Trust Your Style: art + life

art + life

Monday, April 28, 2008

A Mediterranean Bel Air residence from yesterday's Art and Architecture Tour; Inside: Jim Dine paintings from the Robe series.

Yesterday I attended the Art Museum Council's 51st annual Art and Architecture Tour and toured five estates featuring some of Los Angeles's finest homes and private art collections. I'm so glad I went! It turned out there were some modern collections that really appealed to me.

The first home I toured felt like a dream. High up in the hills of Beverly Hills, the view was breathtaking and the house was filled to the brim with cutting edge art--almost all of it created in the last ten years--sculptures, paintings, installations, and I loved every detail down to the gold-leafed Irish Times in the bedroom. I was in shock almost, that someone would be so bold with their collecting, and then filled with a kind of delight as I experienced first-hand the concept of living with it--as the sun streamed in through the bathroom and kitchen and I walked through a world where the edgy coexisted with the mundane aspects of daily life--it was surreal in a good way.

I wish I had photos from these homes but no cameras were allowed. The last home on the tour was nestled on a street in Pacific Palisades. It was hot and nearing the end of the day, but I'd heard such amazing things about it that I couldn't pass it up. All I can say is that it housed an incredibly hip, carefully chosen art collection. To me, they were astoundingly perfect choices, if there is such a thing. Every piece was a gem from top artists and somehow fit perfectly into the surroundings. I'm not going to name them all, but just say that I loved the pieces by Yoshitomo Nara, the Murakamis, the two Robert Longos, even the Andy Warhols were top notch choices that I liked better than many I've seen through the years in major museum collections, especially the artist's edition pink and blue astronaut. Most impressively there were some great pieces by Vic Muniz--I was taken with one of the the ones in the dining room--an iconic photo of Jackson Pollock covered in caramel and chocolate and then photographed again and blown up.

After viewing these stunning collections I feel a bit self-conscious talking about the things that I collect, but I wanted to show you this piece that made it's way to my dining table yesterday.

LACMA's Art Musuem Council created a Special Projects boutique specifically for this event that offered a few select artist's work. I ended up picking up this piece by Kevin Xiem Nguyen. He has an upcoming show at MOCA and something about this yellow glaze combined with his story, caught my attention. I have a soft spot for artists who have gone through personal suffering and come out of it to create life-affirming work. Kevin will be stopping by tys soon for an interview, so I'll wait and let him talk about it in greater detail.

Before I sign off, I can't urge you enough to check out similar tours in your own town or city. There's something really wonderful about viewing art in a home instead of a museum or gallery.

posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Monday, April 28, 2008