Giant Inflatable Yellow Ducks Wandering In China

Good morning contemporary art lovers! 

A month ago, one could see a giant inflatable duck, the "Rubber Duck", made by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. The inflatable yellow duck 16.5 meters high was floating for two weeks on the waters of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Since the installation in Hong Kong, others are inspired such like the one dabbling in Tianjin on June 1st.  

Artist took his inspiration from an old picture (1989). A picture on which one we could see four giant yellow ducks figuring a column of tanks stopped by just one single man. This picture became emblematic of the bloody suppression of the democratic movement of Chinese students, crashed into the blood 4 June 1989, the authorities banned any commemoration Tuesday.

As one can imagine the work caused sensation in China in Hong Kong but also in Hangzhou, Wuhan ou Tianjin. Real estate developers were quick to settle on their land imitations of volatile to attract customers. To the chagrin of the Comunist Party. Chinese netizens have diverted censorship which prohibited typing on the internet the words "big yellow duck". Nearly a quarter of a century after these events, the anniversary of Tiananmen remains a significant date for the scheme, which has a draconian censorship on social networks. But even if the commemoration of this anniversary is forbidden, inflatable ducks are for sale on Tabao, China's largest online auction site. The prices range from 2,800 yuan (350 euros) for the smallest to 149,800 yuan (18,800 euros) for a sample of 20 meters.

Jay-Z's performance in Chelsea

Good afternoon contemporary art lovers!
As you’ve probably heard by now, Jay-Z filmed the video for his new single “Picasso Baby” in an art-world extravaganza organized by Salon 94 at Pace's 25th Street gallery. To fill the room with appropriately arty-looking extras, the rapper and the acclaimed director Mark Romanek invited gallery staff, artists, and art journalists to what was billed as an experimental performance in which Jay-Z would rap the song for six hours straight—an Abramovic-esque (or Kjartanssononian) feat of “endurance and duration.”

Throughout the event, he singled out a rotating cast of celebrities who each took a turn on a bench in the center of the room where they were personally serenaded by Jay-Z: MoMA PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach, Rosie Perez, Jemima Kirke, Alan Cumming, Judd Apatow, and Picasso’s own granddaughter, Diana Widmaier Picasso, among them.

Dom Pérignon & Jeff Koons, reveal of a creative collision

Good morning contemporary art and fashion lovers!

On June 28th in New York, Dom Pérignon has announced its limited edition collaboration with Jeff Koons, revealing the Balloon Venus, their first accomplishment in collaboration.

Dom Pérignon and Jeff Koons are widely recognized icons, unrivalled in originality and in power of fascination. Both have joined audacious forces to deliver a playful expression of the power of creation. Beyond their very strong respective universes, both share a symbiotic approach to the creative act, regarding their respect for the great history and their constant innovation. Adapted from Jeff Koons’s monumental sculpture, the Balloon Venus for Dom Pérignon pays homage to the power of a continued creative energy, echoing the spiritual legacy of Dom Pierre Pérignon that is still a source of inspiration for the wine creator, Chef de cave Richard Geoffroy.

The Balloon Venus incarnates and accompanies the Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2003 also revealed upon the occasion. When opened, the Balloon Venus unveils a limited edition bottle of Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2003 designed by Jeff Koons. Dual, the Balloon Venus for Dom Pérignon is not just a decorative object, but a true symbol of creative energy that both envelops the bottle of Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2003 and protects it as its guardian.The new Rosé Vintage 2003 is defined by extremes. Its colour is deep, with light amber and copper tints. The wine’s bouquet erupts theatrically from its silken fleshy body, just as the sculpture’s reflective surface envelop the viewing in a dynamic invitation to tasting. A limited edition designed and signed by Jeff Koons will be revealed on September 10th, 2013. “Dom Pérignon by Jeff Koons” takes the form of two gift boxes: one for Dom Pérignon Vintage 2004, the other for Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2003. Each piece of the Balloon Venus for Dom Pérignon is available through a bespoken service and is made-to –order. Please visit www.domperignon.com/dpballoonvenus for more information.

