It's spring!? Really? Winter wrap-up...

Winter wrap-up...

Jenny Holzer

Well, I confess I am not doing so well on my New Year's resolution to post weekly about art and food explorations but fortunately I still have nine months to improve.  But my not posting doesn't not mean that I haven't seen a lot of fabulous art and eaten at many noteworthy venues - rather I have been busy doing a lot of both allowing little time to report on my experiences.

Not long ago, I went to the opening at NYU's Grey Art Gallery of an exhibition that had travelled from the Block Museum of Art in Chicago, The Left Front: Radical Art in the "Red Decade," 1929-1940. This historical exhibition, organized by two Northwestern graduate students John Murphy and Jill Bugajski, examines the decade after the 1929 stock market crash and the increase of artists using printed materials to voice political activism and to attempt to make art more affordable. I was fortunate to see it at the Block as well and loved being able to compare how the curatorial choices varied and the archival items were specific to each show. Also on view at the Grey is Abby Grey & Indian Modernism - an area of art that I am not terribly familiar with but I found it to be an extremely beautiful body of work. Both shows close next month.

Top: Henry Simon (Unitled, Industrial Frankenstein I)

I was recently in Washington, DC with college friends and together we visited the Hirshhorn Museum - it was the first time for me in many years.  In addition to their amazing permanent collection, I was mesmerized by the impressive video exhibition Days of Endless Time. The DeadSee piece by Sigalit Landau of the artist floating in unwinding spiral of linked watermelons was both beautiful and disturbing.  And I was taken to another world while watching David Claerbout's enchanting video Travel (1996-2013).

stills from Sigalit Landau, DeadSee

David Claerbout, Travel (1996-2013), ©David Claerbout

And from the permanent collection, two of my favorite female artists, Joan Mitchell and Louise Bourgeois:

Louise Bourgeois, The Blind Leading the Blind

Joan Mitchell, Cercando un Ago, 1959

Amory Week in NYC came and went.  Throngs of culture vultures descended upon Manhattan to visit the Armory Show at Pier 94, downtown to the satellite fairs, including Pulse, Spring/Break and uptown to the ADAA Show at the Park Avenue Armory.  There were also some exciting auctions and I was particularly impressed by Phillips' Under the Influence sale.

Jorge Méndez Blake, From an Unfinished Work (The Garden of Eden)

Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of Mark Donkeng, 2015

Kirsten Everberg

William Kentridge, Remembering the Treason Trial

Last week, I had a divine lunch with friends at one of Danny Meyer's new spots, Marta, where I had the Cicoria salad but also got to sample the Pig Face Testa and Funghi pizzas - the Funghi won! The food was incredible and the space designed by architect Annabelle Selfdorf is gorgeous.  I can't wait to go back for dinner!

           

After lunch we headed to Chelsea and saw a few of the blockbuster, museum-quality shows that are currently on view.  In particular, I loved the Sean Scully show Landline at Cheim + Read.  The paintings are gorgeous and the brush stroke definition of the thick horizontal stripes on the canvases are hypnotic.

Landline Skyline

Untitled (Floating Painting)

Down the street at the Pace Gallery is the exhibition Variations of genius sculptor, Isamu Noguchi that crosses decades of the artist's work and spans the variety of materials and disciplines used by the sculptor.  It is practically a mini-retrospective of Noguchi's work.

Around the corner at Gagosian is an incredible installation combining works by artist John Chamberlain and French architect and designer Jean Prouvé. The massive installation highlights how they each mastered metal in both art and design.  Chamberlain sculptures constructed from demolished cars are placed in Prouvé's Demountable Houses.

Mangia! Mangia!

Some of the fabulous meals I have enjoyed over the last couple of months include lunch at one of my favorite spots outside of New York City - Jean-Georges' the Inn at Pound Ridge.  Not only is the food some of Jean-Georges' best but the setting and decor are worth the trek to to the country.  For lunch I had one of the finest tuna tartare's I've ever tasted, which was topped with thinly sliced radishes on a bed of avocado. The brussels sprouts with pecans and avocado were perfect.  For those who know me, tuna tartare and brussels are staples I order almost every time I find them on a menu.  

     

I went with my husband for the first time to another one of Jean-Georges' out-posts, JoJo, on the Upper East Side.  It's hard to believe that I had never before been to this classic Jean-Georges restaurant and was completely impressed. The warm asparagus salad and the tuna roll with soy bean emulsion were incredible starters.  I had a curry seasoned scallop entrée that was almost like a stew - mixed with roasted cauliflower, yellow raisins and a lot of butter.  I must say the sea-salt butterscotch pudding beat out the warm chocolate cake. 

