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VIDEO: Interview with Director of Art Basel about the Upcoming Hong Kong Fair

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VIDEO: Interview with Director of Art Basel about the Upcoming Hong Kong Fair

BEIJING — On May 23, Hong Kong will become the third location to have an international contemporary art fair that bears the Art Basel name. 

More than half of the participating galleries at Art Basel Hong Kong are based in Asia. Speaking at a news conference in Beijing Tuesday, Marc Spiegler, the director of Art Basel, was confident that the fair's Hong Kong edition will prove successful because galleries will be willing to "go to Hong Kong to engage with the Asian market". This just as Art Basel Miami Beach provides a link to the North American and Latin American art markets and the original Basel fair in Switzerland is still a key connection with the European market.

ARTINFO sat down with Spiegler after the news conference and talked more about the making of Art Basel Hong Kong and what participant and visitors can expect from the design of the fair, to the works offered and the key potential buyers.


When in Tokyo for Art Fair Tokyo

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What: Art Fair Tokyo

When: March 22–24, Vernissage on March 21

Where: Tokyo International Forum, B2F Exhibition Hall

 

Directed by Takahiro Kaneshima, who has extensive previous experience working at Tokyo Gallery + BTAP in Beijing and with collectors and curators in Taiwan, this year’s edition will continue to showcase top Southeast Asian artists like Indonesian Jompet Kuswidananto, Thai avant-garde filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Philippine fabulist Rodel Tapaya in its Discover Asia section. The new Tokyo Limited section, in contrast, will focus on the genre-crossing experimental practices characteristic of the Japanese capital, including garments by fashion designer writtenafterwards and contemporary jewelry. There will also be a special exhibition of calligraphy and ceramics in a recreation of former Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa’s personal tea ceremony room.

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L’Effervescence

Headed by Shinobu Namae, an alumnus of both Michel Bras’ Toya in Hokkaido and Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in London, L’Effervescence is quietly drawing gourmands to a nondescript backstreet next to a temple in Nishi-Azabu. With bold, unexpected flavor pairings, Namae combines faultless classical French techniques with premium Japanese produce. The sous-vide foie gras with subdued passion fruit puree, seared guinea fowl paired with lotus root and sansho pepper, and slow-roasted Japanese turnip served on a blistering hot volcanic slate are all impeccable. Save room for particularly playful desserts, such as shaved persimmon with white miso ice cream and Sauternes jelly. 2-26-4 Nishi-Azabu — Minato-ku, +81 3 5766 9500

 

 

Ryugin

Applying molecular gastronomy techniques to classical Japanese kaiseki (multi-course banquet), Seiji Yamamoto coaxes fresh and piquant flavors out of what can sometimes be an overly ceremonial and rule-bound affair. The 11-course extravaganza draws a swish crowd of locals and visiting dignitaries from nearby embassies with rigorously selected domestic meat and sashimi platters paired with carefully chosen condiments like kabosu citrus and matsuba snow crab from Sanin Bay. The piece-de-resistance: a candied apple flash-chilled to -196C using liquid nitrogen served alongside a scalding apple sauce. The contrast of textures and temperatures based on a single flavor profile is exhilarating.  Side Roppongi Building 1F, 7-17-24 Roppongi —Minato-ku, +81 3 3423 8006

 

 

Roppongi Nouen

This restaurant/outdoor dome/vegetable hothouse may be a mere three minutes from the infamously chaotic Roppongi crossing but it’s a world away in atmosphere, offering a humble yet sumptuous menu inspired in equal parts by farm-to-table northern Californian cuisine and the underappreciated bounty of Japan’s more rural provinces. A recent dinner included locally-sourced organic veggies braced with a bagna cauda anchovy dip, minty egoma (Chinese basil), and spicy bean paste; sawara (mackerel) confit; malted bran pickles; and a top grade hotpot of Tosa Hachikin chicken in a luscious collagen broth. The eclectic, rough-and-tumble interior partially mimics the feel of a traditional Japanese storehouse, with plaster stucco walls and cool concrete tables.  Roppongi 6-6-15 — Minato-ku, +81 3 3405 0684

 

 

Trump Room

Stuffed animal heads, chintzy wallpaper, velvet sofas, and a constellation of chandeliers — this legendary Shibuya club continues to throb as a maximalist staple of the hipster scene. In the past, the Trump Room’s decadent parties by Fashion Ramone and Tokyo Dandy helped bridge the international expat party scene with some of Tokyo’s more underground nightlife cultures. Today it remains a somewhat willfully obscure (they haven’t even bothered to put up a website) but steadfast fixture for the capital’s more whimsicial fashionistas to gather and schmooze, and occasionally hear some quality DJ sets. Dress fierce. Hoshi Building 4F, 1-12-14 Jinnan — Shibuya-ku, +81 3 3770 2325

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Harcoza

A psychedelic daydream tucked within Daikanyama — a hilly, dog-friendly neighborhood whose fashion sense tends to veer more towards preppy elegant — Harcoza showcases a mishmash, candy-colored aesthetic that is uniquely oh-so  Tokyo. Pale green wallpaper and dressers with gold gilt, Lego-motif carpets, mirror balls, and velvet curtains are the perfect backdrop for the playful, ruffled dresses, rubber necklaces, and bonsai-sprouting accessories. There’s also a small selection of artwork for sale by outsider artists like Misaki Kawai. 1F, 2-15-9 Ebisu-Nishi — Daikanyama (Shibuya-ku), +81 3 6416 0725

 

 

Daikanyama T-Site

Just a short walk from Harcoza, retail giant Tsutaya’s first attempt at creating a luxurious, linger-friendly environment for media junkies is a runaway success — especially for those with a penchant for leafing through a pile of magazines with a cocktail. (The house special? A Spring Note: Dewar’s 12-year whiskey with plum wine and yuzu citrus peel.) Hunker down in the upstairs lounge with a full wall-to-wall selection of vintage fashion, art, and design magazines, available both analog and iPad. For the truly obsessed, seek out the in-house travel agents and music and book concierges who can whip up custom itineraries or help find the perfect tome. 17-5 Sarugakucho — Daikanyama (Shibuya-ku), +81 3 3770 2525

 

 

