THEARTGORGEOUS.COM
ISSUE 5 2018
SORRY TINDER!
DATING IN THE ART WORLD IS THE NEXT BIG THING
THE LOVE ISSUE
SMOOCHING THROUGH ART HISTORY
FROM BANKSY TO BRÂNCUȘI
#GIRLCRUSH
ART LADIES WE ADORE RIGHT NOW
neubau-eyewear.com
Up your travel game horizn-studios.com
CONTENT POWER MUNICH
The Very Honest Gallerist
JUNGLE p. 28
CANDY p. 88
14 Art Ba$ar 16 Art Gents‛ IG Accounts That Make Us Blush! 22 Austin Lee’s Digital Love 24 Career Coach
Art History’s Standout Smooches
STYLE p. 52
JUNGLE
28 Power Munich 36 The Fashion World’s Funniest Art Star 40 Taming the Monkey Mind
STYLE
52 Art History’s Standout Smooches 60 Liz Goldwyn Wants You to Let Your Freak Flag Fly 66 Art Gent Deconstructed
Sorry Tinder!
CANDY p. 72
The Fashion World‛s Funniest Art Star JUNGLE p. 36
CANDY
70 Latte at Luce 72 Sorry Tinder! 80 16 Hacks to Turn Your Apartment into a Collector’s Crib 88 The Very Honest Gallerist 6 8 10 12
On the Cover Unskilled Worker The Arrival. The Gucci Chronicles, 2016 © Unskilled Worker
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Content Imprint Editor’s Letter Contributors
IMPRINT Founder / Editor-In-Chief: Cordelia Noe Publisher: Christoph Noe Graphic Designer: Lavender Woo Photographers: Alexandra Arnold, Glynnis McDaris, Javier Romero, Genevieve Stevenson, Mark Blower Illustrations: Lavender Woo, Joana Partyka, Orn Thongthai Contributing Writers: Anneli Botz, Nadja Sayej, Katya Lopatko, Peigi Mackillop, Minnie Yeung Copy Editor: Fay Janet Jackson For Advertising and Sponsorship Enquiries please contact: thegirls@theartgorgeous.com Special thanks to: Austin Lee, Mon Müllerschön, Johann König, Mama Toy, Orn Thongthai, Joana Partyka Printing: Druck- und Verlagshaus Fromm GmbH & Co. KG; Osnabrück, Germany TheArtGorgeous Magazine is a publication by TheArtGorgeous Ltd. TheArtGorgeous. Issue 5, Autumn/Winter 2018. © 2018, TheArtGorgeous Ltd. All Rights Reserved. See the magazine online at www.theartgorgeous.com. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without permission from the publishers. The views expressed in TheArtGorgeous Magazine are those of the respective contributors, and are, not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. The magazine welcomes new contributors but can assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or any other material. Contact: TheArtGorgeous is published by TheArtGorgeous Ltd., 340 Queen’s Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Email: contact@theartgorgeous.com Subscription Email: thegirls@theartgorgeous.com
Scan or Visit: theartgorgeous.com @theartgorgeous
@the_art_gorgeous
@TheArtGorgeous
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ArtGorgeous
ello Gorgeous, We are working on this issue while it’s sweltering hot outside, so it’s slightly tricky to get in the mood for an Autumn/Winter preface or even begin to imagine the temperature dropping. However, there will come the time to snuggle up in layers of cozy knit and – while you focus on finding (or keeping) your cuddle buddy – we are excited to present you with this issue of TheArtGorgeous, focused on romance in the art world. LA-based filmmaker, Liz Goldwyn talks about women artists and the relationship between sex and femininity.
EDITOR’S LETTER
Katya Lopatko gives us a little history lesson on the best known art-world kisses, from Fragonard’s master piece to Nan Goldin’s photographs. Helen Downie’s (aka @unskilledworker) road to success may seem like a fairytale – starting off her career with a Gucci collaboration – but everyone knows that love fuels the creative fire more than anything else! And it doesn’t stop there: this issue also celebrates Instagram feeds run buy the art world’s most handsome gents, brightening up our daily scroll and making us blush; as well as a compilation of the women shaking up Munich’s contemporary art scene and bringing the Bavarian capital to super-regional awareness. We also share with you some hacks to turn your apartment into a collects crib, as well as how to make dating in the art world successful. Our stickers have become sought-after collectibles, and we are thrilled to announce another special treat for you all! This time, Austin Lee – best known for working between digital gadgets and the canvas – has create some amazing VR stickers. All you need to do is download a free app on your mobile, and voilà! your stickers will come alive. We wish you a memorable season of art, love, and fun, and we are excited to welcome you at any of the events that we are hosting at art fairs around the world. Stay tuned!
Founder / Editor-in-Chief cordelia@theartgorgeous.com
#artgirlsdoitbetter
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where style comes to celebrate wonderful to wonder bikini berlin
CONCEPT SHOPPING MALL Fashion. Food. Design. Zoologischer Garten
Peigi Mackillop
Peigi Mackillop is an events and marketing specialist and a freelance writer based in Hong Kong, who is about to move to London. On top of being an art enthusiast, Peigi also loves fashion, and co-hosts the vintage fashion pop-up market, Rug Lane. @peigicatrion
Nadja Sayej
Nadja Sayej is an arts and culture journalist, who loves doing celebrity Q&As. She has written for Forbes, The Economist, The New York Times, and more. Check out her new book, The Celebrity Interview Book.
Austin Lee
CONTRIBUTORS
Austin Lee is an American artist, known for his airbrush acrylic works that often start as a drawing on an iPad. Lee’s works reflect on his obsession with a digitally and technologically advancing world, and the impact this has had on contemporary culture, society, and politics. Since receiving his MFA from Yale in 2013, Lee has staged several solo shows at leading galleries, including Peres Projects, Bank Shanghai, and Kaikaikiki.
Orn Thongthai
Orn Thongthai is an artist based in Bangkok. Her creations range from large acrylic paintings to ceramics, sculpture, and photography. Her smart and humorous black marker drawings are her signature. Orn’s passions are travel, quotes, typewriting, music, and collecting vintage objects.
Joana Partyka
Joana Partyka is an illustrator, writer, and ceramicist from Melbourne, now based in Perth, Western Australia. She is the founder and editor of the illustration and interview project Outlier-blog.com, and her illustration work has appeared in various publications around the world, including Tablet, Treadlie, and Season magazines.
Anneli Botz
Anneli Botz is a writer and curator, based in Berlin. She has an M.A. in Art History and Philosophy and focuses on cultural expression through contemporary art, fashion, and music. She writes for numerous publications, such as Interview Magazine, Sleek Magazine, and Amsterdam Berlin.
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Katya Lopatko is a recent college grad, based out of Los Angeles, but about to set sail for Corsica to teach English, traipse around the Mediterranean, and finally put her 1960s Cote d’Azur thrift-store wardrobe to good use. Her favorite stories to write are the ones that bridge the gap between fine art and pop culture – and the ones that lend themselves well to a light sprinkle of philosophising. Her work has appeared in GARAGE magazine and on VICE.com, where she spent a semester churning out transcriptions, researching, and stockpiling mugs at her desk as an editorial intern.
Photo credit: Harald Geil, Javier Romero
Katya Lopatko
* Founded in St-Tropez in 1971
Fondé à St-Tropez en 1971*
Art Ba$ar
Girl Boss
Yes, most of the time, artists are in the studio and covered in paint (at least, this is what they lead us to believe), but some of them do other pretty things too. While you‘re still saving to eventually buy that canvas, don’t miss these arty gems, gadgets, and collectibles.
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Art Print
I will wait
by FLOSS via florencegiven.com
Leather Jacket
Love, Love, Love by Elizabeth Ilsley
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Patches
Rainbovaries
by Jess de Wahls via jessdewahls.com
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Stickers
by brainxeyes via claudiachanhoi.com
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T-Shirt Frida
via artgirlrising.com
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Ceramic Vessels Daiquiri & Pineapple by Lu Zhang via specialspecial.com
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Smash the Patriarchy
Dress
Feminist Activities for Rainy Afternoons
Drama
by Alba Blasquez via tantanfan.com The Historical Heroines Coloring Book: Pioneering Women in Science from the 18th and 19th Centuries
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by Elizabeth Lorayne
Pillow
Having Fun with Friends
by Badass Prints via badass-prints.com The Nasty Woman Resistance: Coloring Book by Marie Rivers
The Future Is Female: Feminist Adult Coloring Book by Creative Collective Design
Crafting with Feminism: 25 Girl-Powered Projects to Smash the Patriarchy
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by Bonnie Burton
Silk Scarf
Why must I be‌
by Tuesday Bassen via shoptuesday.com Bad Girls Throughout History
by Ann Shen
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Art Print
Bowery, NYC
by IRMA via irmasworld.com
The Feminist Activity Book
by Gemma Correll
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Art Gents‛ IG Accounts That Make Us Blush! The art world is home to many swoon-worthy gents, some of whom seem a little too beautiful to approach IRL. That’s why Instagram has become a great tool to blush over these handsome gentlemen behind closed doors, without causing us some red-faced embarrassment. Not only do these art gents’ Instagram accounts show off their perfected selfies, but also their enviable art collections, equally gorgeous friends, exotic travels, and overall covetable lifestyles. Take a look at our top picks of art gents’ IG accounts that you will instantly want to stalk.
Writer PEIGI MACKILLOP
CM By Monet / Chalamet In Art Ok, this is not just one, but two Timothée Chalamet-centric art Instagram feeds that we are obsessed with, because who doesn’t love Timothée Chalamet?! After the success of @cmbynmonet – which merged scenes from the film Call Me By Your Name onto Monet paintings – @ChalametInArt followed hot on its heels, photoshopping Timothée Chalamet’s face onto iconic classics. After all, how can one improve a painting as iconic as René Magritte’s The Son of Man, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, or Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks? Simply add Timothée Chalamet’s face! “Turns out, Timothée Chalamet has been an inspiration to artists as far back as da Vinci,” the account’s bio jokes. While, clearly, that isn’t true, the indie sweetheart’s exquisite looks really aren’t that out of place, and are just as timeless as all the classics he’s been Photoshopped onto.
