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Mission Buys Failed Marlborough Winery
15/05/2012
Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It By TVNZHawke's Bay-based Mission Estate Winery has bought the 100-hectare Marlborough vineyard owned by the failed Cape Campbell Wines, and has taken on the former owners to manage it. Cable Station was put up for tender in October 2010 by the receivers of the... Share This Story Tweet This Post to Stumble Upon Email to a Friend Read moreFood & Wine Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Martin Scorsese Revs Up for “Silver Ghost,” the Story of Rolls-Royce and a Doomed Love Affair
15/05/2012
Martin Scorsese Revs Up for “Silver Ghost,” the Story of Rolls-Royce and a Doomed Love Affair Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by Graham FullerPublished: May 15, 2012The tragic love affair of Lord John Douglas-Scott-Montagu of Beaulieu and his beloved mistress Eleanor Velasco Thornton is likely to be the “Downton Abbey”-ish drama that will propel the Rolls-Royce movie “Silver Ghost.” Variety reported yesterday that Martin Scorsese will co-produce the movie with the 88-year-old Lord Richard Attenborough and his producer partner Anthony Haas. Miss Thornton (known as “Thorn”) was the woman who posed (“in her nightie,” it is said) for the luxury car’s “Spirit of Ecstasy” mascot designed by the sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes. On December 30, 1915, she and Montagu were traveling from Marseilles to India on SS Persia when it was sunk south of Crete by a German U-boat. Montagu was rescued, but Miss Thornton, 35, who had been his secretary and mistress since 1902, was one of 334 people lost. The couple’s daughter Joan, born in 1903 and immediately given up for adoption to avoid a scandal, met occasionally at the Ritz with her father, who died in 1929; his son Edward Douglas-Scott-Montague from his second marriage would also meet her there. She married a surgeon commander in the Royal Navy and one of their two sons coincidentally worked for Rolls-Royce. The story of the affair was told by the Daily Mail when the film was first announced in 20o8. Edward, the third baron, a Conservative politician and founder of the National Motor Museum, endorses the movie, which will also embrace the founding of Rolls-Royce by Charles Rolls (1877-1910), the aviation and motoring pioneer, and Henry Royce (1863-1933). The latter, a brilliant engineer who had previously manufactured dynamos and electric cranes, began developing cars around 1902. The wealthy Rolls was introduced to Royce in 1904 and was sufficiently impressed by his two-cylinder “Royce” to order a range of two-to-six cylinder versions for his London car showroom. Their first model, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was exhibited at the Paris Salon in December 1904. They formed their company in 1906, the same year in which they produced their first six-cylinder (30 hp) model. On June 2, 1910, Rolls became the first aeronaut to make a non-stop double-crossing of the English Channel, a feat he accomplished in 95 minutes. Forty days later, he was killed when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke during an aeronautical display at Bournemouth. He was the first British airman to be killed flying a powered plane. Royce, who had hitherto resisted building aircraft engines, produced his first one, the 12-cylinder Eagle, for the Admiralty and War Office following the outbreak of war in 1914. It’s no surprise that “Silver Ghost” appeals to Scorsese since it contains elements of “Hugo” (in terms of mechanical pioneering) and “The Aviator” – as well as the automotive vision of his old friend Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tucker: The Man and His Dream.” The script for the movie was written by Jeffrey Caine and Sharman Macdonald, the mother of Keira Knightley – who would disgrace neither a Rolls-Royce nor a nightie were she to play Miss Thornton. Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Performing Arts, Film, Graham Fuller, Martin Scorsese, Rolls-Royce, Hugo, The Aviator Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Lucy Skaer at Tulips & Roses
15/05/2012
Artist: Lucy Skaer Venue: Tulips & Roses, Brussels Exhibition Title: Force Justify (Part 1) Date: April 20 – May 19, 2012 Click here to view slideshow Full gallery of images and link available after the jump. Images: Images courtesy of Brussels, Belgium Press Release: Force Justify is the second incarnation of a traveling installation. Based on the allegory of the [...] Read full article here

In Five: Rick Ross Teams With Usher, Sneak Peek at “The Master,” and More Performing Arts News
15/05/2012
In Five: Rick Ross Teams With Usher, Sneak Peek at “The Master,” and More Performing Arts News Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by ARTINFOPublished: May 15, 20121. Rick Ross and Usher have released a song called “Touch’N You.” [Stereogum] 4. This trailer for “Amazing Spider-Man” is four minutes long. [Vulture] 3. The release date of Alfonso Cuarón's “Gravity” has been moved to 2013. [Inside Movies/EW]Related: “Children of Men” Recut as the Darkest, Artiest Sitcom Ever 4. See a few frames of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” [AV Club]Related: “The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s Possibly Scientology-Inspired Film, Rumored for Fall 5. Cotchford Farm, where both Brian Jones died and “Winnie the Pooh” was written, is up for sale. [Telegraph] Previously: Idris Elba, Whitney Houston, Jay-Z, Louis C.K., and Demi Lovato Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Performing Arts, Columnist, In Five, Rick Ross, Usher, Amazing Spider-Man, Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron, The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson, Brian Jones Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

