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THE NOTE E D I T O R

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C H I E F

ASHLYN KILLHAM M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

MICAH COHEN D E P U T Y

E D I T O R

ANDREI SCHEINKMAN D I R E C T O R

O F

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T E C H N O L O G Y ASHLYN KILLHAM C R E AT I V E

D I R E C T O R

ASHLYN KILLHAM C O P Y

C H I E F

RITCHIE KING D ATA

V I S U A L I Z AT I O N

CHADWICK MATLIN D I R E C T O R

O F

C U LT U R E

BLYTHE TERRELL P U B L I S H E R HAYLEY ROMER

thenotemagazine.com

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TABLE

OF

CONTENTS

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THE NOTE -

7

LOOK - explore/ cocktails/ fifth floor

letter from the editor

12 PRODUCTS - make every hour happy 18 COVER STORY 26 SCHULMAN -

grimes time

a sense of space

32 ABOUT VALFRE - in a world of her own

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THE NOTE From the Editor

It’s almost Winter which means you should stock up on vinyls and booze! This issue will warm your cold cold heart with an inspiring story from one of my favorite artists, Grimes. So go make yourself a cocktail and enjoy!

- Ashlyn

L O O K

e x p l o r e . c o c k t a i l s . f i f t h f l o o r.

SUNDAY FUNDAY

Grab a drink at Mama’s

W

ith a Caribbean-inspired color scheme, a laid-back vibe and killer views, Mama Shelter Hollywood Rooftop Deck is perfect for unwinding on a hot L.A. night. The L.A. outpost of this Paris-based hotel chain offers tongue-in-cheek cinematic cocktails like An American in Paris with Rittenhouse rye, Averna, Combier kummel and Fernet Branca or the Fiddler on the Roof with Goslings rum, Ancho Reyes, grapefruit, pomegranate molasses and lime, as well as an excellent wine selection, and pitchers of sangria and select cocktails.

You can also chow down on French-Moroccaninflected dishes, including “shawarmama”, meat and veggie skewers and cauliflower hummus.

Settle up to the bar, lounge on the expansive, colorful couches or test your skills at the foosball table, and let the hours lazily pass by.

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Mama Shelter Hollywood is located at 6500 Selma Ave, Hollywood, (323) 785-6666

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L O O K

e x p l o r e . c o c k t a i l s . f i f t h f l o o r.

The Cotton Candy Cocktail Photographed by Ashlyn Killham Recipe by Tasty

INGREDIENTS 4 strawberries 2 1-ounce bags cotton candy 2 limes 1/3 cup vodka 2/3 cup rosĂŠ wine 2/3 cup champagne

PREPARATION

1 Make four to five cuts along the

length of the strawberry, starting from the pointed end until just before the stem end. Fan the slices apart with your fingers, and set aside.

2 Separate the cotton candy into two balls. Cut a slit in the center and push the fanned strawberry inside, sealing up the hole afterwards.

3 Slice half of the lime into rounds,

saving the other half for later. Make a single cut on each lime slice, starting from the center and cutting through the rind.

4 In a large pitcher or jug, mix the vodka and rose. Squeeze the juice from reserved lime half into the mixture, then add champagne.

5 Place the strawberry-stuffed cotton candy balls into two separate martini glasses.

6 Pour the drink mixture around the sides of the cotton candy in a circular motion, and watch it dissolve to reveal the strawberry inside!

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L O O K

e x p l o r e . c o c k t a i l s . f i f t h f l o o r.

WINDOWS

INTO THE

SURREAL

“M

adder and more original than most of her contemporaries, Mme Schiaparelli is the one to whom the word ‘genius’ is applied most often,” Time magazine wrote of its cover subject in 1934.Coco Chanel once dismissed her rival as “that Italian artist who makes clothes.” (To Schiaparelli, Chanel was simply “that milliner.”)

