Muhammad Ali Through a Punching Bags Eye

1,300 punching bags +

6.5 miles of stainless steel cable +

1,500 pounds of aluminum pipe +

=Michael Kalish's sculpture of Muhammad Ali

At this point in time the sculpture is located in LA, but will travel the country, The dates have not yet been named. We will follow the dates of the traveling installation once they are published!

Armory Week: The Art Cup Runneth Over.

Kyu Seok Oh's sheep in Times Square


It is that time of year again. . .Armory Week. Which means the City is over run with art, artists, curators, and patrons alike--bouncing from art fair to art fair trying to crack deals and get hold of the years coming market. It is an an exciting, yet anxious week and its always interesting to see what the big "blue-chip" galleries show, what sells, and what interesting new talents are shown. 


For instance last year, when the market was slow (not like its not slow now, but there have been a few examples of shining auction sales) I noticed galleries showing large installation works or works with touchy-edgy-uncomfortable subject matters. There seemed to be an emphasis on curation instead of actual selling--I found this fascinating because the true purpose of an art fair is to sell art, to make money. The fairs spurred a deep debate in the art community: are art fairs still relevant? What about a virtual fair (VIP Art Fair-which debuted earlier this year was basically a bust)? Should fairs have a curatorial edge or be purely for the selling of artworks? Who really is the art fair for?


If you make it by a fair this week, take a moment and ponder the questions above.


Here are a list of the arts fairs commencing this week:

The Armory Show (the main event)
Piers 92 and 94, 12 Avenue at 55th Street


Art Show
Park Avenue Armory (Park Avenue at 67th Street)


Pulse Contemporary Art Fair
Metropolitan Pavilion (125 West 18th Street)


Volta
7 West 34th Street


Independent Art Fair
548 West 22nd Street




face

The Sound of Silence...

Saint-Michael's Church in Leuven, Belgium has a beautiful Baroque facade, built in the 17th century, that never got it's dome.  The opening is simply covered over.  Gijs Von Vaerenbergh, an architectural/design team,  wanted to generate the missing dome in a unusual or transformative way.  Using simple chains of link, this is what they came up with: 

An extraordinary expression of beauty and power, simultaneously earthly and ephemeral, silent and dynamic.  

I cried the first time I saw it...

Seasonal Urban Expression. . .

(Barney's)

It is that time of year again. . .in the country friends and family pile into the "good' ole' minivan" or some sort of hay-filled, semi-attached truck to witness the splendor of holiday lights. Here in New York City we still gather together, but instead of hay-induced, holiday-light extravaganzas we witness holiday-inspired storefront windows. The storefront windows are so impeccable and creatively conceived that even the Ginchiest New Yorker will pause for a moment and take in the visual inspiration.

Department Store windows are a blank canvas and provide visual stimuli year-around, but during the Holidays the shop windows explode with narrative and holiday splendor. The sheer level of creativity cannot be matched, as each window acts as a portal into a fantastical world unique to each retailer.

(Simon Doonan-Barney's Creative Director)

(my favorite this year)

(Tiffany & Co. paper cut outs)

(Tiffany & Co.)

The big 6 must see displays are:
Bloomingdales
Barney's
Bergorf Goodman
Saks
Lord and Taylor
Macy's

(Henri Bendel, candy and cakes)

Other this year:
Henri Bendel
Dylan's Candy Bar
Anthropologie
Tiffany & Co.
Cartier
Fendi
Louis Vuitton

(Lord and Taylor, Christmas Past)

(Lord and Taylor)

(Bergdorf Goodman)

Which window is your favorite this year?

The Art of Lepidotera Migration: Paul Villinski

Lepidotera Migration is an organic-biological phenomenon centered around the migration of a multitude of butterflies. Below is an image of the Monarch butterflies migration:

Paul Villinski is one of our favorite artists and we have had the pleasure to work with him on a site-commissioned project on behalf of one of our clients. The work speaks for itself, but one central theme begins to emerge once you look at Paul's work as a whole: aviation. But for me personally aviation only scratches the surface of meaning in Paul's artworks. When I gaze at these thoughtfully recycled (yes, these butterflies are made of recycled aluminium cans) and meticulously placed forms a plethora of emotions, which trigger a variety of reactions, bubble to the surface. I tend to lose myself in Paul's work, there is something about the constructed patterns and colors--I feel a since of freedom juxtaposed with feelings of community and togetherness. There is also a hint of the delicate involving the biological form in time and space.

(Above: 60" x 60", created specifically for our client's entryway)

The images above represent a few of Paul's site-specific/commissioned artworks. What is amazing about Paul's work form a curatorial standpoint is that he can take a concept (like butterflies) and apply it to different and unique spaces. Here are few of his not-so-specific/stand-alone works:

The collection of Paul's work speaks to viewers about rebirth and renewal, both physically and mentally. Flying Machines and Glove Wings are two other projects that use recycled materials in the literal sense, but also uses these materials (gloves, chairs, flying gear, etc.) as a means of artistic reincarnation. Below you will find examples of each series:

Paul is represented by:

Morgan Lehman Gallery

535 W. 22nd St, NYC

Gallery Website

If you would like to see more of Paul's work, visit his website.

* You can see Paul's work on the hit Warner Brothers TV show “Gossip Girl” on Monday September 27*

Public Art

I was walking though beautiful Madison Square Park a few days ago and as I was passing through the peaceful tranquility of the park I gazed upward and was shocked to see a man standing on a ledge of a tall building. Then I saw another and another. I quickly realized that these men were actually representations in iron and somehow seemed connected to one another.

The sculptures were created by Antony Gormley and conceived for his first American public art project entitled: Event Horizon, which is Gromley's first public art exhibition in America. The exhibition is comprised of iron and fiberglass forms that inhabit buildings, rooftops, and sidewalks in and around Madison Square Park.

Anthony Gormley

Event Horizon is presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy in partnership with the City of New York.