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Henry Hill, the infamous mob informant whose life of crime was chronicled in the film classic “GoodFellas,” has died at 69.
Henry Hill, Subject of Martin Scorsese's "GoodFellas" Dies
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Slideshow: Highlights from Luxury Week: Jewels and Watches at Christie's
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The Beach Boys' Best Debut Ever
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The Beach Boys' "That's Why God Made the Radio" is the band's first album to ever debut in the Top 10.
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In the Spotlight: The First "Breaking Bad" Season 5 Promo Arrives, Hugh Laurie in Talks to Appear in "RoboCop" Remake, and More Culture News
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Published: June 13, 2012
Spotlight focuses on the best in culture, hour by hour. Here's today's news and reviews.
• Listen to The Alchemist's new song, "Flight Confirmation," featuring Danny Brown and Schoolboy Q.
• Watch Bryan Cranston get angry in the first promo for the fifth and final season of "Breaking Bad."
• Hugh Laurie is in negotiations to play the villain in Jose Padhila's "RoboCop" remake.
• Ethan Hawke on why it's easy to act in movies.
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"From Spark to Finish": In Basel, Design Miami/'s Designers of the Future Unveil Illuminating Inventions
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Published: June 13, 2012
Design Miami/Basel's W Hotels Designers of the Future booth appears to be lined with plantation shutters, but don't try to open them; they don't lead anywhere.
The illusion is a trick by Quebec-based Philippe Malouin, one of three designers who were given W's prestigious title for 2012. He interpreted this year's theme, "From Spark to Finish" by creating a play on light. Each piece of his "Daylight" series features slats lined in LED lights of an unusually friendly temperature — they're more akin to sunshine than the standard office fluorescence. As the lights reflect on the wall behind, they give the illusion of daylight streaming through windows, a cheerful thing on rainy days, or even in the middle of the night. Malouin fashioned the edges of these colorful triangles to fit together like Chinese Tangrams, giving you the tools to build a custom kaleidoscope onto your wall.
To see the work of the other Designers of the Future, click the slide show.
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Seeds of Reckoning, Amitkumar H. G.
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A Jean Prouve Homeless Shelter and Frederick Kiesler's Transformer Chair Tempt Collectors at Design Miami/Basel
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Published: June 14, 2012
BASEL, Switzerland — The seventh edition of Design Miami/Basel, situated in the hanger-like Hall 5 of the Messe Basel complex and running through Sunday, is sleeker and sharper this year with 35 galleries situated on the main floor and an additional grouping of five edgier “guerilla” dealers operating on the mezzanine level.
Of that less established group, Brussels’s Victor Hunt is featuring the cutting-edge and clever work of the Swedish-German duo Humans Since 1982 and the first international viewing of “Clock Clock (White),” an ambitious wall piece made up of 24 analogue clocks programmed to display the time in various patterns on the collective face of the assembly. The individual faces of the clocks can also be programmed to create geometrical letters. It is produced in an edition of eight; one so far has sold to a Swiss collector for €22,000.
On a more traditional note, Milan’s Erastudio Apartment-Gallery elicited strong interest in architect Vincenzo de Cotiis’s prototype cross-shaped writing desk from 2012, comprised of aged silvered brass sheet, black-painted wood, and recycled wooden panels. It was on offer for €42,000. The piece is elegantly chunky, with constructivist hints of Malevich in the form.
Downstairs on the main trading floor, the entryway was vividly dominated by the installation of Jean Prouve’s rare and wonderful “Des Jours Meilleurs House” (1956), comprised of steel and retractable aluminum shutters, a creation made at the urging of the Mother Teresa-like L’Abbe Pierre to provide emergency shelter for displaced persons during a harsh Paris winter. Only two of the Spartan houses are known to exist, and Paris dealer and Prouve champion Patrick Seguin owns both — that is, until he sold the Basel version to a private collector for an undisclosed price. Sources outside the gallery speculated the price was in the €2.5 million range.
Seguin has a number of Prouve's nomadic structures in his inventory, priced between €500,000 to €8 million, largely depending on size, according to the dealer. In addition to the house, which also served as the gallery’s headquarters during the fair, Seguin sold a variety of other fare: vintage lamps and furniture by Prouve, including the Jib lamp from 1951 for €38,000 to an American collector; a cabinet from 1953 with a wooden door for €10,000; a day bed in steel, wood, and aluminum for €42,000; and a Charlotte Perriand bench from Mauritania, dating from 1956, for €18,000.