Indeed, Schiaparelli—“Schiap” to friends—stood out among her peers as a true nonconformist, using clothing as a medium to express her unique ideas. In the thirties, her peak creative period, her salon overflowed with the wild, the whimsical, and even the ridiculous. Many of her madcap designs could be pulled off only by a woman of great substance and style: Gold ruffles sprouted from the fingers of chameleongreen suede gloves; a paleblue satin evening gown— modeled by Madame Crespi in Vogue—had a stiff overskirt of Rhodophane (a transparent, glasslike modern material); a smart black suit jacket had red lips for pockets. Handbags, in the form of music boxes, tinkled tunes like “Rose Marie, I Love You”; others fastened with padlocks. Monkey fur and zippers (newfangled in the thirties) were everywhere. love of trompe l’oeil can be traced to the faux-bow sweater that kick-started Schiaparelli’s career and brought her quirky style to the masses.

“Dare to be different,”is the advice she offered to women.

Pace-setters and rule-breakers waved that flag through the sixties, the seventies, and beyond.

FIDM’s 5th floor windows celebrate the surreal work of Elsa Schiaparelli

BY H A M I S H BOW L E S P H OTO G R A P H E D BY RYA N O KO

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THE NOTE

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THE NOTE

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MAKE EVERY PRODUCTS

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IS

SU

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16

TH

n e

e t o

By Kate Lloyd photographed by An Le

She’s the whimsical musician and poster girl for Generation-Z cool. Welcome to Grimes World where anything could happen.

C

laire Boucher, the 28 year-old musician behind project Grimes, is one of those rare artists who have managed to break into the mainstream without succumbing to it, a pixiesized crusader with pastel-hued hair and angel wings (literally, in the case of her “Flesh Without Blood” video) who has become a beacon for a new generation of alternative and independent creators.

One year after releasing her fourth album, Art Angels, Boucher is ready to conclude the visual saga that has accompanied her electro-pop opus. While the project’s earlier videos were highly stylized and planned out (“California,” “Kill V. Maim”), she has returned to her DIY roots with four recently-released “guerrilla videos” created with her brother Mac, a DP, and fellow musician and recent tour mate HANA, for “World Princess, Pt. II,” “Butterfly,” “Scream,” 18

and “Belly of the Beat.”

“There was no crew, no makeup, no styling— just the camera,” says Boucher. “It’s almost like a video remix, where two different artists are shooting different videos for different songs with the same set up, and then we’re each editing our own videos. I think it’ll make people understand the role of the editor a lot better because then you get to look at the same thing from two different perspectives. I think it’s almost more creative to not be bound to a visual narrative.”

Still, Boucher’s not entirely prepared to abandon the glamour of big budget videos just yet; she has also just finished collaborating with Janelle Monáe on her video for “Venus Fly,” their shared track on Art Angels, which will serve as the 11th and final video off the album (“It’s almost a visual album,” she laments).

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I think the real world was always just this thing I had to deal with, and then Grimes could be a thing which was how I wished it was.

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I

n a world of manufactured personas and publicist-run Twitter accounts, 28-year-old Boucher is one of the most honest voices out there – and she’s created a cult fanbase as a result.

She’s currently touring with her fifth studio album ‘Art Angels’, one of the best albums of 2015: a record that sounds like it was made 500 years into a postapocalyptic future. She wrote, produced and performed every track on it.

While her music is dreamy and ethereal, Boucher is the opposite. The Canadian gives opinions so sharp they’re basically clickbait headlines. She’s clued up on gender identity, the environment and the injustices of the music industry, and she’s not afraid to speak her mind. In the past, Boucher has been described as a ‘pop star’ and a ‘feminist spokesperson’, but over the course of our conversation she dismisses both those labels. While her music is popular, she says her sound’s still alternative. She’s been praised for criticising misogyny in the music industry, but she’s bored of talking about sexism.

She’d much rather just hit you in the face with her music.

You’re performing at Brixton Academy on March 10. What can fans expect from your gig?

‘The whole tour can fit into a single duffel bag. It’s based on a video game, “Metal Gear”, which is anti-military, so it’s all black-and-white army mesh with red spray paint all over it.’