Jeff Koons, born in 1955, is one of the most famous American contemporary artists. He is an incredible chronicler of the contemporary world, and a perfectionist artist obsessed with proposing an art accessible to everyone. He has blended the concerns and methods of Pop, Conceptual, and appropriation art with popular culture to create his own unique iconography

Dom Pierre Pérignon was the procurator of the Abbey of Hautvillers in Champagne from 1668 to 1715. His life’s work was guided by the single aim of experimenting and innovating to elaborate what he named: the “best wine in the world”. Today, each new vintage of Dom Pérignon is inspired by the same quest. For every vintage is a new beginning, a reinvention.

Toilet Paper Mag Exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo

Good morning contemporary art lovers!

"Following Christian Marclay’s semi-permanent installation on Palais de Tokyo’s front building, the seven windows will feature Toiletpaper magazine starting June 2013.

Founded by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari in 2010, Toiletpaper is a magazine of only pictures which investigates our contemporary obsession with images. It results from the digestive process following an overdose of visual consumption. Aesthetically, one can mistake the content with commercial photography as TP’s pop iconography creates attraction and manipulates our vision the way advertising does. But there is a twist: aToiletpaper image has absolutely no superego; it explores in an apparently harmless way our most intimate, hidden, unspeakable desires and urges. Each picture in the magazine is carefully constructed within a specific mental environment. It is evaluated, judged, transformed until it reaches the Toiletpaper status, conveying a mix of unexpected disturbance and uncanny ambiguity which could define the TP style (if such definition is possible). Since the magazine was born three years ago, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari managed to go constantly beyond the pages, imposing Toiletpaper as a way of life and sidetracking into other fields to test the strength of the images. In today’s digital era strong content gets shared, tweeted, blogged and re-blogged. Toiletpaper rolls out a similar process in real life: deprived from their original context, images get onto t-shirts, mugs, jackets, disk covers, they live several lives and keep meddling in everyday imagery, printing into people’s subconscious. In that sense, Toiletpaper is fundamentally democratic as it needs to be confronted to massive diffusion to check the pictures resistance to time and the power they reach affecting popular imagination.

The project at the Palais de Tokyo is entirely part of this diffusion process. No picture is shown in the art space; after being digested, images from several issues are splashed onto the spectacular seven front windows of the building, in an intriguing composition that infiltrates everyday life as it is visible both from the inside and the outside. It allows the images to seep into the public street space and to parasite the restaurant’s living experience.

TOILETPAPER images have been reviewed by weekly and art magazines worldwide and appeared in special issues of magazines such as Vice and Hunger. TOILETPAPER was also exhibited on the High Line Billboard in Chelsea, NYC in May, 2012. The same year, images taken from the first six issues have been published by Damiani in an anthology, together with selected narrative texts, that was reviewed in The New York Times’ Top 10 Photo Books."

'Luminarium' United Nations Geneva, Switzerland

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
From Monday 10 to Friday 14 June 2013, tourists and Genevan saw and walked through a 1000 square meter inflatable sculpture made by British artist/architect of air Alan Parkinson. Parkinson lives in France and works both there and in Nottingham, England.
On view in the grounds of the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, the 'Luminarium' sculpture was designed to challenge diplomats, UN officials, school children and communities to think more creatively about how to make the work of the Human Rights Council better understood and applied around the world. 

CHANEL & NRDC at Larry Gagosian LA

Good afternoon contemporary art lovers! On Friday, May 31st, CHANEL and The Natural Resources Defense Council celebrated The Technology of Earth with a benefit dinner at the home of Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles.

Hosts Janet Friesen, Jane Kachmer, Kelly & Ron Meyer, Lauren & Benedikt Taschen along with benefit committee members Kate McGrath & JJ Abrams, Bob Barth, Dayna & Steven Bochco, The David Geffen Foundation, Jo Ann & Charles Kaplan, Jena & Michael King, Deborah McLeod, NBCUniversal, Eva & Bob Shaye, Ira & Godeleine Ziering, Rosanne Ziering joined guests including Bella Heathcote*, Tobey Maguire & Jennifer Meyer, Emma Roberts* & Evan Peters, Rachel Bilson*, Chelsea Handler, Cindy Crawford* & Rande Gerber, Emily Mortimer*, Haley Bennett*, Rosanna Arquette, Rosetta & Balthazar Getty, Angela Lindvall*,  Shiva Rose, Peter Morton, Eva & Bob Shaye, Colleen & Bradley Bell among other for an intimate dinner and live auction of a Walton Ford painting. Guests were treated to special performances by Karen O, Patti Smith* and Pharrell Williams.*indicates guests dressed in CHANEL

ABOUT:The Natural Resources Defense Council is a leading environmental advocacy group driven by a simple principle: people and our planet deserve to be protected.  Using science, law, policy and the political power of our 1.4 million members and activists, NRDC endeavors to build a cleaner energy future, protect against pollution, defend endangered wildlife and lands, and develop sustainable communities for generations to come. Our lawyers hold polluters accountable in court, our scientists back them with facts, and our policy experts design solutions that are changing our world.  This evening’s event celebrates another key driver of change: the power of art and technology as an instrument to create a cleaner and healthier planet.

