Courtney Love Lived Here; Now, In-House Psychic and Butler
Posted - September 8th, 2010 - Art, Debauchery, Fashion
Parlor in the Chelsea Mansion on 20th Street
Right before Labor Day weekend, I was invited to experience a little bit of the latest New York V.I.P housing concept: the temporary luxury dwelling. Perfect for movie stars and directors who are non-city residents but are shooting flicks in the city, the renovated Chelsea Mansion — built in the 1800’s — brings Edith Wharton into the glittering modern age. Located at 436 West 20th Street and restored by developer Michael Bolla, the place felt colorfully mind expanding like an ode to not just Wharton, but to the Bloomsbury intellectual salon of yore. The six-floored place features an in-house butler and psychic for all residents. (The amenities list also boasts an on call fashion stylist and yoga instructor.)
After falling in love with the marble fireplaces and Baccarat chandeliers (from the Twenties), the psychic, Roxanne Hulderman, literally gave me goose bumps. In the cozy boho chic parlor, she held my necklace in her palm and consulted my “guides and angels,” taking me on an uncanny session of personal details that I still do not understand.
Hulderman, who has been featured on CNN and other shows in the past few months, had become the financial world’s soothsayer du jour since the market crashed. She’s apparently also seen Courtney Love, who lived at Chelsea Mansion until May. For a cool $20,000 a month for a two bedroom — with short term leases going for a few weeks up to twelve months — you too can have the luxury of seeing the incredible Hulderman.
Still, you don’t have to move in to get a reading. You can contact the psychic through her website. Prepare to be spooked in the nicest possible way. Check out: PSYCHICROXANNE.
Courtney Love, one of the cozy yet luxe Chelesea Mansion’s first modern short term residents
The Heartbreaks are a British indie rock band formed in Lancashire in 2009. Now based in Manchester, they are described as the ’soon-to-be massive indie wonders’. The band’s Motown pop purity, coy vocals and innocent romanticism gives The Heartbreaks a similar charm to when The Smith’s first came to town. “I didn’t think it would hurt to think of you“ is the next single to be released from their debut album, planned to be released later this year.
These Hot Little Bags Are NOT FOR SALE!
Posted - August 31st, 2010 - Art, Fashion
Charismatic shutterbug Caroline Torem Craig, taking shots of notables in LES, NYC
If you’re anywhere around the “in scenes” of New York, you’ve met photographer Caroline Torem Craig. She’s been snapping lots of fun photos for Paper Magazine for at least the last decade. She’s one strong rock n’roll dame, and I’ve always admired her stamina.
What I didn’t know was that Caroline hand sews a line called “Freedom From Design,” what I’ll describe as art satchels with images taken from some of her favorite visual or musical artists. See in the slide show below, the depiction of a nurse — Richard Prince!– and another that resembles guitarist Jimi Hendrix. She pulls from what she loves and she’ll be showing her art at Opening Ceremony this fall. But before you pull out the wallet, note that they are not for sale! Caroline has been doing these remarkable pieces for about eighteen years for the sheer joy of it, although I’ve seen a few talented designers, including pal Victoria Bartlett ignite upon seeing them as hot accessories. Maybe one day, but for now we can only look an covet.
Reality TV Art Debuts at Hipster Enclave
Posted - August 27th, 2010 - Art, Fashion
Good and Lonely Luminous Structure No. 2 by Miles Mendenhall
The Half Gallery in LES usually brings out some cool kids and downtown luminaries like the ThreeAsFour designers, photographers like Mark Borthwick, the curator Neville Wakefield, smatterings of Vogue editors, and Purple Magazine editor Olivier Zahm at his sweaty best. But last week, perhaps, an impostor entered the works: Miles Mendenhall, a 23 year old artist and a competitor on Bravo Television’s “Work of Art.” Mendenhall, who has made some nifty curved wooden chairs in the past and likes to paint gruesome takes on Salvador Dali paintings, concentrated this time on printmaking. Most of the black and white checked or circled images on the wall seemed blurred, purposely. A friend indicated that they looked like something that you’d find in a yuppie furniture store.
Apparently, Mendenhall was selected for the show since one of the gallery owners, Bill Powers, appeared as a judge on “Work of Art.” So the kid did get some props from mainstream television. Personally, I like the checked scarf print that really collided in the best way with my pal, artist Megan Marrin’s shirt. (See below.) Marrin also crafted the jewels around her neck, the fab red and white circle and the doll’s leg, which she procured from a doll cemetery in Germany. Wow. Suddenly, Mendenhall really pales in comparison.
Miles Mendenhall, August 24th- September 14th, Half Gallery, 208 Forsyth Street.
Megan Marrin unknowingly came coordinated to the show; great neck ornaments, made by her.
British synthpop duo ‘Hurts’ are the latest boys to break through from the massive Manchester music scene, spreading a showcase of music which will happily take you right back to the 80’s. Hurts came about early this year with debut single “Better than Love” which gave them unsurprising success in the download charts before gaining an official number one.