How did you imagine London before you visited?

‘I thought it was going to be way more savage, like the Industrial Revolution: people eating bread with rotten teeth.’

Did you get your name from the music genre?

‘Accidentally. I thought it was just a cool option on MySpace: “Ooh, grime, what a cool word.” I was like, “Oh, it must mean music that’s kind of dark.” ’

Are you a fan of grime now?

‘I’m actually trying to learn about grime music right now. My favourite artist

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is JME. He’s amazing and he’s a vegan.

He produces all his stuff, makes all his videos too. I really vibe off the self-auteur thing and think it’s really cool when artists are political. I’m always getting in trouble for being political so it makes me feel less alone.’

You’ve made an effort to credit yourself as ‘writer, singer, producer, video director’ at the end of your videos. What’s the reaction to that been like?

‘People still ask me all the time who produces my stuff and who directs my videos. I also get people accusing me of showing off, like I’ve been insane for asking for a credit. I even know people who were going around saying “I was working on the Grimes record.” No you didn’t. It’s a blatant lie.’

You also drew illustrations to go with every track on ‘Art Angels’. What’s the last thing you drew?

‘Oh my God… a weird dog with a penis. I was at a restaurant and I was leaving a creepy thing for the waiter. I wanted them to come after we left and be confused.’

In 2013 you wrote a blog post calling out all the sexism you’d experienced in the music industry. Have men in the industry changed the way they behave around you since then?

‘It’s been a fucking nightmare. People treat you like you’re hysterical. And I spend half my interviews getting asked about feminism. I almost wish I hadn’t written it.’

Your sound is futuristic. What do you think about the nostalgia for ’90s and noughties music right now?

‘It’s an economic thing. I think people are open to more sounds, but the only way to make money from music now is to be a good live act. That’s kind of whittled out anyone who’s not making music that can be transformed into a live setting.

When I started, electronic acts were

getting on to festival line-ups then all of us were bombing. A rock band is a much easier format for a live setting.’

You’ve said in the past that fame makes you anxious. Do you feel like you’ve had to sacrifice a lot to make money as a musician?

‘No, because of the alternative: maybe I’d be less anxious about some things, but then I’d be a barista at Starbucks and be anxious about my taxes. The level of anxiety is probably equal to what it would be otherwise.’

Do you think pop music’s becoming more inclusive?

‘I think it’s becoming a lot more exclusive. Music is basically for rich people. Studios are really expensive, so you either have to be wealthy or pretty enough or know the right person to get in there. The only reason I had the chance to make “Art Angels” is because I made money off my last album “Visions” and could build my own studio.’

Do you find it frustrating when you see less talented people succeeding and then more talented people unable to get into the industry?

‘It really pisses me off. Especially when they’re like “It’s my new track!” and you’re like “It’s not your new track, it’s literally got seven co-writers.” And then there’s this person over here, who’s worked their ass off, is extremely talented and maybe they don’t look like a supermodel.’

Kesha’s locked into a contract that means she can only record with Dr Luke (who, she claims, sexually assaulted her – which he strenuously denies). What do you think of that situation?

‘You shouldn’t be allowed to sign a human being, regardless of what the allegations are or what anyone said or did. It’s basically like slavery. She should be allowed to record [with other people].

It’s a deeply fucked situation.’

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“Music is

basically for rich people.

You either have to be wealthy or pretty enough or know the right person” Who do you think is the best pop star of all time?

‘Beyoncé – because she’s the best performer and her music is really, really varied. The way her self-titled album got people to listen to a pop album as an entire record is a really difficult thing to do. It was as creative and as experimental as it was pop. I put Madonna up there too.’

You were compared to Madonna recently in a German magazine…

‘Yes. It’s weird as I’m not very good at dancing or singing, but it’s a compliment. I think it’s undeserved. Maybe I’m dissociated from who I am, but I just don’t seem very

much like a pop star. My music’s still pretty alternative. I’m on an indie label.’