      

All'onda

We also tried All'onda with some foodie friends of mine - a new modern Venetian style Italian restaurant housed in a narrow two story building near Union Square.  The scallops I had melted in your mouth.  And the side of wild mushrooms and miso-cured egg yolk on southern grits-style polenta was unbelievable. I tasted everything that the four of us ordered and each bite was better than the last. I highly recommend it.

And one week mid-winter I was lucky enough to eat at two of the Momofuko's - uptown and downtown - Ma Peche and Momofuko Noodle Bar.  Having been to both on many occasions, I am still blown away by the flavors and freshness of the food with every bite and spoonful.  And don't forget to take home a stash of Momofuko Milk Bar cookies - we decided our favorites are the cornflake marshmallow cookie and the cake truffles.  And the Crack Pie is lethal.

spicy ramen from Momofuko Noodle Bar

So I am hoping that after today, that this winter is truly a wrap and that we can move onwards towards the next season - sunny days, lots of art and good eats!  In the meantime, there are several museum shows in NYC that  are not to be missed - I will be posting about them next week!  So until then...

Happy New Year! Join me for an adventure to Buenos Aires in October 2015!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with family + friends!  

Somehow December flew by and here we are in 2015.  I made my annual trip to Art Basel in Miami last month.  Although it was a quick trip this year, I was still able to see lots of amazing art work, eat at some great new spots in Miami and have a blast.  In addition to the "big" fair Art Basel, the smaller satellite fairs including Untitled, Scope, NADA, + Pulse were all very refreshing with some wonderful pieces.  

We also ventured off of South Beach and tried an amazing new restaurant in Miami Sea Salt + Pepper.   It was well worth the trek to get there. 

Anyway, I want to share the latest trip I have in the works...  BUENOS AIRES!

After an amazing trip to Berlin in September, I have partnered again with Adeline Talbot of Studio Traveler.  We are planning an exciting trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina this fall from October 18th - 24th, 2015.

To view the itinerary on the Studio Traveler website, please click on this link: 

http://www.studiotraveler.com/new-page-1.  If you think you would like to join us and want to hold a spot, then scroll to the link on the bottom to make a deposit and secure your place.  I promise you won’t regret it!  

In the meantime, let me know if I can assist you with the purchase of art, collection management or planning private tours of galleries + artist studios - as well as unique small group trips in the States and internationally.

All the best for 2015!  I look forward to having you join me on an art adventure - or two - in 2015!

kpeArts presents:

Buenos Aires

kpeArts is pleased to announce an exciting trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina in October of 2015.

Buenos Aires is often referred to as the Paris of South America. It is an exceptional destination for art, architecture and culture. We have assembled an itinerary that focuses on art & the European-style architecture for which Buenos Aires is know, including some exclusive visits to private collections and artists’ studios.  We will also explore aspects of the rich Argentinian culture such as tango, polo, food and wine.

We have partnered on this trip with Adeline Talbot of Studio Traveler, a small group cultural travel firm.  For these reasons, demand is expected to be high and space will be limited.

To view the itinerary on the Studio Traveler website, please click on this link:

 http://www.studiotraveler.com/new-page-1.  If you think you would like to join us and want to hold a spot, then scroll to the link on the bottom to make a deposit and secure your place. 

Please feel free to forward on to friends, family or colleagues who might also be interested in venturing to Buenos Aires.

October 18th-24th, 2015

'Tis the season - contemporary art auction week in NYC... and in Connecticut too!

I love it when the art world descends on New York City.  It happens a few times a year - around the major Contemporary and Modern art auction sales in the Fall and Spring, and during the big art fairs such as the Armory Show and Frieze New York.  And this year Independent Projects tried something new - they set up shop for a week as an solo art fair concurrent with the auction sales at the old DIA center where they have been on view during the Armory Show for the last several years.

 

Not only do I love having friends in town from around the globe, but all of the galleries and museums put on their best shows to appeal to all of the collectors, curators and directors that come to town for the sales or the fairs.  That said, I was able to see a lot of incredible art in the last two weeks in Chelsea, the Lower East Side,uptown at the auction houses and even in suburban Connecticut.  