@cmbynmonet / @ChalametInArt
Vito Schnabel After losing yourself in Vito Schnabel’s Instagram feed, you quickly begin to realise how the handsome American art curator and contemporary art dealer managed to win the affections of Heidi Klum, and now Amber Heard. The young art maverick uses his social media account as a platform to show off his eclectic collection of art, housed in the Vito Schnabel Gallery that he founded in 2015 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Vito Schnabel Projects, founded in 2006 in New York. The globetrotting, entrepreneurial son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel and designer Jacqueline Beaurang is certainly one to watch and follow in 2018. @vitoschnabelgallery
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Loic Gouzer ‘Art, sharks, and stupid stuff... Christie’s Auction House (sometimes),’ are the words that Loic Gouzer uses in his bio to describe his Instagram feed. The irrepressible Christie’s maverick, who famously set a world record when he sold Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, boasts an Instagram feed that features just what the bio describes. Along with being the co-chair of the postwar and contemporary art departments for Christie’s, the 38-year-old Swiss dynamo is an avid sportsman, known for his pastime of swimming with sharks and his penchant for spearfishing. Gouzer is also a devoted supporter of environmental causes, sitting on the board of the conservation non-profit, Oceana. It is a passion that he successfully evangelises, both in person and on his widely-followed Instagram account, where a steady flow of rare artworks sit next to his pictures of ever rarer animals, as well as the occasional image of Gouzer in a tight wetsuit.
All images via Instagram
@loicgouzer
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Leon Löwentraut We have been hearing a lot about this wunderkind from Düsseldorf, Germany, who has been an art world sensation since the early age of seven. The young creative – whose work can be described as a mix of his heroes Basquiat, Pollock, and Warhol – managed to achieve multiple sold-out shows in his native homeland before his sixteenth birthday. By the age of seventeen, he was exhibiting his hyper-expressionist pop paintings internationally, from London to Singapore, with each piece being snapped up by collectors in record-breaking time. The German art-world sensation is not only a talented painter but also extremely media savvy. On his Instagram feed, which boasts a cool 50k followers, you can find his popular paintings sitting alongside his sultry selfies.
@leonloewentraut
Simon Porte Jacquemus Although not an art boy per se, Jacquemus’s playful approach to pushing the boundaries of French fashion, along with his beautifully executed images and the careful curation of his Instagram feed, has bagged him a spot on our list. The fashion darling, credited with bringing a freshness to Paris’ fashion scene, Simon Porte Jacquemus has arguably one of the most beautiful Instagram feeds out there. His strong social media presence is helped by the playful presentation of his images. In the same vein, Jacquemus has published a photography book in tandem with the Spring/Summer 2014 collection – La Grande Motte. Similar to his designs, the images that sprinkle his Instagram feed have a childlike spirit and sense of freedom, often featuring his celebrity friends, beautiful interiors and architecture, his exotic travels, and Matisse-esque paintings from his most recent collections. Plus, of course, plenty of images of the handsome designer himself. @jacquemus
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Scrolling through Amar’e Stoudemire’s Instagram feed, you begin to realise how he managed to amass a whopping 406k Instagram followers. Teaming his love of basketball with art, and at nearly seven feet tall, the former New York Knicks star is an interesting and standout presence in the art world. Since purchasing his first painting in 2012, basketball star Stoudemire has also become a big player in the contemporary art world. During his 15-year career playing for the New York Knicks, Stoudemire became friends with countless artists, along with some experts and top gallerists. Later, with the establishment of the Melech Collection, he became a mentor to fellow NBA players with the aim of demystifying the elusive art world. Since 2016, with an enterprise called In the Paint, the now-retired basketball star has been teaming up with the various artists in his circle to set up art workshops for underprivileged youth across cities in the USA.
@amareisreal
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All images via Instagram
Amar’e Stoudemire
Waris Ahluwalia You may recognise Waris Singh Ahluwalia from his roles in the various Wes Anderson movies he appears in, or even his pictures amongst socialites at glamorous, high society parties around the world. The dandy, Sikh American designer and actor, based in New York City, is the founder of House of Waris, through which the creative and muse collaborates with several other designers and artists. The It boy’s Instagram feed is a colourful display of his enviable lifestyle and various pursuits where he likes to tell his story, be that through a still of a film, activism, his love of fashion, diamonds, or ink on a piece of paper.
@houseofwaris
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David Alexander Flinn David Alexander Flinn is not just a model. When he’s not posing up a storm for notorious photographers in Vogue magazine, the young, laid-back, tattoo-clad New Yorker is an artist. Besides his good looks, the sculptor, artist, and photographer is well known for his bold, creative direction, which has lead him to collaborate with many famous like-minded artists. Flinn, who grew up between New York and Italy, merges ideas ranging from botany to the fall of the Roman empire in his work, which you can see from his picturesque Instagram feed. Alongside his world-class art direction and artworks displayed across his feed, prepare to idolise and take note of his Wild West American style that takes inspiration from the likes of Johnny Cash.
@dafstudio
When examining Hall’s Instagram feed you start to understand why he has such a wide range of admirers. From British institutions like Burberry, Christie’s, and Drake’s, to Parker Springs hotel in California, and technology giant Samsung, a number of well known brands have recently called on the creative to lend his distinctive eye to their designs. The London-based designer is one of those rare individuals who is just as talented in illustration as he is in fashion design, ceramics, and interior design. His colourful aesthetics are informed by the designer’s love of history, along with a deep appreciation of beauty, and a sense of playful fun. After establishing his own studio in 2015, on top of collaborating with brands, Hall held an exhibition of his drawings and paintings in Bloomsbury, took part in the ‘Young Bright Things’ exhibition at the David Gill Gallery, and curated an art and design exhibition at Christie’s London. The young British darling is definitely one to keep an eye on!
@lukeedwardhall
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All images via Instagram
Luke Edward Hall
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Image courtesy: Javier Romero
Austin Lee’s Digital Love Writer KATYA LOPATKO
As further evidence of the traction that VR is gaining in the art world, the director of Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, Daniel Birnbaum, announced in July that he is stepping down from his prestigious post. The opportunity that lured him away? Director of Acute Art – a new company creating VR and AR art. After many years at the helm of some of the art world’s most time-honoured institutions, Birnbaum decided to hop on the tech train in search of “an adventure, a journey into the future.” In Austin Lee’s world, the future has already landed. The selfprofessed artist and computer nerd blends traditional techniques, like drawing and painting, with newfangled technologies such as iPads, Photoshop, and 3D printing. The result is a creative process so dizzyingly modern that it would’ve made Van Gogh slice off his other ear. His large-scale paintings are typically born on his iPad screen before migrating over to the canvas, but Lee isn’t afraid to experiment as the mood strikes him – using his entire toolbox to tinker with the image to coax out its magic. The resulting pictures are bright, whimsical, and a little surreal, somewhere between figurative and abstract, with a touch of some quality reminiscent of Claymation, or perhaps 90s Microsoft Paint. It’s only fitting that Lee thinks of his paintings as “sharing an isolated moment, keeping it alive, and making it timeless.” This is great paradox of the digital era; the same technologies that erase distances between us are also the ones setting us adrift in a virtual wasteland, making plugged-in but lonely islands out of us all. In his work, Lee shows how the technologies of our generation can help fight this isolation by harnessing them to create art with one timeless goal: to build bridges of humour and empathy between human beings. Even the art world cannot escape the digital revolution. The effects of digital technologies – not to mention emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) – are creeping into artists’ studios, as well as museums and galleries around the world. Take Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei, for example, who proved that new and old play well together when she designed BMW’s Art Car #18. Using AR and VR, Fei addressed the future of vehicular mobility through a meditation on the applications of traditional Chinese culture and spirituality.
This issue comes with a set of Austin Lee stickers. If the stickers are gone already, someone else was quicker! Write to us at contact@theartgorgeous.com
SCAN IT! Download the Spheres app on your mobile phone
Meanwhile, contemporary Chinese art collectors, Sylvain and Dominique Levy, have opted to unmoor their impressive collection from the traditional museum space by launching the dslcollection – a virtual reality museum that has traveled to art fairs around the world, bringing their larger-than-life pieces to the largest possible audience.
Open the app and simply hold your mobile over the stickers Be aware that some animations take longer to trigger Good lighting conditions can greatly improve detection by the app See augmented reality add ons on top of the works
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Career Coach
The First-Ever Insider's Guide to Art World Job Struggles
$
Museum Fundraising Manager
vs
Respectful lobbyist that is willing to sacrifice own dignity and pride for money.
DESCRIPTION
Better ask for the advice from your stockbroker, who previously caused a loss but is still considered as trustworthy.
OUTFIT
Either you are rich enough to support the museum financially, or you are the acquaintance of rich people who can. Whenever your existing and potential donors are awake. Relatively high in the art industry, but if you’re good at making commissions, you’d better sell insurance too (and yes, there is also art insurance). Telepathy and Hypnotism.
GETTING IN WORKING HOURS SALARY RECOMMENDED STUDIES
“The proposal is great, and I would love to sponsor that. How much shall I wire?”
CAREER HIGHLIGHT
Receive a text from your donor who declines to donate this year – while you’re sitting in a meeting with the museum director discussing the next fiscal year.
MOMENT OF TERROR
Any means of transport that can reach the donors’ offices. Be a confident and sophisticated problemsolver, even though you are not.
