NYLON - August 2008 - (Page 136) EDI T ED BY KAT E WI L L I AMS SEE THIS: THE SEX LIVES OF ANIMALS A graduate student in primatology, a modern art gallery owner, and a sex therapist walk into a room. Nope, there’s no punch line here, because that’s exactly the kind of crowd you will likely find at the opening of the “Sex Lives of Animals” exhibit at Manhattan’s Museum of Sex. According to curator Sarah Jacobs, the exhibition, which explores a wide variety of species’ sexual habits and preferences, is “extraordinarily scientifically sound.” That is thanks in part to a diverse group of scientific consultants, from an expert on polar bears to primary content advisor Joan Roughgarden, author of the book Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender and Sexuality in Nature and People. But those who failed biology needn’t fret because the science here is easily digestible and mixed in with art—Brooklyn-based artist Rune Olsen uses his signature material, tape, to create life-sized sculptures of some of the animals engaged in various sexual behaviors. And you’ll probably learn something new: Nothing gets a conversation going like ‘Hey, did you know that manatees really dig the 69?’ Or, ‘Isn’t it crazy how flamingoes only like to do the nasty while their other feathered friends watch?’ Or even, ‘What has a turquoise scrotum and a red penis?’ And no, the answer is not your college boyfriend. If only science class had been this interesting… FV Opens July 24th; for more information, see museumofsex.com. Shapes, a series of small, pocket-sized art books curated by Corwin, a textile designer and illustrator, and Vettese, a photographer and letterpress artist. Published bi-monthly, each volume of Lines & Shapes is based around a simple, geometric theme like a circle or square, and Vettese and Corwin then tap other artists to create original work that interprets that theme however they wish. “We make lists of the artists whose work we’ve been feeling really excited about— some are friends of ours and some are people we’ve never met,” Corwin says. “Then we group the artists in a way that we think will have a good balance and mix of media and design style.” The projects that result from people such as Brooklyn-based fashion designer Caitlin Mociun and Atmostheory’s Christopher Ryan are beautiful and surprisingly simple; and show how neither art’s inspiration nor its end result need to be complicated. “Part of our original inspiration for the books comes from Japanese craft books, which we both keep a small collection of,” Vettese says. “In those books, we can’t read a word, but we constantly flip through and learn and feel inspired from the imagery that is used. It’s simple; understated and full of energy. We hope that people will pick up our books over and over to get that same kind of inspiration.” KATE WILLIAMS For more information, see linesandshapesconnectus.com. THE WATSON TWINS FIRE SONGS (VANGUARD) When I first saw the Watson Twins live, singing backup for Jenny Lewis, I was transfixed: They were incredibly tall and incredibly identical, even wearing matching spangled outfits and moving in perfect unison. Their music is similarly beguiling— sad, soft tales of Southern woe reminiscent of the likes of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Chandra and Leigh Watson were born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, but now reside in Silverlake in Los Angeles. Their first album, 2006’s Southern Manners, was tiny but haunting, with songs (especially “High School”) that I played over and over because they sent chills down my spine. The Twins’ second album, Fire Songs, is slightly longer, and stylistically, not much of a departure from Southern Manners. Such predictability produces an album that’s fine—still beautiful, still crystalline, and rather timeless— if a little boring: It’s one of those rare records you can listen to, from beginning to end, without ever skipping a song. Unfortunately, it also lacks that one song you can’t wait to skip ahead to. KW ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. ¿COMO TE LLAMA? (RCA BLACK SEAL) For those who missed Albert Hammond, Jr.’s delicate solos on “Last Nite” and “Under Control,” it was his debut, Yours to Keep, that revealed him as more than just the curly-fro’d guitarist in the Strokes. His sophomore effort ¿Como Te Llama? offers Hammond’s hallmark sunshine and crunch, but peppered with reggae (“Borrowed Time”), ska (“Miss Myrtle”), Americana (“Bargain of a Century”), and even a little electro (“Lisa”). The songwriting is more stylized than bittersweet this time around, with lyrics like “Inside me there’s a sad machine that wants to stop moving” or “You’re so excited by all the dick you get invited to,” and from the first single, “GfC,” named for its chord progression, to the last track on the record, “Feed Me Jack Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Peter Sellers” (the best song title I’ve seen yet), ¿Como Te Llama? is a question you’ll want to answer. SAMANTHA GILEWICZ BOOKMARK: LINES & SHAPES Like so many modern-day meetings, Lena Corwin’s and Maria Vettese’s happened on the Internet. “We found each other’s work online, and I was really drawn to Maria’s designs, photography, and her style,” says the Brooklyn-based Corwin of Vettese, who lives in Portland, Maine. “We found inspiration in each other’s work and knew that we wanted to collaborate in some way.” That way turned out to be Lines & elephants photographed by ron magill. http://museumofsex.com http://linesandshapesconnectus.com
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