CHANEL MOBILE ART PAVILION

Award-winning actress, Sarah Jessica Parker

It sort of felt very Oscars night meets 2001 A Space Odyssey at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park Tuesday night at the private view of Chanel Mobile Art. While a bank of paparazzi stood single file under elm tress popping flashbulbs, a stream of mostly women dressed to the nines, many dripping in Chanel ascended a low-rise staircase, stalked a red-carpeted runway to the portal of the Chanel Art Mobile pavilion, a smooth-as-silk white fiberglass vehicle that might have likely landed from Mars. Designed by the Pritzker winning architect, Zaha Hadid, it’s a curvaceous structure made of hundreds of molded fiberglass panels mounted on a steel skeletal frame.

Making a world tour, Chanel Mobile Art originated in Hong Kong in February, traveled during summer to Tokyo and in late July was dismantled again, packed and shipped to New York where it unveiled to the public on October 20th and remains on view through November 9th. It’s been described as a nautilus-like form but I see it more like a highly stylized PRE-FAB spaceship. Hadid is always ahead of the game and perhaps she’s really onto something since space travel is becoming the new adventure choice of the billionaire set.

Chanel Mobile Art is a traveling contemporary/temporary vehicle designed to display commissioned artworks by leading artists from around the world inspired by a quilted leather chain-strap handbag, called the 2.55 for the month and year it was designed by Coco Chanel. The pavilion has been financed by the French luxury goods brand. http://www.chanel-mobileart.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

by Mary Barone

The Art World kicked in for fall with a slew of openings around Manhattan and the boroughs. Out in Queens, Dzine unveiled refabricated low-riders at Deitch LIC while Lisa Cooley’s Lower Eastside gallery hosted Creswell Crags with works by Frank Haines, J. Parker Valentine amongst others.  To the West in Chelsea, Andrea Serrano was all the shit at Yvon Lambert and Jonathan Calm’s Projects opened at Caren Golden.  Further uptown Zach Miner together with Agnyess Deyn, Henry Holland and other fashion It kids hosted Art & Fashion to celebrate a private preview of Christie’s Fall sales of Post War & Contemporary Art, Impressionist & Modern Art and Resurrection: Avante Garde Fashion.  Max Snow and Karline Moeller gave it up for Kika Karadi hosting a solo show of her paintings at their Noho space while another Snow, Agathe Snow, opened with new work at James Fuentes lower Manhattan space.

Across the pond as Damien Hirst was taking the Contemporary art market by storm in London, Barry Schwabsky held court at CCA in Andratx, Mallorca with a group show titled M25: Around London, featuring emerging artists from Great Britain.

Back in the states it was tough going with the economic meltdown in full swing though undaunted by the storm Issue Project Room went full steam ahead with their gala auction hosted by Charlie Scheips at Phillips de Pury.  With the election just around the corner an Obama Dance Party drew a gaggle of art critics, artists and afficiandos to Buschwick, Brooklyn.  Also in Brooklyn Gilbert & George amazed with a retrospective of their work from the late 60s to present at The Brooklyn Museum that everyone’s raving about. 

And talk about raving, Isaac Mizrahi and the Ben Waltzer Quintet brought down the house at Joe’s Pub on Lafayette Street. Isaac chatted, did Q&A and sang, with real panache, cabaret songs (some in French and others in German!) concluding with a fabulous story about the art world’s beloved Knight Landesman...all I’ll say is that it included a deck of cards. Catch Mizrahi’s next gig...you won’t be disappointed nor should you miss Laura Hoptman’s stellar curatorial flare at the New Museum on the Bowery with a survey show of the work of art world darling Elizabeth Peyton sponsored by Banana Republic.

BEAUTIFUL INSIDE MY HEAD FOREVER

Damien Hirst hosts One Hellava Crowd at Sotheby’s New Bond Street showrooms to celebrate BEAUTIFUL INSIDE MY HEAD FOREVER, London, Friday, September 12, 2008

IT'S A HIRST THING

Dashing Damien Hirst
London's Groucho Club
Friday, October 15, 2004