David Chipperfield Reveals the Theme for His 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale
15/05/2012
David Chipperfield Reveals the Theme for His 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by Janelle ZaraPublished: May 15, 2012NEW YORK — "Is there something architects share?" asked president of the Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta. "Do they refer to each other or are they just isolated geniuses to which we ask from time to time to produce a firework? Do they talk to each other?" London-based architect David Chipperfield, the curator of this year's Venice Biennale International Exhibition of Architecture, has enthusiastically answered yes. "Chipperfield accepts the idea of taking this point of view, of architecture as a discipline — and the world of architects as the world of those who share a common ground," said Baratta. Yesterday the two spoke at the New York Italian Cultural Institute (although Chipperfield appeared over Skype from London) to preview "Common Ground," the theme for the bi-annual architecture exhibition's 13th installment. The title refers to the dual nature of architects’ relationships with one another: while the common misconception is that they work in relative isolation, they’re united both in an architectural culture that shares the same history and ambitions, and in their separation from other art forms. "An artist can go home and make a painting or a sculpture or dream up an idea," Chipperfield said. "We need to be commissioned. We are strange animals; we have to be both complicit and independent. We are not only convincing the studios to fund our work, we are convincing our citizens."  In order to present an array of generationally, culturally, and geographically diverse exhibits, Chipperfield recruited 104 participants including newcomers from five countries making their first appearance at the Biennale (Angola, Kosovo, Kuwait, Peru, and Turkey) to present 58 different projects. An entire home from India will be constructed by hand on the festival grounds, while photographs of the space underneath Norman Foster's Shanghai bank by Andreas Gursky will be on view. Both projects take very different approaches to finding Chipperfield's requisite common ground: The former represents a true collaboration between architect, technician, and craftsman, while the latter shows images of Filipino workers appropriating Foster’s space on the weekends to create temporary villages out of cardboard boxes where they take their breakfast and lunch. The combination of Foster’s models and sketches with Gursky’s photographs shows the multi-layered way a piece of architecture can be embraced by society. Other projects will use recreations of past architectural structures as a nod to a shared, collective memory among architects, or a history of intellectual common ground. For their presentation in the U.S. Pavilion, the Institute of Urban Design will create "Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good," a survey of the positive results that came from architecture suffering through leaner years. Our current economic crisis and urban decline gave way to determined individuals who took it upon themselves to solve problems within their own environments, a kind of DIY urbanism that lead to guerilla bicycle lanes, reclamations of neglected public spaces, and pop-up markets by architects, designers, and average citizens you've likely never heard of.  In many ways, the Venice Architecture Biennale can effectively be considered its art counterpart's little sister — it borrows the same concept, organization, and language of exhibition as the Art Biennale, and is now only in its 13th installment. But Chipperfield’s festival emphasizes architecture as its own entity, a separate world, the needs of which allow it to make vastly more tangible contributions to society.  Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Architecture & Design, Architecture, David Chipperfield, Architecture, Architecture Biennale, venice biennale, Institute of Urban Design, Paolo Baratta, Italian Cultural Institute Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Banksy Mocks the Queen's Jubilee, Sotheby's is Doing Art Fairs Now, and More Must-Read Art News
15/05/2012
