing and extensive magazine library, and a place where likeminded people can share ideas on what De Zines claims to be, ‘the future of print media’ – in other words magazines that are nice and niche. Of course, we’d have to agree.
De Zines runs from 29th June until 29th August at Room A of La Casa Encendida, Madrid. www.lacasaencendida.es/en
We blame Coco for helping to make teeny tiny red shorts, yesterday’s eye make-up and ox-blood DM’s ubiquitous with this summer’s teen style. It’s just a shame we can’t all rock this look as effortlessly as she does. Ok, so we at Twin were as sceptical as the next lady about Sumner’s rock progeny roots – but her nonchalant attitude, husky vocal timbre and clever hook-up with Robyn on the sensational track ‘Caeser’ have won us over. If you can’t wait for Coco’s forthcoming debut album, ‘The Constant’ – then check out her re-working of Neil Young’s, ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’. Put together with Fyfe Dangerfield of the Guillemots, here Sumner follows in the footsteps of Saint Etienne who covered the classic brilliantly in 1990.
Coco’s own limited release is due out any moment now on the Luv Luv Luv label. Watch it here… Or better still, see her in the flesh – I Blame Coco are playing tonight at The Flowerpot in London.
Identifying a comfortable and trendy dog cloth is turning out to be difficult, as more and more cute dog clothes are venturing in the global market on regular basis.
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