Blog — Crystal Zapata

welcome to crystal’s blog

DECEMBER 13, 2024

this show next week is not to be missed!

i worked hard on these flyers and filling the merch table with cute stuff. hope to see you there ⇨ tickets

DECEMBER 8, 2024

it already feels like peak winter in chicago – daily highs in the 20s, salt on the sidewalk, everyone on public transit coughing and sneezing, anticipitory political dread...here are a few things keeping my morale up.

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5 things i’ve been thinking about:

i finally purchased sofia coppola archive from actual source. i saw her signing books at the judd foundation in september and have to admit that i was a little star struck. i’ve been an admirer of her work since i was in high school, and feel like i came of age parallel to many of her characters. her portrayal of femininity feels singular. i remember checking the virgin suicides out at the public library and watching it on my, or one of my friends’, basement televisions in the suburbs. her method of world-building is very inspiring. the physical evidence of correspondences between her and collaborators, and the piles of photographic references feel so authentic to girlhood. i have a text message from one of my favorite artists printed out in my studio and binders full of printouts. there is a romance and humanity to keeping an archive that requires boxes and folders. paging through the book made my need to print things feel justified, and reminded me of my teenage years spent carefully cutting out inspirational imagery from magazines.

sofia coppola archive: 1999-2023 published by MACK Books, 2023.

geoff mcfetridge’s drawing for the opening titles for the virgin suicides

I have always adored this photo of sofia’s office (the mess is relatable).
it functions as the end pages in the book:

sofia coppola's office photographed by bruce weber for vogue, 2000.

2.

i’m pretty obsessed with my ebay watchlist right now, specifically hunting down one-of-one crocheted blankets and candy wrapper purses (many priced under $20). i love objects that i, or anyone, could easily learn how to make. there is something powerful about shared knowledge and traditions in craft. the makers spent a dedicated amount of time fully realizing the item and made a series of creative choices in the process. all while practicing a specialized craft that ladders up to generations of women passing down practical knowledge. it’s amazing that these items exist, makers completely anonymous, and possess the ability to resonate with, and play a functional role, in the life of a complete stranger. i’m a romantic (｡♥‿♥｡)

ken burns’ two part documentary on leonardo da vinci - a true embodiment of the renaissance. whose curiosity and dedication to observing the natural world was obsessive and endless. he was a prolific artist, but also a polymath: inventor, engineer, architect, scientist. he once created a glass casting of a an ox heart so that he could observe the flow of blood through a transparent material, and constructed the first ever artificial valve from silk fabric, which resembles the artificial valves still used in contemporary medicine. all because he wanted to understand how the heart functioned, and came to discover that it has 4 chambers, debunking the previously held belief that it only contained 2. his knowledge of human anatomy enabled him to paint people with incredible nuance and life. this guy was sketching war machines, cadavers, flowers, the physics of the flow of water, geometric problems from ancient greece (squaring a circle), wrote everything in (backwards) mirror script and still managed to have a great sense of humor despite being a virtuosic genius.

annunciation, leonardo da vinci, 1472–1476. the background of this painting is a mindf*ck. i specifically love the trees

4.
my friends are highly skilled at curating beautiful environments to enjoy unique artist-made wares.

1: unique sterling silver objects collected by mary eleanor wallace at tusk
2: gross glass wares at tusk
3: objects made from woodshop scraps at the offcut holiday shop curated by lesley jackson

5.

i watched the martha stewart documentary which inspired me to locate a copy of her first book, entertaining. sadly, i came to discover that it’s highly sought after and very expensive. luckily I was able to find a perfectly scanned version on the internet archives. most of the concepts in the book are for huge parties i.e. “cocktails for two hundred: country fare.” hosting a party of 200 people is beyond aspirational. the largest dinner party that i’ve had in recent memory was for 6. of course, i’m in a different tax bracket than martha, and live in an apartment, and not an idyllic connecticut compound. however entertaining is a great instigator of daydreaming. my favorite concept is the ‘midnight omelette supper for thirty.’ hosting 30 friends for omelettes after a ‘performance of a play or concert; at holiday time when late hours seem magical,’ and fortifying the hang with ‘flute concertos’ – this fantasy makes me want to transform into the kind of woman who participates in this type of grand gesture.