Dover Street Market Ginza

This seven-floor outpost of Rei Kawakubo’s eclectic multi-brand boutique features knobbly white coral-esque pillars by artist Kohei Nawa and pieces from all the major Comme des Garçons diffusion lines, selections from CDG acolytes Ganryu and Junya Watanabe, as well as Visvim, Alexander Wang, and Rick Owens. There’s even a small bookstore curated by POST and a branch of Rose Bakery, Kawakubo’s favorite Paris café. An in-store direct overpass links to the giant Uniqlo flagship across the road — proof that high couture and the avant-garde can happily shake hands with mass-market style. Ginza Komatsu West,  6-9-5 Ginza — Chuo-ku, +81 3 6228 5080

 

 

Lift Etage

Bare concrete floors, battered wooden floorboards, and a changing room enclosed by a panoply of tall wooden antique doors gives this racy boutique a polished gallery-like feel. The focus is very much on the Antwerp Six and their disciples — Ann Demeulemeester, Guidi, The Viridi-anne, Stephan Schneidr, Guidi — with painstakingly detailed black monochrome pieces for both men and women. Highlights include Carol Christian Poell’s gently creased leather blousons with patched inseams and m.a+’s (Maurizio Amadei) calf leather accessories. Garden Daikanyama 1F, Daikanyama-cho 16-5 — Shibuya-ku, +81 3 3780 0163

 

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Hara Museum of Contemporary Art

Ensconced in a quietly upscale residential neighborhood just outside Shinagawa, the Hara is perhaps Tokyo’s most elegant private museum. The Art Deco-inspired architecture, outdoor sculpture garden and terrace, and gracious curved walls have previously hosted avant-garde artists like Ming Wong and Pipilotti Rist. Coinciding with Art Fair Tokyo, the Hara will be welcoming French conceptualist Sophie Calle back for her first Japan solo show in fourteen years. “For the Last and First Time” pairs photos and text drawn from interviews with people who have lost their sight with images from Hiroshi Sugimoto’s famed “Seascapes” series. 4-7-25 Kita Shinagawa — Shinagawa-ku, +81 3 3445 0651

 

 

Nezu Museum

Refurbished and reopened in 2009, industrialist Kaichiro Nezu Sr’s private collection of ancient Chinese bronzes and 17th century Japanese calligraphy, lacquer, and ceramics, newly shines in immaculate galleries designed by Kengo Kuma. Highlights include seven certified National Treasures and 87 Important Cultural Properties like Rimpa artist Ogata Korin’s folding-screen painting “Irises.” For connoisseurs of traditional Japanese arts, a garden with a gravity and tranquility unmatched in Tokyo houses several tea houses, while a current exhibition showcases implements that belonged to daimyo (feudal lord) tea masters from the Edo era. 6-5-1 Minami-Aoyama — Minato-ku, +81 3 3400 2536

 
 
 

Mori Art Museum

It’s an ironic tour-de-force that Tokyo’s reigning bad boy of contemporary art, Makoto Aida, has filled almost the entire space of Tokyo’s swankiest art museum with his sprawling oeuvre: an unvarnished cross-section of the most sinister psychosexual, right-wing nationalistic, and identity-driven complexes of 21st century Japan. Despite sensitive contextualizing by chief curator Mami Kataoka, some of the finer nuances are bound to get lost in translation, although the more visceral qualities of Aida’s work — ash-colored mountains of dead salarymen reframed as a classical landscape painting, Zero Bombers mounting a hypothetical revanchist air raid on New York — need little explication. If the political provocations prove too much, escape upstairs to the Tokyo Sky Deck for panoramic views that are particular bewitching at night. “Makota Aida: Unveiled Genius in Chaos!” runs till March 31. 53F Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills, 6-10-1 Roppongi — Minato-ku, +81 3 5777 8600

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Claska Hotel

Despite Tokyo’s plethora of carefully curated interior and design stores, the Japanese capital still lags behind when it comes to sharply produced boutique hotels — business comfort usually trumps over charm and character — which leaves the Claska Hotel in a class of its own. Artists such as Intentionallies, Torafu, and Kaname Okajima have individually designed the hotel’s 18 rooms with a very Tokyo mod-traditional mash-up that mixes antiques and tatami mats and sleek Japanese contemporary furniture. No surprise many guests are in the design, fashion, and art industries. Inspired? The in-house DO gallery and shop stocks an eclectic selection of artisanal sake and wine glasses, folk crafts, ceramics, and coolly minimal interior pieces. 1-3-18 Chuo-cho — Meguro-ku, +81 3 3719 8121, Rates: Doubles from ¥19,950 (~$210)

 

 

Park Hyatt

Spanning the 12 floors at top of this Kenzo Tange-designed skyscraper, the 52nd floor New York Bar lounge — Sofia Coppola fans will fondly recall this is where Scarlett and Bill dealt with the faint nausea of cultural dislocation while knocking back Suntory — is a perfect vantage point for mulling over the gleaming Blade Runner cityscape you’ve heard so much about. The Hyatt brand lives up to the hype with a particular Japanese dedication to detail and fastidious pampering.  Suites are lined with rare Hokkaido water elm paneling accented with granite and green marble, while bathtubs offer more superlative views. 3-7-1-2 Nishi Shinjuku —Shinjuku-ku, +81 3 5322 1234, Rates: from ¥42,140 (~$442)

 

 

Hotel Okura

Dating from 1962, this hushed relic of modern Japanese design is the work of Yoshiro Taniguchi — not to be confused with his son Yoshio, whose more rigorous Modernist sensibilities were responsible for the redesign of New York’s MoMA — and continues to draw diplomats, business tycoons, and wealthy culture aficionados. A dusky, seductively cavernous lobby, gracefully strung with paper lanterns and adorned with miniature rock gardens and an assortment of screens and gilded louvers, is the property’s centerpiece. Rooms, meanwhile, are all subdued luster: Italian marble, chestnut woods, and handmade Japanese paper screens. Also on site is a tea ceremony room overlooking placid gardens and an art museum that showcases painted folding screens, calligraphy, and other traditional national treasures. 2-10-4 Toranomon — Minato-ku, +81 3 3582 0111, Rates: Doubles from ¥44,100 (~$462)

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BLOUIN ARTINFO’s must-do dining, shopping, and sightseeing during Japan’s biggest art weekend

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Architect Toyo Ito's Pritzker Prize Triumph Shows the Power of "Inadequacy"

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Architect Toyo Ito's Pritzker Prize Triumph Shows the Power of "Inadequacy"

It’s safe to say that few in the architecture community were surprised when Toyo Ito was named the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate this past Sunday. For many, Ito’s newest accolade is long overdue: The 71-year-old has produced a robust portfolio, with projects such as the somber concrete White U (1976) in Tokyo, the mercurial Tower of Winds (1986) in Kanagawa, the sleek and structurally inventive Sendai Mediatheque (2001), and the now-under-construction Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in Taiwan marking distinctive points in a long and influential career.