Banksy Mocks the Queen's Jubilee, Sotheby's is Doing Art Fairs Now, and More Must-Read Art News Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by ARTINFOPublished: May 15, 2012– Banksy Mocks Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee: A brand new mural/intervention that appeared this weekend in London, most likely by the evasive British street art star Banksy, seems to satirize both the upcoming celebrations of Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne and the Olympic Games, at least in terms of all the flag-waving patriotism that they are likely to inspire. It features a young boy kneeling at a sewing machine with a garland of miniature Union Jack flags passing through it; the apparent commentary on child labor might explain the mural's location, on the side of a store that launched an inquiry in 2010 into sweatshop labor employed by one of its suppliers. [Telegraph] – Sotheby's Heads to Brazil: The auction house is now doing art fairs. Its private sales gallery, S2, will participate in Brazil's Art Rio, September 12-16. According to the house, the move is part of its larger plans to conquer Brazil, where it opened an office last year. [ATE]  – Kevin Costner Wins Battle Against Sculptor: The artist who was commissioned by Kevin Costner to create a large-scale sculpture of buffalo and Native Americans for a resort development has lost her South Dakota Supreme Court case against the "Dances With Wolves" actor. The artist sued after Costner placed her sculptures in a cultural center he built instead of the resort, demanding that he sell the monumental, multi-million-dollar works. [Courthouse News Service] – French Museum Looks to Graphic Novelist as Authority on Algerian Colonization: The National Army Museum will stage France's first-ever exhibition devoted to its 132-year occupation of Algeria. Anticipating potential protests and anger over the still-sensitive subject, curators consulted an unconventional historian: graphic novelist Jacques Ferrandez. "The Army Museum isn't seeking reconciliation," said museum official Christian Baptiste, "but we must present this story without concealing anything." [Le Figaro] – Earliest Cave Paintings Portray Lady Parts: Cavemen weren't only interested in drawing horses. A series of drawings dating back 37,000 years recently discovered on the collapsed roof of a cave in southwestern France feature graphic imagery of female genitals. "You see this again and again and again," said New York University anthropologist Randall White of our ancestors' adult drawings. "There may be a relationship between the art on the ceiling and their lives." [NYT] – Tunick in Munich: "Mass-nude" photographer Spencer Tunick — famous for getting huge mobs of people to disrobe all over the world — will stage his biggest spectacle yet this summer in Munich. In a nod to Richard Wagner's Ring cycle, the Bavarian State Opera has invited the artist to photograph more than 1,000 Bavarians in a ring-shaped configuration around its national theater. [RT]  – Kuala Lumpur Gallerist Launches Eco-Residency: Shalina Ganendra, owner of an eponymous gallery in Kuala Lumpur since 1998, has built a new outpost in a suburb of the mega-city. The new building, designed for maximum energy efficiency, includes both an enormous gallery space and living quarters for resident artists. [WSJ] – Jaguar's a Drag: A hip British artist collective visited by the likes of Natalie Portman and Beyonce is locked in a legal battle over its name with automaker Jaguar (the second story about a car company hastling an artist we've come across in the last 24 hours!) The collective known as Jaguar Shoes is now soliciting signatures for a petition stating that patrons do not confuse the rootsy collective "Jaguar Shoes" with the glamorous Jaguar Land Rover company. [MSNBC]  – A Report on the Morans' Rocking Whitney Residency: Musicians Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran unleashed a genre-bending, five-day residency at the Whitney Museum as part of the Whitney Biennial's beefed-up performance program. Among the highlights was Alicia Hall's rendition of Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" with Japanese taiko drummers and a multimedia performance featuring Karaoke Walkrrr, the stage persona of artist Kara Walker. [NYT]  – Art Fund Prize Names Shortlist: The finalists for the £100,000 Art Fund museum prize, the art world's richest single prize, have been announced. The Royal Albert Memorial, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Watts Gallery, and the new Hepworth Gallery, which houses a large permanent collection of Barbara Hepworth sculptures, will all vie for the prize, to be awarded on June 19. [Guardian] VIDEO OF THE DAY Tomas Saraceno's "Cloud City" opens on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum today. Check it out: ALSO ON ARTINFO: "Pied Piper of Popular Culture" Jeremy Deller Will Represent Britain at the Venice Biennale WHAAM! Obsessive-Compulsive Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein's Biggest-Ever Retrospective Hits Chicago Artist Accuses L.A. MOCA of Censoring His Car-Themed Art to Appease Corporate Sponsor Mercedes-Benz From Sotheby's Yayoi Kusama Show to an Occupy-Inspired Debate, the Best Events Around ART HK 2012 Devin Troy Strother’s Taboo-Busting Paint Experiments Navigate Race and Gender With Wit and Irreverence 22 Questions for Painter Dana Schutz Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ by ARTINFO,The Daily Checklist,The Daily Checklist Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

The ARTINFO Bookshelf: 40 Books That Every Artist Should Own, Part I
15/05/2012
