This week’s cool artists & architects

Aimless surfing of the net on holidays always means that you find interesting and beautiful things.  From a table you could eat in Paris to a barn made entirely out of glass, to huge large scale fabric installations draped  over buildings: the inventiveness of creatives means never ceases to amaze me.   I think the beauty of art and architecture comes from allowing you to see the world differently- something all these artists and designers do effortlessly.

nature @ Maison et objet 2013

I’ve been a bit offline these days as I have taken myself off to visit Maison et Objet in Paris, an event billed as the largest design event of the world.   This year, nature rules.   Crushed natural fabrics, textures and lots of animals both dead and alive influenced the designs.

I was amazed at the displays of some of the brands.  Some businesses used the 5 m high ceilings to give their stand a lofty feel and filled it with so much stock  that the idea of moving that stock around is rather overwhelming.

There were so many great things that it is so difficult to choose what to look at.  However, as I chose the last 2 days to visit, I used the time to visit current suppliers and to seek out gaps in the Eclectic Cool range.

I focused on current suppliers- so you will be pleased to know that I have tons of new GUBI (new pieces) and Henry Dean (heaps of new shapes & colours)- and we will be introducing a few new brands to the range-mainly textiles and ceramics.   I’m very excited about it all.

cool…celebrating ‘mother’ – the images of heidi lender

Gosh we mothers can do it all.   Loving the tongue-in-cheek images of LA based photographer, Heidi Lender.  Using a wall, black tape and some artful props, she acts out all the roles that we mothers do.   I think the handyman is pretty funny.

Apart from this series, Heidi is a pretty talented photographer/artist.  Her work is deeply personal, she draws on her own life events to make images that resonate. You can see more of her work on her website  or follow her on instagram.

Cool..little Thunder

Little Thunder is a HK based artist and illustrator whose main work consists of comic art.   She started exhibiting her art at age 11  and has been in demand, especially in her native HK and France for her illustrative work.   A look through her flickr photostream shows an artist who begins being heavily influenced by Japanese manga but has developed a more subtle and delicate style.

Her new show at the Rat’s Cave in Tai Ping Shan Street ( a stone’s throw from Eclectic Cool’s new shop in Sheung Wan) concentrates on her dream life and its honesty.  Through her drawings, she reveals her life and view  in the total honesty of dreams.   It is here that her feelings are laid bare for all to see.

The show starts 24th November, 2012 and continues until the 19th December.

Address : G/F, 18A-B Tai Ping Shan Street, 852 Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Email : ratscave.sfz@gmail.com

Cool…the happiness of artist Li Wei

I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the most interesting performance artists in China, Li Wei at the recent  opening of his solo exhibition at the LDX Gallery in Hong Kong.

Li’s work is characterised by his daring stunts, which sometimes leave him injured.  Recently he cracked a couple of ribs while working out one of his performances.  However, he was in fine form despite confiding to me that he was good at nothing else except for art!

Floating in air, balanced on high buildings, Li pushes the boundaries between the possible and the impossible.   His works are not computer enhanced.   Each of them are created with the use of wires, cranes and mirrors  as well as Li’s own acrobatic talents.  He spends a great deal of his time scouting locations for his performances- they  are invariably set in beautiful environments and capture a sense of place and time as well as a sense of wonder.

Often, when working out a performance, his assistants are overwhelmed by the breadth of his ambition, but usually, mostly with the help of enthusiastic participants and willing local authorities,  he ends up exceeding the imagination of his collaborators.   Most of his works include his own likeness, though some, like 2011′s Conflict is up in the air, uses some very game locals.

Recently, his works seem to have taken a religious turn, depicting  a series of Buddhas floating in mid-air.  This return to spiritualism is a reflection of the beauty of the world and awe at its making.  However, spirtuality aside, Li’s work is imbued with a sense of fun as well as a healthy respect for the laws of gravity- giving us a sense of the  moment but without losing a feeling of joyful  frivolity.

Li Wei’s exhibition  continues until 14th November.

Gallery 13 Art One, M/F Convention Plaza, 1 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

M: 9288 3233 | T: 2511 2660 | F: 2511 2661

www.ldxart.com

Cool…New art show in HK

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of contemporary art, make sure you head down to the Grand Hyatt on the 4th to the 7th of October for the Asia Contemporary Art Show.  This is the event for young and emerging artists from all over Asia.    If you are looking for the next big thing or if you are an art show virgin, start here.   The Show brings emerging artists from all across Asia including; Philippines, Myanmar, Tai Wan, Thailand and more, to debut their artwork here and showcase something different and modern. The artwork is priced at a more accessible range than often found in Hong Kong  allowing the Show to be open to more art-lovers.    Entrance for the three days is a very reasonable HKD 100.

In conjunction with the exhibition there is an Art Prize.  With 81 artists submitting works for a cash prize of HKD 50000, they are now in the last rounds of voting.   The winner will be announced at  the Gala, the night of the 4th October.

Opening Hours

VIP Preview: Thursday, October 4th: 5pm to 8pm

Open to the Public:

Friday, October 5th: 12 noon to 8pm

Saturday, October 6th: 12 noon to 8pm

Sunday, October 7th: 12 noon to 8pm

Admission Tickets (for three-day entry)

Online pre-show purchase: HKD100 for two

On the door: HKD100 per person

Cool…Hiroshi Sugimoto for Hermes

The Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto , has always been interested in colour and the subtlety of gradient.  Recently, he  created a limited edition of 140 scarves for Hermès as part of the ‘couleurs de l’ombre’
exhibition – with each one a redesign of the famed square scarves known as carrés.

He took the photos via Polaroid, a medium that is old fashioned but is used widely by artists with a specific aesthetic.   Sugimoto’s polaroid photographs uses the complex prismatic system of the medium to capture the first rays of sunlight in the morning.

Hi polaroids then were transferred by  a complex process of printing onto silk.   The colour’s gradients have been faithfully reproduced in the printing process and then made into scarves.

The artistic director of Hermès, Pierre-Alexis Dumas,  selected 20 of sugimoto’s polaroid images to print for the range which  is debuted at Museum der Kulturen in Basel Switzerland.  It  is currently being shown at La Verrière in Brussels until the 29th of September and will be displayed at Le Forum on the 8th floor of the flagship gallery in Ginza Tokyo from November 14th.  to December 30th.  If you are in Tokyo, don’t miss it.

Cool…Ron Arad’s Roundhouse Installation

I have been a huge fan of the Israeli/British designer Ron Arad’s work since my Christie days.   In fact, my research project that I did for Christies was on his and other leading British designers, such as Tom Dixon who in the succeeding years have produced some very interesting work as well as become commercially successful.

In his recent exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, he designed a 360 degree installation that was used to show some of the world’s best digital art by artists such as Mat Collishaw, a British artist whose lush imagery plays on themes such as illusion and desire.

You can see images of the installation here.

Cool…new gifs

Three very different GIFs by three very different artists.   It shows how simple but also effective this art form is.   The first gif is by artist Ana Mouyis for a music video.  The second is by Finnish graphic designer Vladimir Stankovic who created a series of illustrated natural history animated GIFs entitled ‘cephalopodoptera’.The work depicts a fantasy species of insects and molluscs carefully drawn and subtly animated.  The third is simpler but nonetheless effective.  Israeli artist Alma Alloro hand drew a series of lines on graph paper which form a fast-moving but hypnotic animation.

By the way, check out Wit+Delight tumblr blog…it is a thing of beauty.