Ito’s ascent to the Pritzker is markedly different from that of last year’s laureate, the then 48-year-old Chinese architect Wang Shu. The selection of Wang in 2012 was a symbolically potent one, not only reflecting the Pritzker’s intermittent attempts to spotlight less established practitioners, but also calling for a new focus on China, where Wang has attempted to counter rapid urbanization with his historically layered constructions. While feting the emergent Wang Shu forecasted the important work yet to be done — for Wang, other architects, and society at large — the selection of Toyo Ito — a Pritzker frontrunner for some time now — seems relatively apolitical, a mere reaffirmation of past triumphs.

Yet a comment made by Ito in response to the propitious news highlights how this year’s Pritzker Prize can be seen as more than the architecture community resting on its laurels and celebrating one of its own (with $100,000 and a bronze medallion). “Architecture is bound by various social constraints. I have been designing architecture bearing in mind that it would be possible to realize more comfortable spaces if we are freed from all the restrictions even for a little bit,” said Ito. “However, when one building is completed, I become painfully aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into energy to challenge the next project. Probably this process must keep repeating itself in the future…Therefore, I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works.”

The quote has been cited as an explanation for Ito’s evolving “architectural style,” for an oeuvre that encompasses everything from a minimalist wood-and-aluminum shack to the Taiwanese opera house that was deemed technically unachievable for years after its fluid concrete walls were first conceived. The New York Times labeled Ito an “architectural iconoclast” who has “challenged the past 100 years of Modernism,” mythologizing Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque for its radical tectonics, which withstood the 2011 earthquake that shook eastern Japan and to this day represents the merits of the architect’s experimental streak.

One could argue, however, that Ito’s work does in fact reflect a significant aspect of the modernist agenda. Emerging out from the wake of the postwar Japanese Metabolists, Ito has demonstrated a characteristically modern fervor for new technology: His Tower of Winds presents a nocturnal spectacle of polychromatic neon rings that respond to the city’s shifting wind patterns; his Kaohsiung stadium not only runs on solar power but also shades spectators with a curving shape derived by computers; the glass cube of Ito's famed Sendai media library espouses the rise of new informational technologies and the synthesis of real and virtual environments.

Yet the humility of Ito’s response, his expressed feeling of “inadequacy,” points to limits that even his own inventive designs have admittedly failed to overcome: architecture’s social constraints. As Ito’s statement suggests, this insuperable shortcoming motivates the architect to greet new challenges with new ideas — utilizing new technologies and concepts — and to refrain from finding satisfaction in even his most powerful and enduring works. In a sense, Ito is communicating what Wang Shu’s Pritzker conferring boldly insinuated: There is much work to be done.

Slideshow: Design Days Dubai 2013

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World’s Largest Design Fair Opens in Dubai, Fed by Optimism About the Region

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World’s Largest Design Fair Opens in Dubai, Fed by Optimism About the Region

DUBAI — A buoyant mood pervaded the Sunday night opening of Design Days Dubai, now in its second outing and already claiming the title as the world’s largest design fair with 29 exhibiting galleries. The gathering was in fact merely the first act in the emirate’s Art Week program, to be followed by the emerging art fair Sikka, an evening of coordinated openings celebrating local dealers, the multi-part main event, Art Dubai (opening Wednesday), and the more ruminant Global Art Forum discussion-fest. This early in the week, it remained unclear if the design dealers’ upbeat spirits foretold more success to come or merely reflected an event particularly well calibrated to its locale. While the high-end contemporary design field has struggled to refine its identity and recapture its market in recent, post-recession years, dealers here clearly felt this fair had already established itself as a key to the future, an access point to the growth market of the Middle East.

“Design follows in the progression as people embrace notions of taste,” said Zesty Meyers of New York’s R 20th Century. “First there was the art fair, and then we [Design Days Dubai] came a few years later. And already this is a hub for Middle Eastern collectors and designers.” Favorites at R 20th’s booth included the room hung with 15 hand-blown glass lamps by Jeff Zimmerman, priced at $12,000 each — more than one opening-night VIP stopped in their tracks to pose for pictures — as well as a table-top tableaux of decorative objects by David Weissman

Across the board, dealers at Design Days spoke of the region’s burgeoning audience as less informed about the standards and practices of the field than their European and American counterparts, but eager to learn and free of prejudices that narrow the tastes of buyers in those more established markets. “It is about educating people in the tradition from which this cool-looking furniture stems, about fundamentals like vintage versus contemporary, unique versus commissioned work,” says P.J. Park of Seoul’s Gallery Seomi, which sold just two pieces at the fair last year, but chose to return because of a sense of potential. “It’s like an incubating system.” For 2013, the gallery’s offerings included the mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture of Kung Myung Sun and Kim Sang Hoon’s undulating wood seating.

Exhibitors ranged from all over, representing a truly global selection: from the United States, R 20th and Salon 94 from New York and Industry Gallery of L.A. and Washington, D.C.; Carpenters Workshop and Sarah Myerscough from Europe; Mexico City’s Galeria Mexicano de Diseño and São Paolo’s +Coletivo Amor de Madre, representing Latin America; Southern Guild of South Africa; and Korea’s Seomi, as well as Space Croft, repping Asia. Nearly a third came of the participating galleries from the Middle East.

Three-year-old Carwan gallery is headquartered in Beirut but foregoes a brick-and-mortar store so that the founders, architects Pascale Wakim and Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, can concentrate on the fair circuit. They specialize in contemporary designers from the region, and had Marc Baroud on hand to promote his line of limited-edition furnishings in African walnut and black leather. Asked about his business model, Bellavance-Lecompte explains, “You multiply your encounters every time you travel, but Dubai is the best for buying. It’s the reverse of Miami, contemporary is stronger here.” 

To see highlights of Design Days Dubai 2013, click on the slideshow.

Q&A: Marnie Stern on Trying to Survive the Music Landscape

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Q&A: Marnie Stern on Trying to Survive the Music Landscape

Since her debut, “In Advance of the Broken Arm,” it’s been clear that Marnie Stern is one of the best rock guitarists around. And with each successive album, she’s proven that her skills as a songwriter and lyricist match her virtuoso abilities. On her new album, the wonderfully titled “The Chronicles of Marnia,” the craziness of her previous records – walls of winding guitars and the sounds of thousands of thundering drums – is pared down ever so slightly, which gives her lyrics about striving and struggling to practice her art that much more room to resonate. That said, “Marnia” is still one of the wildest cacophonies of squealing guitar solos, fretboard dancing, and crashing drumming you’re likely to hear this year. ARTINFO’s Bryan Hood recently spoke with Stern on the phone about her recording process, what in the music business has got her down, and bands forgotten to time.