The ARTINFO Bookshelf: 40 Books That Every Artist Should Own, Part I Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by Alanna MartinezPublished: May 15, 2012ARTINFO has combed our bookshelves, looked through our dusty college syllabi, asked fellow artists, professors, and historians, and compiled a list of the tomes that every artist should read, own, and pass on. We've been careful to balance our selections between theory, history, reference, and practical guides, ranging from the semiotics of Roland Barthes to a gigantic biography of Pablo Picasso. Our list was so long that we had to break it into two parts. Here is Part 1, but make sure to stay tuned for Part 2: “Visual Thinking” by Rudolf Arnheim, University of California Press Merging art and psychology, Arnheim (1904-2007) masterfully explains perception in the context of aesthetic imagery. His stance, specifically in “Visual Thinking,” is that all thought is based on perception. Its 35th-anniversary printing should be bought as a set with "Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye," and read not just by artists, but also art critics, to understand the psychology behind our response to art. "Camera Lucida" by Roland Barthes, Farrar Straus and Giroux and Hill and Wang (MacMillan) Barthes is the grand poobah of French semiotics, and his texts have laid the groundwork for the codification of culture. They range from the edgy ruminations of “Image – Music – Text" to the intimate reflections of "A Lover's Discourse." But "Camera Lucida," with its lyrical yet rigorous reflections on the images of Richard Avedon and Robert Mapplethorpe, is perhaps one of his most lasting contribution to writing about art. "Ways of Seeing" by John Berger, Viking (Pengiun Group) Based on the original, highly successful BBC television series of the same name, Berger created a masterpiece in 1972 by digesting complex ideas about image reproduction and popular culture, bringing theory to the masses with “Ways of Seeing.” He covers subjects including imagery in advertising, the notion of originality, and subjectivity in perception. While others have gone into greater depth with many of the topics he covers, Berger’s opus is a must-have for its succinct mastery and impressive compilation of complex theory. "Art/Work" by Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber, Simon & Schuster Not every artist needs a career guide, but for those that do this is one of the best. Written by a gallery director and an arts lawyer this is first handbook of advice on the management of a full-time art career, offering some savvy advice about the business end. "The Continental Aesthetics Reader, 2nd Edition" Edited by Clive Cazeaux, Routledge This is different to another anthology, “Art and Theory,” because of its unique organization, which is by art historical movement and cultural milestone. The seven sections of the book range from German Aesthetics to Postmodernism and set art history off against literature, sociology, and philosophy in the writings of Giorgio Agamben, Slavoj Zizek, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, and many more. Compared to "Art and Theory," this text has a broader range and suitable for artists whose work is cross-disciplinary. “Art History: 4th Edition” by Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren, Pearson While the art history textbook market has long been dominated by Gardner’s “Art Through the Ages” (now in its 13th edition) and “Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition” (in its 8th edition), a shift has been occurring in academia towards the use of Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren’s more recent, more student-friendly, inclusive, and participatory textbook “Art History.” Just as big, but not as costly as its ugly stepsisters, “Art History” strives to be more than just a survey, with engaging diagrams, materials, and methodological explanations, online complimentary software, and a decent revision to the art historical timeline which makes it more diverse. In addition, in comparison to Gardner’s tiny reproductions, Stokstad and Cothren are not skimping on the image quality and size, so the textbook is as good a visual resource for artists as it is a textual one. "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Harper Collins This is an original, psychology-oriented perspective on what some call “getting in the zone” but what unpronounceable Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi terms “flow.” What sets it apart, and makes it an apt text for art-making, is Csikszentmihalyi’s focus on satisfaction and happiness. "History of Beauty" and "On Ugliness" by Umberto Eco, Rizzoli New York OK, these are actually two books, but they are really two halves of a whole. For artists interested in aesthetic theory, the body, and kitsch, Eco is your man. A cultural critic, his sweeping knowledge unfolds in engaging story-like prose (he is also a celebrated postmodern novelist, of course) with direct visual examples. Well versed in art and philosophy, he cites an exhaustive list of examples, including Bosch, Brueghel, Goya, Milton, Goethe, and Ancient Greek amphorae.   "Why Art Cannot Be Taught: A Handbook for Art Students" by James Elkins, University of Illinois Press Elkins examines the structure of art education and fixes a microscope on art school's elusive “crit” system. Whether you are preparing for your first critique, or about to mount a major retrospective, his insights on what works, what doesn’t, and how to take and dish out criticism are invaluable. No one has tackled this subject quite as thoroughly. "Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation" by E.H. Gombrich, Princeton University Press A classic (it was published in 1960) if one is seeking knowledge on the contentious merger of the sciences and humanities, Gombrich uses Leonardo, Rembrandt, and Ancient Greece as examples in the history of picture making and perception. His approach is a uniquely rationalistic one, and still a refreshing take on the subject. "Art in Theory: 1900 – 2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, 2nd Edition" Edited by Charles Harrison and Dr. Paul J. Wood, Wiley One of the most widely used anthologies of art theory texts, and significant for offering a heaping helping of primary resources. The newly revised edition, updated to include the ‘90s, has essays ordered by art historical movements, including writing by Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp, Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon, and many more. Like, many, many more. It’s big — but don’t let it intimidate you. "Illuminations: Essays and Reflections," Knopf Doubleday, and/or “Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1: 1913-1926,” Belknap Press of Harvard University Benjamin has been for decades the sensitive art theorist's go-to guru. His essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” is read widely by art history and studio art majors, and “The Task of the Translator” can also be mined for aesthetic insights. However, while “Illuminations” is both short and contains some of the most relevant essays Benjamin wrote on art, the first volume of Belknap Press’s “Selected Writings” series has some very poignant writings on illustration, children’s drawings, and perception that are incredibly suggestive for those interested in semiotics, color theory, and memory. “The Pink Glass Swan” by Lucy Lippard, the New Press Lucy Lippard wrote some of the most important essays on feminist art, politics, and activism in the 1970s, inspired by the women’s movement. This collection compiles highlights from her popular “From the Center: Feminist Essays on Art” and “Get the Message?: A Decade of Art for Social Change,” as well as pieces done originally for print in newspapers, magazines, and art catalogues. A must-have on the genre of feminist art writings, or for any artist navigating issues of politics and class in our troubled contemporary art world (see the title essay, a true classic). "The Art Museum" Edited by Phaidon All artists should have an image bible; something that is both an inspiration and a source for historical imagery. This book is it. While the quality of the reproductions might not be the best (they are a little dull, truthfully), Phaidon makes up for it with the tremendous trim size on this tome of images. This book is massive. The reproduction of the Sistine Chapel alone will take up half your dining room table. Try finding another version as complete, detailed, or as large in your Gardner’s, or even your Stokstad and Cothren. (Beware the price-tag, it’s expensive at $500.) "Orientalism" by Edward Said, Penguin The leading text on exoticism and “otherism,” Edward Said's "Orientalism" blew readers away when it was published in 1979, creating a much-needed term to describe the way Western thinkers and artists had mistread the East as a fantasy projection of their own insecurities. This is mandatory reading for artists whose work focuses on issues of identity, race, culture, and history — and, now that we think of it, it should just be read by everyone in general.  "Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists" by Joseph Sheppard, Dover Publications Every artist, whether interested in performance or painting, should arguably have a basic grasp of drawing — if not for the basic understanding of the human form in space, then for useful knowledge of composition and light. This is by far one of the most user-friendly and complete guides for artists of any medium to use in their studies. Take my word from having used this book myself. "Seven Days in the Art World" by Sarah Thornton, W. W. Norton & Company The first-person story of the journalist who infiltrated the art world and performed the impossible feat of making art the subject of a best-selling book. It’s an incredibly informative as a well-rounded view of the multiple cogs that keep the art world turning, from art publishing at Artforum to the well-assisted studio of a high-profile artist like Takashi Murakami. Thornton's ethnography is an attempt to understand an unregulated, exclusive world of insiders, following a path from the making and selling of contemporary art to art school to the auction house. "The Lives of the Artists" Giorgio Vasari, Oxford University Press One might consider this a biography of the Italian Renaissance, told through the brief, individual biographies of the important artists of the day. Giorgio Vasari invented the term "Renaissance," and simultanously invented its history by chronicling its progression from Brunelleschi to Da Vinci. The OUP edition features 36 of the most important entires, and is one of the most important sources an artist can have on this all-important period. (Nearly all of the text, in its unabridged English translation, can be found online here.) "Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: Over Thirty Years of Conversations with Robert Irwin” by Lawrence Weschler, University of California Press What better way to learn than from the master himself? This is considered one of the most vital books on a single artist's experience creating work over a multi-decade career, and the conversations author Lawrence Weschler has put together are a first-hand account at the unique way Irwin, the Light and Space maestro, sees the world. “A