Art Basel | Miami Beach
By Alex B.
Mona Hatoum, Undercurrent (red), 2008 | Galleria Continua | San Gimignano
It’s that time of year again! From December 3 - 6, the freshest art collectors, artists, dealers, curators, critics, art enthusiasts will converge for the eighth edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. The sister to Switzerland’s Art Basel, the most prestigious of its kind worldwide, the annual Art Basel Miami Beach is America’s most important art show. It combines an international selection of top galleries with a diverse program of special exhibitions, electrifying parties and engaging crossover events (like Design Miami) featuring music, film, architecture and design.
During the show, a selection of over 250 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa (33 countries in total) will exhibit 20th and 21st century artworks by more than 2,000 artists. Attendees are sure to be wowed by the vast showcase of paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, photography, editions, and videos. This year’s list of participants represents a distinct fusion of world-renowned artists and cutting-edge newcomers. Art Basel Miami Beach is THE place to be for art lovers, aficionados, collectors - and those who simply enjoy the alive and dynamic atmosphere - which is why more than 40,000 visitors are expected over the show’s five-day run.
Here’s to kicking off winter in Miami! For a full list of show sectors, check out: www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/hvo/
View more art from Art Basel | Miami Beach
Diesel Lifestyle
By Alex B.
With its Diesel Lifestyle collection, the noted Italian fashion brand takes the wittiness, beauty, urban elegance and success behind its clothing line and transforms it into another everyday necessity: modern home décor (with rock star attitude!). Needless to say, this denim and style innovator has given us yet another reason to get excited - and what makes it all the more exciting is the company’s retail partnership with two renowned names in the interiors world: Foscarini and Moroso.
Diesel Lifestyle consists of a variety of eye-catching segments and pieces, like home textiles (bedding and throws) and home furniture (lighting, sofas, chairs and tables). A few highlights include vibrant graphical and textural sheets (two of my favorites: the turntable pattern and the neon pink & black geometric pattern), decorative (and functional!) tables (check out “Xraydo” table), and lighting (the clever “Graf Suspensions” and “Cage Suspension” are stand-outs). With all these options, who wouldn’t want to kick back, relax, and enjoy the unique style that is embodied in Diesel’s way of life?
View more of Diesel Lifestyle furniture
Graffiti Gone Global
By Alex B.
Amongst the myriad exciting exhibitions taking place at Art Basel Miami Beach from December 4th - 6th will be Graffiti Gone Global, an exhibition presented by SUSHISAMBA featuring a selection of work from today’s top street artists. Curated by authors James and Karla Murray (Store Front-The Disappearing Face of New York, Miami Graffiti, Broken Windows and Burning New York) Graffiti Gone Global will take place in a 4,000 square foot venue in the Midtown Arts District and will be the largest of its kind in Miami.
Exhibiting artists include: 131 Projects (Argentina), Aiko Nakagawa (Japan), Armogedon 2057 (Armenia), Billi Kid (Colombia), Crome (Miami), Cycle (NYC), David Cooper (NYC), Doze Green (NYC), Ewok One 5MH (NYC), Flip (Brazil), Ghost aka Cousin Frank (NYC), Jana Joana (Brazil), Lady Pink (Ecuador), Nina (Brazil), Shiro (Japan), Sofia Maldonado (Puerto Rico), Suiko (Japan) and Vitché (Brazil).
Additionally, SUSHISAMBA has commissioned Miami-based architect HOX (Douglas Hoekzema) to design a sprawling, Brazilian-inspired favela structure for the exhibition. HOX’s design consists of interlocking components of wood and steel that may be detached and sold as separate units, some of which will bear a signature graffiti piece. In addition, custom furniture designed by the several of the participating artists will be available for purchase.
Fanfare
By Alex B.
Industrial design extraordinaire James Dyson, the man who revolutionized the vacuum cleaner, is back - this time with (drum roll please!) the Dyson MultiplierTM fan. Before we get down to the core of the Dyson Air MultiplierTM, I want you to take a mental snapshot of your current fan. Large or small, there’s one thing all fans have in common: the blades. And what happens to the blades after time? They rattle, they freeze up, they get dusty (reeeaaally dusty). Speaking from personal experience (or should I say from the personal experience of a persistent clean freak?), no cotton swabs, dust eliminators or household cleaners are powerful enough to eliminate the army or dirt that builds up on a fan’s blades over time. And if you’re the type to set your fan in the window to achieve the best possible breeze, you’re inviting the formation of a particularly large army of dust bunnies on the blades, which, on another note, tend to be frustratingly noisy too.
So what’s the Dyson solution? The Dyson Air MultiplierTM eliminates the blades. That’s right, ladies and gents - it’s a bladeless fan. It uses a unique technology to multiply air 15 industry through advancements in airflow engineering, has turned times, and expels 119 gallons of smooth and uninterrupted air every second.
Dyson’s engineers spent four years running hundreds of simulations to measure and optimize the machine’s aperture and airfoil-shaped ramp before perfecting Dyson’s Air Multiplier’s technology. The fan is powered by an energy efficient brushless motor. Air speed is adjusted using a dimmer switch. So, not only is it its airflow fluid, it’s turbulent-free, and it’s easy to maneuver - a simple touch tilts the fan in the desired position.
The Dyson Air MultiplierTM is available in two 10-inch models: blue & iron and silver & white. A 12-inch model in silver and iron is also available. All three can be purchased at The Conran Shop (NY), Luminaire (Chicago/Miami) and Twentieth (LA). www.dyson.com
Kameha Grand Bonn
By Tyler Durden
Rhine gives you another reason to fall in love with the opening of their latest attraction, the Kameha Grand Bonn, a design junkies paradise. Designed to hold 190 rooms, 63 suites, and several bars and restaurants with their opening that took place on November 15, the Kameha Grand Boon will keep you in awe as you walk it’s halls.
