innerspace | interior design blog: 02/12

2/29/12

art | joan mitchell

if you live in london, you might read time out magazine for the restaurant and theater reviews, or the schedule of events.

so, when my husband, bob, and i arrived in london recently, i borrowed a copy of time out from clive, the concierge at the capital hotel, to make sure that we weren't missing any interesting events.

joan mitchell is one of my favorite artists. and, i would absolutely love to own one of her pastel drawings.

joan mitchell (1925-1992) | pastel | pastel on paper | 1991
cheim & read | new york NY
photo credit cheim & read

so, i was excited to discover that hauser & wirth gallery was presenting joan mitchell the last paintings from 3 february-28 april 2012.

mitchell's late abstract expressionist paintings use intense gestures and intense colors that express her intense feelings for the countryside near her home in vetheuil, france.

joan mitchell (1925-1992) | trees | oil on canvas | 1990-1991
joan mitchell the last paintings | 3 feb-28 apr 2012 | hauser & wirth | london, united kingdom
photo credit hauser & wirth

her last paintings are pure abstractions that use color, line, compositon, scale, and form spontaneously and freely.

joan mitchell (1925-1992) | tondo | oil on canvas | 1991

joan mitchell the last paintings | 3 feb-28 apr 2012 | hauser & wirth | london, united kingdom
photo credit hauser & wirth

does the round format of the tondos remind you too much of damien hirst?

sold for GBP 445,250 | US$ 699,087

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2/28/12

art | cy twombly

attending all of the auction previews at christie's, sotheby's, or bonham's is one of the things that my husband, bob, and i both miss about living in london.

our recent visit to london coincided with post war and contemporary art week. so, of course we couldn't resist attending the evening auction previews after work, and before dinner.

instead of neo-expressionist or figurative painters, such as basquiat or bacon, many of my favorite artists, such as cy twombly, are abstract expressionists.

somehow, the freedom and spontaneity of their work is really appealing...

if i could have bid on anything, it would have been twombly's calligraphy drawings at christie's, king street.

sold for GBP 577,250 | US$ 906,283

cy twombly (1928-2011) | untitled | gouache and wax crayon on card | 1970

post war and contemporary art evening auction | 14 feb 2012 | christie's | london, king street | sale 8052 lot 24

photo credit christie's

sold for GBP 713,250 | US$ 1,119,803

cy twombly (1928-2011) | untitled | gouache and wax crayon on card | 1970

post war and contemporary art evening auction | 14 feb 2012 | christie's | london, king street | sale 8052 lot 47

photo credit christie's

he created them at the same time as his blackboard series, which became famous for blurring the lines between drawing and painting.

cy twombly | untitled | gouache and wax crayon on paper | 1969
cy twombly-works from the sonnabend collection | 7 feb-17 mar 2012 | eykyn-maclean | london, united kingdom
photo credit (c) cy twombly foundation

eykyn-maclean gallery is showing cy twombly-works from the sonnabend collection from 7 february-17 march 2012---one of the many museum quality commercial exhibits that accompany the february impressionst, modern, post war, and contemporary art auctions in london.

if you could, which would you choose? a cy twombly calligraphy or blackboard drawing?

cy twombly blackboard drawing above the bar in the apartment of aerin lauder zinterhofer | new york, NY
photo credit francois halard

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art | dale chihuly

if you live in san francisco, you might remember the spectacular chihuly exhibition at the de young museum and the legion of honor in 2008.

dale chihuly | chandelier room

chihuly at the de young | de young museum and the legion of honor | san francisco CA | 14 jun-28 sept 2008

photo credit dale chihuly

so, of course, my husband, bob, and i looked forward to seeing chihuly at the halcyon gallery during our recent trip to london.

when i think of chihuly in london, i can't help thinking about the dramatic 27 foot high chandelier in the reception rotunda at the victoria & albert museum (v&a), which remains on permanent display following the chihuly at the v&a exhibition in 2001.