Art History Professor A former student who was dissatisfied with the calibre of arts professors and decided to replace them. Everything is possible as long as it is tweed.
Survive the doctoral degree first. Lectures + tutorials + meeting with students and staff + marking students’ papers + conducting research + attending academic seminars. Sufficient for survival – without buying any artwork. If you want to avoid art history, you can also fail at some start-ups and become an adjunct professor, perhaps in Arts Management. Your essay appears in Apollo Magazine.
plagiarism-detect.com
COMMUTE
Normally shuttle between heaven (home) and hell (university) by car.
WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN THE INTERVIEW...
Be prepared to defend your dissertation against your future colleagues without offending them.
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JUNGLE
‚ The Fashion World s Funniest Art Star
If Andy Warhol Were Ever Reincarnated as a Woman, it Might be in Ashley Longshore p. 36
Gorgeous Jungle Power Munich p. 28 / The Fashion World,s Funniest Art Star p. 36 / Taming the Monkey Mind p. 40 27
Edie Monetti Having studied under Professor Günther Förg at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, Edie Monetti made everything dangerous her signature. Ironically assuming that she might be adopted by Siegfried & Roy, her canvases are full of wild and threatening jungle creatures, including such fantastical creations as Peach Blonde Boa and Man-eater. It wouldn’t be surprising if her bold, breathtaking aesthetic caught the eye of Alessandro Michele, looking to ‘Guccify’ her works.
STYLE 28
POWER MUNICH Talking about the German art scene is often connected with talking about Berlin. Without a doubt, the capital is host to a number of amazing players in the industry, but to miss out on what’s happening in Munich would be incredibly naive. Not only is it the homebase of some of the country’s leading museums, corporate collections, and private collectors, but it is also home to some women that are working to change the scene dramatically. Watch this space! These are the women bringing the Bavarian comfort zone to super-regional awareness. Illustrator JOANA PARTYKA
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Ayzit Bostan
Mon Müllerschön
Ayzit Bostan is a master of quiet symbolism and – apart from her own collections – it is her dedication to contemporary art that makes her one of Germany’s coolest fashion designers. She not only presents her new designs at fashion shows, but she also stages them as performances, videos, and installations in galleries and museums. Her work has been exhibited at major institutions such as the MMK in Frankfurt and the Kunstverein Munich. In addition to holding a professorship at the Kunsthochschule Kassel for Designing Textile Products, she has been exhibiting her own artworks in various institutions since 2008.
Looking for one of Germany’s most sought after art advisors? Look no further. When it comes to growing their art collections, leading entrepreneurs and high profile collectors have Mon Müllerschön’s number on speed dial. While discretion is key, it is widely known that she is the mastermind behind the art collection of the Burda Media Headquarters, as well as advising the likes of Roland Berger and Christiane zu Salm. With an astute eye for detail, it’s no wonder that Germany’s rich and famous seek her advice.
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Hell Gette Forget Monet; here is the creator of Landscape 3.0. Born in Kazakhstan, Hell Gette is what we call a ‘digital native’, bringing our daily, emoji-saturated world straight to the canvas. If you feel it is time for a digital detox, but you’re not willing to depart completely from your favourite smiley faces, you will love the work of Gette – and the titles are too good to be true! We can’t wait until they grin at us from the caption labels of the world’s leading galleries and museums. And, trust us, it won’t be long.
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Dr. Gabriele Castegnaro
Irmin Rodenstock-Beck
The third-generation manager of the Munich-based fashion house, Konen – founded by her grandfather in the 1930s – Gabriele Castegnaro is a woman of no fear. Not only is she a trained lawyer, guiding the tradition-rich fashion business through the process of digitalisation, but she also loves to integrate architecture and art as part of Konen’s DNA. Whenever she has spare time outside of the family business, she surrounds herself with art and architecture, and is engaged in the city’s leading museums, such as Die Pinakothek.
Not only has Irmin Rodenstock-Beck amassed an eclectic art collection together with her husband, Benedict Rodenstock, but she studied architecture and has made a name for herself as a curator for contemporary art. A keen mentor for the local arts industry since 2008, Rodenstock-Beck co-founded UNPAINTED, a new media art fair and platform that supports contemporary artists, and is dedicated to the latest developments in digital art. Several times per year, some of the best upcoming artists are invited to showcase their work in her project space, introducing their practice to a handpicked audience.
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Jasmin Khezri Having studied at the renowned Parsons School of Design, Jasmin Khezri went on to become one of the youngest awardwinning art directors in Europe. Besides a successful career in magazines and retail, she started to garner recognition for her alter ego, IRMA – a painterly version of the digital art character, Lil Miquela, if you like. IRMA became known as one of the first ever ‘influencers’ (long before Instagram), setting numerous trends across the global fashion and lifestyle industry. “My grandmother, Irma, was an inspirational force in my life,” says Khezri, “IRMA encapsulates and brings to life the virtues of a strong, independent, and modern woman.”
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Sarah Haugeneder
Stephanie Utz
Sarah Haugeneder is the Manager of exhibitions and public programming for Espace Louis Vuitton München. Established in 2014 and located in the historic heart of the city, the gallery acts as an independent art space. Before she began encouraging new encounters between the local community and both native and international artists – such as David Claerbout, Ian Cheng, and Cory Arcangel, or the multimedia exhibition curated by Michiko Kono – Haugeneder worked as collection assistant at the renowned private museum of Ingvild Goetz.
Thanks to the private initiative of Stephanie Utz and her husband, Christian Utz, Munich’s cultural offering now includes MUCA – Germany’s first Museum of Urban Art – whose building used to be an old transformer station. Like the name suggests, the focus lies not only on displaying the couple’s own collection of urban and street art masterpieces but also in curating blockbuster shows – from Calligraffiti to street artist Viehls. Located in the heart of Munich, the museum also showcases a unique dining concept; a restaurant offering South American and Asian flavours in an industrial setting, full of internationallyrenowned street art.
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Julie Schemann
Nina Neuper
As the head of the Young Circle of the Pinakothek der Moderne, Julie Schemann is the one who engages in the process of building the youngest collection, and therefore also the one taking the biggest risks when scouting for new works. Having moved south from Berlin – where she was running a contemporary Indian art gallery due to her strong personal ties to the country and its culture – Schemann made Munich her family’s home. She was won over by the dynamic art academy, the rising power of various off-spaces, and the city`s top notch museums, all of which reinforce Munich’s status as a mecca for contemporary art.
With the ambitious goal of boosting the Munich art scene, Nina Neuper is the co-founder of Various Others, an initiative set to kick off their first major event this fall. With a slew of joint, Condo-style openings across the German city, the project is the brainchild of a group of preeminent Munich galleries that are determined to bring attention to their artists, project spaces, galleries, and a powerhouse roster of institutions and museums. Besides bolstering the perception of Munich as global art hub, Neuper is the director of Galerie Klüser, and previously worked as the curatorial assistant for the Munich Re Art Collection and for Christie’s.
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, The FashionWorld s Funniest Art Star If Andy Warhol Were Ever Reincarnated as a Woman, it Might be in Ashley Longshore Writer NADJA SAYEJ
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a
The phrases of Ashley Longshore’s art come from her own inner dialogue, which ranges from ‘I cant even with this place’ to ‘front row ho.’ They’re thoughts that rattle through my head. A lot of times, I’m talking to people, or waiting to get on a plane, or even standing nude in front of a mirror. It’s my inner monologue. It reflects my optimism and my sense of humor. I take things that would make the average human cry and put my own spin on it, put it in a painting, and make money. Business lady stats: I’ve been an artist for 24 years, I’m 32. I started selling art when I was 20. One of her favorite paintings says: ‘You don’t look fat, you look crazy.’
s soon as New Orleans-based artist, Ashley Longshore picks up the phone, she yells out a long bellow : “Helllooooooooo!” She sounds like a show-woman, a ring leader, or even an opera singer. However, Longshore is a pop artist, best known for her meme-like, emoji-esque paintings that tickle the funny bone. She has painted Jesus surrounded by Louis Vuitton, Kate Moss as a nun, not to mention Abraham Lincoln in a Gucci tracksuit. Longshore’s trademark humor can be spotted a mile away – a portrait of Anna Wintour with a shirt that reads ‘Major Poontang,’ or Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a ‘Thunder Pussy.’
Image courtesy: Alexandra Arnold
If ever Andy Warhol were reincarnated as a woman, it might be in Ashley Longshore. While she is a rising star in her own right, Longshore’s work has caught the attention of a number celebrities who are art collectors, including the Hollywood power couple, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds; Salma Hayek; Penelope Cruz, Eli Manning; Lorraine Schwartz; and H.S.H Prince Pierre d’Arenberg. Known for her brand collaborations with Chloe, Anthropologie, and Judith Leiber, Longshore has helped carve the path for pop art and fashion to coexist with gemstone-encrusted handbags. Fun fact: For her collaboration with Judith Leiber, Longshore h a s d e s i g n e d a s e r i e s of purses and compact mirrors for the boutique at Bergdorf Goodman. A few favorites are The French Fries clutch, a lemonslice pill box, a rainbow-swirl ice cream clutch, and the strawberry cupcake evening clutch with a crystal strap – a favorite of Paris Hilton. Longshore is famed for her portrait series of the iconic Audrey Hepburn – a signature muse for the artist – which has become the cornerstone of her work. But her girl power is where Longshore really shines. The artist is fascinated with consumer culture, bling, and material possessions as a starting point for today’s power-suited businesswoman (particularly how we all show all these things off on Instagram). Look into Longshore’s paintings to find an extravagance of diamonds, champagne, and countless luxury brand names. Did you hear? Ashley Longshore made history as the first female artist to have a solo exhibition at Bergdorf Goodman’s six-panel shop window display in New York City for her exhibition on 5th Avenue. As she gears up for an exhibition at the Post Oak Hotel in Houston this October, Longshore chatted with TheArtGorgeous about her past, her present, and what tickles her southern soul.
