Dolce e Gabbana : Ron Arad and Steven Klein.

For the second time, Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana invited their friend, the artist Ron Arad for the " Salone Internazionale del Mobile" (International Salon of Furniture).
After “ Blo-Glo”, last year"s exhibition, this time “Bodyguards” was showing the latest designs of the artist. Specialist of hijacking matters, Ron Arad chose to work on polished aluminium.


Seven pieces are exhibited among which the sculpture-chair "Bodyguard" that gave the name of the exhibition. The show took place at the Metropol theatre of Dolce & Gabbana where each year their fashion shows take place .

'silicon oh - voids’, silicon

We know how D&G love art. Needless to show the latest ads to understand that strong relationship between art and fashion. What is rather striking is the very good pictures they did with Steven Klein. The whole session was organised in their peninsula in Portofino. Inspired by the cult cinema and movie makers such as Fellini or Visconti, those pictures are a result of glamour, Satyricon's Fellini Romas's inspired pictures, Dolce Vita's visions, homoerotic scenes, where the two designers are showing a little part of their intimacy, if I may say which sometimes make us remind the pictures that Tom Ford did with the same Steven Klein... Let's enjoy.

And finally :

Tom Ford's picture.

More info on :

www.dolcegabbana.it

www.stevenkleinstudio.com

www.ronarad.com

"Towards an Island" from SHIM MOON SEUP in Paris

My friend Cyril Ermel a.k.a Cyril Von Paris, director of the IBU GALLERY in Paris, told me about the exhibition he held in is gallery and in the gardens of the Palais Royal, in Paris.


So I decided to write a post showing the work of SHIM MOON SEUP, famous Korean artist, worldwide exhibited. His artworks dialogue with artists such as Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Erik Dietman, Huang Yeu Ping, Lee Ufan, Tony Oursler.

SHIM MOON SEUP, presents his works and takes part of the contemporary sculpture appointment of the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris.
This exhibition offers a trip in the garden of the Palais Royal, described by the artist as “this garden where the wind blows, carving this wind and creating a garden which moves towards another world”. SHIM MOON SEUP seeks “to carry out the dream of the unknown world, to communicate to the viewer”.


“Towards an island”, is an exhibition of 10 works, made of water, wood, iron and stone and invites you to a ludic path between contemporary art and Asian culture. Part of the gardens, the artworks invest it in a natural way. Just like the immaterial wind, water is an essential component of the exhibition.
According to the artist, “in my works, either made out of tree, either made out of stone, water runs the way of gravity and also comes back. Water is a reason to explain the course of life. It symbolizes the eternal system which has neither beginning nor end”. Indeed water is in each work, physically or poetically present.


This exhibition is detailed at IBU GALLERY Gardens of the Palais Royal. The drawings, painted photographs and sculptures out of wood and metal of SHIM MOON SEUP that are exhibited in the gallery, also give us information on the genesis and understanding of the artworks set up in the gardens.

To learn more :

"TOWARDS an ISLAND” by SHIM MOON SEUP
In free access in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris.

Also drawings, painted photographs and sculptures by SHIM MOON SEUP at IBU GALLERY : 166 galerie de Valois Paris 1er.
Every day from 8 to 11.
Curators : Soeun and Cyril Ermel

Where would Cary Grant go to buy a suit if he were still alive ? At Tom Ford's of course.

It is now official : Tom Ford is opening a boutique in NYC. But before defining his concept store of supreme luxury, Tom Ford asked himself a single question : “Where would Cary Grant get dressed if it were still there? ”. But no question for him of being locked up in a "ultra-elitist world". He's really looking to attract a lot of different customers, and thus prices are supposed to be attractive... An advertising campaign is planned for fall, but Tom Ford did not wish to reveal anything about it for now.


We'll be able to find a new line for man and an exclusive space. That's the way Tom Ford wanted to make his official come back in the luxury universe. And all this happened this month.
The boutique is located in Manhattan, at number 845 of Madison Avenue. Built on three levels and at a total of 800 square metres, it was designed by the William Sofield agency. Colors are soft and classy : pale gray and brown sand, with tended calf velvet walls. Pieces of furniture made out of leather can also be found, carpets out of beaver, ebony arrangements and many works of art, and personal collection items of Tom Ford are to make a very nice space.


He devoted himself for twelve months to the design of this concept store. The ground floor, of its own consent, is the certified copy of his London house. The shop has a service for male fashion and "sur-mesure" services are of course possible. It is offered by a workshop held by two tailors. Ready to wear, accessories out of leather- some made with Ermenildo Zegna, glasses, jewellery and beauty products are the complete range of what we can buy.