“The Chronicles of Marnia” is your fourth album. How has the process changed since your first record?

Well, the first one, you have a lot more time to do it and you’re figuring out stuff, which is sometimes better because it’s more refreshing. But really the process is still the same, you’re still trying to find creative ways that aren’t stale, that you haven’t done too many times.

When you start working on an album do you already have a theme in mind, or is this something that surfaces during the writing and recording process?

No, I’m not like a band that goes in and says, ‘OK, we’re going to make a record.’ It’s more like a job where I try to work on it all the time and come up with themes in my head. The themes, where they used to be really broad, now they’re much smaller, they’re just small details that I like to put in.

What themes do you notice in “The Chronicles of Marnia”?

Stylistically, I was listening to a little more ’50s music, like Chuck Berry. Getting into that kind of style of guitar. And the lyrical themes, they’re similar, but basically it’s such a strange situation out there with music that I’m always worried that I’m not going to – both creatively and literally – have the opportunity to release music. So that’s a fear.

Why is this a worry for you, especially since your records have tended to receive lots of positive critical attention?

Because labels are much tougher now in terms of choosing what they’re going to release. They’re not making any money, so they have to make sure they release stuff that sells, and my music doesn’t really sell records. So logically, I would be on the chopping block.

Is this a feeling you’ve always had or is it something more recent?

I think it’s more recent, because when you start out you’re fresh and known as the new thing. That passes quickly in the music world. It’s also a reflection on all the musicians that put out records that I looked up to so much that you just don’t hear about anymore. And wanting them to live on.

Who are some of those musicians?

Oh, just a lot of different bands that I was listening to when I was starting out. When you’re younger you just have a tendency to idolize stuff more. Like I was just talking to our drummer about the band Don Caballero, that’s one, and Royal Trux was another – bands that in their time were considered the coolest of the cool, and I guess the people who remember them still consider them that, but no one else remembers them.

Do you see yourself fitting into this kind of role as a musician?

Yes. Yes. Yes. It doesn’t worry me – it would be nice to be remembered at all in any capacity, but it’s just a shame. It just sucks that something becomes popular and just the nature of humanity, once it’s popular, it’s over sort of.

Do you think this is exacerbated by the constant hype circles of the Internet?

Of course. That’s what I mean. It’s much more accelerated than it used to be. And the quality of music is suffering.

But you keep doing this. What pushes you?

What else would I do? Plus, I enjoy it. I can’t, I mean, never say never, but I can’t imagine – and I say this every year – doing this very physical thing for that much longer. But you know, I thought that six years ago, and here I am, sitting here right now.

One thing that sticks out about “The Chronicles of Marnia” is that it feels more accessible than your other records. Was that something you were going for?

No, but the engineer was, so it was a compromise that I made. The producer wanted it to be more sparse. If I had my way I’d make the same kind of record over and over again. I argued a lot, and then in the end I acquiesced. It’s a waste of time to argue.

After working with drummer Zach Hill (Hella, Deathgrips) on your first three albums, you worked with Kid Millions this time. What was that like?

It was good. It was different recording in New York instead of California. But it was easy because it’s home and [he] is really nice and easy to get along with. He came in and did his parts for a day or two and that was it. It was cool.

When did you finish the album?

Almost a year ago.

Is it strange talking about something you finished working on so long ago?

Everyone needs time to do stuff. The distributor has to make the records. There’s always like a six-month hold, then we pushed it back even further, and pushed it back again. I don’t listen to it anyway. As soon as I finish making it, I’m thinking about new things in my head. Everyone’s like that, though.

How do you feel about the album?

Some parts I like a lot. That’s how I usually am. Later on I listen back and I either love it or hate it.

Slideshow: Kelly Barrie's "High and Dry" exhibition at Marine Contemporary

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Review Round-Up: Justin Timberlake's “The 20/20 Experience”

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Review Round-Up: Justin Timberlake's “The 20/20 Experience”

The day pop music fans have been waiting for since late January is finally upon us: the official release of Justin Timberlake’s third studio album, “The 20/20 Experience.” Since announcing the album the same day he debuted its first single, “Suit & Tie,” we’ve been wondering how the singer-turned-actor-turned-singer-again would mark his return to music after seven years in the wilderness known as Hollywood, and how he would follow up his second album, the flawed but beloved “FutureSex/LoveSounds.” Considering the lukewarm press “The 20/20 Experience” has received in advance of its release, it’s not surprising that the first reviews are mixed – there are some raves, resigned shrugs, to politely worded putdowns. Here’s a sampling of what critics have had to say. 

Pitchfork's Ryan Dombai gave the album the website's covetted “Best New Music” designation and credits Timberlake with using his fame to do something genuinely different:

“The same can be said for the rest of 'The 20/20 Experience,' which has Timberlake seamlessly conflating the last 40 years of pop, soul, and R&B into a series of warping seven-minute songs that shamelessly extol the joys of music and marriage.”

The Guardian's Alexis Petridis called the album's production "a genuine tour de force" but found its lyrics... lacking:

“Then there are the album's lyrics, which are awful. It's not that the lyrics are exclusively about sex; it's that Timberlake writes about it in a way that suggests he's desperate to add some kind of musical equivalent of the Bad Sex award to his six Grammys and four Emmys.”

The New York Times' Jon Caramanica pointed out that albums aren't really the best venue for Timberlake's talents:

He sounded more at home and vocally present in those moments than when singing his new songs, or almost anywhere on 'The 20/20 Experience.' Forget the album; go see the show, or whatever else Mr. Timberlake applies his talents to. He’s learned how to be a musician who has no need to make records, the perfect solution to the modern economy.

The Los Angeles Times' Mikael Woods felt that while the album had its fair shair of flaws, Timberlake's overwhelming talent made it worth listening to:

“But on an album whose title apparently references the accuracy of hindsight, that deep-read content feels ancillary to Timberlake's overall idea that love -- and old-fashioned talent -- can prove everlasting. He'll go away again, no doubt, and then he'll return to shine once more.”