CHANEL, the international luxury goods company, was founded in France by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel in 1924.  The company, which is privately held, offers a broad range of luxury products, including Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear, fragrance, cosmetics, leathergoods, accessories, Fine Jewelry and Watches, through a U.S. network of 24 boutiques and approximately 90 locations at select retailers. Haute Couture collections are presented exclusively in Paris. CHANEL maintains 151 boutiques and shops worldwide, including the legendary House of CHANEL on the rue Cambon in Paris. Under the guidance of designer Karl Lagerfeld, the House of CHANEL remains dedicated to luxury, fashion, style and image.

PHOTOS: http://www.bfanyc.com/events/6339

From Italy with love: Milla Jovovich performing at the 55th Venice Biennale

Good morning contemporary art lovers! 

This year all eyes were on her at the opening of the 55th Venice Biennale. Actress became a work of art by getting settled in a giant glass cube. Installation/performance took place in the beautiful Barnabò garden just across from Palazzo Grassi on the 28th of May from 2pm to 8pm. This 5 hours performance was orchestrated by artist Tara Subkoff.

Jovovich and Subkoff recently collaborated with Italian clothiers Marella. In the glass cube/dressing room Jovovich was wearing clothes from their maverick collaboration, Future/Perfect, a pop colour line of dresses and jackets. She performed the ultimate consumer and was only allowed to communicate with the crowd and to order stuff using her iPad. “Milla’s dressing” was initially clean: there was only a transparent desk and a bed. But for 5 hours she was ordering a huge quantity of objects: from artworks, to garments and accessories from  the Marella collections  online. The artworks  that Milla ordered online are part of an exceptional endorsement of many contemporary designers and artists : from Richard Phillips, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Yoko Ono, Barbara Kruger, Lisa Yuskavage, Julian Schnabel, Karen Kilimnik,John Baldessari, Cecily Brown and Rick Tiravanigia.

Born in 1972, Tara Subkoff is an American artist, actress, and fashion designer. She has acted in over 30 films and has shown at the Paris Couture shows. She is well-known for her performances/installations such as the piece exhibited at the Bortolami Gallery in NYC. The performance consisted of over 50 women aged 7 to 70 years. Most recently Tara created a performance piece with one opera singer at the United Nations building in NYC.

Steven Sebring RevolutionS the art world!!!

When I got into the Armory to see his Revolution opening on Lex a few weeks ago, well how could I describe what I saw and how could I talk about it?!… The only words that came right in my mind when I first looked at it were like: WAOUH - BOOM - EXPLOSION - ATOMIC - REVOLUTION - FRIGHTENING - FEAR - EXCITEMENT - EROTICISM - ATTRACTION - SEXUALITY - SENSUALITY - DISTURBING - OBSESSION - CONVULSIVE BEAUTY - TRANCE - AND ROCK'N'ROLL … 

For the really first time in my life I felt confused. I've got so many different feelings that all came in the mean time by only watching a work of art. I was shaking, feeling warm and cold, impressed, envious, excited… well my only advice would be to check it by yourself! Each of his work is the combination of painting-photography-dance-music-theater-fashion… sound and smell might be the two only things that were missing. But luckily for us we were able to watch many videos related to the works on a huge screen while drinking a really good glass of red wine. So in a way he made it!

Featuring a wonderful, nice and easy to reach girl that everybody knows, Coco Rocha, he showed us a large panel of incredible and never-seen-before works. Coco who's a supermodel well-known for being involved in the art world, struck the pose and danced  - she is a professional dancer, Irish dance - for Steven like two-three years ago when they started woking on this project. Coco wasn't the only one who was striking the pose for him at that time. Another Coco had to be quiet too! Coco Karol who was the dancer painted in white in the revolving set and  the model for the nude descending stair case photos. Steven's son appeared in one of the videos and a male model too. Why two years of silence? Well it might be because Steven simply invented a new way of capturing images!! Until now they obviously had to be very careful as successfully inventions attire envious people. 