You recorded ‘Visions’ while on an amphetamine binge, but you recently changed your stance on drugs. Is that because you want to be more of a role model or because you had a horrific trip?

‘I’ve lost four very close friends to drugs over the last few years, which has been really shitty. But it’s also because I used to get 14-year-olds coming to my shows saying things like “Do you need drugs to make art?” That’s hard, especially when you’ve lost friends. Drugs aren’t necessary for art.

24

They can be a good time. A lot of my friends do drugs, but it’s not something I feel I can publicly condone – and, mostly, I want to try and live a cleanish lifestyle.’

What’s the worst party you’ve ever been to?

‘Jeez, I’ve been to some bad parties. Once I was at a party where everyone got maced and it was terrible. I was outside with some other people and we were like “Hey, there are some big, scary neo-Nazi-looking guys at the door!” And then all of a sudden people started screaming and they were robbing the house. It was pretty wack.’

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26

A SENSE OF SPACE

By Peter Gossell Photographs by Julius Schulman

Photographer Julius Schulman’s photography spread California Mid-century modern around the world. Carefully composed and artfully lighted, his images promoted not only new approaches to home design but also the ideal of idyllic California living — a sunny, suburban lifestyle played out in sleek, spacious, lowslung homes featuring ample glass, pools and patios.

“T

he subject is the power

for a meeting about my photography

up two exteriors of a new modernist

of photography,”

at the Getty [which houses his archive].

home, designed for a family named

Shulman explains. “I have

High school students, a lecture. Silver

Abidi, by architect James Tyler. In the

thousands of slides, and Juergen and

Lake, the Neutra house, they’re opening

first, the inside of the house is dark,

I have assembled them into almost 20

part of the lake frontage, I’m going

resulting in a handsome, somewhat

different lectures. And not just about

to see that. USC, a lecture. Then an

lifeless image. In the second, it’s been

architecture—I have pictures of cats

assignment, the Griffith Observatory—

lit in a way that seems a natural balance

and dogs, fashion pictures, flower

we’ve already started that one.”

of indoor and outdoor illumination, yet

photographs. I use them to do a lot

Yet rather than seeming overtaxed,

expresses the structure’s relationship

of preaching to the students, to give

Shulman fairly exudes well-being. Like

to its site and showcases the

them something to do with their lives,

many elderly people with nothing left

architecture’s transparency. “The house

and keep them from dropping out of

to prove, and who remain in demand

is transfigured,” Shulman explains.

school.”

both for their talents and as figures

It all adds up to a very full schedule,

“I have four Ts. Transcend is, I go

of veneration (think of George Burns),

beyond what the architect himself has

which Shulman handles largely by

Shulman takes things very easy: He

seen. Transfigure—glamorize, dramatize

himself—“My daughter comes once

knows what his employers and admirers

with lighting, time of day. Translate—

a week from Santa Barbara and takes

want, is happy to provide it, and

there are times, when you’re working

care of my business affairs, and does my

accepts the resulting reaffirmation of his

with a man like Neutra, who wanted

shopping”—and with remarkable ease

legend with a mix of playfully rampant

everything the way he wanted it—‘Put

for a near-centenarian. Picking up the

immodesty and heartfelt gratitude. As

the camera here.’ And after he left,

oversized calendar on which he records

the man himself puts it, “The world’s my

I’d put it back where I wanted it, and

his appointments, Shulman walks me

onion.”

he wouldn’t know the difference—I

through a typical seven days: “Thom

Shulman is equally proud of his

Mayne—we had lunch with him. Long

own lighting abilities. “I’ll show you

Beach, AIA meeting. People were here

something fascinating,” he says, holding

28

translated. And fourth, I transform the composition with furniture movement.”

AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER JULIUS SHULMAN’S IMAGES OF CALIFORNIAN ARCHITECTURE HAVE BURNED THEMSELVES INTO THE RETINA OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

T

o illustrate the latter, Shulman shows me an interior of the Abidi house that looks out from the living room, through a long

glass wall, to the grounds. “Almost every one of my photographs has a diagonal leading you into the picture,” he says. Taking a notecard and pen, he draws a line from the lower left corner to the upper right, then a second perpendicular line from the lower right corner to the first line. Circling the intersection, he explains, “That’s the point of what we call ‘dynamic symmetry.’” When he holds up the photo again, I see that the line formed by the bottom of the glass wall—dividing inside from outside—roughly mirrors the diagonal he’s drawn.

Shulman then indicates the second, perpendicular line created by the furniture arrangement. “My assistants moved [the coffee table] there, to complete the line. When the owner saw the Polaroid, she said to her husband, ‘Why don’t we do that all the time?’”

Shulman’s remark references one of his

signature gambits: what he calls “dressing the set,” not only by moving furniture but by adding everyday objects and accessories. “I think he was trying to portray the lifestyle people might have had if they’d lived in those houses,” suggests the Los Angeles–based architectural photographer Tim Street-Porter. “He was doing—with a totally positive use of the words—advertising or propagandist photographs for the cause.” This impulse culminated in Shulman’s introduction of people into his pictures—commonplace today, but virtually unique 50 years ago. “Those photographs—with young, attractive people having breakfast in glass rooms beside carports with two-tone cars—were remarkable in the history of architectural photography,” StreetPorter says. “He took that to a wonderfully high level.”

“I tell people in my

sliders. “Because flies and

immigrants. “When I was

in the store. They were

lectures, ‘If I were modest,

lizards would come in;

three, my father went to the

businesspeople.” He flashes

I wouldn’t talk about how

there were strong winds.

town of Central Village in

a slightly cocky smile. “I was

great I am.’” Yet when I ask

So I told Soriano I wanted

Connecticut, and was shown

with the Boy Scouts.”

how he developed his eye,

a transition—a screened-in

this farmhouse—primitive,

I ask Shulman if he’s

Shulman’s expression turns

enclosure in front of the

but [on] a big piece of land.

surprised at how well his

philosophical. “Sometimes

living room, kitchen, and

After we moved in, he

life has turned out. “I tell

Juergen walks ahead of

bedroom to make an indoor/

planted corn and potatoes,

students, ‘Don’t take life too

me, and he’ll look for a

outdoor room.” Shulman

my mother milked the cows,

seriously—don’t plan nothing

composition. And invariably,

opens the door leading to an

and we had a farm life.

nohow,’” he replies. “But I

he doesn’t see what I see.

exterior dining area. A bird

Architects don’t see what

trills loudly. “That’s a wren,”

I was imbued with the

respected my destiny. That’s

I see. It’s God-given,” he

he says, and steps out. “My

pleasure of living close to

the only way I can describe

says, using the Yiddish word

wife and I had most of our

nature. In 1920, when we

it. It was meant to be.”

for an act of kindness—“a

meals out here,” he recalls.

came here to Los Angeles, I

mitzvah.”

“Beautiful.”

joined the Boy Scouts, and

“Most people whose

When I ask Shulman what

“And for seven years,

enjoyed the outdoor-living

have always observed and

“And it was a destiny that suited you?”

At this, everything rises

houses I photographed

Neutra saw in his images,

aspect, hiking and camping.

at once—his eyebrows, his

didn’t use their sliding

he answers with a seemingly

My father opened a clothing

outstretched arms, and his

doors,” Shulman says,

unrelated story. “I was born

store in Boyle Heights, and

peaceful, satisfied smile.

crossing the living room

in Brooklyn in 1910,” says

my four brothers and sisters

“Well,” says Shulman,

toward his own glass

this child of Russian-Jewish

and my mother worked

“here I am.”

31

in a world of her own

BY BA I L E Y P E N N I C K

P H OTO G R A P H E D BY DA M I A N BO R JA

Rad chick, Ilse Valfre, gives us an inside look into her creative world of trending illustrations.

In 2010, Ilse Valfré was working as a Montessori preschool teacher in San Diego.