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POP QUIZ WITH ASHLEY Favorite chick flick... Bridesmaids. Art world superhero and superheroine... Lots of women. I am inspired by women who run their own businesses, have great careers, and are also mothers. I hunt down and hoard strong, powerful women. Dating advice... Fuck them all! Honestly, millennial women are inspired to make their own money and are sexually charged. Women should have sex and not feel guilty for it. I haven’t dated in so long though, I’m married. Favorite restaurants in New Orleans... Coquette and Jack Rose. Funniest reaction you ever got to your art... When I am painting and I hear people laughing in my showroom, that makes me so happy. Like, my Welcome to the country club painting makes people howl! It’s funny, it’s honest, and it’s real. Favorite fashion designer... Dapper Dan. I was in Harlem last week meeting Dapper and his son and I bought three tracksuits. I love what he stands for. Favorite bling... My custom-designed agate stone necklace, which protects me like a shield but still makes me approachable. Zodiac sign... I’m a raging Leo, a lioness. I speak my mind. I’m honest when I’m mad, I say what I feel, and then I’m over it. Most compatible with... I’m surrounded by Pisces. Art inspiration city... I love Rome. I’m going to live in Rome. I love the history, the religious foundation, I’m so fascinated by it. My mind races when I’m in Rome. All of my senses are ignited in Rome.
Say what? Before I got really busy, I took the time to go to lunch with a group of socialite trophy wives, the most beautiful women you’ve ever seen. Whenever one went to the restroom, the rest would talk so nasty about her and her husband. I literally gave myself a bladder infection, because I didn’t want to go to the washroom and have them talk behind my back like that. They complained that they were fat. They were the most beautiful women and I thought, “You’re not fat, you’re crazy.” Then I thought, “Oh God, I have to paint this.” I painted it, and it became the title of my book too. I think it’s a statement that a lot of people can relate to because the media puts so much pressure on women to look a certain way. It’s insane to spend that much time worrying about trying to look beautiful enough. Why the art world needs a sense of humor? I was a young girl when I started painting. I was raised to marry a rich man, to have kids, and a beautiful house – but none of that felt right to me. I always wanted to have my own business and be an entrepreneurial American woman. I realised that my paintings were my shield, and there was a lot of strength in that. Now, thank God, other people feel so drawn to what I am saying, they share this humor and color. Being a woman in America is relatable to a lot of people. No tr ust fund, no probl em. When you start your career, you want everyone to notice you. My dad didn’t
write me a cheque, I didn’t marry a rich guy, I’ve been broke as hell. I’ve had to scrounge to pay the rent and I’ve painted with the power shut off. I never want to be broke again. As my mom always told me: Every day, you have 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for working, and 8 hours for yourself. Career tip: Make sure you manage your time because, at the end of the day, you need to have time for yourself. That’s really important. Drama queen: Going off on the art world. I couldn’t give a shit about the art world, they have no impact on me. It’s about my world and my vision. They’re a cynical, 50%-taking bunch of motherfuckers who can shrivel up and die like a flower in the sun. It’s important for me to honor myself and my own vision. I represent myself and the intimacy between buyer and artist is so important. I don’t care about the galleries. Ashley’s studio look: On a regular day, I wear cotton shirts, Chanel pearls, and massive sunglasses. OMG. Ashley has put Abraham Lincoln in a Gucci jumpsuit in one of her paintings. I was thinking about presidents that I respect and I wanted to modernise them. I put one in a Supreme hoodie, so why not a Gucci jumpsuit? It’s a cool thing. Fashion is about being a peacock. Anna Wintour is the ultimate of what is and what isn’t. Celebrity dish: How Ashley sells art to celebs like Blake Lively. They’ve all come to me naturally. New Orleans has a huge film commission, so we have lots of creative types. I have set designers and film workers as clients, and when celebrities come to shoot in New Orleans, they go shopping. I’ve always had my studio open because I’ve always wanted to share. It goes to show you, you never know who will walk in the door one day. I crave that type of experience. When I go to NYC, I ask myself, “Where are the artists?” I want to visit artists’ studios, and I’m trying to create the experience that I’m looking for in the consumer. They’re people too, they go shopping too. One day, Salma Hayek walked into Ashley Longshore’s studio. Salma Hayek walked right into my studio. But before that, I had met her when a friend was having a birthday party and Salma was in town for
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Supreme George, 2018
Work Hard Eat Carbs Spend Money, 2018
Care Bear Stare, 2018
Cookie Monster, 2018
a movie and she was there. She saw one of my paintings on the wall, we were introduced, and she said, “Come and paint with me tomorrow.” We painted together for eight days. Her bodyguard was there, I put together little canvases and paint, and we painted. She bought several paintings. Queen wisdom: I say this all the time: if you’re working hard, and you’re prepared, and you’re honoring what you’re meant to put out to the world, you never know what can happen in a day. You have to put faith in the fact that a good community is around you at all times. The artist is a self-described ‘urban hippie.’ I love nature. As a woman with luxury items, my greatest joy is being in nature. I was in the Hampton’s surrounded by Kelly Ripa, Jane Krakowski, Sarah Jessica Parker, billionaires. I was showing them the nearby bumble bees dive-
bombing into flowers and getting so much pollen on them that they couldn’t fly. Those kinds of things tickle my soul. Fun trick: When I’m out in nature, if I put a Krispy Kreme doughnut on the front porch, a baby bear will come up and eat it – does a baby bear like doughnuts more than me? I just don’t know. I find peace in that. Blissful moments: If you find true bliss and happiness in nature, you can handle anything that happens to you. Art and fashion: Fashion is something to have fun with. One might say that a $75,000 Birkin bag is offensive, but I just think it’s ridiculously fun. I’m not going to judge people; I’m optimistic.
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Ready for the Palais. The Gucci Chronicles, 2016
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TAMING THE MONKEY MIND
When Helen Downie (b.1965), who goes by the artist name Unskilled Worker, picked up her pencil and paintbrush after over thirty years of absence, she did not expect anything to come of it. Now, five years later, she has a following on Instagram of 280,000, a successful collaboration with one of the world’s biggest fashion houses, Gucci, and has her artwork shown in exhibitions around the world. Her story sounds like a fairytale, but – like reality – it is much more complex than that. It is a story of love and loss, of addiction and life’s struggles, about trying to keep it together, and listening to an inner calling. Writer ANNELI BOTZ Photographer GENEVIEVE STEVENSON
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It is a hot summer day in Tuscany, Italy. For a couple of years now, artist Helen Downie has come here to spend the season working on her art. Located amidst beautiful trees and nothing but nature, it is a tranquil hideaway from busy Wimbledon in London, where she usually lives and works. It is an ideal place for an artist such as Downie, who spends days without talking, fully absorbed in the world she creates. The past few years have marked a substantial shift in the life of 53-year-old Downie. After not painting at all for a few decades, she suddenly returned to the canvas at the age of 48 to pick up where she left it as a young girl. Ever since, the images she creates have spoken of a different world. Eerie figures of uncanny beauty, with slender bodies and pale faces, glare straight at the spectator with deep, introverted gazes, as if reaching out from another world. It is almost as if one of Tim Burton’s characters went through the looking glass into Wonderland and was reinterpreted in a sort of naive, expressive style, while still maintaining the height of fashion. Because, let’s not forget: Helen Downie’s characters are wearing Gucci. Even though Downie had been obsessed with painting since she was a young girl, she ultimately stopped painting at the age of fourteen. “In retrospect, not having an outlet was destructive and depressing,” she says. “As a child, all I wanted to do is paint and create art. But then I forgot. I was thirteen, fourteen, I started smoking and drinking. I think that adolescence is the time where something gets to die or something gets to live. I am just very thankful that at some point, I remembered.” After having raised four children, Downie, who describes herself as “unable to multitask,” had the mental space to remember her inner calling. The rediscovery of her passion felt like an urgent relief, as if neglecting her inner voice had been subtly haunting her. “Before I started painting, I had this recurring dream that I was walking around a big house, with many
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Constance, Grace and Hope. The Gucci Chronicles, 2015
different rooms. Some of them I recognised and, in others, I found myself lost. It was quite disturbing,� Downie recalls. “Ever since I picked up painting again, these dreams have completely stopped. I think this had a lot to do with finding myself and remembering an emotion that I had not felt since I was nine or ten years old.�
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From the very beginning, Downie displayed her artistic journey on Instagram, an outlet that would ultimately prove fundamental to the Unskilled Worker’s success. One year after she had returned to the canvas, she was asked by renowned photographer, Nick Knight, to do a residency at SHOWstudio and cover Alessandro Michele’s first show as Gucci’s creative director. One of the paintings from the residency was then purchased by Gucci and presented to Michele as a gift. Mesmerised by an intrinsic emotion that he saw captured in Downie’s artwork, Michele commissioned the artist to create a series of portraits for the Italian fashion house and later collaborated with her on a capsule collection. “The first time I saw his clothes, I just wanted all of them,” Downie remembers. “I felt as if they had been made for me, even though it was a men’s show. And, apparently, he felt that the faces in my paintings expressed what he was saying within that show. That was incredible!” Even though at first glance, Downie’s fantasy-like images remind us of a naive, almost childlike style, they are more an homage to the artist’s younger self than meant for children. Their deep, melancholic atmosphere and underlying notion of transience, address the world of grown-ups and those that struggle, or those that have already passed into a different dimension. “Sometimes the subjects in my work end up looking like someone I have known,” she says, “but it’s not conscious. A lot of the men in my paintings look like a boyfriend that I had when I was younger, who died in a car crash. I have had lots of friends, people close to me, that died – quite a few because of drugs,” she adds. Generally, much of Downie’s subject matter can be traced back to her own experiences, revealing a lot about her sensitive perception of life and its complications. “If I were commissioned to paint a family, I’d paint the idealised family, the family we are told exists,” she explains. “A family, where we might think that, if we only came from that kind
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of background, things would have been alright. Where we could be ourselves and feel at home. Unfortunately, my experience hasn’t always been like that. I do believe that humans are there to love each other, but I also think that we are often disconnected within our realities.” This sentiment of disruption is something that Downie’s characters seem to carry within themselves and which is emphasised by the artist’s style and choice of composition. In the paintings, women, men, children, and animals are often arranged as if posing for a family portrait. While their arms or hands might be intertwined at times, there seems to be no interaction between the protagonists themselves. “The subjects in the paintings are mainly interacting with the artist. They know they are being painted and it’s almost as if they are in a locked world that they can’t escape from. A lot of this sentiment comes from the feeling of being suffocated, by family and by people,” Downie reveals. Even though her subject matter seems to stem from a place of sometimes painful experience, Downie’s relationship towards her characters and creatures remains full of appreciation. “I always love them, even the nasty ones,” she says. The ’nasty ones’ that Downie refers to are mainly manifested in the figures of sharp-looking monkeys that lurk in a corner, or stand next to one of the characters, holding their hand. They are figures of key metaphorical importance. “The monkeys often have to do with addiction and the battle with life,“ Downie elaborates. “The more I paint them, the more real they become. They are deeply connected to someone else, someone that is trying to keep it together in an act of control.” This might be best explained when looking at one of her recently finished paintings, The Welbelove Cousins. Here, a woman is lying on a big green sofa, while next to her we see the notorious monkey figure. Behind her stand four figures, one of which seems to be riding on a cow. The walls are decorated with Picasso paintings and there are seemingly stunned birds on the floor. “It is a woman with her teenage children,“ Downie 46