Gawker's Rich Juzwiak declared the album “as mediocre as we knew it would be,” writing that while the album is never bad, it was also never anything more than “nice”:

This is the kind of album whose mellow, nothing-more-than-nice first single is puzzling until you hear the rest of the album and realize that it's the most commercial pop on a collection whose musical m.o. is to be nothing more than nice. 'Suit & Tie,' at least, has a sense of spunk, which is more than can be said for most of '20/20.' The album sounds like a conscious attempt at musical maturity that is never quite earned or fully realized.

As for us, we think “The 20/20 Experience” is totally fine – an extremely pleasant, though not particularly memorable 70-plus minutes of futuristic R&B punctuated by the occasional nostalgic flourish. This will not go down as a highlight in Timberlake’s oeuvre and if it’s the low point, there could be worse things. We’re just glad that it isn’t a rehash of “FutureSex/LoveSound,” an album that we loved despite its myriad flaws. Here, Timberlake, with the help of “FutureSex” collaborator Timbaland and his protege Jerome “J-Roc” Harden, pushes himself musically. And while the hooks may not rank with his best, they’ll still get stuck on your head – we do agree with many of the critics that the lyrics are frequently uninspired. The album may be lacking in hits like the epic “Cry Me a River” or the insanely catchy “SexyBack,” but it does have a genuinely great song in “Tunnel Vision.” It’s the sort of record that’s probably a half-hour too long, and if anyone out there wants to edit out the three-minute fade outs on most of these seven-minutes plus songs, we’d be down to listen.

Fortunately, those wondering what’s next for Timberlake’s musical career won’t have to wait another seven years to find out. Yesterday, the singer confirmed that a follow up, the second part of “The 20/20 Experience,” is coming. Will it be any better? Who knows, but hopefully it’ll be shorter.


VIDEO: Tretchikoff's Cheesy "Chinese Girl" Could Fetch $750,000 at Auction

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VIDEO: Tretchikoff's Cheesy "Chinese Girl" Could Fetch $750,000 at Auction

With her startling copper green face and the sparse background, 'Chinese Girl' may not be the most obvious masterpiece -- but it became one of the best-selling prints of all time and is expected to raise up to $750,000  at auction Wednesday.

The once obscure portrait by Russian Vladimir Tretchikoff, painted in 1951, is to be sold at auction in London by Bonhams.

It is now said to be the most widely reproduced and arguably one of the most recognizable pictures in the world, from the 1950s prints of the work which were sold widely in South Africa, Britain, Europe and America.

The picture was bought directly from Tretchikoff by an American woman, Mignon Buhler in Chicago when he was touring the US in the 1950s.

It has been in the same family ever since and is being sold by the original buyer's granddaughter.

In 1954, Buhler paid $2,000, compared to the $750,000 it could fetch at auction later, according to Bonhams auctioneers.

"It was painted in 1953 by Vladimir Tretchikoff and for his tour of the U.S. of that year and he took it on tour of the US and it was quite well received out there. He then sold it at the end of that tour to a family in Chicago and really there it remained but before doing that he had taken some prints of the work and I suppose that's how its fame came out because these prints were the best-selling fine art prints in the world," said Giles Peppiatt from auction house Bonhams.

Tretchikoff himself claimed that by the end of his career he had sold half a million large-format reproductions of the 'Chinese Girl' print worldwide.

Today, 'Chinese Girl' mugs, wallpaper and other associated paraphernalia are widely available.

The 'Chinese Girl' is inspired by the sitter Monika Sing-Lee, who was working at her uncle's laundrette in Sea Point, Cape Town when Tretchikoff spotted her and asked her to model for him.

As well as products, 'Chinese Girl' has also inspired a tribute in song which was composed by British cabaret singer Tricity Vogue.

Her Edinburgh Fringe shows The Blue Lady Sings and The Blue Lady Sings again were inspired by the character in the picture.

"She's my muse. It's quite overwhelming to meet the picture for real that you've based four years of your life around and your work around. I never thought that I would actually see the picture for real because when I researched it I thought it had been destroyed," said Tricity Vogue, who had been invited by Bonhams to see the picture after reading about the sale.

Tretchikoff's value has risen exponentially in the art market in recent years, thanks in part to the first major retrospective held in South Africa in 2011.

"I Became a DJ Because I Love to Dance": Q&A With Music Trailblazer Ellen Allien

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"I Became a DJ Because I Love to Dance": Q&A With Music Trailblazer Ellen Allien

Pioneering electronic musician Ellen Allien doesn’t know how to slow down. Rising through the Berlin club scene of the last two decades as a prominent DJ, fashion designer, and leading force behind record label BPitch, the German-born artist helped change the way people think about dance music and influenced countless musicians who have come in her wake. “LISm,” her new album, is a reworking of the music she created for “Drama per Musica,” Alexandre Roccoli and Severine Rieme’s dance performance that premiered in 2011 in Paris. In an e-mail exchange, ARTINFO’s Craig Hubert spoke to Allien, 43, about her interest in dance, the differences between her new album and previous work, and why “LISm” is a journey.

How did you come to compose for the Drama Per Musica?


Alexandre Roccoli asked me if I would like to do the music for the performance and to act on stage. I liked the story. It’s about countercultures in the ’50s in New York transferred into the Berlin techno culture. Very abstract: a sinking ship on stage, huge sails were installed. The ship was sinking while the dancers and me as a captain tried to guide the sails and to avoid the ship to perish. Microphones were placed on stage to transmit the action into the room, very industrial sounds. “Drama per Musica” was performed only once at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

How was the process of making the music for “Drama Per Musica” different than on previous albums?

The process was completely different then doing an album. There was the story, the stage setting, and the timing. Composing a soundtrack is another journey. Being liberated of making track after track gives an easier possibility to tell a story. 

Were you interested in contemporary dance before you worked on “Drama per Musica”? Do you see a connection between contemporary dance and the dance floor of clubs?

I became a DJ because I love to dance. I studied acrobatic dance in a private school in Berlin for one year, or more. Dancing and moving to music in clubs is my job and passion. This fits together well.
To create something amazing needs time; there is unimportant stuff in this field.
 In one of my clips, “Trash Scapes,” we work with dance elements, also for “Bim,” more in an abstract way I dance and play with objects. “Take Me Out” is a dance clip. 

Would you be interested in collaborating on other mixed-media performances in the future? Or soundtracks for film?

Yes, definitely. I would like to start with something small and to expand it once it is intense. To make film music would be also very exciting for me, to put music on images is fascinating.

Why did you decide to rework the music for the album a year after the initial performance?