‘Chihuly at the V&A’ exhibition at the V&A Museum in 2001, and his impressive 27 foot high V&A Chandelier, commissioned to herald the exhibition, which remains in place as a major permanent exhibit over the grand entrance hall.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=52027[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

e is perhaps best known here for the important ‘Chihuly at the V&A’ exhibition at the V&A Museum in 2001, and his impressive 27 foot high V&A Chandelier, commissioned to herald the exhibition, which remains in place as a major permanent exhibit over the grand entrance hall.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=52027[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

dale chihuly | v&a chandelier | 2001

victoria & albert museum | london, united kingdom

photo credits lisa walsh | innerspace

but, what made chihuly at the halcyon gallery so engaging was the opportunity to get so close that you could have touched everything!

you could see how the chandeliers were assembled by hand wiring each of the individually made long, short, bulbous, twisted, or spiraled glass elements onto the cage-like interior armature.

dale chihuly | dusky sky chandelier

chihuly | halcyon gallery | 5 dec 2011-21 apr 2012 | london, united kingdom

photo credit halcyon gallery

dale chihuly | cranberry and clear chandelier

chihuly | halcyon gallery | 5 dec 2011-21 apr 2012 | london, united kingdom

photo credit halcyon gallery

you could also marvel at the amazing craftsmanship on a pair of cut glass sconces, made at the waterford crystal centre in ireland for the chihuly over venice project in 1995-1996.

dale chihuly | pair of waterford sconces

chihuly | halcyon gallery | 5 dec 2011-21 apr 2012 | london, united kingdom

photo credits matilde aguilera and halcyon gallery

or, the sculptural gold and quartz two tiered chandelier, made specifically for a stairwell in the gallery's grade II listed building.

The Chihuly exhibition will occupy all three levels of the new gallery space and will feature new site-specific work such as a 24-foot long Mille Fiori garden of glass and a two storey Gold and Quartz Two Tier Chandelier, as well as drawings and paintings by the artist. Works across the glass series, which Chihuly has developed throughout his career, since the 1970s, will be represented in the exhibition. Chihuly’s exotic forms, which burst with rich, vibrant colours, include Cylinders and Baskets in the 1970s; Seaforms, Macchia, Venetians, and Persians in the 1980s; Ikebana and Chandeliers in the 1990s; and Mille Fiori in the 2000s.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=52027[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.or

dale chihuly | gold and quartz two tiered chandelier

chihuly | halcyon gallery | 5 dec 2011-21 apr 2012 | london, united kingdom

photo credits halcyon gallery and halcyon gallery

the exhibition includes other site specific sculptures, such as a 24 foot mille fiore glass garden...

dale chihuly | mille fiore garden

chihuly | halcyon gallery | 5 dec 2011-21 apr 2012 | london, united kingdom

photo credit halcyon gallery

...as well as chihuly's signature botanical or aquatic sculptures, such as macchia, persians, and venetians, or seaforms and boats...

dale chihuly | sunset boat

chihuly | halcyon gallery | 5 dec 2011-21 apr 2012 | london, united kingdom

photo credit halcyon gallery

if you are in london, you 'must see' chihuly at the halcyon gallery...

...if you can look, but not touch!

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2/25/12

art | david hockney

when you think of david hockney, you might think of his pop art paintings of california swimming pools.

david hockney | a bigger splash | acrylic on canvas | 1967
tate collection | london, united kingdom
photo credit tate

and, david hockney RA: a bigger picture, a blockbuster exhibition at the royal academy of arts (RA) in london from 21 january-9 april 2012, includes a painting with a swimming pool.

david hockney | mulholland drive: the road to the studio | acrylic on canvas | 1980
reproduction | david hockney RA: the bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom
original | los angeles county museum of art (lacma) | los angeles, CA
photo credit lacma

but, david hockney is also a landscape artist.

after showing bigger trees near warter, a 50 canvas painting, at the summer exhibition 2007, the RA offered hockney all of the main floor galleries for a landscape painting exhibition.

david hockney | bigger trees near warter | oil on 50 canvases + two collages of 50 color photographs | 2007
tate collection | london, united kingdom
photo credits (c) david hockney and tate

the exhibition features over 150 works, most created between 2004 and 2011.

although it is an exhibition, instead of a retrospective, a bigger picture includes a survey of earlier landscapes, painted from 1956-1998, that offer an opportunity to reconsider hockney as a landscape artist, instead of a pop artist.

hockney's work reflects the influences of past artistic movements, such as cubism, impressionism, or fauvism.

hockney also uses optical tools to experiment with the representation of space, the manipulation of perspective, the use of color, and the variation of technique.

the camera is one of hockney's favorite optical tools. he photographed the grand canyon in 1982, but didn't use the photographs to create grand canyon with ledge, arizona, 1982, collage #2, a 60 photograph collage, until 1986.

david hockney | grand canyon with ledge, arizona, 1982 | collage of 60 color photographs | 1986
david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom
photo credit (c) david hockney

he described the process of making collages from the grand canyon photographs as a ‘cubist idea.'