explains. “She is trying to keep order, but she is actually the type of person that is very out of control. She and the monkey wear the same jewellery, they have the same ring, so we can deduce that they are the same person. We all have our demons. They are usually within us, but we can also have them beside us. Essentially, we are our worst enemy.” This painting, like many others, was only recently published on Instagram, where Downie has regularly uploaded all of her work from the day she reignited her practice five years ago. She has thus established a detailed archive of her own work that monitors her progression in detail. While Instagram has enabled Downie to work with Gucci and earn an immense following, she has also become sensitive to the ingrained issues that come with using the digital medium. “I think one of the most important things about Instagram is to remember that all those followers exist in real life,” says Downie. “If I were to just treat it as a vehicle to show people what I do, so that they give me feedback, it would be really shallow. That does not work for me, so whenever someone comments on my work, I do my best to answer all of them. It’s about the acknowledgement of human existence in the internet,” she explains. Downie’s integrating use of Instagram holistically aligns with her general approach to her artwork which is also, to a huge extent, about acceptance. “I think that some of my work could be an answer to a situation that is going on in the outside world and it’s about inclusion,” she says. And one can relate: all of the characters within her paintings, as much as they might seem like outsiders, are accepted the way they are, and even more so, appreciated for their uniqueness. With a reflected view on reality, Downie has managed to manifest life’s complexity through her creative outlet. “In a sense, dealing with Instagram is indeed an extension of the artwork. It makes people feel included, and that’s what the artwork is about. Making people feel included.” 47
The Welbelove Cousins, 2018
JOHN BAEDER ROAD WELL TAKEN: THE DISAPPEARING LANDSCAPE 8 November –15 December 2018
BERNARDUCCI
Charlotte’s Diner, Ellenville, NY, 2012, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches 40 years of John Baeder’s diner paintings are illustrated in the hard cover book, “Road Well Taken.” Available on Amazon.
525 West 25th Street New York, New York 10001 212.593.3757 phone info@bernarduccigallery.com bernarduccigallery.com
STYLE
Liz Goldwyn Wants You to Let Your Freak Flag Fly All Coming Together in the Bedroom p. 60
Gorgeous Style Art History’s Standout Smooches p. 52 / Liz Goldwyn Wants You to Let Your Freak Flag Fly p. 60 / Art Gent Deconstructed p. 66 51
Art History’s Standout Smooches When was the last time you got to experience a truly earth shattering, back-arching, footpopping, spine-tingling kiss; the kind that makes you forget where you are, what day it is, and even your own name? To help you relive the thrill of that one smooch that still makes your knees tingle when you think of it, we’ve put together a shortlist of art’s most outstanding renditions of the time-honored tradition of locking lips. And, better yet, we married those kisses with the unique creations of artist and jewelry designer, Solange Azagury-Partridge, to make our hearts beat even faster. Writer KATYA LOPATKO
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Image courtesy: The artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong
Kiss Sculptor Erwin Wurm’s work brings lightness and fun into the gravity of modern life, a mission that is perhaps most plain to see in his sculpture of two amorous sausages. By using inanimate objects to communicate his message, Wurm surprises and delights, making us pause, look again, and hopefully contemplate the deeper meaning behind his work. The work is open to infinite interpretations, but one might be: give people a chance, and don’t shy away from a love that strikes you as a little weird or unconventional at first glance. Maharani Aristocrat Earrings
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Isn’t forbidden love the sweetest kind? In Fragonard’s characteristic French rococo painting, a young couple is caught in an illicit embrace, their stolen moment captured in all its haste and secrecy. The lustre and movement of the fabric, the sumptuous palette, and the soft brushstrokes all elevate this work to masterpiece status. However, we like it best for the little details that bring back the thrill of kissing someone – preferably someone you shouldn’t be kissing – as a young, stupid teen caught between lust, love, and sheer confusion. Riding the peaks and valleys of the emotional rollercoaster of a crush will never make your heart stop quite so dramatically as it did the first time, and Fragonard manages to communicate that sense of urgency in a frozen scene. Yet the girl’s gaze is distant and imprecise, leaving us wondering what might be going through her head as she steals away from the ladies of the drawing room. Is this hasty little rendezvous the opening scene of a lifelong passion, or – like a daylily – will it fade mere hours after it blooms? We’ll never know the answer, but Fragonard keeps us wondering more than two centuries later. Bleeding Heart Necklace
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Image courtesy: Wikipedia
Stolen Kiss
Image courtesy: WikiArt
Le Baiser This photo by surrealist giant, Man Ray, is a captivating image in its own right, but it’s the backstory that raises it into the ranks of the most memorable kisses in art history. When Lee Miller – the woman in the image – came to Paris in 1929 to study photography under Man Ray, she soon became not only his student but also his model, closest collaborator, lover, and muse. Though she was a talented photographer in her own right, much of her work was attributed to the Man in her life, which caused a great deal of strife between them. Could this be the reason for her haunted gaze – that she is spellbound by a premonition of the lovers’ bittersweet destiny? After more than three years together, the bonds holding Man Ray and Lee Miller together finally snapped under the pressure of Ray’s controlling behavior, and Miller took off for New York to open her own studio and live her own life. Although they didn’t exactly part on good terms, the two continued to love each other until the end of their days – proof that love has a will of its own, our best intentions be damned. Hot Lips Ring
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The iconic Modernist sculptor Brâncuși might be best known for his clean, pared-down designs of abstract forms, but The Kiss proves that even the most serious artists know how to have a little fun from time to time. Arms wrapped tightly around each other, faces smooshed together in an embrace that’s equal parts poignant and silly, these lovers quite literally gaze into each other’s… erm, eyeballs. Look again and you’ll see that the perfect symmetry of their faces creates the impression of a single being, fused from two complementary halves – bringing to mind the highest ideal of romantic love: the total union of two bodies and souls. Purple Ring
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Image courtesy: Wikipedia
The Kiss
Image courtesy: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Rise and Monty Kissing In the 1970s and 80s, Nan Goldin became a legend of the underground and a pioneer of the diaristic style of photography. She spent decades recording hundreds of intimate, candid moments within her circle of friends, and she did so out of pure love for her subjects and an urge to capture their lives as they were. Passion practically oozes from this snapshot of two lovers, but there is also something else – a sense of urgency, of time passing, of the fleeting nature of life. In 1980s New York, AIDS was ravaging Goldin’s inner circle, claiming the lives of many of her closest friends (to say nothing of those who whose lives were ruined by drugs and alcohol). This image serves as a poignant reminder of the strength and urgency of love and lust – especially the taboo kind – but also that the brightest stars burn out the fastest. Emerald on Fire Ring
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This comic book-inspired painting by pop artist, Roy Lichtenstein, might seem straightforward and even kitschy at first glance, but dig a little deeper and all sense of certainty begins to dissolve. A man and a woman, the archetypes of mid-century masculinity and femininity, cling to each other in a desperate embrace, but the only other clue we have about the inner feelings of the subjects are the tears dripping from the woman’s eyes. Are we witnessing a scene of relief, of fear, of sorrow, of joy? Is their love bringing the couple closer together, or tearing them apart? One thing is clear: the two feel strongly about each other. Kiss V brings to mind the clichÊ that the opposite of love is indifference, by showing how passionate emotions can bleed into each other so smoothly that, sometimes, it can be hard to tell where love ends and more sinister feelings begin to creep in. Lichtenstein also visually evokes the trope of the woman-in-love as a martyr, sacrificing herself endlessly for the one that she loves. Ladies, do as Kiss V says, not as it does. And always remember: if it’s good, it should feel good. Flaming Heart Ring
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Image courtesy: Pinterest
Kiss V
Image courtesy: Paper Magazine
Pete and the Wolfman Elizabeth Peyton gained art world recognition by daring to make sensuous images of the people she loved, and at a time when the reigning truth dictated that figuration was dead. From her beloved Napoleon to Kurt Cobain, Peyton’s subjects were usually young men – artists, rock stars, and others – who tickled her fancy with their personalities, not just their looks (though these tended to be “pale, thin, and romantically decadent”). Here, the artist reinterprets a tabloid photo of the Libertines’ Pete Doherty, locked in a fraternal kiss with Peter Wolfe, a close collaborator and one of his best mates. In a world of postmodernism and chaos, there’s something refreshingly sweet, and maybe even revolutionary, about creating art about affection, pure and simple. “I really love the people I paint,” Peyton said. “I’m happy they’re in the world.” If we could all carry a little bit of that spirit with us, maybe love wouldn’t be so hard to come by. Ephemera Soundwave Earrings All jewelry by Solange.co.uk
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Image courtesy: Glynnis McDaris
Liz Goldwyn Wants You to Let Your Freak Flag Fly
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For decades, Liz Goldwyn has been a fixture in the world of art and fashion. But, whether she was curating the Sotheby’s fashion department or editing Vogue Paris, one ambition kept calling after her: creating a one-stop shop for all our sex-ed needs. After years of dreaming and scheming, The Sex Ed is finally live, and Goldwyn is ready to share the fascinating backstory of its inception. Writer KATYA LOPATKO Illustration FLIRTMOJI.CO
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iz Goldwyn knows a thing or two about sex. Growing up in Los Angeles, she was “really interested from an early age in pornography, but always from a sociological standpoint” (“I wasn’t having crazy sex at 13,” she adds, though some of her friends were). While her friends were getting the dirty details second-hand from older siblings or gossip whispered in school bathrooms, Goldwyn went directly to the source: “I was the kind of kid who would come home from school and ask my parents questions that maybe other kids weren’t asking,” she says, and – when that fell short – “stealing my father’s Playboys.” This curiosity landed Goldwyn her first job at age 13 – a peer educator at Planned Parenthood in Santa Monica – a gig that turned her into the de facto walking sex encyclopedia for all her friends. Our curiosity about Goldwyn’s life and work brought us face-to-face one summer afternoon in a cozy café in Los Feliz, one of Los Angeles’ hip east-side neighborhoods.
