THIS FAB FAMILY ENJOYS A GOOD CAR RIDE
During self-isolation regime introverts and homebodies Helen + her husband (parents of little Marni) cook, sing, and produce themed picnics in their backyard. Marni, their multi-talented + funny extrovert daughter paints Yayoi Kusama in masks. Her obsession with this Japanese artist is obvious, and I have a feeling this girl will choose a creative path for herself, too. But the future will show. Let's speak about now. “45 minutes drive to my parents is super relaxing,” says Helen, as well as bath, yoga on zoom and some yum San Francisco take-aways. Here is how they relish quarantine, both girls dressed-up in their cool minimal outfits (old Céline for Helen, hello!).
Marni always dances, sings and talks to everyone around her. A real tornado of energy.
YAYOI KUSAMA is a Japanese contemporary artist (91!) who works primarily in sculpture and installation, but is also active in painting, performance, film, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. People often call her “the princess of polka pots” and she lives now in the psychiatric asylum in Tokyo.
Little girl goes to Mandarin immersion school. “It’s a dual language education that she’s been going to since preschool. Some kids go to French - American immersion, Marni goes to Mandarin.”
> The yummiest take away in SF right now?
”Gosh, that’s really tough. I think it’s a toss-up between the fried whole branzino fish from Beit Rima and the chirashi bowl at Ju-Ni. We have also been enjoying the fancy Korean dinners at San Ho Wan (part of Benu).”
BACKYARD JOYS in their San Francisco home.
Yayoi Kusama “Teardrop” (1989).
Damien Hirst:
Do you feel that your work is optimistic?
Yayoi Kusama:
No, I don’t feel my work is optimistic. Each piece of work is a condensation of my life.
This is the opening salvo in a short conversation first published in the catalogue for a solo exhibition by Yayoi Kusama at Robert Miller Gallery in New York in 1998.
Follow Marni’s art on IG > #marnicovidart
Donal Judd wrote about Yayoi Kusama’s work in 1959: “the effect is both complex and simple.” Here is Yayoi seen by Marni with a little bit of polka dot madness.
Marni’s #staycation dream depicted by YangC.
“I think we may be in the minority but honestly I’m enjoying the slower pace and lots of quality family time.”
“I had already quit my day job exactly 13 months before shelter-in-place happened, so my routine was simpler than before. I’m lucky I don’t have to worry about working from home AND homeschooling my daughter.
As a couple, my husband and I are introverts and homebodies, so again no big change for us. However, cooking at home is not something I’m good at, subsequently that’s been hard on me. We usually have a nanny that cooks for us or we eat out. But we are fortunate to still have many yummy restaurants in SF offering take out, which we have been taking advantage of!
One of the biggest challenges is not being able to hug my parents and spend time with them at their house. We look forward to visiting them every week to deliver groceries and we make it an outing, even though we don’t go inside their house or hug them. We chat for a few minutes from the outside while they stand on their patio and my daughter takes advantage of their front yard for outside activity. It’s the closest thing to visiting a park for her. So how have we been coping with the change?”
“Here are some things that we’ve done that seem to keep the normalcy in our lives”:
Cook and/or eat all meals together as a family. On good weather nights, we have a covicnic in our backyard and play “club quarantine” playlist from DJ Nice on Spotify.
Take a hot bath at night (wine and candles are optional).
Paint with watercolors - Marni has been painting lots of flowers now that spring has sprung.
Enjoy the 45-minute drive to my parents' house to drop off groceries. The car ride alone is relaxing as there are very few cars on the roads and it gives us a chance to see the outdoors from the inside.
WORKOUT! I’ve been taking advantage of Rock Salt Pilates free live-streamed classes on their Facebook page.
Facetime /Zoom with your friends and family.
Binge watch on Netflix. I just finished watching Korean drama “Crash Landing On You”, and it was the best escape ever (officially the second-highest-rated drama in Korean TV history).
> Your favorite staying at home fashion trend if you see any?
Black sweatshirt + vintage Levi jeans.
> Did you buy anything for yourself during quarantine (beauty/fashion) and if yes, what?
Yes! I just recently stocked up on Augustinus Bader face cream ($$ but does wonders) and Dr. Sturm anti-pollution serum drops.
I also scored a Jil Sander black blazer from SSENSE sale and a black pleated midi dress by Mara Hoffman from Need Supply sale!
Pink box with Frolic & Detour Bakery cookies.
My friend Julija re-glued her Marni sticker to the new phone later on, it isn’t holding well but she loves it. Sometimes she even talks to Marni taking her morning subway in Paris.
Yayoi Kusama "Mushrooms" (2005), acrylic on canvas.
Mom is a mix of cool minimal street wear and Old-Céline (or Lemaire when she is in Paris), Marni is in comfy + sophisticated elements, like airy slightly oversized cream color dress or a fur hat that reminds of my grand-grandmother. Swell girls on the go to their favorite matcha restaurant.
Marni takes her influencing seriously: besides showing example of ballet, contemporary dance classes and singing gigs at the back seat of their car, she also models WFH outfits for her little and big followers.
> How do you negotiate your own “alone" time with Marni since she is at home all the time? Or maybe you don’t have that at all? Or maybe she likes playing by herself? It looks like you guys are having a lot of fun together, dancing, yoga, cooking, Instagramming?
“Marni enjoys her own quiet time for reading and creative writing so I just take advantage of it and use that for my alone time. I also try to squeeze in my morning workouts during her morning class zoom meetings."
COVICNIC IN FAMILY’S BACKYARD with IN-N-OUT take-away.
This cool septuagenerian was ecstatic when she received Marni’s t-shirt (as one of the gifts for her BD) and wears it on special occasions. My brother wasn’t super joyful (he is an older dude) to wear this little face but smiled when opened the package. I guess, it’s a bit of a girls world merch :)