Model: Coco Karol

He built a sort of "igloo" in his studio inside which one models strike the pose, dance, act or whatever the artist want them to do. But THE THING is that he is able to shoot them in like one second as the stage of the "igloo" is surrounded by cameras. I didn't even count them there are so many! (hhmm yes I have been there and I saw it!!! ) Each camera shoots or films each different sides of the model. 43 cameras for example will give you 43 different pictures of the same model striking one and only one pose. If Duchamp might use to need many hours of work to paint his Nu Descendant Un Escalier, it only took Steven five seconds to shoot Coco Karol descending stairs to get the kind-of-the-same result.

The videos were really cool with some touches of both classicism and modernity. One of my favorite: Coco Rocha wearing a black outfit whose the skirt kinda looked like a "cage". An amazing dress designed by Malgorzata Dudek who already has been called the new Alexander Mc Queen!! It reminded me Gauthier designs and one of the most famous Chanel advertising featuring Vanessa Paradis as a bird in a cage. Those who remember it will understand me…

Model: Coco Rocha

The Red Series is, according to me, the most impressive. Coco Rocha is wearing a long red dress that floats in the air at every moment of her moves. Can you picture her dancing and spinning around? She is like a goddess, the goddess of the dark side of Steven's mind? If only one could get into his crazy-creative but very nice mind! The color red means passion, love, sex, eroticism but also evil, hell, fire, tension. Also the beauty of the model could be the face of the Evil, or the incarnation of Life. Question is: on which side is she and to whom is she gonna give birth…

Model: Coco Rocha

Steven Sebring, more that just an artist to watch, to me a real genius who clearly invented a 3, 4 even 5D work of art: it is a photograph that looks like a painting whose the main character is a fashion model dancing on stage and playing a character. What else? You feel the movement, you feel the wavy dress floating around you and you are even able to hear the music that goes with it if you really pay attention and get into it…

One-on-One with Tom Everhart

Good afternoon contemporary art lovers!
I recently had the honor of meeting Tom Everhart at an opening of his new exhibition organized by the AFA Gallery. Tom is a really nice and interesting artist who’s willing to talk about his art, making himself easy to reach. It was a real pleasure for me to learn more about his art, about him and the way he works. In 1980, Tom was introduced to cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, the man behind the beloved Peanuts comic. Schulz taught Tom his signature style, and made him the only fine artist authorized to use his characters. Since then, Tom’s Peanuts-themed paintings have become as iconic as the comic. “I never made it past that first blown up drawing of his strip. I sat in front of it for hours. I don’t even remember leaving it,” Everhart said of his inspiration. Here is my one-on-one with this incredible artist:

How did you come to becoming focused on the Peanuts?

It was after a long relationship with Mr. Schulz where he shared his teachings of his strategies of process and picture making.

As an artist known for works featuring characters from Schulz’s comic strips Peanuts, would you consider yourself more like a painter or like a cartoonist?

I have absolutely no background in cartooning, so the only thing I consider myself is a painter.

How would you position yourself compared to artists such like Roy Lichtenstein, whose paintings feature comic-style speech bubbles, or the Japanese artists who draw inspiration from Manga comics?

Well the only thing I have in common with Lichtenstein is that a lot of our imagery is based on cartoon subject matter but his painting were predominantly concerned with popular culture and graphics that accompanied that period of time where as my work is about events in my life.

read more: http://www.hauteliving.com/2013/05/one-on-one-with-artist-tom-everhart/360630/

Lyor Cohen, Bob Colacello, Diego Marroquin, Alberto Mugrabi, Stavros Niarchos & Vito Schnabel Celebrate Aby Rosen’s Birthday the Paramount Hotel

Good afternoon contemporary art lovers!
Last night on Thursday, May 16th, the art, fashion and social worlds collided at Aby Rosen’s birthday bash at the Paramount Hotel in New York City. Guests dined on Panini bites from the hotel’s own Corso restaurant while dancing to music by DJ Nick Cohen. To cap the evening off, guests toasted to Rosen’s birthday with a splash of Dom Pérignon and a pop of confetti.