“There are more and more people involved in design now,” said Seguin, who named a handful of luminaries who had already visited the house, including contemporary art collectors David Ganek, Peter Brant, and Alberto Mugrabi. During my brief conference with Seguin, New York collector, designer, and photographer Johnny Pigozzi wandered into the Prouve house and started taking pictures of the stripped-down structure that lacks a kitchen or bathroom.
Across the way, fellow Paris dealer Jacques Lacoste, in collaboration with Seguin, had a stand devoted to the luxurious work of Jean Royere. “We’ve done very well and we sold many things,” said Lacoste, who had offloaded a magnificent Royere Polar Bear set, comprising a red mohair sofa and two matching armchairs from 1960, for €680,000 to an American collector. It had been sourced from the original owners who commissioned the pieces from the Royere studio and retained the original invoices. “Our specialty is to buy from the families of the first owners,” said the dealer, “so there’s no question about the authenticity of the pieces.”
Lacoste also sold a rare, vine-like Royere Liane wall lamp in enameled iron for a price over €100,000, a Tour Eiffel console table for €80,000, and an extraordinary group incorporating a velvet sofa and high-backed “Ambassador” armchairs for around €300,000. The ensemble was originally designed for the screening room of one of the late Shah of Iran’s houses in Tehran, though those pieces of furniture have disappeared from view. “Royere’s work is very joyful,” said Lacoste, who is preparing a catalogue raisonné of the designer in collaboration with Seguin, “and it makes for happy living because it is very feminine with many curves.”
There were plenty of iconic French designers to see this time around, and the Paris-based Galerie Jousse Entreprise devoted a solo presentation of the late Roger Tallon, famed for his industrial designs for the super-fast TGV train, Lip watches, and his collaborations with contemporary artists Yves Klein, Cesar, and Daniel Buren. Jousse featured vintage Tallon chairs and lamps, and sold a cast aluminum and foam-cushioned “Super Chaise” for €32,000. He also had luck with a somewhat tattered-looking high-backed chair in plywood and metal from the designer’s “Les Anthropomorphic” series from 1967, this particular example featuring the cut-out visage of the uniformed Charles De Gaulle covering the object. It sold for €65,000.
The gallery also sold works by other designers, including a handsome, articulated Janette Laverriere floor lamp from 1950 with its original iron patina and three light elements for €45,000.
The French theme continued at the New York/Paris-based Demisch/Danant, with both new and vintage works by the 81-year-old Maria Pergay. The gallery sold quite a few choice works: a pair of Plexiglas cube tables from the mid-1970s for €35,000; a slinky lounge chair in stainless steel with an accessorized green cushion from 1970 that was formerly in the apartment of the French actor Francois Periere for €45,000; and a similarly priced Ring Chair, one of the designer’s iconic pieces with curved legs from 1968.
The gallery, which staged a living room-like display of Pergay objects, also sold a pair of stainless steel and bronze sconces, each featuring a cast, gold-toned goat skull that possibly could be mistaken for a (less expensive) Sherrie Levine for around €40,000. “I’m happy because there’s strength in both sides, with both the recent and older material,” said partner Suzanne Demisch, who has exhibited at the design fair since its inception here in 2006. “Everyone here [at the fair] seems content and pleased with the increased support from visitors.”
Lighting was the sole theme at Paris’s Galerie Kreo, essentially an encyclopedic montage of major lighting pieces dating from the 1950s to the present by primarily French and Italian designers. Kreo had bursts of sales, including “Fresnel,” a pair of red wall sconces by Joe Colombo for €4,000, a Gio Ponti illuminated relief for €10,000, and two major ceiling lights by Gino Sarfati, classified as “#2109” and “#2068,” which sold for around €60,000 each.
Other illuminated standouts at Kreo ranged from Ettore Sottsass’s architectonic “Bharata,” with a black marble base and alabaster crown that sold for €8,000, and a recent edition of eight from the Bouroullac Brothers, “The Lianna” hanging lamp, completely comprised of leather, which sold for under €30,000.
If there was one piece to take away from this edition’s offerings, it would have to be the historic and still-grand Frederick Kiesler “Instrument” from 1942, which once served a multi-functional purpose at Peggy Guggenheim's avant-garde Art of This Century gallery in New York. Ulrich Fiedler of Berlin’s Galerie Ulrich Fiedler believes Kiesler made less than 30 of the organic shaped chair/table/sculpture objects in a Bronx garage with the solo help of a German carpenter. The amazing wooden object, temporarily displayed with another “Instrument” that Fiedler sold earlier on to a different client, resembles an oversized, biomorphic Jean Arp sculpture.
The gallery has already sold a number of works by other designers, including a high-backed, low armchair by British designer Gerald Summers from 1934 for €20,000 and a fully original hanging and moveable Bauhaus-era lamp by Heinrich-Siegfried Borman in aluminum and metal for €15,000. “Even the plug is orginal,” said Fiedler.
