Visiting the Heavenly Bodies exhibition straight from a red-eye flight was equivalent to waking up in art and fashion heaven. And I got blessed being the first one in, meaning my pictures are relatively crowd-free compared to what you can see elsewhere. So seek the limelight, walk the red carpet, your eyes might even see some angels! Spanning both the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th Avenue and their Cloisters location perched on the highest point of Manhattan, Heavenly Bodies is truly a visual tour-de-force. Let’s face it, if I tell you “come with me to the museum, there is this fantastic exhibition on medieval art at the Met”, I can already hear a thousand excuses. And I am with you: despite having come to appreciate how rich this art can be during my Art History studies, I would not put Medieval or Renaissance art on my walls. But what about if Byzantine art comes with this little Dolce & Gabana number? With Heavenly Bodies, there are many mutually reinforcing forces at play, and they all compel the viewers to look and learn from this cleverly orchestrated dialogue between past, present and future. Perhaps finding mannequins wearing haute couture gowns […]
Nestled in New Canaan, Connecticut, Grace Farms is a bucolic place where art meets architecture in a natural setting of green meadows.
If you’ve been to any museums in Southern California lately, you may have noticed omnipresent mentions of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. Led by the Getty, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is the latest collaborative effort between 70+ arts institutions across Southern California. The aim is to explore Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. I have only made it to a few of all the exhibitions around and I have found most artworks and exhibitions very stimulating and thought provoking. Having shared quite a few on my Instagram (@reinventingrid), I wanted to bring you some and encourage you to seek those exhibitions.
Concrete Poetry? Surprising association of words, isn’t it? Indeed, let’s be playful today! Set a little wave of poetry in motion…
Sorry, I keep thinking about Koons since last week’s blog…which might be a hopeful sign that there is more than meet the shiny surface of his gazing balls, who knows? I am still bothered by Koons slapping a blue ball on a Manet, Turner or Géricault masterpiece copy and calling it art (on view at Gagosian Beverly Hills until August 18th). But when he does it again on his Masters handbags at the Louis Vuitton store around the corner, the unease becomes aesthetic repulsion mixed with admiration for the shameless business calculation. Luxury handbags are still a lower price point than artworks, it’s a marketing dream Made in Heaven. But what about Art? Is a Vuitton bag with a cheap copy of the Mona Lisa on it a piece of art worth $4000? Visually, how different is it from the souvenir tote bag you can buy at the museum gift shop? What’s missing is any respect and modesty when listening to Koons’ interview for Vuitton. He has no qualms adjoining a shiny JK monogram on an equal footing to the Vuitton one (disclaimer: I do not own any Vuitton handbags). The fact that he lacks the 155-year brand history and capital […]