Openly inspired by the empires of Giorgio Armani or Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford designed a world of refinement and quality to the level of his ambitions. The staff in charge of taking care of the customers was trained by his personnal head Angus Richards-Barron.

Tom Ford and Sienna Miller

A classy and fresh space for this king of fashion, beautiful person and friend with all the stars in the world. Tom Ford the glamourous entrepreneur is ready to conquer the world independantly. I'm already looking forward to discovering it and the ad campaign.









More info on : www.tomford.com




And still, the beautiful book which came out in 2004 : "TOM FORD"

Bowie loves the Spanish cinema and I love David Bowie

Here is a very good interview of David Bowie about the festival he is curating (mentionned on a previous post). This interview is taken from the official website and was given to Time Out.

So let's keep on the pleasure with two 'heroes' of mine : Bowie and the Spanish cinema !

Full Time Out Interview:


T.O. How did you discover these films? Did you see them in theaters, on television, on DVD ?
D.B. All three.


T.O. Is Spanish-language cinema a particular passion of yours ?
D.B. It is now. For this festival I chose to go with either a single European director or a personalized overview of a genre of some kind.
I heard that the work of the director that I had homed in on was to be shown in Spring by another organization so I opted for my other choice, namely Latin American and Spanish film of the last one hundred years and what a fortuitous one it has been! It's so exciting to dive headfirst into this world. Such talent and great innovation going on. Like many people, I was really only aware of the most obvious work, Almodóvar, Buñuel, Saura and a few others. But being thrown in at the deep end, this is how I like to find things. And I really make the effort.


T.O. This is such a fascinating array of films. Is there anything that links them together ?
D.B. Terror. Mine. It was imperative to me that I pull together an eclectic choice not too familiar to the audience. Discovery was the keyword. I could call this selection, ‘ One Hundred Years Of ‘Look What I’ve Found’.


T.O. It’s interesting that there are no films by Pedro Almodóvar, or Carlos Saura, who are considered the biggest names in Spanish-language cinema, on your list. Why is that ?
D.B. And no Buñuel, unhappily. Devising a one hundred year presentation has been harder than I possibly could have imagined. The opener on the 10th of May, ‘El Automóvil Gris’ was one of the few existing great films of the 1910’s. And when I heard that Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes were available to perform against it, it seemed to be falling into place so easily.
But then the 20’s posed a problem as very little was made ‘till the talkies and what was made is in dreadful shape. I compensated by using two 30’s movies. One of them being a very rare showing of Dos Monjes (Two Monks), showing that German expressionism was alive and kicking in the mid-thirties in Mexico. This was recommended by Carlos Gutiérrez of Cinema Tropical who has been instrumental in booking all the films. The forties lightens up a little with ‘Aventurera’ with its suicides, prostitution, dancing in fruit hats. Oh yea!
Buñuel nearly got the fifties with Los Olvidados but there are legal battles over it apparently so I’m working on the very dark Argentinian piece ‘La Casa del Ángel’ by Torre Nilsson. By the time of Alea’s 1968 classic ‘Memories of Underdevelopment’ into the present I found it harder to choose from the overwhelming number of great movies being made. So I really had to lose the obvious choices and go with more little known pieces that I felt may not have been as widely seen. For the 90’s, Medem’s ‘Lovers From The Arctic Circle’ for instance, rather than ‘Tango’ say or ‘All About My Mother’, brilliant as they are. For every one that I placed there are fifteen I had to pass over.


T.O. I’m so delighted to see The Spirit of the Beehive on your list. I think it’s one of the best films about childhood ever made. The recent Machuca also explores childhood with great intelligence. Do you think it’s accurate to say that Spanish-language cinema excels in depictions of youth ?
D.B. Yes, and I think there’s one very cogent reason for that. It’s possible that Latin America, having been plunged in and out of war and revolution so consistently for so much of its existence, has the child in all that it surveys. Identity is still forming. So the child of the film, whether tormented or betrayed, in awe or in rapture, is reflecting the conditions of an ever changing and evolving identity.


T.O. I am a huge fan of Aventurera, also. Did the amazing theatrics of Ninón Sevilla, the film’s star, ever inspire you ?
D.B. LOL, erm…no


T.O. Are you a fan of the “new wave” of directors emerging from Argentina—Lucrecia Martel, Pablo Trapero, Albertina Carri ?
D.B. Of those three I only know Martel. And what a find she is. I can’t wait to see how she will develop. She’s working in a swelter of claustrophobic sensuality, not all of it ‘good’ sensuality. She’s creating life patterns rather than straightforward narrative-with-back-story. Her work is very exciting.


T.O. How often do you go to the movies ?
D.B. Maybe once a week. Not like I used to. I’ve become a DVD guy. "