The auction sales are over, with record breaking prices and sales at Christie's & Sotheby's.  Christie's set a record for all auctions ever and everywhere with $852,887,000 for only 75 works of art!  

Warhol's Four Marlons, 1966 went for whopping $69,605,000.

   

But some of my favorite highlights were at Phillip's including works by Julie Mehretu, Ai Weiwei and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The Independent closed on the 15th so unfortunately you'll have to wait until they have their annual fair in March 2015.  But Chris Ofili exhibition Night and Day, just opened at the New Museum on the Bowery and is up until January 25th.  It is a beautiful exhibition taking over almost the entire museum and spans most of Ofili's career including over thirty major paintings, drawings and a selection of sculptures.  The British born artist is heavily influenced by Zimbabwean culture, the Bible, Blaxploitation and hip-hop.

The Lower East Side has some fabulous shows that just opened up and are worth visiting.  And conveniently, most of them are around the corner from the New Museum.  One of my favorites that actually just closed was a three part show by Canadian artist Alan Belcher at Marlborough Broome Street. His series 10.5 is a commentary on pop-culture in America and replicates images of limited edition Nike sneakers - he actually outsources them to be painted in China and then he signs and shrink wraps the canvases, and puts them on display as if they were in a show store.  Another series called Corportraits captures moments of the stock market for some of the biggest and most popular American companies, critiquing America's obsession with corporate identity.  And the third part of his show is an installation of ceramic wall sculptures of the popular icon of the Jpeg.  It was a wonderful show and I was glad to get to see it more than once.

A few other shows off of the Bowery that I would highly recommend include the historic Bill Traylor (1854-1949) at Betty Cunningham Gallery of the iconic, outsider artist.  I also love the two part exhibition Valeska Soares: Any Moment Now at both of Eleven Rivington's galleries.

  

A new show that just opened up is by Parisian-born, Algerian artist Kader Attia at Lehmann Maupin on Chrystie Street, as well as their location on 26th Street.  The exhibition on Chrystie is an installation of old doors cut into A-frame shapes and topped with megaphones that symbolize a crowd of political demonstrators.  The doors represent barriers, confinement but also political freedom.   

I would also go see the Heinz Mack: From ZERO to Today at Sperone Westwater Gallery that coincides with the ZERO group survey exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum.  

Salon 94 has two wonderful shows up right now as well: video artist Takeshu Murata: OM Rider and a gorgeous exhibition by Australian artist Jessica Rankin, Dear Another...

In any case, run don't walk to the LES to see some intriguing art in what is thought of as the "brain" of the New York art world.  These shows were all appreciated by the fun Greenwich Arts Council collector's group I lead last Wednesday, November 12th.

Another show I would encourage you to see opened on the west side of Soho at Jack Geary Contemporary.  It's a glorious photography show of a new series titled Walks by my friend and Chicago artist Suzette Bross.

And sometimes the art world takes itself to the "country."  Last weekend, the Brant Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut opened a new blockbuster show Deliverance with Larry Clark, Cady Noland, Richard Prince and Christopher Wool.  They opened this show, as they always do, with grandeur including an afternoon-long brunch in a beautiful clear tent on the stunning grounds of the Foundation next to the Polo fields.  It was a perfect fall day that invited guests (all of the art world Who's Who) to linger and enjoy incredible art, a delicious meal, cocktails and a take-home treat of cookies by Sweet Lisa's with replicas of some of the art works by Prince and Wool.  Try to take advantage of the Foundation's free guided tours that you can register for on their website.

Another event that happened this past Saturday was the inaugural display of weR2 Studio's Dream Machine, an airstream trailer that is part exhibition-space and part-travel trailer at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  This collaboration of art and design by former-gallerist Sara Meltzer and designer Suchi Reddy will be at the Aldrich until November 23rd, after which is travels to Miami for Art Basel week next month.  It will be situated in front of the UNTITLED Art Fair in South Beach from December 3rd-7th, 2014.  I missed the panel discussion that they hosted at the Aldrich but I did get to go to an art workshop for kids hosted by artist Jason Middlebrook, which was a big hit with my youngest daughter and my nephew visiting from Brooklyn.

 

In the theme of "let's go anywhere", I am off to Chicago this week to see the Wangechi Mutu exhibition at the Block Museum at Northwestern University.  I hope to see some other art while I am briefly in the Windy City.  And after Thanksgiving, I will be heading to Miami for Art Basel.