Art

There is no shortage of love for city escapism at the FABRIC magazine offices in downtown Manhattan, however, seasoned New Yorkers know that big summer weekends are sometimes the best to stay home and enjoy the empty city. That being said, staying in the 212 is no excuse for merely sitting at home and watching the telly, so we’ve decided to compile a list of culturally stimulating, physically moving and restful activities for those of us not in the Hamptons this weekend. Continue…

Opening on June 16, 2009 Chambers Fine Art is presenting the pieces of Song Dong and Rong Rong. Focusing on works of the 1990s when both artists were working in Beijing although following widely different paths, the exhibition contrasts their response to the rapidly changing urban environment in which they struggled to make their presence felt and the role of photography in their artistic practice. Continue…

Even though we’re in a recession and a personal loan might be nice, it’s grounding to think that there are those worse off. Last Wednesday, designers such as Diane von Furstenberg and student/model Elettra Wiedemann lent their faces for a FINCA fund raising event at Milk Studios titled Wishful Thinkers. FINCA is a non-profit that specializes in lending micro-loans to women in developing countries such as Tanzania and Kyrgystan. Each woman’s portrait hung on spare walls and it was refreshing to see that the faces were finished not with the usual heavy-handed airbrushing but by the more realistic hand of Pistol Studios’ Jason Tuchman. Continue…

All dolled up with a place to go, Saturday night was a perfect spring evening in the city.  I headed to Upper East Side where the Guggenheim opened its doors for its 50th anniversary celebration with a retrospective of the museum’s architect, Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward. Continue…

The beauty of living in New York is you can wander around the city and get culture for free. Tonight (because we like to think weekends start on Thursdays) West London graffiti artist Maximillian Wiedemann takes on the rich and famous and the hype that surrounds them in his Tribeca show, Vanity Unfair, at the Zinc Building. Expect a smattering of expats, ripped jeans and lots of lumberjack plaid. Continue…

When buying $5,000 tables at The Box is no longer an option because you work(ed) in finance, its time to look elsewhere to impress your dates - yes, that other reason why people come to New York, for the art. Included in your foray into the visually pleasing you will find works by Israeli artist Penny Hes Yassour. Her works on display will include sculptures and drawings inspired by landscapes, which is a theme famliar with Israeli artists. To aid you on your your cultural journey, you may receive several free glasses of wine (white or red) and have a chance to meet a lot of interesting people who have no idea where the market closed (except for TriBeCa Wholefoods which closes at 10). Continue…

Thanks to the recession, most of us are now pretty accustomed to anxiety, confusion and desperate re-evaluation of our actual relationship with reality. Which is why the gallows’ humor-laced surreality typified by David Lynch seems such a sensible form of fantasy to indulge in. Though Berliners’ already gritty sensibility means that the economy presages less jarring lifestyle changes for the locals, the ‘poor but sexy’ city is now the location for a series of exhibitions purveying lavish doses of surrealism. Continue…

To be a young, performance art star is charmed enough, but Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli also has Hollywood on his side. His project “Greed” with Roman Polanski, Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams is a riff on the perfume ad. There are all the prerequisites for an art-world blockbuster: mocking irony, sex appeal and a reference to Marcel Duchamp’s Belle Haleine: Eau de Voilette, where DuChamp tampered with a Rigaud perfume label. Alas with any good art project these days, it’s also well-funded by none other than art heavyweight Gagosian Gallery. A charmed life indeed. Continue…

Joy Division and New Order? If it was Hemingway, he’d say, “Not bad.” Although records have been replaced by MP3 files and Apples iTunes, the album art from LPs show how graphic design can transgress into art and vice versa. One of the notables of this rare breed of graphic designer is Brit Peter Saville who was the house record sleeve designer for Factory Records. He’s so notable he’s even featured in the movie 24 Hour Party People, Continue…

Who needs Richard Prince and Murakami when you have fashion designers moonlighting as artists? The art and fashion worlds continue their love-hate affair with edgy designers of the old and young, in the vein of Hussein Chalayan and Henrik Vibskov, respectively. Both designers are presenting shows to jumpstart the new year. London-based Chalayan will be showing in his hometown at the Design Museum from January 21st to May 17th of this year, which will also function as a retrospective of the designer’s work for the past 15 years. Continue…