Finally, Moscow newcomers Heritage International Art Gallery had a fascinating presentation of Russian-made, mid-century and later furniture and objects, all of it unfamiliar. So far, the gallery has sold a striking, two-door cupboard made out of polished and deeply patterned nutwood from the 1960s by Yury Sluchevsky from the Stroganov Art School, which sold to a European buyer for €25,000.
Asked if the buyer knew of the designer, gallery project manager Irina Ryazanova smiled and said, “Maybe he just liked the look of it.”
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Slideshow: Highlights from DesignMiami/Basel
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The Tastemaker: Gallerist Stefania Bortolami's Jet-Set Style
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Published: June 14, 2012
Back in the ’90s Stefania Bortolami caught the eye of power gallerist Larry Gagosian, who poached her from London’s Antony d’Offay Gallery so she could handle his own stable of artists. As Gagosian’s director, Bortolami worked with superstars like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, earning her comparisons to the gallery’s namesake.
Armed with her innate business savvy, keen eye, and ability to nurture artists, Bortolami left with fellow Gagosienne Amalia Dayan in 2004 to open the now-defunct Bortolami Dayan Gallery. The two split when Dayan decided to start a family with her husband, collector and gallerist Adam Lindemann, and Bortolami decided to go at it on her own. For the last two years, Bortolami has been headquartered at a 6,200-square-foot space on West 20th Street in Manhattan, but that doesn’t mean she spends most of her time there.
The gallerist constantly flies around the globe to see her artists’ installations and to represent Bortolami gallery at the never-ending stream of international art fairs. Currently, her artists are all over the place — Aaron Young’s crushed car is on display in the James Franco-curated exhibition, “Rebel,” at Los Angeles’s MOCA, while Daniel Buren’s transparent discs add a bright dose of color to Paris’s Grand Palais for Monumenta 2012.
Bortolami’s jet-set lifestyle and close ties to the fashion world (her client list includes some key players) require both comfort and luxury, like easygoing Prada cashmere cardigans and decadent yet extremely practical velvet Stubbs & Wootton slippers. For this edition of the Tastemaker, Bortolami explains why she’s reading “Fifty Shades of Grey” and dishes on the Annick Goutal perfume she can’t live without.
Click on the slide show to see Stefania Bortolami’s Tastemaker picks.
See more ARTINFO fashion and style coverage on our blog Silhouettes.
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Hoberman: Comic Embarrassment Raised to New Heights in Lynn Shelton’s “Your Sister’s Sister”
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Published: June 14, 2012
Released three summers back, Lynn Shelton’s mumblecore bromance “Humpday” was often very funny in its travesty of macho bravado and frenemy one-upsmanship; her modestly budgeted follow-up “Your Sister’s Sister” is smoother but less outrageous, although still an equivalent comedy of awkward sex — at least for its first half.
Like “Humpday,” “Your Sister’s Sister” is set in precincts of post-grunge Seattle and features indie filmmaker Mark Duplass in the role of a naturally obnoxious but disarmingly vulnerable and essentially good-natured guy-guy who gets over his head in a confusing erotic entanglement. Playing a married doofus in “Humpday,” Duplass stumbled into a mad art project featuring hetero dude-on-dude action to find himself on camera and in bed with an old college pal. (Predicated on whether the guys were actually going to make it, “Humpday” was, in effect, about itself.) In the more conventional “Your Sister’s Sister,” Duplass plays guy hung up on his late brother’s ex (Emily Blunt) who just happens to be his own self-described “best friend.” Read the full review on Movie Journal.
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Slideshow: Images from Bucharest Biennale 5
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Al Pacino Returns to Broadway in "Glengary Glen Ross" Revival
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Producers announce that the Oscar winner will play the role of Shelly Levene in the 30th anniversary revival of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the backbiting world of salesmen.
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Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Ceremony Revealed
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The Oscar-winning director reveals his plans for the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, inspired by William Shakespeare's "The Tempest."
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Slideshow: One Line Reviews — June 14
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In the Spotlight: Stars Flood Broadway, David Byrne and St. Vincent Collaborate, and More Culture News
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Published: June 14, 2012
Spotlight focuses on the best in culture, hour by hour. Here's today's news and reviews.
• Lindsay Lohan is set to star in the Bret Easton Ellis-penned "The Canyons."
• Wild Nothing releases "Shadow," the perfect dream pop single.
• Atom Egoyan main cast is set for the West Memphis Three film "Devil's Knot."
• David Byrne and St. Vincent's collaborative album to come out this September.