Guests included Bono, Ashley Olsen, Mary-Kate Olsen, Owen Wilson, Samantha Boardman, Alexander Acquavella, Ara Arslanian, Kalus Biesenbach, Nicolas Berggruen, Peter Brant Jr., Hannah Bronfman, Tory Burch, Le Call, Eva Chow, Dori Cooperman, Sante D’Orazio, Brandon Davis, Laura de Gunzburg, Michaela & Simon de Pury, Ron Delsener, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Lily Donaldson, Anh Duong, Brendan Fallis, Yvonne Force Villareal, Michael Fuchs & Alvina Callardeau, Larry Gagosian, Jacqui Getty, Alexander Gilkes, Laurence Graff, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Gherardo Guarducci, Marjorie Gubelmann,  Zani Gugelmann, Kim Heirston & Richard Evans, Nicky Hilton, Stellan Holm, Jane, Holzer, Jamie Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Genevieve Jones, Kalliope Karella,  Charlotte Kidd, Eugenio Lopez, Ghislaine Maxwell, Averell Mortimer, Topper Mortimer, Jon Neidich, Casey Neistat, Fernanda Niven, Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, Mortimer Sackler, Lauren Santo Domingo, Allison  Sarofim, Stella Schnabel, Izak Senbahar, Tony Shafrazi, Carlos Souza, Elie Tahari, Andre Leon Talley, Olivier Theyskens, Jamie Tisch, PC Valmorbida, Natalia Vodianova, Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, Vera Wang, Ouattara Watts, Adam D. Weinberg, Dustin Yellin among many others.

The Paramount Hotel has been an established member of the New York City Times Square market since 1928 and has considerable name recognition among NYC business and leisure travelers. The 20 story Landmarked hotel has a long history of elegant glamour and comfort. The emotional heart of the property is its impressive and dynamic lobby that is the living room for guests to convene.

http://www.bfanyc.com/home/event/6264
http://www.bfanyc.com/home/event/6262

Basquiat Painting, 'Dustheads,' Fetches Record $48.8 Million At Christie's Auction In New York

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
New record at a sale of postwar and contemporary art at Christies last night in NYC!!!

A Jean-Michel Basquiat (zhahn mee-SHEHL' BAH'-skee-aht) painting has set a new auction record. Christie's says "Dustheads" sold for $48.8 million. His "Untitled," a painting of a black fisherman, held the previous record when it sold for $26.4 million last November.

Art dealers, collectors, advisors, curators... all together agree to say that last night auction was quite amazing with two other breaking world auction prices for artists were works by Roy Lichtenstein ("Woman With Flowered Hat" fetched $56 million) and Jackson Pollock (An important drip painting by Pollock, "Number 19," realized a record $58.3 million).

Christie's says Wednesday's auction brought in $495 million, the highest total at any art auction.

Gerhard Richter hold a New Record at Sothebys NYC

Good evening contemporary art lovers! 

The paintings by Gerhard Richter, 81, snapped up the price of gold. Domplatz, Mailand, oil representing the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, was sold Tuesday in New York for a whopping $ 37, 125 million to collector Don Bryant, founder of the California vineyard Bryant Family Vineyard Napa. It was auctioned for $ 37.1 million last night at an auction at Sotheby's in New York.

The German artist ever held the previous record with Abstraktes Bild (890-4), sold for $ 34.2 million last October by Sotheby's in London. Since then, he is considered the most expensive living artist in the world. The retrospective which had been devoted to the Pompidou center between June and September 2012 had attracted 425,000 visitors. A success in merging abstract and figurative painter, yet often overlooked on this side of the Rhine.

Dedicated to contemporary art, the sale proved disappointing for other parts, such as a painting of Francis Bacon, Study for Portrait of PL, estimated between 30 and 40 million, but did not find lessee.

Ferragamo Celebrated the Launch of L'Icona Highlighting the 35th Anniversary of Vara

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
On April 30th, Ferragamo celebrated the launch of L’Icona, an online project curated by photographer, Claiborne Swanson Frank, which goes live today, in recognition of the 35th anniversary of the iconic Vara with a party in New York City.