There was the possibility to tour with “Drama per Musica,” but at that time my bookings were all done and there were no more free dates. While listening to it during the time I felt going back to the studio I realized that there was too much good stuff to let it “die” on my hard drive. Filtering out all the recordings I liked, I went to the studio with my co-producer Bruno Pronsato. We recorded my voice, let Philli Thimm play the guitar, and interweaved new strings and lot of new parts. Like this, a free faithfully real piece of art arose for me. Something I was longing for, full of desire without thinking about what it will be at the end. Reflecting my musical affection of sounds, without searching to make a hit, only to create an atmosphere, to tickle the abstract.

How has the music changed from the original performance on stage to the record?

“Drama per Musica” has different texts used in a different way and the story is something completely else. “LISm” is a personal work with its own elements and a different message. 

Why the choice to keep it as one long track for the record?

It is a journey through my universe, an experiment and not the song or track that has to be a hit.

You called “LISm” a “personal record.” How so?

LISm” is telling my emotions.

Do you have plans to bring the music from “LISm” into a live setting?

I don’t know yet – I was not thinking about that while doing “LISm.” For the moment there are no plans. It was produced without the pressure to tour. “LISm” is standing for itself.

Slideshow: Desire Obtain Cherish "#undertheinfluence" at KM Fine Arts

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Desire Obtain Cherish's “#undertheinfluence” Channels L.A.'s Dissolute Soul

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Desire Obtain Cherish's “#undertheinfluence” Channels L.A.'s Dissolute Soul

There is more than a touch of irony to “#undertheinfluence,” the latest show at KM Fine Arts in Los Angeles — 10 percent of sales from the exhibition by the artist known as Desire Obtain Cherish will go to Friendly House, a Los Angeles charity founded in 1951 to assist women recovering from alcoholism and drug addition. Russell Brand, Hal Sparks, and William Shatner are among the charity’s celebrity supporters.

Noble and well-intentioned as the cause may be, I was curious to see how much this artist and his artwork has struck a chord with Los Angeles viewers and collectors: editors from many local publications came by, while pieces sold on opening night, including “Blood Sugar High,” a life-size nude female mannequin wrapped up in transparent plastic like a bon-bon. This piece is about sexual addiction and prostitution.

The more time you spend in Los Angeles the more you realize many people here are recovering from one kind of addiction or another. At the exhibition dinner, very few diners were drinking, except me and the gallery owner (from Chicago), while several native Angelinos puffed electronic cigarettes — recovering smokers. When I asked a “smoker” what his vices were, he smiled: I get involved with the wrong women.

What all of this suggests to me is how relevant this work is. No surprise the artist is devilishly clever: Desire Obtain Cherish, aka Jonathan Paul, born in 1975 in Salinas, is a former street artist turned Pop sculptor. Formally, his works remind you of a lot of other artists working in this vein: a mish-mash of Koons, Oldenburg, Lichtenstein, Warhol, and others. Nonetheless they grab the eye and draw you in.

Partly I think this is because, visually, the works are so pleasing. They are colorful, fun, and impeccably produced. This is the work of a real craftsman. His subject is desire, or, better, obsession, and our inability to control ourselves when it comes to certain things, be it pills, sex, shopping, chocolate, alcohol, or even ice cream. Happiness and fulfillment is the goal, the promise. What starts as a dream ends in dependency.

It is tempting to see the artist as making fun of human frailty. But I don’t think so: I spent some time with him and discovered a compassionate person. He is not cynical, even if his works are satirical. He is not malicious, even if his works cut to the bone. He is more like our social conscience, delivering up uncomfortable and unpleasant truths wrapped in the most beautiful and seductive of packages. 

“#undertheinfluence,” K M Fine Arts, 814 North La Cienega, Los Angeles,  though May 11.

To see images from “#undertheinfluence,” click on the slideshow.

VIDEO: Stephenie Meyer joins Stars of "The Host" at Red Carpet Premiere of "The Host"

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VIDEO: Stephenie Meyer joins Stars of "The Host" at Red Carpet Premiere of "The Host"

LOS ANGELES-- Best-selling author Stephenie Meyerjoined stars Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons and Diane Kruger in Los Angeles on Tuesday night for the premiere of "The Host."

Directed by Andrew Niccol, who also wrote the screenplay, the highly anticipated film is the next epic love story from Meyer, the creator of the "Twilight Saga." The sci-fi, romance film tells the story of an unseen enemy that threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories. Saoirse Ronan plays Melanie Stryder, who will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about - Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt), proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.

"When I really decided to do it, it was solely based on the script and the character and the people involved and that kind of stuff," explained Ronan, when asked whether the shadow of the "Twilight" films had caused her any concerns about taking on the role.

"I was certainly aware that there would be a lot of attention around us. For me, it was fine and it was very much about the story."

Author Stephenie Meyer, who told Reuters that she very much wanted Ronan for the lead, hopes her "Twilight" fans keep an open mind about the new film.

"I'm not sure, I think if they go into it wanting a repeat of "Twilight" they probably will not be thrilled, because it is not," said  Meyer.

"It is a very different kind of story. I think if they are willing to go onto a new ride with me and try out something a little different then I think they will really like it. I think there is a lot more to this story, I think this a fuller story."

As for pressure, director Andrew Niccol had the task of drafting the screenplay from the best selling novel.

"Well even with the size of the book at 650 pages, which you have to turn into a 120 page script, I was sweating blood to get it down to the size of the movie. I thought that maybe it would have to be two movies. But, I got it down to its fighting weight."

"The Host" also stars Jake Abel, Francis Fisher and William Hurt.

It opens on March 29.

Slideshow: Fashion’s 10 Under 30

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Indian Modernism and an Out-of-the-Blue Bowl Kickstart Asia Week Auctions

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Indian Modernism and an Out-of-the-Blue Bowl Kickstart Asia Week Auctions

Asia Week kicked off on Tuesday with a bang. As has been the trend in the last few years, there were plenty of lots selling for 10 times estimates. As always, Chinese ceramics are hot, as are traditional Indian and Himalayan works of art. Perhaps more surprisingly, modern and contemporary Indian art seems to be bouncing back from the low point it has been occupying for the past few seasons.