Goldwyn‛s first job at Planned Parenthood in Santa Monica turned her into the de facto walking sex encyclopedia for all her friends Wearing a perfectly tailored sundress and her signature red lipstick – somehow impeccable even in this late summer heat wave, which has long dissolved the entire city into a puddle of sweaty foundation, smog, and the smell of street tacos – Goldwyn is poised, her gaze piercing and intelligent. We sit down, me with a ‘Sacraminto’ smoothie, her with a passion-fruit-jasmine iced tea, and dive straight into Goldwyn’s outlook on all things sex, art, and femininity. It was only natural when Goldwyn began studying photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York that her early passion for sex found its way into her work. She began collecting vintage burlesque costumes and photographing herself in them, a project that would eventually culminate in a novel: Sporting Guide, inspired by her research about late 19th century sex workers in Los Angeles; a nonfiction book, Pretty Things: the Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens; as well as an HBO documentary with the same title. Throughout her long and illustrious career in fashion, art, and entertainment, Goldwyn knew she would one day return to her mission at Planned Parenthood: spreading reliable information about sex and sexuality. After spending years delving into the history of burlesque and prostitution, she realised that misconceptions
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about these topics, and sex in general, were stubborn. “I was still being asked the same questions that I was as a teenager,” she says, “and there was no source to get accredited information from real experts.” Enter Goldwyn’s new venture: an online platform offering a centralised fount of wisdom on sex, sexuality, health, and consciousness. The Sex Ed only just launched in May 2018, but the concept has been decades in the making. “What I want to leave behind in the world is a sex education resource,” Goldwyn said, though until recently, the project felt more pipe dream than practical. “Prior to October 2017, it’s been very difficult to talk about sex,” she explained, referring, of course, to the movement that erupted in Hollywood last fall and whose aftershocks have been echoing around the world ever since: #MeToo. “It became clear to people in positions of power that we actually do need to talk about this stuff now. We need to change the paradigm.” Goldwyn remained elusive about her plans for The Sex Ed, but big things are in store. In addition to debunking sex myths, opening up taboo topics like kink and fetish, and providing reliable facts from experts for people of all genders, The Sex Ed will offer an interactive element, serving as a forum for all things sexy. But The Sex Ed will be much more than just encyclopedia-meets-advice-column-meets-open-source Sex and the City; by stripping away fear and confusion surrounding sex and sexuality, Goldwyn hopes to help usher in a more inclusive and sex-positive society. The time could not be riper. The US administration’s harrowing attack on reproductive freedom has made it clear that much of our society remains hostile to sex and sexuality, while the bitter fallout from #MeToo screams that the battle of the sexes needs armistice, and it needs it now. It’s high time for an open dialogue about the deep wounds in sexual circles; the question, of course, is how to wade through the muck without drowning in it. While women are finally getting the long-overdue chance to air their grievances and create spaces to heal, straight men are getting left behind – included in the conversation only as the guilty party, abandoned in the wild with no tools to heal their own traumas and insecurities. “We constantly label masculinity as toxic, but we don’t think about the vulnerabilities that heteronormative men have, and they don’t really have spaces to talk about their feelings. We gotta help ‘em out,” Goldwyn said. Straight men need to “learn to love themselves too,” she added, “and uplift us all.” In addition to the obvious focus on sex and health, The Sex Ed’s mission statement includes one more pillar: consciousness. “We talk a lot about mindfulness in general, but we don’t apply that to sexuality,” Goldwyn said, stressing the need for a holistic integration of sex into the rest of our lives.
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Goldwyn asks, “Are we being mindful of our own sexuality, our own pleasure? Are we being mindful of the sexual relationships that we’re having with partners? Are we being mindful of why we’re having sex? Are we using sex as a tool for escapism, the way that we would drugs, or alcohol, or food?” The transactional, techy nature of modern dating plays no small role in this lack of mindfulness. With a slew of dating apps on constant rotation on everyone’s smartphones, it seems like you could get someone hot and willing in your bed in just a couple of hours and a few clicks, but Goldwyn would argue that something gets lost in the process. “I think intimacy is the next frontier in sexuality. People have transactional sex, they have casual sex, but they’re still really afraid to talk about it.” No reactionary, Goldwyn was quick to add that she isn’t against casual, nonmonogamous sex, just that many people don’t know how to go about it in a healthy way. “I don’t think, from a base level, that we’re educating people to have a great deal of respect and self-love for themselves and treat their bodies as sacred.” While Goldwyn wants us all to come together in the bedroom, she’s not blind to the obstacles that women and minorities face in the workplace, not least in the arts. “I think that there’s a certain level of success that I’ve always felt wouldn’t be possible to achieve within certain fields because of my sex,” she admitted. Coming from an illustrious Hollywood family – her father is renowned film director Samuel Goldwyn, and one of her four brothers is a director – she often wondered, “What the hell would I have to do to be considered equal to them? And at a certain point, why am I even chasing that, is it something that I even believe in?” While #MeToo has cast a harsh light on Hollywood, resulting in the introduction of quotas and initiatives like 50-50 by 2020, the art world has gotten away with far less scrutiny, allowing the art establishment to skate under the radar on questions of inclusivity. While it took even the most prominent contemporary female artists, the likes of Jenny Holzer and Marina Abramović, years to gain recognition, young male artists are much more likely to catapult themselves straight to the top with a combination of talent and sheer bravado. “All of the hot-shot artists whose works are wildly inflated are men. I’m not going to name anyone, but I see a lot of male artists work the room like nothing I’ve ever seen before in Hollywood in terms of their hustle. It’s shameless.” When asked about the role of the female gaze in her work, Goldwyn replied with ease, as if the answer were obvious: “I am a woman, so I just think it’s revisiting these storylines of women who have been traditionally ignored by history and society because their work is close in line with sex work.” While traditional society dismissed burlesque and
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striptease as base entertainment, Goldwyn recognises them as performance art and believes prostitution should be legalised as the world’s oldest profession. Unfortunately, criticism for women who are open about their sexuality flows freely through the art world, and Goldwyn herself has gotten splashed. Trying to finance her first film, Pretty Things, with grants, she discovered first-hand how difficult it is to find support for topics dealing with female sexuality. And for women artists, this criticism often turns personal and moral: “People assume that because I’m very open about this, that means that I am up for anything, but I’d say I’m actually a lot more vanilla than people think,” says Goldwyn, pointing out that she was married for the duration of her 20s. “Sometimes you can channel things in your work that aren’t necessarily things you’re exploring personally,” she adds, though women are unfortunately less likely to be afforded this separation between art and artist.
While Goldwyn wants us all to come together in the bedroom, she’s not blind to the obstacles that women and minorities face in the workplace Whatever the art world’s systemic flaws, art itself can be a powerful tool for healing and empowerment. “I think it’s great to see ourselves reflected and our experiences heard through other people in that human way, in a way that can touch your soul. I think it’s great when art can be political in times like we are in now,” Goldwyn said. Then she paused, and added: “I definitely think it’s important for the art world to do a little selfreflection on inclusivity.”
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Eugenio Deconstructed Eugenio Re Rebaudengo is an Italian collector who is shaping contemporary taste via his company, ARTUNER – a hybrid business of online experiences and pop-up events across the globe. Re Rebaudengo is born into an art-passionate family, and is a member of the Tate Young Patrons ambassador committee, the Whitechapel Gallery First Futures committee, Serpentine Future Contemporaries, and sits on the board of the family art foundation in Turin.
Art Work By Paul Kneale, who is gearing up for a very exciting autumn season. While one of his signature scanner paintings will be featured in the Centre Pompidou Metz exhibition, Peindre la Nuit, he will also curate an exclusive ‘carte blanche’ night of fully immersive performances during FIAC week, taking place at the legendary club Silencio in Montmartre, Paris.