Life of Picasso: The Cubist Rebel, 1907-1916” by John Richardson, Random House John Richardson is the Robert Caro of artist biographers. Pablo Picasso is surely a colossal figure in the realm of history, and Richardson manages to dissect his life into a generous three-volume epic. As far as artist biographies go, this is the one to own, cherish, and study the hell out of. Not only does it detail Picasso’s life and work, but it also captures the era in which he lived, the movements he helped create, and his complicated relationships with contemporaries like Braque and Apollinaire. The second volume is the one we have picked out here, specifically for its great detail about his relationships with other artists of the time, but the other two (“The Prodigy 1881-1906” and “The Triumphant Years 1917-1932”) are also worth owning. Picasso changed history, and the modern day art world wouldn’t be what it is without him. For questions or further book suggestions, write amartinez[at]artinfo.com Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Art Careers, Artist's Survival Guide Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Thomas Demand at Sprueth Magers
15/05/2012
Artist: Thomas Demand Venue: Sprueth Magers, London Exhibition Title: The Dailies Date: April 14 – May 19, 2012 Click here to view slideshow Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump. Images: Images courtesy of Sprüth Magers Berlin London.  © Thomas Demand, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.  Press Release: Sprüth Magers London is delighted to [...] Read full article here

Niels Trannois: Above Sea Level Kind of Things / Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris
15/05/2012
Galerie Chez Valentin innaugurated the exhibition Above sea level kind of things by artist Niels Trannois on April 26, 2012 in Paris. Trannois engages with numerous mediums, shapes and textures developing a perception that floats within a dialogue of memory and mental sensation. The show runs until June 2, 2012. Niels Trannois: Above Sea Level [...] Read full article here

Bergdorf Goodman to Celebrate its 111th Year With a Special Collection, Documentary, and New Boutiques
15/05/2012
Bergdorf Goodman to Celebrate its 111th Year With a Special Collection, Documentary, and New Boutiques Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by Nate FreemanPublished: May 14, 2012In 1901, 25-year-old Edwin Goodman bought an interest in Herman Bergdorf’s tailoring shop in Union Square, and the store combined their two names to become Bergdorf Goodman. Over the next 111 years, the retailer pioneered the direction of ready-to-wear by putting it in the hands of the American customer, moved to Cornelius Vanderbilt’s old mansion on Fifth Avenue to create Manhattan’s eternal headquarters of fashion and international style, and established itself as a household name around the world. With this history in mind, the retailer is spending much of 2012 celebrating its 111th birthday with an array of events, launches, and special projects. It’s the first time Bergdorf's has planned an anniversary bash since 1951. The terrorist attacks on New York City in the fall of 2001 prevented the store from celebrating its centennial.  First up is the anniversary collection, which will debut in September on Fashion’s Night Out and feature pieces designers made with Bergdorf’s in mind. “When we approached our vendors, we asked them, ‘What does Bergdorf mean to you?’ Ginny Hershey-Lambert, executive vice president of merchandising, told WWD. Those contributing to the collection include Alexander McQueen, Christian Louboutin, Oscar de la Renta, and Giorgio Armani. Also, Ferragamo will offer ties with illustrations of Bergdorf’s, the Statue of Liberty, and other icons of the city.  And that’s just the start of the rollout. “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s,” a documentary about the store directed by Matthew Miele, will debut at New York Fashion Week in September. It will take viewers into the “inner sanctum” of the store, a Bergdorf’s rep promises. There is also a supplementary book that pulls together personal recollections from Bergdorf lovers such as Albert Elbaz, Candice Bergen, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. No word on where the name comes from, but we have a hunch this New Yorker cartoon from 1990 has something to do with it. What else? There’s a gala planned for October in conjunction with the documentary, and that will certainly be a hot ticket. The men’s store is getting a complete revamp, including new Lanvin and Prada boutiques and an area for European brands. Also: a “shoe library” featuring fancy footwear inspired by the 1930s and ’40s will be open by the end of the year. The decision to mark the 111th year of its existence is a bit arbitrary, but Bergdorf’s seems to have chosen the triple-digit number for its ability to work as a slogan — the tagline for the celebration is “one store, one city, one experience.” As catchy as that slogan is, we think it’s a bit misleading. Yes, there is only one Bergdorf’s and there is only one New York City, but there’s way more than just one experience here. With the collection, the documentary, the gala, the book, the men’s store boutiques, and the shoe library, there are enough experiences to go around. Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Fashion, Nate Freeman Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here