At Sotheby’s, the evening sale of former Christie’s specialist and collector Amrita Jhaveri’s single-owner “Amaya Collection” sale bucked the underperforming Indian market, with 40 lots selling for $6,694,876. The well-curated sale was 93 percent sold by lot and 90 percent sold by value. This success affirmed both the importance of Jhaveri’s collection and her decision to choose works to sell based on the artist’s proven record at auction. The top lot was an untitled red abstract canvas from 1962 by Indian modernist Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, which fetched $965,000 (est. $600,000-800,000). The top estimated lot, Tyeb Mehta’s 1982 untitled painting of a single geometric figure, estimated to sell for $800,000-1.2 million, was one of only three works bought in.

Sotheby’s also had the first part of its Chinese ceramics and works of art sale Tuesday, which continues through Wednesday. So far, the top selling lot is one of those Antiques Roadshow fantasy-type objects that was originally bought for $3 at a garage sale. Sotheby's experts gave it an estimate of $200,000-300,000, and it ended up hammering down for $2,225,000. The “Ding” bowl , from the Northern Song dynasty, sold to London-based dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi.

Further downtown, Christie’s had two sales: traditional works of Indian and Southeast Asian art, and a tiny single-owner sale of early Tibetan painting. The latter did both better and worse than expected — it was only 50 percent sold by lot, but the four paintings that did sell were within or over presale estimates. A European collector scooped up a rare Buddha painting, dating from the 13th-14th centuries, for $1,263,750 (est. $600,000-800,000).

The full sale of traditional Southeast Asian artworks fared much better. The $17,419,375 total was 74 percent sold by lot and 89 percent sold by value, reflecting the somewhat recent craze for traditional statues from the region. Three works sold for more than $1 million during the sale, the most surprising of which was a gilt-bronze figure of the wrathful diety Vajrakila Heruka and Dipta Chakra, from 14th-15th century Tibet. At only 11 inches high, the statue looks something like an ancient action figure. It sold for $2,139,750 — 10 times its $200,000 low estimate.


Slideshow: Asia Week kicks off

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Saxophonist Charles Lloyd: Wisdom and Wonder at 75

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Saxophonist Charles Lloyd: Wisdom and Wonder at 75

The Temple of Dendur was constructed of sandstone sometime around 15 BC and originally stood on the left bank of the Nile River. The politiki lyra is a pear-shaped three-stringed lyre of Greek origin, an ancestor to most European bowed instruments dating back to at least the 9th century. Saxophonist Charles Lloyd was born 75 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee.

These and other histories intertwined on Friday night in the Sackler Wing of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the Temple of Dendur has been housed since 1978, and where Lloyd celebrated his 75th birthday in riveting fashion. He played for more than two hours in four different contexts: in duet with pianist Jason Moran; with his New Quartet, which included Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland; with the quartet and mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran, who is Moran’s wife; and finally, with the quartet joined by Sokratis Sinopoulous, bowing a politiki lyra, and Greek contralto Maria Farantouri, who is as singular a figure in her native country as Lloyd is here.

According to the Met Museum’s website, the “Temple of Dendur’s outer walls between earth and sky are carved scenes of the king making offerings to deities.” Lloyd mentioned “the deities” before playing Friday night. WQXR radio host Terrance McKnight had lobbed him a silly question by way of introduction: “Who does one talk to in order to have one’s 75th birthday fall on a Friday night?” Lloyd might have been answering a more substantial one — something like, “Who does one talk to when they play your music?” Lloyd’s music has long been focused on transcendent communion. It has long taken the form of offering.

On Friday night, Lloyd’s tenor saxophone playing was breathy and ribbon-like when squiggling to or from a melodic line; firmly formed yet transparent, like the surface of a pool, on long tones; broken into split tones during moments of heightened joy or sorrowful repose. He switched to alto flute or tarogato (an Eastern European reed instrument) with equivalent sensitivity and focus. His music was frequently meditative and for the most part concisely phrased. Yet there was a demanding fullness and intensity to his outpourings.

When I interviewed him for a Wall Street Journal piece two years ago, Lloyd referred to his music as “tenderness sutras.” The term has dual references: to the Hindu aphorisms central to the Vedanta spiritual practices he embraced decades ago; and to a specific need he means to address. “There’s a hunger that I sense in the audiences I play to today,” he told me. “People are searching for beauty in a world that wants to shut it out. They’re looking for peace in a world full of disturbances. They get so much stuff that’s been packaged and put in a box. They get the cake already baked. But, you know we have to create this stuff, discover it for ourselves.” Through the years, Lloyd — whose 1966 album, “Forest Flower,” sold a million copies — has been revered as a shaman and dismissed as a showman. In fact he is both, capable of crowd-pleasing entertainment without ever diluting a deeper search — both sonic and spiritual.

The setup at the Met’s Sackler wing, with listeners in front of and flanking the ancient structure, meant that Lloyd and fellow musicians appeared as though literally playing as much to the temple (to the deities) as to the audience. The program was very much about relationships — first, Lloyd’s bond with Moran, which is fleshed out yet further on the CD “Hagar’s Song” (ECM), the contents of which are rewarding enough to crowd out much of the other music I should have listened to since its release last month. Moran once told me about playing with Lloyd, “The serenity he grasps has helped me find a center in sometimes just playing one note, in respecting how a single tone sounds or decays.” Indeed, Moran interrogated a single ringing note to great effect in between verses of the spiritual “Go Down Moses,” one of two pieces sung by Alicia Hall Moran, whose singing matched Lloyd’s finely honed balance of fierce conviction and utter control, and who negotiated a tricky vocal range with sheer grace.

Lloyd’s New Quartet isn’t really new — it’s been around for seven years and has grown into one of the best and least classifiable bands in modern jazz. Like Wayne Shorter, yet with a much different musical agenda, Lloyd has surrounded himself with fearless and inventive players half his age, each possessing a strong and distinct identity. Shorter’s band seems intent on exploding form to achieve something unbound by musical convention or currency; Lloyd’s band achieves roughly the same goal, yet by drawing inward together, almost as if breathing in as one. (Earlier incarnations of Lloyd’s quartet concept can be heard on a five-CD boxed set, titled simply “Quartets,” due from ECM on April 23. It begins with 1989’s “Fish Out Of Water,” which marked Lloyd’s comeback after years in retreat from the jazz scene, and follows him through 1996’s “Canto.”)

The true revelation of Friday’s performance was the chance to hear music from Lloyd’s 2011 recording, “Athens Concert,” in a concert setting. Even listeners familiar with the tenderness and clarity of Lloyd’s singular work would have been unprepared for that riveting two-CD set, recorded at an open-air theater at the foot of the Acropolis. The Temple of Dendur evoked something of the spiritual heft of that setting (though, alas, not the acoustics). Farantouri’s voice was buoyant and light-hearted in some passages, dark-hued and reverent in others; seated, she sang with purposeful command and obvious joy. In Sinopoulous’s hands, the lyra’s tone moved from pure to fibrous. He is a virtuoso player in tune with those of Lloyd’s band, and a wonderful sonic counterpoint to Lloyd’s own playing, especially when Lloyd switched to tarogato.