L’Icona is an online project curated and art directed by fine art portrait photographer, Claiborne Swanson Frank, to celebrate and rediscover Ferragamo’s most recognized shoe, Vara. Introduced in 1978, Vara is the iconic mid-heel shoe with a grosgrain bow and gold plaque bearing the Ferragamo logo. In recognition of Vara’s 35th Anniversary, L’Icona will launch May 2013 and feature a digital collection of Swanson Frank’s portraits captivating some of the world’s most  modern, iconic women- including Miroslava Duma, Camilla Belle, Jessica Hart, Lake Bell, Lauren Santo Domingo, Chiara Clemente, Olivia Palermo, Alexandra Richards, Elettra Weidemann, Marina Larroude, Susie Lau, Sophie Auster, Lauren Remington Platt, Amanda Hearst, Lily Aldridge, Asia Baker, Dani Corona, Minnie Mortimer, Jessica Joffe and Laure Hériard Dubreuil - shot in their choice of Vara or Varina.  Chosen for their inherent and effortless style, the women were able to customize their choice of Vara or Varina, a limited edition service which will also launch to the public when the site goes live on May 1st at icona.ferragamo.com. Guests at the event were the first to see the site live and customize the shoe for order.

Guests including Eva Longoria*, Lily Aldridge*, Michael Avedon, Asia Baker*, Azealia Banks, Veronica Miele Beard, Veronica Swanson Beard, Derek Blasberg, Phillip Bloch, Haley Bloomingdale, Chiara Clemente*, Dori Cooperman,  Danielle Corona*, Donna D’Cruz, Laura de Gunzburg, Jazzy de Lisser, Zani Gugelmann*, Jessica Hart*, Amanda Hearst*, Julie Henderson*, Nicky Hilton, Kathy & Rick Hilton, Jamie Johnson, Genevieve Jones*, Natalie Joos, Charlotte Kidd, RJ King, Marina Larroude*, Leandra Medine, Bonnie Morrison, Gigi Mortimer, Stavros Niarchos Jr., Garrett Neff*,  Ashley Platt*, Sophie Plimpton, Pietro Quaglia, Karim Rashid, Lauren Remington Platt*, Theodora Richards*, Amanda Ross, Kate Schelter, Danielle Snyder, Jamie Tisch*, Nicole Trunfio*, Alexander von Fustenberg, Caroline Winberg, Anya Ziourova among others, joined James Ferragamo to celebrate L’Icona, which features a digital collection of Swanson Frank’s portraits captivating some of the world’s most modern, iconic women. Guests were able to get a sneak peek of the website and customize their own Varas while they sipped the specialty cocktail Vara 35 and enjoyed music by Alexandra Richards* and a performance by Sophie Auster*.

*indicates guests dressed in Ferragamo


Pictures:
http://www.bfanyc.com/home/event/6035
http://www.bfanyc.com/home/event/6030

BOMB Magazine Anniversary!!!!

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
HAPPY BDAY BOMB Mag!!!! we all enjoyed the party!!!

BOMB Magazine, one of the most respected voices in contemporary art and literature, celebrated its 32nd anniversary with a gala benefit dinner and auction of contemporary artworks last week at Capitale in New York City.

On Friday, the Honorary Chairs, including Jon Robin Baitz, Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, gathered for the gala alongside young Patron Chair Joe Sheftel. This year the benefit honored Trisha Brown, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Kyle DeWoody and Raymond Pettibon. Each honoree was given a Pink BOMB by Tom Otterness, which was presented after a rousing toast to each honoree by Trustee Chairmen Klaus Kertess, Adam Weinberg and Lawrence Weiner.

Betsy Sussler said of the honor; “This year BOMB is focusing on legacy and its impact on the future. BOMB delivers the artist’s voice-in BOMB and on BOMBsite with its emerging artists and writers’ BOMBlog and its DIGITAL ARCHIVE, an ongoing and vibrant record of New York City’s cultural history, from 1981 into the future. This is reflected in our choice of honorees: Beth DeWoody’s vision in both curating and philanthropy as passed on to Kyle DeWoody, in the Trisha Brown Dance Company’s perpetuation of her legacy, to Raymond Pettibon’s iconoclastic reach into Americana for his subject matter.”

Décor was by Madeline Weinrib, music supplied by Kim Gordon, select frames provided by Minagawa Art Lines.  The invitation design is by Everything Studio.

READ MORE: http://www.hauteliving.com/2013/04/the-bomb-celebrates-32nd-anniversary/354390/

Whitney Museum Hosts 22nd Annual American Art Award

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
Congratulations to all the honorees. Thanks to them, Whitney art collection grows for the enjoyment of young and old alike!!!

