Filed Under: "chic fashion"

untitled tempera, early 1940s Flora biographer/archivist me (Irwin Chusid) will present an informal talk about the artist’s life, accompanied by digital projection of over 100 spectacular works from the Flora collection on Saturday, December 17, at Dorian Grey Gallery, New York. The wine begins pouring into cheap plastic cups at 4:00 pm, with the presentation starting at 5:00 pm sharp. Admission is free, but seating is limited, so arrive early. The event concludes around 7:00…

The Dorian Grey Gallery will host The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora, the first posthumous New York exhibit and sale of Jim Flora original art and prints. The exhibit opens with a reception on Nov. 19, and runs thru Jan. 8. The gallery, located at 437 East 9th Street (between 1st and A), will showcase significant works from the Flora family collection, covering the 1940s to the late 1990s. Offerings include temperas on paper;…

Those perennial favorite Jim Flora calendars are in stock for 2012. You’ve got your bug-eyed saxophonist, an Aren’t-We-Having-Fun? moon, and a manic drummer to guide you through the coming Leap Year. These are hand-printed mini-calendars measuring 10″ x 4-1/2″.  If you prefer something of greater magnitude in a maritime motif, our Sheffield Island poster-sized calendar should suit your tastes:

Someone who co-admins this blog recently had a birthday and his girlfriend concocted the above cake (based, of course, on this.) The (edible) elements were commissioned from a designer on Etsy and meticulously assembled by wondergal Beth Sorrentino on a chocolate cake she baked. The cake was presented to the surprised Flora archivist at Café Frida in New York. After dozens of cameras (including that of Otis Fodder, above) documented the delicacy, it was summarily…

To many who know him, our friend Takashi Okada of Tokyo is a talented graphic designer, music producer, historian, cultural connoisseur, cat lover, and gentleman. But unless you visit Takashi and his wife Tomoko‘s home, you might not know he has a deep Flora fixation. Takashi owns original art, album covers, Little Man Press artifacts, children’s books, and fine art prints. We’ve long known about Takashi’s love of Flora, but never having visited the Far…

New from P22 Type Foundry: Based on playful hand-lettering from the 1955 Jim Flora Mambo For Cats RCA Victor album cover, the set includes “Flornaments,” consisting of 72 miniature figure icons (dingbats) from Flora artworks. Samples:

We recently opened a Jim Flora store at Etsy.com. For now, the shelves are merchandise-sparse, but more items will be added in the coming weeks. Current and future Etsy offerings are also available through our fine art prints gallery and our Little Shop of Flora’s. Either place you purchase, the source is the same: us. We’re also considering listing some exclusive items at Etsy. We’ll have Flora 2011 letterpress calendars available in September. Same designs…

Akiko Hashimoto sends this snapshot from her home in Japan: The Flora prints displayed are The Big Bank Robbery (ca. 1963) and Gunfight on the Roof (ca. 1951). A series of original 1950s Flora LPs sits on a shelf below.

Jason Bradshaw: “My girlfriend Lisa and I decided to take up bookbinding. We’re starting off doing passport sized blank notebooks. We’ve been using printer paper for the insides and card stock for the cover. I took some Jim Flora album cover prints and made a small pile of mini sketchbooks which I intend to give out to a couple of friends.”

The Colorado-based Faded Line Clothing Co. has launched their Flora apparel series. Four different Flora images printed on sixteen shirts (and an infant’s onesie) can be viewed and purchased at the FLC Flora page. The images (licensed from Jim Flora Art LLC) are titled “Jived” (from the 1954 Primer for Prophets series); “Robot Guy” (detail from July 1956 Research & Engineering magazine cover); “Drummer” (1993 unpublished pen & ink of Gene Krupa); and “Hot Notes”…

Sundazed Records, one of the world’s foremost boutique rock reissue labels, offers a new limited edition T-shirt emblazoned with a Jim Flora space-age pan-galactic starship. The original 1958 illustration (from the back of a Billy Mure LP) was black & white. Sundazed offers two colorized editions, the mustardy-cheesey: And the aqua & salmon tinted:

Jim Flora‘s art has appeared on record album covers, in magazines, in children’s books, and on fine art prints. You’ll soon have more options about where to display your Flora: Jim Flora Art LLC is working with the Colorado-based Faded Line Clothing Co., who are designing a very cool line of t-shirts, hoodies, and assorted apparel featuring Flora’s mischievous and curiously sinister art. Above are proposed designs, of which there are a half-dozen others being…