She loved working with children, her mother always said that she was very good with them, but something just wasn’t right. “I really wanted a job where I could be my own boss because I wanted to travel,” says Valfré, sitting on the patio of Alfred’s Tea Room in Los Angeles. “I liked working [at the school], but it wasn’t my own thing. I knew I could do it for the time that I did, but I was getting really itchy.” The only way that she could scratch her itch was by quitting her safe job and jumping into the unknown. And 32

that’s exactly what she did.

Now as Valfré — the multi-talented visual artist and fashion designer behind her eponymous line — looks back on that life-changing decision, she smiles knowing that it all worked out for the best. But that was not a guarantee six years ago: “I moved back in with my parents [in Tijuana, Mexico], I started a blog and I started doing artwork everyday. I was super broke because I wasn’t making any income and my parents weren’t giving me any allowances once I came back!”

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With no money and no distractions, Valfré went to work every day on her blog, which was a mix of drawings and designs that really spoke to her. Pen drawings of fantastical, girlie pinup characters with big eyes sporting pink blush over starshaped freckles began to define Valfré’s aesthetic and gain her followers.

“When I started, I only had something like five views — and three of those views were probably from me!” laughs Valfré.

“After two years, [my blog] really grew because that’s when Tumblr and especially Instagram really started to take off.” While Valfré isn’t afraid of being proud about her accomplishments, saying that her blog has “taken off” is still a bit of an understatement. As of publishing time, Valfré’s Instagram boasts 642,000 followers,

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What started as a simple blog to push her art out into the world has turned into a fashionable company specializing in summery dresses, playful iPhone cases and an onslaught of postcards and prints of Valfré’s original creations. “Even though we’re 15 people now, I think [that starting by myself was] the best way to start because I now know, on a small scale, I know each area because I didn’t go to school for business. It helped me to start like that from scratch.”

Now working “100 percent on the creative” side, Valfré has been able to expand her carefully curated list of inspirations, which includes Frida Kahlo (“I love how raw she was back in the day with her emotions — she had no filter and transmitted that in her art”), illustrator Edward Gorey, Chloë Sevigny (“She’s the ultimate effortless cool girl”) and street artist Miss Van (“She really blew my mind being a female street artist breaking pretty much all the rules in being a male dominated environment”). Her favorite thing to do now is be inspired by the world around her.

“I gather a lot of my inspiration from girls I meet,” says Valfré as she takes a look at people sitting near us. “I like to observe people and I think that LA is a very interesting place for that because it seems like the people here aren’t very judgmental. Here you can be yourself and nobody cares.” That self-assuredness is present in the growing use of bright and vibrant colors within Valfré’s work. “The way that people dress or the color scheme that people are wearing can inspire me to do a drawing.”

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“I’m ver y thankful for the internet.”

Beyond inspiring her work, Los Angeles has become a welcoming home to Valfré’s art, which wasn’t getting any pickup in Mexico. “I went and knocked on doors and got noes all the time [at home],” Valfré says. “[But] its so cool to see that with the internet, you could not be popular in a country — like

Mexico … just wanted something different and I wasn’t a hit there — however, here [in the United States] I was a hit because of the internet.” And Valfré doesn’t take the advantages that the internet gave her lightly: “Once I quit my job and went back to my parents’ house, I emailed every day all the

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time. I knew I had to make this work because there was nothing else that I could see myself doing.

I didn’t have the money or the connections to go to galleries in New York and say ‘Check out my work,’ but because of the internet, [I found a following]. I’m very thankful for the internet.”

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Not only is Valfré thankful for the channel that helped launch her career, she’s thankful to the people who fell in love with her dainty and powerful images in the first place.

“I want all of our campaigns to be organic and artsy because not everyone buys from us. Our customers or followers or fans — whatever you want to call them — some of them follow the brand and the art and do their makeup like the characters, some of them get tattoos [and some just] buy a dress. I want it to be more like an experience, because that’s what it is. I want it to keep that artsy feeling because it’s an art based company. I really want to keep that DNA alive and so far I think we’ve done a good job with that!”

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‘til next time

The NOte