Shirt Tailor-made in Turin
Suit Tailor-made by Catanzariti
Watch Hublot
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Photo credit: Mark Blower
Belt By Cartier; a gift by my fiancé Olga for my birthday a few years ago
BOW COFFEE TABLE Guilherme Torres 2018 Made in Germany
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@154artfair
Marrakech
N e w Yo r k
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CANDY
Sorry Tinder!
Dating in the Art World is the Next Big Thing p. 72
Gorgeous Candy Latte at Luce p. 70 / Sorry Tinder! p. 72 / 16 Hacks to Turn Your Apartment into a Collector’s Crib p. 80 / The Very Honest Gallerist p. 88 69
LATTE AT LUCE Nothing completes a perfect gallery or museum day than finishing it off with cake, scones with clotted cream and jam, sipping on a cup of tea. Lucky for art and food lovers alike, established art museums and galleries have extended their premises to include stateof-the-art cafés and restaurants. Just for you, we have selected some stunning café venues around the world. From opulent designs to contemporary and minimal decorations, here are our top places for arty sips.
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Spazio7, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin Spazio7 is the name of the Foundation’s café and of the restaurant – designed by artist Rudolph Stingel – which offers a contemporary study of Italian cuisine as its best. Run by the charming Emilio Re Rebaudengo, it offers creative dishes that are truly mouthwatering and staged in an eclectic, contemporary setting. Don`t miss the legendary Carpaccio with scampi and mango.
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Le Georges, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris Perched on the top of the Centre Georges Pompidou, this restaurant offers a panoramic view of Paris. Designed by Jakob + MacFarlane Architects, the interior has a sleek and minimal design, with large-scale, curvaceous, steel-like sculptures. To complete the look: a single red rose placed on each table. You might remember it being featured in the grand finale of Sex and the City.
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Bar Luce, Fondazione Prada, Milan Designed by famed American filmmaker Wes Anderson, the bar’s design resonates with the film producer’s aesthetics. Think traditional Milanese café-décor, pastel colour palette, and Formica tables, contrasted with pinball machines and whimsical wallpaper.
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Caffe Storico, New-York Historical Society, NYC Operated by acclaimed restaurateur Stephen Starr, Storico is a sophisticated venue for grabbing a burrata after a stroll at the museum. Surrounded by Victorian-style woodwork and 19th century china from the museum’s collection, you can combine your love of historical documents with fine Italian dining. A great place to bring a date (if your budget allows) for something out of the Chipotle range.
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Madame Fu, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong Set in the newly-opened art hotspot, Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, Madame Fu perfectly blends East and West – creating an all-day dining spot that’s sure to be loved by the global Insta-savvy community with a penchant for pink and dim sum.
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Dating in the art world can be an unparalleled experience — the passion! The grand gestures! The bare mattress on the studio floor! — but the higher you soar on your magic carpet of romance, the more careful you need to be, because one misstep could send you careening off into a dark pit of despair. But never fear: follow our trusty field guide and you’ll be out of the woods and on cloud nine before you can say, “Wanna come up and see my Ian Wallace?” Unlike relationships with boring mortals, dating artists can come with a hefty bag of caveats. Truth be told, my first line of advice for anyone hoping to be swept off their feet by a “creative type” is to start by scoping out your other options – make a habit of grabbing lunch by the med school; let your mom finally set you up with her friend’s cute lawyer son; maybe even tag along to your college friend’s happy hour (if you can stomach drunk people in suits making bad jokes about “casing” and trying to pass it off as socialising). Alright, let’s face it – you’re stuck. Chances are, if you’re here, reading this magazine, you’ve already drank the cool-aid, swan dived into the quicksand, and now you’re hopelessly hooked on that incomparable rush, that spark that lights your soul on fire – and has a tendency to torch your savings and send your hard-earned sense of balance and stability up in flames. Whoosh! No doubt about it, dating someone you’re creatively inspired by on top of the prerequisite chemistry and basic compatibility is the dream. In fact, a liaison with an artist can take a run-of-the-mill love and make it feel like a masterpiece, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to create beauty the likes of which the world has never seen. But where there’s fire, someone’s bound to get burned. Artists are notoriously fickle lovers with some of the biggest egos around, so, unless self-sacrifice is your kink, tread carefully. And if you happen to be an artist yourself, I don’t even need to tell you that two creatives in one relationship can spell disaster. Unless you manage to strike that delicate balance (and if you have, DM me please, because I’m dying to know), there’s just not enough room for all that passion and volatility to run wild without someone getting emotionally torn to shreds. But, assuming you’ve cracked the ancient code and know how to turn lead into gold, we’ve whipped up a handy field guide for the inevitable moment when you take the plunge into the art world dating pool. Just don’t forget to wear your life jacket. Disclaimer: we take no responsibility for death by drowning in that gorgeous art critic’s deep, baby blue eyes.
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Art fairs only roll around a few times a year, bringing endless possibilities and fresh blood. Long-forgotten flings have a tendency to come crawling out of the woodwork, throwing you for a loop with a smug little “hey, stranger” – always when you’re dealing with the biggest crisis of the fair, without fail. Of course, each fair comes with its own particular flavour, crowd, and culture, each lending itself to a different type of fleeting romance. At the end of the day, all can be boiled down to cheap thrills whose names you’ll forget the second your plane takes off for home. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t milk it for all it’s worth. Bust out of the monotony of your daily routine and flirt shamelessly with every hot young thing that crosses your path (unless they’re with your competing gallery, of course). The crème-de-la-cringy-crème of art fair debauchery is, without a doubt, Art Basel. Think of it as the Tinder of art world dating: you love to hate it, but you can’t deny it’s popularity. Being arty types, we’re all instinctively averse to anything that can be labeled as “basic,” mostly because these things gather their popularity from the lowest common cultural denominator (everyone knows that Uggs are comfy as hell but are only to be worn ironically, and Starbucks is only acceptable to drink on road trips). But love ‘em or hate ‘em, we all know where to find you when December 5 – or 11am on a Wednesday – rolls around. That’s not to say that you can’t meet someone at Art Basel – you can. Herd together the flashiest, bougiest layers of the art world, sprinkle some pop culture figures into the mix, ship them all off to balmy Florida, then pop some popcorn and sit back and watch the sparks fly. Just keep in mind that, at Basel as on Tinder, quantity takes precedence over quality and it’s easy come, easy go; so don’t be shocked when the lights come up at the club and your Martin Garrix turns out to be Alien from Spring Breakers. Brush it off, pray the red wine (or Vodka Redbull) comes out of your suede mules, follow your weekend lover on Insta if you must, but don’t bother getting his number. That’s just not the name of this game.
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To keep the ball rolling on this analogy, let’s say that gallery dinners are to art world romance what Bumble is to dating apps: ostensibly more selective, promising good manners, sparkling conversation, and a slightly more illustrious roster of potential lovers. As on Bumble, the dinner party setup can give the ladies a conversational upper hand if you play your cards right (and if you’re tight with whoever is making the seating chart). Instead of standing around, drink in hand, at the gallery/after party/loft/rooftop bar/museum lobby, waiting for some loser to chat you up (and let’s face it, it’s never the loser you want that has the misplaced confidence to whip out the pickup lines), you can scheme it so your target is trapped beside you for about two hours. This way, they cannot possibly leave the dinner without ingesting a heavy dose of your brilliant personality. Of course, it’s 2018 and we’re all free to chat up whoever we want, wherever we want, but facts remain facts: rejection hurts. So it’s nice when there’s a built-in system to lower the target and, if you miss, cushion the blow. Next time you get hit with one of those classy little invites, I recommend you crank some SZA, slip on something slinky, throw on a little lip liner, practice your witty oneliners, and, for goodness’ sake, arrive on time. You may or may not meet your twin flame, but you’re surely in for a night of sparkling conversation and even more sparkling wine.
The quintessential Friday night pastime, gallery hopping is the art world equivalent of hitting the college bar on whichever night it has its best drink specials. It’s safe and familiar, and you’ll probably run into more than a few familiar faces; but there’s still a decent enough chance of meeting a dapper stranger that makes it worth closing your Netflix tab, throwing on another coat of mascara, and trekking across town. You can count on a relaxed atmosphere conducive to casual, low-stakes mingling, especially if you get there on the later end and the free libations are flowing. On the other hand, this routine runs the risk of easily growing stale and predictable – more often than not, you’ll spend the night making small talk with the regulars, with only a hangover from the cheap wine the next morning to show for it. If closing time rolls around and you’re still feeling frisky, instead of hitting whatever bar your squad usually hits, pluck up the courage, suss out a group of mysterious strangers and get the scoop on the afterparty — or arrange one yourself. After all, there’s some thrill in knowing that on any random day, your old routine could land you somewhere wildly unexpected — with someone wildly unexpected — by the end of the night. 76
Is there anything more glorious than a Sunday at the museum? The epicenter of the art world — so often tragically overlooked for its younger, sexier, edgier siblings like the fair or the gallery — also happens to be a hidden gem of the art world. The best part is that taking the afternoon off from your life to stroll through your favorite galleries isn’t just the best shot you might have at landing your soulmate (on this field guide, at least) as you both gaze at your favorite painting — it’s also a great way to replenish your spirits after a draining week, spend some time in solitude and reflection, and gather inspiration for your latest project. You really can’t lose. I’ll even make the case that museum trips are the art world equivalent of the old-timey, “call her on her landline and pick her up at eight to go dancing” variety. After all, there’s no mind-altering substance involved, very little chance of getting past first base, and stern chaperones watch over you the entire time. Oh so Victorian, but also kind of adorable in a world where sex passes for little more than a full-body handshake. If you need further convincing, immediately go and re-watch the Season 4 pilot of Gossip Girl and pay special attention to the scene where Prince Louis introduces himself to Blair at Musée d’Orsay, after noticing her love for Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe. Sadly, their love didn’t end up the forever kind, but Blair makes a very convincing case for waiting for the right one to come along. While Serena is traipsing around with waiters and museum docents all summer, Blair bides her time and cultivates her own interests, reading in the park and roaming through impressionist galleries, hoping she’ll “lock eyes with someone who’s doing the same thing as me.” Though most of us don’t get to spend whole summers looking for love in the City of Lights, we could all take a leaf out of Blair’s book and invest our precious free time doing the things we love — like strolling through your favorite museum, communing with the creative muse — and trust that, one day, our glow will attract someone who loves them just as much. And was there ever a pick-up line to top « Vous aimez Manet? » ?