'when you put one piece of paper on top of another...
you put two pieces of time together...
therefore, make[ing] a space.

i thought i was making time.
then, you realize you’re making space.
then, you realize time and space are the same thing.'

in 1998, hockney painted a bigger grand canyon from the collages and other studies, and a closer grand canyon from memory. the multiple viewpoint perspective in both paintings again references cubism.

the grand canyon paintings also reference cubism by translating the grid pattern from the photo collages into a multiple canvas format. this becomes the standard format for hockney's large scale works.

david hockney | a bigger grand canyon | oil on 60 canvases | 1998

national gallery of australia (nga) | canberra, ACT, australia

photo credit nga

david hockney | a closer grand canyon | oil on 60 canvases | 1998

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom
louisiana museum of modern art | humlebaek, denmark

photo credit (c) david hockney

secret knowledge: rediscovering the lost techniques of the old masters, a book by hockney published in 2001, explores how optical tools, such as the camera, influenced painting composition for over six centuries.

photo credit amazon.com

but, hockney rejects the use of optical tools when he decides to paint the yorkshire landscapes in the exhibition from direct observation.

hockney's landscapes could define yorkshire like impressionist landscapes defined the south of france.

like monet's paintings, hockney's yorkshire landscapes are studies of changing seasonal and light conditions. sometimes, he paints the same location, such as the thixendale trees, at different times of the year.

david hockney | three trees near thixendale, spring 2008 | oil on 8 canvases | 2008

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom

photo credit (c) david hockney

david hockney | three trees near thixendale, summer 2007 | oil on 8 canvases | 2007

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom

photo credit (c) david hockney

david hockney | three trees near thixendale, autumn 2008 | oil on 8 canvases | 2008

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom

photo credit (c) david hockney

david hockney | three trees near thixendale, winter 2007 | oil on 8 canvases | 2007

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom

photo credit (c) david hockney

other times, he paints the same subject, such as blossoming hawthorne trees, in different locations at the same time of the year.

david hockney | may blossom on the roman road | oil on 8 canvases | 2009

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom
photo credit (c) david hockney

hockney's yorkshire landscapes are also technical studies. he experiments with impressionist or fauvist painting techniques, such as pointellist seurat dots, swirling van gogh brushstrokes, or colorful matisse stripes.

and, hockney also experiments with technological tools.

the arrival of spring in woldgate, east yorkshire in 2011 includes a series of 52 prints, drawn on an iPad, that capture the transition from winter to spring along a country road near his home.

as he was drawing, hockney adjusted the color and his technique so that the drawings could be enlarged and printed.

david hockney | the arrival of spring (untitled iPad drawing, 12 april 2011, no. 1) | iPad drawing printed on paper | 2011

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom

photo credit (c) david hockney

the series also includes a 32 canvas oil painting. the brighter colors, simpler brushstrokes, and bolder composition reflect hockney's iPad drawing techniques.

david hockney | the arrival of spring in woldgate, east yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) | oil on 32 canvases | 2011

david hockney RA: a bigger picture | 21 jan-9 apr 2012 | royal academy of arts | london, united kingdom

photo credit (c) david hockney

if you are in london, david hockney RA: a bigger picture is a 'must see' exhibition!

click here or here or here or here to read reviews of the exhibition.

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2/22/12

travel | the capital hotel|london

one of the many reasons that my husband, bob, and i love the capital hotel in london...

the domed staircase leading to our favorite deluxe rooms at the capital hotel | london, united kingdom

photo credit wego.com

not to mention the nina campbell designed interiors...

or, the convenient location in SW3 between harrod's and harvey nicks...

but, it's the friendly, helpful staff, including clive, the head concierge, graham, the deputy head concierge, or chris, the doorman, that make us want to return every time that we visit london...

do you have a favorite boutique hotel?

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color | the blues

i don't usually post articles from international shelter magazines.

but, on the way home from london last week, i picked up the march 2012 edition of ELLE decoration uk magazine in the star alliance lounge at heathrow airport...

and, it made such a strong color statement, that i couldn't resist...

they think that 'blue is the color'...

photo credit ELLE decoration uk

are you 'into blue'?