Entertaining, Martha Stewart & Elizabeth Hawes, 1982.

OCTOBER 8, 2024

there is a strong energetic shift from summer to fall. it’s getting darker earlier, it’s cool enough to cook again, the leaves are starting to turn. i’m writing this wearing a knit sweater and denim pants - my own version of billy crystal’s famed cable knit sweater ensemble in ‘when harry met sally….’ my windows are open and the breeze is cool enough for my bare feet to be slightly cold.

left: when harry met sally… 1989.

this time of year has always been significant and representative of transition. for many years it meant back to school – new teachers, new friends, new knowledge, growth. as a 30 year old i don’t have these markers of time anymore, but strangely, even in my 20s, it was the season when significant relationships in my life ended and began. it’s a time of emotional reflection and intensity. the green trees are fading into chartreuse – a moment of saturation and gentle vibrance between life and death. it’s also the color of new life in the spring. chartreuse is a signifier of both the first and last signs of life. greens turning vibrant red or orange feels like a miracle. there is nuance to every fall leaf shape, texture, and color. when autumn leaves transition from shade to shade, fade to brown, and fall, the cycle of life continues. a vision and sensation that stirs up something primal. time for change.

chartreuse leaves from a walk in humboldt park

since the first day of october, i’ve been listening to nick drake’s ‘five leaves left.’ it’s the perfect accompaniment to cool air and warm sun. looking at photos of nick on google, i’ve discovered an entire photoshoot of him draped in this wool blanket. there are 20 different photos of him wearing the blanket sitting in the grass, walking around the prairie, exploring the woods, holding out some poisonous looking mushrooms... charming, relatable.

nick drake by julian lloyd, 1968.

homework: eat an apple (i recommend one that you’ve picked yourself) and listen to nick drake. if you live in chicago i recommend a visit to pavolka fruit farm where they grow about 30 apple varietals. late september apples that will and i picked there 2 weeks ago, and have been eating since: mutsu, golden delicious, russet, empire, red chief, johnathan, and honey crisp.

a selection from apple picking

yoko ono with her piece Apple, 1966.

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5 things i’ve been thinking about:

1.
i can’t stop listening to maryn e. coote (aka marju kuut) whose music i discovered playing in aeon books during my visit to nyc last month. an experimental musician from estonia whose son (uku kuut) was also producer and close collaborator. her music is emotional, strange, sensual, sometimes raw and challenging. the further i go into her discography the more obsessed i get.

left: welcome to my world another compilation released in 2018. “singer-songwriter, producer, arranger, private detective” this woman could not have been any cooler. right: maryn e coote - maskeraad, a compilation of tracks from the 70s released on peoples potential unlimited in 2017.

2.
the dried flower masks at issey miyake ss25

the show’s opening look featuring a barefoot model with fabric draped over their face is reminiscent of cyd charisse’s flowing train in the dream ballet in ‘singin in the rain.’ romantic, sexy, mysterious, and one of the most beautiful dances ever committed to film

look 1 at issey miyake ss25

singin’ in the rain, 1952.

3.
my red clay frog / tea pet by nick norman that i got from my friends ari and rob’s shop ENORME in nyc. this isn’t something that i would typically purchase, but i sometimes a thing makes you smile and it’s just that simple.

4.
solo trumpeter ambrose akinmusire playing at rockefeller chapel last weekend during hyde park jazz fest. imagine listening to this being performed in a dark cavernous chapel at 11pm on a saturday night – it was a psychedelic experience.

5.
i saw mk.gee perform at the vic a few days ago. that venue does not have the best sound, which prompted a post-show trip into a youtube hole of mk.gee videos. his and dijon’s live performance of ‘big mike’s’ from 3 years ago is magnetic and very inspiring (i am super late to this).

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songs for early october ♡

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lastly, i wanted to share the video that i made for resavoir’s ‘life before.’

will and i collaborated on this in april of 2020. last week it was officially released along with a limited edition flexi disc (that i designed). available for purchase on international anthem’s bandcamp. also if you’re in europe or the uk check to see if resavoir is playing in a city near you on tour later this month <3

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♡｡ﾟ.(*♡´‿` 人´‿` ♡*)ﾟ♡ °・

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