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HACKS TO TURN YOUR APARTMENT INTO A COLLECTOR’S CRIB Writer PEIGI MACKILLOP Images GREAT ART IN UGLY ROOMS
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1 SETTING THE MOOD
First things first, you need to set the mood with the correct colour palette. We advise ripping up those carpets and painting your walls in a shade of dazzling white. Et voilà, you now have a suitable backdrop to showcase all your new, enviable artwork.
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TIME FOR A SPRING CLEAN
Next up, you need to declutter, leaving only the essentials behind. You don’t want those unneeded decorative items to distract from your contemporary art pieces. So, it’s time to throw the extra mountain of scatter cushions and that cliché ‘live, laugh, love’ sign in the dump. You should’ve done that a long time ago, anyway… Start getting used to a more minimalist lifestyle. While you are at the dump, have a rummage for some old kitchen or bathroom wares – a urinal would work best. Place it on a stand in the middle of your hallway to wow your guests as they walk through your door and make them question, “What even is art?”
FIND THE BEST LIGHTING
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Now it’s time to re-think your lighting. A standard light bulb just won’t do. You will need some hyper-bright lighting to make your artwork really zing! When we suggest changing your lighting, this needn’t function merely as an aid to your art, but it can – in fact – become a piece of art itself. If you don’t mind feeling like you are living in a constant loop of Drake’s Hotline Bling music video, add some lighting in rainbow hues to a vacant room. This area will also serve as a great selfie backdrop for when you are feeling yourself. No need for that rainbow Instagram filter.
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TRY A VIDEO INSTALLATION
Now that you have reenergised the atmosphere with a change of colour, materials, and lighting, it’s time to add some more pieces to your collection. Consider a video installation in your bathroom. Everyone loves some easy entertainment while "taking care of some paperwork."
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GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK
It’s time to think about how you can utilise that outdoor space. If you have a garden (you might even make do with a balcony) two or three sculptures cannot do any harm and, as we’ve learned from fashion this year, a garden is the “new black”. If your budget is too tight, just grab some leftovers from the ‘artjamming’ studio next door, or dig through eBay.
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PARENTAL GUIDANCE ADVISED
Now it becomes a little naughty. How about an infinity room mock-up in your bedroom? You can ask your next ‘guest’ if he or she wants to take a selfie inside an art installation with you.
THE MESSIER THE BETTER
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Waking up on the Monday morning, after having all those ‘guests’ over to check out your attempt at an infinity room, has probably left your bedroom in somewhat of a state. Instead of reaching for the hoover, however, why don’t you just leave the mess as it is? Aspire towards an ‘unmade’ look, with a nod to Tracey Emin. Go wild! Perhaps even sprinkle some extra litter on the floor for added authenticity. Hey presto! Your Monday cleaning work here is done.
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WORK WITH WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE
Your walls are probably looking a little bare, now that you have painted them all white. Still happen to have that collector’s edition 125th anniversary issue of Vogue lying around? The one with the cover image by John Currin? Why not frame that? It is far too beautiful to be sitting on a shelf, gathering dust under a pile of books.
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GET CREATIVE
Now that you have your first piece hanging on the wall, it’s time to dare to go big. Invite your friends’ kids, or your own, to get creative on a vacant wall. Utilised materials can range from the more conservative finger paint to the more experimental Nutella spread. Depending on the outcome, you can claim it was done by the next Basquiat, Twombly, or Haring.
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KUNST LABOR A project created by the Museum of Urban and Comtemporary Art (MUCA)
Munich, Landsberger Straße 350 13.10. – 30.12.2018 Thursday – Sunday, 14:00 – 22:00 @kunstlabor.munich
5000 square meters 50 artists 50 experiments artwork by base23
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10 STICK IT TO THE MAN!
You are probably getting cabin fever by now, after all of these home improvements. Leave the house for some fresh air and even fresher inspiration. While you are out and about exploring your local area, check out your nearest tourist monument. Extend your left arm forward and give it the middle finger, using the other hand to snap a pic, Ai Weiwei style. Head to your local printers, print it out, frame it, and hang it somewhere attention-grabbing. Your abode is now an anti-establishment haven.
11 NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED
Now that you have filled up some wall space, it’s time to add to your collection of installation pieces in order to take them to the next level. How about your very own Damien Hirst replica? Just head on down to your local butchers and purchase an animal carcass, leave it out in the hot sun to attract some flies, then place it delicately on your shiny, white floor. This will most definitely give your crib the “wow factor” and leave some interesting smells. If this is a little too avant garde for you, and you’re feeling a tad shady for mimicking Hirst’s work, then head over to Hirst’s Instagram. He recently ran a competition to give away a free print to the best commenter. Stalk his page in the hopes of another caption contest, and put your thinking cap on.
12 MAKE YOUR HOME POP
Your budget is probably running a bit low now. How about using what you already have to create your next masterpiece? Have a rummage through your pantry to find some eyecatching household cleaning products or food cans. Arrange them carefully – like a game of Jenga, in a decorative manner, or in a corner – for some Warhol-esque pop art.
GO FOR THE UNFINISHED LOOK
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Had a change of heart about all the white walls because it feels like you are literally living in an operating theatre? After handling all those potent cleaning materials for your pop art piece, try some tester paints in deep tones on your walls. But don’t decide on a final colour just yet. Leave the testers as they are for a Rothkoinspired look.
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BECOME AT ONE WITH ART
Ran over budget but want to add one more art piece for the grand finale? Why not become a living, breathing art piece, and try your hand at some performance art? When guests come over, lead them to a table and stare at them for as long as you can, or suddenly break into interpretive dance. It’s not only original but it’s also free. If you scare your friends off, then they weren’t real friends in the first place if they can’t handle or respect your artistic, expressive freedom.
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DON’T BE SHY
Be the star of your own artworks, beyond the tourist photos or the standard wedding shots. Let Thomas Ruff be your teacher. The first decision to make: face or full body. If you opt for the face, shoot a super-close-up photo under bright light. Smiling face is forbidden. Rather go for the passport photo look. Print out the result at least 180 x 120 cm in dimension, and frame it behind mind-bendingly expensive museum glass. A bit of Photoshop in combination with a pimple mask the day before the shooting might not be a bad idea. If full body is what you're looking for, go through your latest holiday snapshots. Less clothing and more skin is key. And don’t worry about that cellulite – apply a super-blurry filter to the image, and you're good to go! Yet again, the larger the print-out, the more impressive the result.
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SPREAD THE WORD
Now you just need to just make some calls to the likes of the Architectural Digest or Larry's List, asking for a ‘friend’ (cough, cough) if your newly revamped apartment and museumworthy art collection could be featured in the next issue. This way, news will spread, and your apartment will be the new hot topic at every dinner party!
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photo: Diana Pfammatter koenig-souvenir.com @koenig.souvenir
TRUNK LEGGINGS BY CLAUDIA COMTE IN CELEBRATION OF HER EXHIBITION WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH AT KÖNIG GALERIE, 2018
HONEST GALLERIST
THE VERY
Mathieu Borysevicz, Director, BANK | Shanghai, China www.bankmabsociety.com 1. Who would you love to sell an artwork to?
My landlord. The dude has it in him – he’s got (my) cash, he’s got taste – it’s just a matter of time.
2. Describe your gallery in one sentence for an art world newbie? Imagine that you died and went to heaven, and heaven was a contemporary art gallery.
3. Most gorgeous artist in your gallery programme? I only work with gorgeous artists but, as you know, some are more gorgeous than others. Chen Zhe would win for the girls and the late Maryn Varbanov for the boys.
4. Best lunch spot for a client meeting? 5. What drinks are you serving at an exhibition opening?
Mr. Willis.
It depends: Bicycle Beer, Prosecco, Jameson and ginger beer, cheap red wine, and always water. It’s good to hydrate.
6. The coolest event you’ve ever hosted? Most events of ours are pretty cool, but Chen Tianzhuo’s first performance of his ADAHA series spun people’s heads with raw meat and live, well-oiled sodomy. Michael Lin’s Taiwan Beer and cigarette project was downright cool, as was our BANK show opening with Heman Chong’s Happy Birthday performance.
7. What are your interns’ most hated/loved jobs?
We have a don‘t-ask-don‘t-tell policy here.
8. What is the dress code for the staff?
Jin Shan, Narcissism
You need to wear outer garments, but you’re totally welcome to go commando.
9. Does having hot staff help sales? It depends on the client. I mean, we’re not giving massages here! I’ve seen some pretty damn ugly salespeople out there doing great turnaround, but, in the grand scheme of things, sex certainly sells.
11. Compare the gallery to a brand – which one would it be? 12. How many works have you sold via Instagram?
Not so many via instagram (remember, China is behind the great firewall and using Instagram is still an obstacle), but we have sold hundreds via WeChat.
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Ahem! Our gallery is a brand, silly.
Image courtesy: BANK
Installation View, Petra Cortright & Marc Horowitz
10. Most-used apps or websites at the gallery? WeChat, ARTLINKART, Google Translate.
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