• J. Hoberman reviews Lynn Shelton's "Your Sister's Sister."
• Lena Dunham talks about her number one teenage crush: Jimmy Fallon.
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Art Basel Week in Pictures: Highlights From the Swiss Super-Fair, its Parties, and Satellites
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Published: June 15, 2012
This week, the 43rd edition of Art Basel — and its attendent parties, events, and satellite fairs — has given the art world an eyeful. For those of us who couldn't make it to Switzerland, there are plenty of photos from the fairs. Herein we've gathered all our slide shows from the action at Basel for your perusal, plus another 20 installation shots from the fair's booths. It's almost like actually being there in person!
— 20 Standout Installations From the Aisles at Art Basel
— ARTINFO's 10 Favorite Art Basel Booths
— Art Basel's Art Unlimited kick-off event
— Highlights From Art Basel's VIP Vernissage
— More of our Favorite Works from Art Basel's Booths
— Choice Works From This Year's Design Miami/Basel
— Design Miami/Basel's "Designers of the Future" Prize
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Slideshow: Caribbean: Crossroads of the World
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In the Spotlight: The Stone Roses Comeback Tour Hits a Snag, Ben Walker Continues to Play Presidents, and More Culture News
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Published: June 15, 2012
Spotlight focuses on the best in culture, hour by hour. Here's today's news and reviews.
• Heavenly Beat's new summer jam, "Tradition."
• The Stone Roses comeback tour is off to a rough start.
• Ben Walker continues to portray American presidents in less than expected ways.
• John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, talks American politics.
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The 5 Most Awesome Hair, Makeup and Nail Looks of the Week (Which Is Your Favorite?)
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Week in Review: Art Basel From Every Angle, the Nail Art Explosion, and Our "Mad Man" Prophecies
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Published: June 15, 2012
Our most-talked-about stories in Art, Design & Fashion, and Performing Arts, June 11-15, 2012:
ART
— At Art Basel 2012, we picked our 10 favorite booths, planned an itinerary of 10 must-attend events, marveled at major galleries' masterpiece-filled stands, reported serious sales during the two-day VIP preview — including Pace Gallery's $25-million Gerhard Richter — checked out the large-scale sculptures in the fair's Art Unlimited section, and finally found some time to sneak out to join Dasha Zhukova, Tracey Emin, and more at a lavish dinner party honoring Rem Koolhaas, before checking in with both the Design Miami/ design fair and Volta.
— Shane Ferro crunched the numbers and discovered that while prices for trophy pieces by Munch, Rothko, and company have soard, the art market's mid-level is stagnating and may be on the brink of collapse.
— Swiss collector Uli Sigg donated more than 1,400 works of iconic contemporary Chinese art to Hong Kong's under-construction M+ museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District.
— The Metropolitan Museum invited new media artists to scan and remix works from their collection, and they produced new takes on canonical art history with the Makerbot 3D printer.
— Rising art star and YouTube art critic Hennessy Youngman discussed the similarities between the art world and hip-hop, and revealed an embarrassing painting he recently purchased.
DESIGN & FASHION
— Janelle Zara reported on Design Miami/Basel's W Hotel-sponsored Designers of the Future prize, which went this week to three rising stars.
— Kelly Chan wrote that steel giant ArcelorMittal's broke its promise to concentration camp survivors in a small town in Bosnia while assembling Anish Kapoor's $35-million tower for the London Olympics.
— Ann Binlot investigated the sudden ubiquity of elaborate nail art, which has been worn by everyone from superstars like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry to attendees at the super-indie Bushwick Open Studios.
— HBO added a 350-pound, $30,000 replica of the spiky Iron Throne from its hit series "Game of Thrones" to its online store.
— Salavatore Ferragamo became the first designer ever to have a fashion show in the gilded halls of the Louvre.
PERFORMING ARTS
— J. Hoberman enjoyed the comic embarrassment of sibling love triangle comedy "Your Sister's Sister," but lost interest when things turned serious.
— With production underway on yet another "Moby Dick" screen adaptation and a film based on Thomas Philbrick’s National Book Award-winning “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex,” Graham Fuller predicted a string of whaling-themed blockbusters.
— We gloated a little when most of our predictions about Sunday's "Mad Men" season finale turned out to be extremely accurate.
— Bryan Hood noted that Lindsay Lohan, who is set to co-star with pornstar James Deen in "The Canyons," a new indie movie directed by Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis, is in many ways already a character from an Ellis novel.
— While in Berlin, J. Hoberman marveled at artist Rabih Mroué's haunting film installation based on cell phone video of the Syrian uprising, "Double Shooting."
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