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Sep 22 2020
Surface
Design Dispatch
LACMA renderings unveiled, Ginsburg gets a statue, and woven wicker balconies.
FIRST THIS
“I don’t want a machine to let me know I left the cheese in my fridge.”
HERE’S THE LATEST

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LACMA Unveils New Renderings of Zumthor Building

Much of the L.A. art world has been divided over the fate of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which has been busy demolishing the east side of its campus to make way for a sprawling new glass-and-concrete structure designed by Peter Zumthor. Critics have likened the Swiss architect’s building, which crosses 30 feet above Wilshire Avenue, to a “small-city airport terminal,” while deriding how an amended interior scheme will reduce the museum’s exhibition space by 53,000 square feet, or roughly 33 percent. The lack of transparency in being able to view interior layouts in advance also ignited debate.

That wait is now over. LACMA has finally unveiled interior views of the building, which will feature 110,000 square feet of galleries designed around a scheme that aims to eliminate perceived hierarchies between artistic styles. “The principle of this building is that our collections keep changing, so we want to present a new art history,” Michael Govan, LACMA’s director, told ARTnews. “Art museums are a product of European and Western colonialism and capitalism. One way to rethink art history and create more equity is to think of our collection not as static.”

With this approach, the museum’s 17 curatorial departments are free to move key pieces from the museum’s permanent collection all around the new building’s 50 galleries. “There’s glass all around—you can see in, you can see out,” continues Govan. “It’s a structure that has no front, no back, no hierarchy. No matter where you approach it, there’s art on every side and it’s all on one level. The idea is that people can make their way through it as they like, not as we’re telling them. The feeling here is of this world of multiplicities.” The new building will finish construction in 2023 and open the following year, around the same time a new Metro stop will be built across the street from Chris Burden’s Urban Light installation.

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What Else Is Happening?

Check-Circle_2x The late Ruth Bader Ginsburg may be memorialized with a statue at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Check-Circle_2x A digital clock in Manhattan now illustrates when climate change will become irreversible.
Check-Circle_2x Pottery Barn partners with the Renewal Workshop to repurpose returned home textiles.
Check-Circle_2x TEFAF will launch a 283-gallery virtual fair in the fall after calling off its New York edition.
Check-Circle_2x In Arizona, Frank Lloyd Wright’s mesmerizing Norman Lykes Residence hits the market.
Check-Circle_2x The Victoria & Albert cancels plans to co-curate a London gallery with the Smithsonian.
Check-Circle_2x A temporary pandemic-induced surcharge on all restaurant checks divides the industry.


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ITINERARY

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Cindy Sherman at Fondation Louis Vuitton

When: Sept. 23–Jan 3, 2021

Where: Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris

What: In the 1980s, predating the rise of the now-ubiquitous selfie, Cindy Sherman was exploring how self-portraiture serves as a vehicle to explore one’s own fluidity, as well as the tension between socially constructed and organic identities. Those experiments, which feel all too timely in the age of social distance, will star in a sweeping retrospective of the American artist’s career at Fondation Louis Vuitton.

Besides delivering more than 300 images from series such as Broken Dolls, Clowns, and Hollywood and Hampton Types, the exhibition debuts never-before-seen works from a series called “Crossing Views,” a collaboration between the artist and the Fondation that demonstrates how portraiture can be interpreted through various media by artists such as Damien Hirst, Wolfgang Tillmans, Andy Warhol, and Louise Bourgeois.

DESIGNER OF THE DAY

The L.A.–based artist and designer CK Reed brings mixed-media canvas works and painted furniture to life with bright, poppy hues and vibrant plant motifs. On the horizon for the Kelly Wearstler alum: A West Hollywood mural for a public arts initiative called Artful Distancing to inspire locals with creative ways to connect in the age of separated existence.

CURRENTLY COVETING

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At SCAD, Emily Mae Smith’s Wildly Inventive Visions

This month, the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art has reopened following months of closure, ushering in an exciting lineup of fall programming. New exhibitions showcasing artists Guo Fengyi, Edgar Sanchez Cumbas, KAYA, and Emily Mae Smith are now on view, plus a group show curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. Emily Mae Smith’s “Feast and Famine” represents an exciting selection of the American artist’s work from the past five years, putting her mastery of painting and image making—and her signature mythological influences—on full display. References to human bodies and art history abound, though are often flipped: physical forms are either curved and sensual or pristine and sharp, while historical references call out the canonization of white male voices.

TRAVEL

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In Oaxaca, a Hotel With No Name

“The experience will be at moments artful, unexpected, and somewhat theatrical,” says the artist Elliott Coon of Hotel Sin Nombre, a new property she launched with architect João Boto Caeiro near Oaxaca’s main central square. The 24-room hotel is a deft mixture of restrained interiors and bold flourishes that reflect the core principles of Gem&Bolt, the artisanal mezcal brand she co-founded. Like Hotel Sin Nombre itself, the spirit’s defining ingredient, damiana, a native shrub from the mint family, is designed to act as a natural antidepressant, heart opener, and aphrodisiac.

BY THE NUMBERS

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NYC Hotel Rooms Booked With Traditional Guests

The coronavirus has all but devastated the hospitality industry, with several notable New York City hotels, including the Hilton Times Square, Omni Berkshire Place, and two Courtyard by Marriott properties closing permanently. According to the firm STR, which tracks the hotel industry, as few as seven percent of the city’s 120,000 hotel rooms were filled with traditional guests—a downturn that has left more than 25,000 hotel employees out of work. Financial experts predict the rate of hotel failures will accelerate as lenders reach their breaking point and tourism around major seasonal events such as the U.S. Open and the U.N. General Assembly vanishes.

“Of course we understand the difficulties facing the tourism industry while travel worldwide has essentially come to a halt,” Caitlin Girouard, a spokesperson for New York governor Andrew Cuomo, told the New York Times. In late June, Cuomo imposed a 14-day quarantine for guests, halting any prospect of domestic business or global travel. The restrictions, however, may help keep the curve flat: “Everyone is trying to avoid a potential second wave that would send infections spiking and force businesses to close down again.”

THE LIST

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Member Spotlight: Instrmnt

Instrmnt is a Glasgow design studio focused on creating industrial-led products with an emphasis on quality, simplicity, and attainability. Founded by Pete Sunderland and Ross Baynham, the studio’s work has been recognized and exhibited by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London Design Festival, and Paris Fashion Week.

Surface Says: Instrmnt approaches watchmaking as an art form. The purity of its aesthetic pays homage to 20th-century minimalism, bringing to mind design icons such as Dieter Rams.

AND FINALLY

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Today’s Attractive Distractions

Rihanna’s Fenty beauty line is embracing sustainability in all the right ways.

The Italian leather shoe brand M.Gemi launches a collection of handbags.

Studio Ghibli releases 400 images from its beloved animated films for free.

Groupwork adorns a London multiunit building with woven wicker balconies.

               


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