“Wonderful Life” is the next track to be released from the album Happiness which also includes collaborations with Kylie Minogue. The video expresses a Spandau-esk theme (sax solo also included!) as well as a gorgeous Edie Sedgwick look-alike, dancing timelessly to this glorious sombre sound. Hurts have created what hopes to be a heart-piercing future classic.
Seen here: some stellar looks from the previous seasons till now
Gearing up for autumn in New York City usually means taking out the “go to” pieces from the wardrobe, which of course, always includes Hudson jeans. When I thought of the perfect accessory to transform a simple tee and great jeans, Lizzie Fortunato — whose eponymous jewelry line — pops immediately to mind. Lizzie, the pixie haired lass in the slideshow, and her sister Kathryn, started making custom jewelry almost a decade ago, while Lizzie was still at Duke University. Now, the sisters scour the globe in search of special gems, stones, porcelain, and even lace to construct one of kind necklaces and bangles. Depending on where you buy, you can pay anywhere from $28 for a bracelet from the diffusion line at Urban Outfitters to several hundred at Bergdorf Goodman or Kirna Zabete.
The way I see it, like a perfect fitting pair of Hudson jeans, a Fortunato necklace means an investment piece, chic for all seasons. Another bonus: “fortunato” in Italian means fortunate. That’s gotta bring good luck! Click: LizzieFortunato
The exhibit at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery in Chelsea boasts that the current exhibit “Today I Made Nothing’ persists in its declaration that it remains open through the end of summer. But this is a trick. The gallery — closed through September 7th– will reopen during NYC’s Fashion Week, for another eleven days so those of us with too much visual stimulation from the runways can disappear into the sterile world of computers, paper, thoughts. The reality: upon seeing this exhibit, one experiences a buzz, a nice sedative effect. The artists presented beg the question: when are we thinking effectively, actually working, transferring our thoughts into creative enterprise or product and when are we just existing, hiding behind our desks, furniture, labor unions, computers, etc? Depending on how you use the means of production and your thoughts, you could be contributing in making things or you could just hide slink behind a desk or an idea, remain sloth in the process of it all.
Today I Made Nothing
Duncan Campbell, Alejandro Cesarco, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda, Tyler Coburn, Harun Farocki, Liam Gillick, Renée Green, Sam Lewitt, Jonathan Monk, Virginia Overton, Josef Strau, Mika Tajima
Organized by Tim Saltarelli
July 27 – September 18 (gallery closed for summer hiatus from August 14 – September 7)
Closing Reception: Friday, September 17, from 6-8 pm Elizabeth Dee Gallery, 545 West 20th Street, Tues-Sat: 11 to 6 pm.
Waste Land, the film: So Much Beauty from Garbage
Posted - August 17th, 2010 - Art
Vik Muniz “Mother and Chidren” shown in the film Wasteland
If you see one movie this year, see Wasteland. It is the most beautiful film of our generation. Premiering this week in special showings at IFC Film Center in New York, then opening to select theaters in the U.S. on the 29th of August, it may take an Oscar. It will surely take your heart.
Director Lucy Walker follows Brooklyn-based artist Vik Muniz to Brazil, his native country, where he grew up in a lower middle class home. Now, as the country’s most successful art export, Muniz revisits a community of garbage collectors at a landfill. These people live in outposts and rifle through the trash of both the rich and the poor, lifting what can be recycled. One of the oldest men of the workers, the head of their makeshift union, explains with pride that although he is not educated, his job is vital. He is proud. Even if they only collect one piece to be recycled to help the environment, “it’s 99, not 100″ pieces that will pollute.
All the workers in the movie tell their stories, how life took tragic turns. A mother whose son dies from pneumonia and she needs to identify him in a pile of garbage; a woman who cooks food that has not yet gone bad on the collection site so everyone can eat; a man who rescues books from the heaps, dries them in his refrigerator so he can read and educate himself.
Muniz photographs these people and then enlists their help in creating large scale portraits that they fill with garbage, which from afar resembles the most delicately painted pastel border. The image of Tao — one of the most charismatic collectors below — imitating Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat, dying in a tub sold for $50,000 at Sotheby’s in London, with all proceeds going back to help the Brazilian collectors. Muniz donated all the proceeds of the portraits back to them. In recreating them as art, he recognizes their dignity and reshapes their lives. This is a must see, a small miracle of beauty and life. IFCFILMCENTER
With only a couple weeks left before autumn, we’re all basking in the last glow of sun with getaways to the country or the beach. In the exhibit, “Summer Selections”, at the Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe Gallery in Chelsea, even those of us trapped in the city can enjoy some color by a compilation of talented global artists including Iva Gueorguieva, Michael Reafsnyder, Judy Pfaff, Patrick Wilson, and Suzanne Caporael. Patrick Wilson paints the three small squares on the wall seen here and Caporael does the work with the abstract rhombus. My personal favorite — the two yellow round figures on a black background — by Robert Motherwell, takes the cake.
Enjoy the burn while it lasts: “Summer Selections,” Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, 525 West 22nd Street, until August 20th.