Each years individuals and organisations that have made a sustained commitment to the artistic and cultural heritage of the arts in America are honored with an original artwork commissioned from an American artist. This year at the 22nd Annual American Art Awards, held in New York City, artist Anne Colller created the works which were presented to the honorees at a gala dinner.

This year’s honorees were: Reed Krakoff (pictured above), the Creative Director of his own eponymous brand and Coach, who is a fervent art collector, supporter of artists and art collections, including the Whitney; Martin Z. Margulies, a Miami-­based collector, and founder of the Martin Z. Margulies Foundation, who recently made a $5 millions bequest to the Whitney; The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, which supports the Whitney exhibitions and programs, and recently pledged a $500,000 gift to the Capital Campaign; and Michael Ward Stout, the founding partner of the New York law firm Stout Thomas & Johnson, and a tireless advocate for artists and curators.

The evening included a special performance by Martha Wainwright at the Highline Stages, and an auction of Reed Krakoff tote bags which raised a total of $16,500.

READ MORE: http://www.hauteliving.com/2013/04/whitney-museum-hosts-22nd-annual-american-art-award-2/353597/

DOM PERIGNON DINNER!!!!

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
your loss it was really cool ;) ;)

James Houston, photographer, director, and activist, was born in 1965, in Sydney, Australia. He began studying ceramic sculpture and design at school, and his background as a sculptor eventually influenced his graphic photographic style. While on a business trip to Tokyo in 1990, Houston bought a second-hand Nikon 35mm camera – at that time photography was just a hobby. However, his passion soon grew, and in 1993 he started working as a photographer. His first photographic exhibition, titled “Black and Blue”, focused on the human form interacting with nature and landscapes. Five award winning international books have been published on his work.

Houston’s latest project is Natural Beauty, which aims to raise awareness for the environment and funds for the environmental non-profit Global Green USA. In collaboration with MILK, Houston shot a series of striking portraits featuring some of the world’s leading models and celebrities. These captivating photographs bring together two of Houston’s great passions – the human form and the natural world. Natural Beauty launched at MILK Gallery in New York City this month. Houston also directed a web series on the ‘making of’ Natural Beauty, as well as several film installations for the exhibition.

READ MORE: http://www.hauteliving.com/2013/04/dom-perignon-hosts-launch-of-james-houstons-natural-beauty/353485/

One-on-one with Fashion photographer Thorsten Roth

Good afternoon contemporary art lovers! 
Born and raised in Germany, photograph Thorsten Roth moved in the USA in 2002. He now lives and works in NYC. He studied visual communication/photo-film-design and at the same time began to work in advertising and photojournalism. Right after his studies at the Fachhochschule Bielefeld (Germany) he started working for Conde Nast in Paris as a free-lance photo assistant. Roth's photography was published in Tatler Magazine, Marie-Claire, Cosmopolitan, MR Magazine, El Pais Semanal, Libération, Figaro, Jazz Magazine, URB Magazine, Dime Magazine, and MAR Magazine among others...

First time you realized you were born to be a photographer?

“I was around fifteen and the best student in a photography school class. I had started taken pictures and filming Super 8 three years prior but at this point I became very conscious about my fascination even obsession with photography. I was driving around on my little motor­cycle to find interesting things to shoot: landscapes, people, buildings ­ I also read anything about photography I could get into my hands.
At one point I saw a documentary about Oliviero Toscani on T.V. creative­directing and shooting Benetton and it made 'Click' in me and my guts told me: "You have something going on just like this guy."
Long story short ­ all of this lead for pursuing studies in Photo­/Film at one of the best German Design­Colleges and moving to Paris. It turned out that ten years after seeing the documentary I was standing as an assistant with Oliviero on a Benetton Photo­Set.
Funny how life turns out when you want something real bad! :)”

Who have inspired you to become an artist?

“I owe that certainly to my teachers and my education ­ at the beginning my family was not really crazy about my choice. It was through the exposure to art in museums, exhibitions and watching documentaries and movies on T.V. that provided inspiration.
Artistically I grew up with Bauhaus, New Objectivity and German Expressionism ­ I loved particularly the painters Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Otto Dix ­ on the film side certainly Fritz Lange ­ later on Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Volker Schloendorff and Wim Wenders.
In college I really fell in love with French Impressionism which lead to the decision to move to Paris after college and to the result that I've lived there for twelve years.”

