Ron Arad at the MoMa

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
Have you seen Ron Arad's exhibition at the MoMa? His work is just amazing! Born in 1951 in Tel Aviv, he is an architect but also one of the most influential industrial designers of our time. If you don't know him, you know what to do!!!

Ron Arad studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem and at the London's Architectural Association. He lives and works in London. This exhibition is the first major representative of Arad's works in the USA. Smaller than the one that was organized a few months ago in Paris but still very interesting. They showed an outstanding array of his work. Over the past twenty-five years, he designed memorable and huge spaces  but also a lot of furniture and innovative objects. Mediums with which he uses to work are carbon fiber, polyurethane, plastic... His work is based upon the computer and its capacities as on the soldering apparatus in his metal workshop. Some of his furniture are able to receive and display SMS, Bluetooth messages... His work is joyful, humorous and highly innovative.

The first thing I saw just at the entrance, on the right side, was the "Cartier" tables. In my opinion, one of his most beautiful works of art! Uncluttered outlines, harmonious curves... tables seem to be integrated in the walls and the space. Different sizes, different heights, he has declined it several manners.

Ron Arad is also very famous for his chairs, armchairs and seats. Even if it doesn't look very comfortable, you just want to try and sit down! But don't forget that those furniture are more sculptures than chairs, armchairs. Regarding the outlines, proportions, dimensions... the accomplished work by his studio is unbelievable. Usually, most of his works are silvered but sometimes the color gives to the furniture all its intensity.

They showed us a lot of lamps, but the one that I like is: the "pizzakobra" lamp! You can give it all the different forms that you want. Designed for "iGuzzini illuminazione", this lamp can be twisted in so many ways. It can be flat as a pizza or curved as a kobra. Very chic and very contemporary!
And of course, they also showed us very big shelves, one of them, the bookshelf, designed for Kartell in 1993. The one which is curved on the wall!!

His work is now predominantly architectural and he has been appointed Professor of Furniture and of Industrial Design at the Royal College of Art in London.  Hope I gave you the envy to discover his work...
Ron... If you read my article, I am gonna move soooon...
Wish you a good day!!

Anselm Reyle at Gagosian

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
Here we go... Let's talk about one of the most impressive exhibitions which has been shown in the last past three months. Anselm Reyle at the Gagosian gallery. The first time I saw his work I felt in love...

Born in Germany, he lives and works in Berlin. He is represented by Galerie Almine Rech in Brussels and Paris, Gagosian gallery in New York, Andersens Contemporary Art in Copenhagen...
In most of his paintings, he incorporates contemporary objects which are covered by fluorescent paint or which are associated with such futuristic materials. Paint has the same importance than objects. Neon light, silver Mylar and sheets of mirror take also an important part in his work. This kind of work is very intense. Objects which are incorporated in his works of art can eventually remind us some everyday objects. They have been taken from his immediate environment but they are newly autonomous. Regarding his predecessors but in a different way, we can say that he dissociates objects from their original contexts.

All his compositions are meticulously organized but on the other side we can't forget to mention their rock'n'roll and pop demeanour: splinters of mirrors, flashy colors, splatters... They are as easy as possible and they involve a change of color, light or even context.
His works of art are a kind of interplay between two and three dimensions. A mix between painting and sculpture. Crumpled papers are my favorite! He combines painted aluminum foils and canvas or wooden panels (most of the time: purple, green and silver).

To all of you who don't understand abstract art or simply denigrate it, just go to his next exhibition and let's talk about it after!
Have a good day...

FashionistArt!!

Good evening contemporary art lovers!
Art and Fashion...Two different kinds of art which have always been related. The attraction between both isn't totally new but continues to grow up and to change over the years. Painters and sculptors asked models posing for them and a few decades after, there is a real correlation between art and fashion. Fashion models are often artists' muses. Gianni Versace commissioned works of art from artists such as Alighiero Boetti, Takashi Murakami designed bags for  Louis Vuitton, Cartier created a contemporary art foundation... Models aren't only representative of a brand. Maybe it is a reflect of our generation which is, since a few decades, completely obsessed by models and the cult of beauty and body. Here are some very different contemporary works of art that illustrate it.

David LaChapelle, fashion photographer but also an amazing artist, has often chosen models for posing on his photographs. Naomi Campbell (most often represented), Anja Rubik and Heather Marks (he did a shooting for Vogue Italia with both of them), Alek Wek (the one that I have chosen)...This picture, titled "My House" was taken in 1997. The house, which reminds us Christo works of art, is drapped in the same color fabric as the model and the girl's dresses.