Before his concert began, Lloyd spoke of coming to New York in 1960 and staying several blocks from the Met — on East 92nd Street in Manhattan, at the home of trumpeter Booker Little, who was an important early influence for him and an old friend from Memphis who died too young. “This was my neighborhood once,” Lloyd said. He talked about inspiration drawn from his visits to Greek ruins, as guided by Farantouri, and of his deepening friendship with the singer.

The glass on the ceiling and large north wall of the Sackler wing is stippled, a museum docent once told me, in order to diffuse the light and mimic the ambience of ancient Nubia. As night fell fully through those windows, the mood was transporting. Lloyd, at 75, exuded an elder’s wisdom, in search of something timeless, and childlike wonder, just playing with friends.

Lloyd’s current tour continues at Boston’s Sanders Theater (March 21); Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center (March 22); and California’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

Slideshow: See artwork by Aida Ruilova

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Art Basel Hong Kong

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The first edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong will present more than 250 of the leading galleries from Asia, Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world, chosen by a selection committee composed of renowned international gallerists.

Liu Ye Slef Portrait 2013, JohnenGalerie, Art Basel Hong Kong
Thursday, May 23, 2013 to Sunday, May 26, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
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Liu Ye Slef Portrait 2013, JohnenGalerie, Art Basel Hong Kong
Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 14:46
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Courtesy of Liu Ye and Jphnen Galerie, Berlin
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Art Basel Hong Kong

David Bowie Exhibition Curator on the Icon's Hidden Archives and 26-Inch Waist

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David Bowie Exhibition Curator on the Icon's Hidden Archives and 26-Inch Waist

Opening this weekend, the V&A exhibition “David Bowie is” reveals a first-ever retrospective and new, up-close look at cultural icon whose work continues to influence music, fashion, film, and art. While not directly involved with the show, Bowie did allow the museum unprecedented access into his archives, which included costumes, handwritten lyrics and music compositions, films, set design, album artwork, and photos from Bowie’s early years to present day.

Curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh compiled over 300 objects that explore Bowie’s creative vision. There are hand-drawn storyboards, detailed lighting plans for shows, and drawings for album covers. For die-hard Bowie fans, these never-seen-before items represent important artifacts from the man who has shaped their cultural landscape.

The exhibition also features paintings by Bowie, including one of IggyPop, as well as contact sheets from the iconic cover shoot for “Aladdin Sane” and TerryO’Neill’s legendary “Diamond Dogs” image featuring Bowie beside a Great Dane standing on its hind legs.

But, of course, the highlight of the show is the costumes. Bowie defined his stage persona through a distinct visual language: his attire enabled him to create characters from another reality, as well as to market a gender ambiguity that was both androgynous yet highly sexual, establishing a dialogue that some found outrageous and others relished. The showpieces also helped him to create brand awareness and a wild buzz around his performances. On display is the red, blue, and gold quilted Freddie BurrettiZiggy Stardust jumpsuit that Bowie wore while performing “Starman” on “Top of the Pops” in 1973 (with the video of that televised performance); many Kansai Yamamoto creations, including the sculptural body suit made for the “Aladdin Sane” tour, to other pieces inspired by Japanese Kabuki theatre, and the sharply cut suits during The Thin White Duke era. There are also more recent pieces, including a tailored coat designed by Alexander McQueen in collaboration with Bowie from 1997 featuring the British Union Jack flag that he wore for the “Earthling” album cover.

The costumes making the most visual impact are those which have been strategically placed around a room with floor-to-ceiling screens playing archival footage of Bowie's legendary performances; giving the knitted unitards and style-defining suits a context within the icon’s history.

ARTINFO UK caught up with Geoffrey Marsh, the co-curator of the exhibition to discuss the show, the fans, and some of the challenges of creating the retrospective.  

Many people feel very passionately about Bowie. How do you create a show that will appeal and satisfy both seasoned fans and the general public?

We always knew we’d get a lot of fans and having seen the archive, it’s extraordinary. This is a tiny bit of what’s there. I talked to fans about it and they’d say, ‘Have you seen that? Why isn’t it in the exhibition?’ But we’ve also got to appeal to a general audience, like people who might just be interested in design, who may not be interested in his music particularly, but interested in his design process, which is what our function is.

What was the decision behind organizing the show thematically?

Essentially, when you do exhibitions, you either do it chronologically or thematically, there’s not many other ways to do it, although if David Bowie did it, I’m sure he’d come up with another way. Originally it was going to be a different kind of space, and we also thought about doing it chronologically, but that would require a hugely long, thin exhibition space. Also, most of the books that are written about him are sort of chronological, written by rock journalists that have an album-to-album feel, which [wasn’t how] we wanted to do it. We’re the performance department, so music’s important, but I’m not a musicologist. We thought about it thematically almost from day one.

There’s a photo wall at the end of the exhibition that documents Bowie’s extraordinary career and his influence over fashion, film, and music. Why the decision to have one big wall at the end, rather than having those photos throughout the show?

Photographers always want their photographs shown. And rightly so. Originally, we were going to have these key photos scattered throughout the exhibition, which is what we’ve done with the book, but there was just going to be so many arguments so in the end, we decided we’d put them all together and have a photo wall.

What were some of the challenges to mounting the exhibition?

Just in terms of exhibition planning terms, it’s the costumes which take time. First of all, from a conservation point of view, getting costumes to look good is a nightmare, and he’s so stylish. Having badly mounted mannequins would be a nightmare. In fact, we had to get a special mannequin carved by a sculptor because he had a 26-inch waist, so you can’t get a mannequin the right size. Also, he had very powerful thigh muscles, which is one reason, in a lot of images, he looks quite androgynous. His thighs are probably wider than his waist. So trying to get a mannequin takes a lot of time; it’s expensive to do all that mounting and they’re the sort of chess pieces you tend to start by and then you have to fill in around it, and that’s the final thing. Because if you look at it, most of it is small bits of two-dimensional stuff and trying to make all of that mean something is difficult.

David Bowie is”, March 23 – August 11, V&A, London

To see images from the show.

Watch video on record-breaking Bowie exhibit:

 

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