READ MORE: http://www.hauteliving.com/2013/04/one%C2%AD-on-one-with-photographer-thorsten-roth/353263/

Thank you Thorsten! Well I guess there is only to add to this interview: Break a leg... 

All images © 2013 All rights reserved by Thorsten Roth. For more information on Thorsten Roth, please visit his website. 

Exclusive Interview with travel writer Francisca Matteoli

Good evening contemporary art lovers!
Chilean, with a Scottish mother, Francisca Mattéoli spent her childhood in Latin America. After living in Brazil, she now resides in Paris and is the author of numerous travel books published in more than ten countries and translated in several languages. As a travel writer, she has also been published in, among others, National Geographic France and Conde Nast Traveller.

Born and raised in South America, you have Scottish roots and you live in Paris. Do you feel having the urge to travel since you were a little girl?

Yes. When I lived in Chile, I was travelling in imagination before I started travelling myself, thinking about the places where my parents and grandparents have been and imagining their adventures. I was also travelling at home ­ in a way ­, with my parents and their 2 nationalities, so different. It was a normal thing for me and I suppose that is why I became a travel writer. I felt always really myself between two worlds.
Absolutely. They have been an inspiration for me. They show a world that does not exist anymore, the golden age of travels, and also, each page tells a story – about my roots, my family history, their travels, around the globe and, in the chilean countryside. They sumerize everything I am.

Please tell us about the photo albums your mother made. Could we say that you traveled through them?

Absolutely. They have been an inspiration for me. They show a world that does not exist anymore, the golden age of travels, and also, each page tells a story – about my roots, my family history, their travels, around the globe and, in the chilean countryside. They sumerize everything I am.

READ MORE: 

http://www.hauteliving.com/2013/04/haute-vacation-an-exclusive-interview-with-travel-writer-francisca-matteoli/351209/

Tilda Swinton's art performance "The Maybe" at MoMA NYC 2013

Good morning contemporary art lovers!
One remembers Marina Abramovic's performance at the MoMa a few years ago... Well it's Tilda Swinton's turn now! The Academy Award-winning actress and recent Davide Bowie music video star is performing art on an unexpected display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.Tilda's live performance was unexpected for the visitors but the museum has actually been working on staging "The Maybe" for seven years. "The Maybe" was originally staged by Swinton in London at the Serpentine Gallery in 1995.

She here personifies the contemporary "Sleeping beauty", dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt: she's lying in a coffin, sleeping while visitors are watching her through the sides of a glass box. The curator of this incredible show is Large Klaus Bisenbach, the same man who was behind the blockbuster Abramovic's retrospective. Everybody around the world seems to be super excited by this exhibition and one can't count anymore all the tweets about it: comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted on Saturday: "Tilda Swinton is sleeping in a glass box on random days at MoMA in New York all year. And I just thought of a brilliant heist movie..."

"The Maybe" will appear randomly in different locations this year. There is no published schedule for its appearance, no artist's statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued. The luckiest have been able to seen her yesterday! ;)

My New Favorite: Tasya Van Ree!!!

Good afternoon contemporary art lovers!
Definitely my favorite photographer right now! She is an amazing artist and a wonderful photographer. Halfway between art and fashion, her pictures - mostly black-and-white photographies - are inspiring, intense, and some of them kinda remind us the convulsive beauty dear to the Surrealists: she sublimes the feminine body by staging it in sensual, lascivious, erotic, and suggestive poses. "Tasya van Ree has always been intrigued by the everyday wonders of the visual world.

"She  has always been intrigued by the everyday wonders of the visual world. The sense of expansive awareness that for van Ree is a prerequisite to photography enables her to capture the small everyday flashes of insight that come when we are open to them and often go before we can fully grasp or appreciate them. Her extraordinarily vivid images are also a testimony to her eye for form and composition. Her photographs are infused with romanticism, darkness, intimacy, and a certain lyrical quality. They also capture the essence of the people, the landscape, and the intricacies of both the animate and inanimate worlds, and are a sort of meditation in seeing the powerful testaments between the relationship of human presence and transitory nature."

READ MORE: http://tasyavanree.com
Copyright Tasya Van Ree