Imagine a grand European hotel adorned with golden pillars, ghostly photomurals and sci-fi chandeliers. You’ll eat dinner under a shining flax-colored zeppelin, then take in the sunset from a rooftop infinity pool, before bedding down beside floor-to-ceiling windows less than a hundred feet from the banks of the Rhine.
As for where you’ll be bedding down, they offer an array of themed rooms, including a music-themed space called the Beethoven Suite. We recommend staying down the hall, though, in the Game Suite: it’s decked out with a pinball machine, dartboard and putting green—in short, everything you need for a fulfilling life.
If you count the minibar.
Small House Design by Toyo Ito
By Tyler Durden
Leave it to the Japanese to take home design to the next level. At just 624 sq. ft., this contemporary compact cottage by architect Toyo Ito packs a lot of character into a small space. This very interesting modern design idea uses a stark contrast between cold and warmth; a cool metal facade and its welcoming, woody interior. From the outside, the steel house features metal panels cladding its walls and roof, with wide expanses of sliding glass blur the boundary between indoors and out. Inside, this small home design is replete with wood, honey toned in the warm and abundant sunlight. The two-storey home features an upstairs loft overlooking the main-floor open concept house plan.
Underground House Design in the Greek Isles
By Tyler Durden
This underground house design by Deca Architecture is built right into the idyllic landscape of the Cycladic Islands in Greece. The hill house was designed to withstand the windy climate off the Aegean Sea. It was carved into the earth with just the second storey visible above ground. Clad in stone, the house really gets down to earth with natural materials and a warm, homey aesthetic that’s still modern. This natural house design features spacious outdoor entertaining areas divided from the indoors by expansive sliding-glass doors. An infinity-edge lap pool outside frames panoramic views and seems to spill out into the sea.
Deitch Projects
By Alex B.
Francesco Clemente, A History of the Heart in Three Rainbows 1.1 - 1.5, Installation view, May 2 - 30, 2009, Photo by Adam Reich
It’s hard to sum up Deitch Projects in one word, but I’ll do my best (outside of simply amazing!). Founded by Jeffrey Deitch in 2006, Deitch Projects is a producer of “ambitious projects” by contemporary artists. In just under four years, the gallery has produced over 250 projects and public events by artists from 33 countries.
Jeff and Justine Koons, Jeff Koons’ 50th Birthday Celebration, Photo credit: Patrick McMullan
Deitch Projects is also involved in producing exhibits and books, is the exclusive representative of the Estate of Keith Haring (internationally renowned artist / www.haring.com) and is known for its presentations at Art Basel Miami Beach that epitomize the convergence of art, music, performance, film and design. Past presentations at Art Basel Miami Beach have included the likes of Fischerspooner, Scissor Sisters, Chicks on Speed, Coco Rosie, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Devendra Banhart and The Gossip. And if that isn’t enough, owner Jeffrey Deitch is the longtime advisor to several of the most important private collectors of modern and contemporary art, including the Dakis Joannou Collection Foundation in Athens.
To give you an idea of the artists with which Deitch Projects is involved, here’s a mini break-down: in its New York galleries, the gallery has presented multi-media and performance projects with names like Madonna and Steven Klein, filmmaker Michel Gondry, architects LOT-EK, and the fashion designers As Four and Jeremy Scott. In January-February 2009, the gallery presented a retrospective exhibition of the work of the influential artist and designer Stephen Sprouse in collaboration with Louis Vuitton. And - each September Deitch Projects presents an Art Parade on West Broadway in SoHo that draws 1,000 participants.
Kristin Baker, Splitting Twilight, Installation view, November 5 - December 19, 2009, Photo credit: Tom Powel Imaging
Currently on view are “Splitting Twilight,” an exhibition of works by painter Kristin Baker (up through December 19th) at 18 Wooster Street in NYC and “Os Gemos” (up through March 31, 2010) a mural on Houston Street and Bowery, NYC.
You can also catch Deitch Projects at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, December 3 - 6, section F1 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
OHWOW
By Alex B.
Miami-based OHWOW fuses influencers from the art, music, fashion, design and publishing worlds to create new opportunities for expansion in new and unique media and productions modes. As co-founders Al Moran and Aaron Bondaroff (aka “A-ron The Downtown Don”) see it, it’s not about “trying to fashion artists into designers” but instead work with “what is available and best suits” the artist’s idea. In other words, OHWOW is about fluidity, community, space, and expansion - it is about openness versus “a single institutional function.” OHWOW acts as a hub for creative production wherein artists propose ideas and are linked instantly to a community of others with the necessary experience, skills, and resources to realize the project.
Both Bondaroff and Moran have etched their vision in Miami and beyond. Bondaroff, a staple in NYC, is internationally-recognized for his legendary gatherings, designs, and creative direction (he’s collaborated with The Guggenheim, Agnès B, Deitch Projects, Colette and Supreme). Moran has curated a wide range of projects including exhibitions, pop-up stores and publications that have spanned the globe and gained worldwide attention. Together, they’ve fused a distinctive vision that has furthered Miami’s cultural landscape.
Coming up next is the second installment of the “It Ain’t Fair” exhibition at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach. “It Ain’t Fair” will include the work of over 30 artists (including Neck Face) that, according to OHWOW, are “creating the most relevant work today.”
