ARTmonday: Gurari Collections

This winter when I was checking out the galleries and shops in the newly converted 1880 mill building now known as 460 Harrison Ave. in SoWa, I wandered into  Gurari Collections, which bills itself as a gallery for antiquarian contemporary arts. An intriguing label and fitting.

Its focus is at the intersection of art and science, featuring etchings, engravings, drawings, watercolors, paintings, and interesting objects borne from architecture and design, urbanism, the human figure, fantasies and follies, and science and the allied arts. The gallery is basically a walk-in curio cabinet.

A few days ago, gallery owner Russ Gerard contacted me, inviting me back for a visit. I shall certainly go sometime soon, and take photos, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share images from his website.

Column Capital Frontal – Wendy Artin
watercolor

Cetaceous – Mollie Goldstrom
etching

Calderum Motorim – Vico Fabbris
charcoal

Perspective 39 – Jan Vredeman de Vries
engraving

Fountain 31 –  Georg Andrea Bockler
copperplate etching-engraving

Plan De Paris, 1739 – M.E. Turgot, Louis Bretez, Claude Lucas and Aubin
20 copperplate engravings

English Victorian Adjustable Zograscope

Crookes Tubes and Radiomete

Fine Print: FLAIR Joe Nye

Los Angeles interior designer and party planner Joe Nye has put together his first book, Flair: Exquisite Invitations, Lush Flowers, and Gorgeous Table Settings (Rizzoli, April 2010). The table settings are beautiful. Almost makes me want to entertain. Definitely makes me want to shop for pretty china.

Handmade chargers in the Palladian pattern from Isis Ceramics Ltd., black bamboo flatware by Juliska, black water goblets and a chinoiserie-style tablecloth. More images from this table below.

Upper left: Singerie-inspired invitations and little favor boxes wrapped in fuchsia ribbon. (Singerie is the French word for “Monkey Trick”. It is a genre depicting monkeys apeing human behavior, often fashionably attired, intended as a diverting sight, always with a gentle cast of mild satire.) Upper right: Black bamboo flatware from Juliska. Lower left: A chinoiserie-styleparty table setting. Lower right: A prfusion of pink carnations in a silver mint julep cup.

Left: Contemporary Chinese Chippendale chargers paired with charming antique chinoiserie-style floral china and pretty aqua finger bowls. The natural wood handles of the bamboo flatware brings out the yellow and green tones in the plate. Right: Purple floral Mottahedeh dessert plates sit atop Charlotte Moss’s treillage pattern dinner plates. Green hydrangeas and amethyst goblets play up the green and purple theme.

Above: Red, printed silk-toile tablecloths, and blue and red glassware from Cost Plus World Market mix nicely with fancy sterling silver and Blue Canton dinner plates. The red lantern is a fun centerpiece. A single flower on the napkin dresses up the plate.

Left: A mélange of blue-and-white ceramics mixed with yellow gladioli and oncidium orchids dress up the sideboard.  Right: The blue and yellow theme is carried over to the table, with blue water glasses, inexpensive bunches of yellow chrysanthemums and single yellow Fuji mums placed in teacups. The dinnerware is Torquay from Mottahedeh. Like the flowers, the cobalt blue-handled flatware provides an informal touch.

All images by Los Angeles-based photographer Edmund Barr. Courtesy of Rizzoli International.

ARTmonday: Carlos Estrada-Vega

I discovered the works of Mexican-born, California-based contemporary artist Carlos Estrada-Vega at Ernden Fine  Art Gallery in Provincetown. His three-dimensional chunks of color are so satisfyingly saturated and rich, like high quality Cray-Pas. In fact, many of the works are created from a mixture of materials that may well produce an oil pastel effect on paper. The paintings consist of tiny square pegs of wood, usually no larger than one inch in diameter, which are individually painted with pure pigment and then attached with a small imbedded magnet on the back to a steel plate. The effect is quite tactile; very much like a modern children’s toy you might find at an art museum gift shop. Here are some examples of his work:

