The Tastemaker is a new series in which ARTINFO talks to artists, designers, curators, and other personalities about their must-have items and more.
Israeli Artist Nir Hod couldn’t have picked a more fashionable location for his studio than New York’s trendy Meatpacking District. By day, fashionistas frequent the neighborhood’s trendy shops like Jeffrey and Scoop. At night, the area attracts those looking to indulge in the velvet-roped scene at exclusive boites like Soho House and Top of the Standard.
Hod, 40, has shown his work around the world since age 23, when his first solo exhibit was presented at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. His break though came in 2011 with “Genius,” a controversial series of paintings and sculptures that depicted pouty-mouthed doe-eyed children — “Geniuses” — clutching smoldering cigarettes. The show sold out, with several sculptures going for up to $45,000.
His latest exhibition, up through April 28 at Paul Kasmin Gallery, takes an even darker tone, drawing on an iconic 1943 image by Nazi photographer Franz Konrad of soldiers rounding up residents of the Warsaw Ghetto to bring them to their fate in a Nazi death camp. For Hod’s series of 10 paintings, he chose to focus not on the frightened “Boy From Warsaw,” who is the photo’s main subject, but rather the woman in the foreground — who Hod refers to as “Mother” — glancing towards the boy.
When Hod isn’t busy working on gallery shows, he designs objects like coasters made to look like cocaine on mirrors, which will be on sale this summer at Paul Kasmin Shop and other retailers. As the first subject of ARTINFO’s Tastemaker series, the stylish Hod shared the things that make him tick, from his favorite spot (the Hudson River) to his clothing item of choice (a scarf).
Click on the slide show to see all of Nir Hod’s Tastemaker picks.