Category: Fine Arts
Designer’s Top Picks
Defining Art & Substance
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Florence Vacher, Bangwa, 2012, Fabric
Tambaran Gallery
Photo courtesy High End Weekly™
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Much of the art that I deeply appreciated at this year’s International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show had a strong masculine feel to them. And that’s a good thing, I think. Frou-frou interiors have never been my thing, so I am a big advocate for adorning my clients’ homes with various pieces of art that make a bold statement and continue to enrich their imaginations as the years go by. So this much anticipated fair met my expectations with its extraordinary attention to detail, breathtaking variety and exacting standards.
The grande dame fair brought together works of art that spanned continents and millennia — among them many of museum quality, furniture, paintings, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, glass, clocks, watches, arms, armour, rare books, manuscripts, jewelry, objets de vertu, Fabergé, silver, antiquities and ethnographic art, are among the many different categories exhibited and for sale. Prices start from as little as a few hundred dollars but rise into the millions. With that much said, here are some of the most desirable and interesting pieces that I liked.
The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show opened on Friday, October 19th until Thursday, October 25th, 2012.
Remembrance of Things Past
The hyperrealist movement
Vader Kiss by Victor Rodriguez
Major institutions such as Art San Diego, the Museum of Contemporary, Art Flint Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Museo de Monterrey have carried his work. And now, the 40 year old artist who was born in Mexico is set to debut his latest exhibition called Black Dodecahedron at Sebastian & Barquet tomorrow, Thursday, September 6, 2012. The show will run until Friday, October 5th. S+B is located at 601 West 26th Street #300, NYC.
The Stately Home of Brooke Astor
Riches: Holly Hill, Staircase, The main staircase at Holly Hill, showing a selection of dog pictures. Courtesy Sotheby’s
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Canaletto and Nicolas Lancret – and Chinese export reverse-painted glass pieces. I must have looked at the Sotheby’s catalogue at least half a dozen times before I was able to choose a few items which I thought would be quite fitting for a “modern” interior.
Biennale des Antiquaires – Part 1 of 3



Nicola Simbari’s Light & Energetic Paintings
But once we were shown around by the gallery director, I was delighted to discover the works of Italy’s most important living artist, Nicola Simbari. What attracted me the most about his art was the techniques that were used, and their results – masterful paintings on canvas, brilliantly achieved by a palette knife. This technique became his signature look almost immediately after he started to paint at the ripe age of 13. The second thing that impressed me was how well he was able to translate the feeling of summer into his paintings. The Mediterranean came alive with each stroke of his palette knife. His semi abstract impressionist works are a breath of fresh air, and today, they remind me that since August is here, it’s high time to enjoy those long, lazy summer days – before they vanish in the wind.
Ahae’s Stunning Photographs at The Louvre
The Natural
A review followed: Under clearing skies on a warm July 4th evening in Paris’s Tuileries Garden, the famed Orchestra Lamoureux played a concert of French classics and new compositions while two enormous screens showed images by Ahae, the Korean-born photographer whose exhibition De ma fenêtre (From My Window) is currently on view in the Louvre’s garden. Pieces by Debussy, Saint-Saens and Offenbach were played on a stage specially built for the concert. Ilan Eshkeri’s De ma fenêtre was given its world premiere to generous applause.
Contributing Story by Joan Parker
Masterpiece London
Third time’s the charm. Masterpiece London, will open for the third year at the South Grounds of The Royal Hospital Chelsea, on Thursday, June 28th until Wednesday, July 4th, 2012. A Preview will take place on June 27. This fair has become popular for its astonishingly broad range and fusion of disciplines. For example, in addition to the finest works from classical antiquity, ethnographica, furniture, ceramics, Renaissance bronzes, paintings, furniture and jewelry, one will can also expect one-off bespoke works of art, be it a Rolls Royce or Harley Davidson, made specifically for the fair.
Masterpiece London aims for the best of the best in all categories, ancient or modern. Hence visitors, who come to look for watches, vintage cars or fine wine, will engage with extraordinary masterworks that they might never otherwise had the opportunity to see.
Annika Connor Revisited
Annika Connor: I started painting with watercolor in 2003 when I was living in London but away from the studio for an extended period of time. Originally my watercolors were to be studies for larger oil paintings , however they eventually became so rich and worked I slowly recognized them as paintings in their own right. Because I never studied watercolor in college, I started painting them like oils which made for a very nontraditional approach to the medium. I approached it the same way that I did with my oil paintings: I built up layers and glazes and payed close attention to the details. From the very beginning, I’ve spent a lot of time working on all my paintings. I wanted give the viewers a haze of magic and leave them with a sense of rhythm and significant pattern.

AC: Sometimes I can be jealous of architecture because it is an art form where you can literally exist in it. You cannot ignore it, architecture has such a strong impact. When I visit spaces that are beautifully designed, whether they are from the Rococo era, or modern interiors, I feel so moved and inspired by them. I would love to collaborate with an architect one day on a space. For now I am just starting to dip my toes in the design world. I recently had the opportunity to designing some wallpapers and textiles. I was approached by Cavern, who worked with me to develop a line of wallpaper and upholstery fabrics.
For one of the Chandy wallpaper pattern we developed a design which comes in two color variations and which is inspired by my chandelier paintings. To create this, we literally took the chandeliers out of
my paintings, reduced them down to four colors, silk screened them, and created a cascading pattern of chandeliers. Go here to see. This was a really exciting project for me as it gave me the chance to bring my art into a space in a new way. In the past my paintings have been inspired by the patterns and spaces i see, now my paintings are decorating new spaces by making patterns for them. I loved the symmetry in this.
Fabric, wallpaper and pillow, designed by Annika Connor for Cavern Home
In my dream world, I could definitely see a painting like my King Angel Fish working as a gorgeous print for a Diane von Fusternberg dress, and I would gladly welcome the chance to collaborate more in this way. As a painter I am interested in visual communication. If opening the door to licensing my art in new ways, gives people a chance to be exposed to painting in a manner they can relate to then great! Honestly, one of the things that I don’t like about the art world is how exceedingly elitist it is. The gallery can seem so inaccessible to many people. Often times even affluent highly educated individuals can be intimidated by the art world if they are not well versed in art history and art theory. This is a shame. One should be able to look at art and on some level feel a connection regardless if you have studied art. I really want to make art which makes these connections, the goal is to one day make art that will move the audience to feel something wonderful. I want to make paintings which spark the imagination, which reach beyond the white walls to speak to a wider world.






























































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