Bonita Carter #43-III, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (8″ x 8″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Walt,  2005
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments on Canvas on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached
to a Metal Plate (10″ x 10″)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Procopio, 2008
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments/ Limestone Dust on Automotive Primer on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate (33.25″ x 33.25)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Bo’quecito, 2008
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments/Limestone Dust on Automotive Primer on
Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate (36″ x 36)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Saulito, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (6″ x 6″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Working Drawing #6, 2007
oil, wax, oleopasto, limestone dust, and pigments on panel (12 x 12 x 1″)
d.e.n. contemporary, Beverly Hills

Güerita, 2008
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments/Limestone Dust on Automotive Primer on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate (8.25″ x 8.25″)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Maceo, 2005
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Working Drawing #8, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (5″ x 5″ x 1″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

79 squares
oil, wax, oleopasto, limestone dust and pigment on canvas on wood
Artnet.com

Stephanie’s, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (8″ x 8″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Caridad, 2007
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/ Dry Pigments on Canvas on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate
(17.5″ x 17.5″)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Working Drawing #9, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (5″ x 5″ x 1″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Paulita, 2004
Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR

4 x 4 = 17
Wax, limestone dust, oil, pigment on canvas on wood (16.3″ x 16.3″ x 1.4″)
Conny Dietzschold Gallery, Sydney

Untitled, 2003
Ölkreide, Wachs, Pigment, Öl und Kalkstein auf Papier (9″ x 9″)
Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich

Annemie, 2004
Limestone and wax on wood on metal (7.9″ x 7.9″ x: 1.2″)
Conny Dietzschold Gallery, Sydney

Working Drawing #5, 2007
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (12″ x 12″ x 1″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Aria II, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (8.25″ x 8.25″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Kazan, 2006
oil, wax, oleopasto, limestone dust and pigments on canvas on wood (38 1/2″ x 38 1/2″)
d.e.n. contemporary, Beverly Hills

Topside view of the cube, Carlitos, 2008
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Untitled Drawing, 2003
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (9″ x 9″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Fine Print: Susanna Salk’s Room For Children

Connecticut-based interior designer and writer Susanna Salk has curated an entire book of spectacular children’s spaces, from nurseries to bedrooms to playrooms, in Room for Children: Stylish Spaces for Sleep and Play (Rizzoli, April 2010).

Sure beats the oversize floral wallpaper (on the ceiling!) with gingham border and green shag carpet of my childhood lair. Though actually, that’s sounding kinda groovy now.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the book.

Architecture: Platt Byard Dovel White Architects  |   Design: Tracy Boss
Photo: © Jonathan Wallen

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Design: Kim Zimmerman  | Photo: © Pieter Estersohn

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Design: Laurence Kriegel  | Photo: © Pieter Estersohn

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Design: Sally Markham  | Photo: © Pieter Estersohn

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Photo: © Tria Giovan

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Design: Alex Papachristidis  | Photo: © John Gruen


All photographs from ROOM FOR CHILDREN by Susanna
Salk, Rizzoli, 2010

For more images from the book, see Susanna Salk’s Room for Children You Tube video.

Designer Spotlight: Wellfleet Waters

Maryann Morley and Beth Dean, Wellfleet Waters

Last June I profiled three textile designers in the article “Designing Women” for Stuff Magazine.  I’ve already followed up with posts on Seema Krish Design and Mod Green Pod. Now that summer is approaching, it’s time to visit sisters Maryann Morley and Beth Dean of Wellfleet Waters.

Maryann and Beth said they were sitting on a Cape Cod beach when inspiration hit. “We were talking about porch furniture, saying we wished we could find vibrant designs in bright colors,” says Morley. Instead, they found a lot of earth tone stripes printed on acrylic. So they got to work producing a line that was lots more fun.

They came up with a collection of three whimsical patterns (flowers, paisley, and polka dots) in three bright, highly saturated colorways (grass, water, and sunset). Most importantly, they decided to use 100% cotton canvas fabrics, which they have treated to be water- and mildew-resistant.

The collection launched last year; it’s made entirely in the United States and printed in New England. “It costs a bit more, but we’re committed to the people we work with. And it keeps us close to home for our families too,” says Dean. (Both sisters are moms.)

Their inspiration is the nostalgia for summer vacation, the season of bare feet and canvas sneakers. They remember running into the garden to dirty up new pairs, so they wouldn’t be too white. Morley explains, “We want to bring people back to that place, whether it’s the bayside or the pond, where they relax with their families and are reminded of the good things in life.”