In 2006, Marc Quinn, british sculptor, presented Kate Moss as "the Aphrodite of our times". He made several versions of this sculpture: one of them in solid gold. Titled "Sphinx", the sculpture illustrates Kate Moss in a yoga position, ankles and arms wrapped behind ears. For him, she is a kind of mythological figure. She is an icon for all a generation, no wonder she is a muse's artists.

Most recently, Marco Brambilla, artist videast, presented an amazing video titled "Ghost (Natasha Poly: Multiexposures)". Models.com and Muse organized the Sept Muse Issue, at "Colette" in Paris, with Natasha Poly as main muse. Several artists were in charge of creating a work of art with the model as main character.

Ladies, you know what to do:
Sculpt your bodies, be a model, you are maybe going become a muse's artist...
Good luck!!

An afternoon in Chelsea

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
What can we do during a sunny afternoon when all your friends are blocked in their offices?! Making a round in Chelsea! Twice a week, I use to walk in Chelsea. I love this area, close to the Hudson River, very quiet, with so many galleries...I recently went to the several exhibitions which were very cool...

Do you know the Winston Wachter Fine Art gallery?? In my opinion, one of the most interesting galleries in Chelsea. Opened in 1995 by two women, Stacey Winston-Levitan and Christine Wachter-Campbell. The gallery is specialized in contemporary and 20th century art. They represent more than thirty different artists, painters, sculptors, photographs... In the past three months, they organized two beautiful exhibitions: Edwin "Ed" Cohen and Andreas Kocks.

Ed Cohen lives and works in Chelsea. He has been painting for over 20 years and began to invite visitors in his studio a few years ago. He only had four solo exhibitions in New York in the past five years. The first time I saw his show I was wondering if he was from Japan or China. Then I discovered that he is inspired by the enso painting of 17th century Buddhist monks. Black flat covered backgrounds and garlands of multicolor points in the middle. Somehow it reminds us the Jakson Pollock's drippings. Paintings are very deep and very intense, more than decorative as the most of painters who paint this kind of works of art!

Andreas Kocks, born in Germany, lives and works in New York. New way of sculpting! Sculptures seem to be entirely integrated in the walls. The gallery itself takes a very important part in the exhibition. Far away from the gallery, walls seem to be tagged by the artist. But he covered walls with his favorite medium: heavy watercolor paper. His sculptures represent big inky graphite splashes which surround the viewer. Taking a look on his sculptures gives us a feeling of fulness, a "zen" emotion. Paper are cut, twisted, curved...to make an abstract form which organizes the space with a game between light and shadow.

Chiharu Shiota at Goff+Rosenthal!
Born in Japan, she lives and works in Berlin. Having a look on her work for the first time makes us very uncomfortable but it is a kind of convulsive beauty. We can't take our eyes of it. The most impressive part of her work are her installations. My favorite intallations are those which are made in black wool threads!! The viewer is entirely integrated inside the piece of art. She seems to woven the wool from one part of the wall to another one, like a spide's web. Sometimes she introduces dolls, beds, toys...inside her spider's web. Because of she studied in Germany, she was certainly inspired by the second world war and the genocide of a lot of innocent young children. She represents the memories.  In 2009, in Switzerland, she covered a piano surrounded with several chairs. Here she represented the memory of the sound in a silent room.

Taxidermy: a new medium for the artists? One of the past exhibitions organized at the Yossi Milo Gallery was about Simen Johan's works of art. On his pictures, we can see stuffed animals in the middle of real landscapes. Which gives us the impression to get into a world based on his own fantasy. It is a kind of mix between a real world, a nightmare or maybe a wonderland...There is no boundaries between reality and unreality. I don't know if I like it, I mean I don't know if I could buy one because it is a bit strange but I cannot say that is not interesting. Wim Delvoye already use animals as a medium. He tattooed the back of alive pigs whom have been killed, stuffed and presented as a piece of art. His project took place in China where there are less restrictions regarding protection of animals. We will in a few years what will be the future of this medium!

Sorry for the others! Next time, I'll maybe write about you...
Wish you a wonderful day.

What happened in the past three months??!!

Good evening contemporary art lovers!
Living in NYC makes me so happy! So many contemporary art exhibitions (Reyle and Serra at Gagosian; Shiota at Goff+Rosenthal; Cohen and Kocks at Winster Wachter Fine Art; Ryman at Marlborough....), so many museums exhibitions (Ron Arad at the MoMa; Kandinsky at the Guggenheim...), the contemporary art sales at Sotheby's and Christie's, so many things to do but never enough time... You will probably never meet me at any opening because actually I don't really like it! Galleries and museums are usually too crowed and people don't really care about art. It is "cool" to be seen at an opening, but I am not this kind of socialite!  Whatever, I am gonna tell you what were my favorite exhibitions in the last past three months. Who are the young emerging artists I discovered, or who are those I love!!!
Have a good night!!