10 Favorite Italian Lighting Pieces to Dazzle Any Interior

Irwin Weiner ASID - Let there be light, but let it be stylish, task-oriented, and quirky. I love light fixtures when they start a conversation, combining full-on lighting function with sculptural interest for an interior design scheme. When I saw some of the latest Italian lighting designs, as well as a few classics, I had to share them with you. Consider any of them to add light and life to your decor. Click on each photo for more product information.

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Latest Contemporary Art Displayed at FIAC, Paris

Irwin Weiner ASID - While we were in Paris the weekend of FIAC, the International Contemporary Art Fair, we weren't keen to stand in long ticketholder lines at the Grand Palais and queue up to see an infinite number of art spaces. (A lame excuse; we probably were too late to get tickets.) Instead, we saw other exhibitions nearby, took in an art and design fair just outside FIAC - more on that in a future post, and saw an inflatable Stonehenge that we thought was a kiddie amusement feature (nope; even though everyone was bouncing around inside it, we learned later that it was an outdoor FIAC art installation). In today's featured video, you'll see some of the latest contemporary artwork. I'm not astounded, I must be honest.

There are "room installations" (a treehouse built in a corner gallery space, a disheveled bathroom scene), contemporary works in acrylic, photography (close-up on a body part or industrial and architectural), playful use of objects-as-art (car wash brushes, decaying grand pianos, faceted mirrors turning), and many works in neon and mixed media showing English language words and sayings (done to death; hopefully the trend is over with).

My favorite artwork in the video was a lenticular or video framed canvas (I couldn't tell which) of a man juggling; supremely clever and mesmerizing. The winner of FIAC 2012, however, was the sculpture shown in the top photo, a reclining tombstone figure called Diving Man by Daniel Dewar and Gregory Gicquel. Does this herald the death of contemporary art? (It really is a sculpture privately commissioned for a cemetery.) You be the judge.

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Great Idea for Recycling Plastic Dinnerware!

Irwin Weiner ASID - Don't you love it when people make something creative and clever? I thanked my lucky stars when I came across the following video featuring the collaboration between recycling artist Sayaka Ganz and kinetic sculptor Jim Merz.

These two creative and clever souls who recycled plastic dinnerware and created kinetic light sculptures, entitled Luminariales 2.

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STEVENSON Unveils New Art from Conrad Botes

Irwin Weiner ASID - On a recent visit to my native Cape Town, South Africa, we visited the ever-changing Woodstock neighborhood. Once a bit on the seedy side, its small factory, warehouse, and shop spaces are being taken over by designers, artists, and galleries. One gallery we visited was STEVENSON, and the fantastic Conrad Botes exhibition "The Temptation to Exist." Botes twists traditional religious beliefs and posits a world where God creates the human race as a vile byproduct ... well, I won't get too specific, but it's not quite appetizing. What IS delicious, however, are his self portraits and other works showing tattoo-like markings that reminded us of Basquiat and Keith Haring. In the South African artist's visual parlance, however, they represent "the ideology and hatred that inevitably contaminate the human condition." We spent quite awhile admiring Botes' sculpture, painting on canvas, and reverse-glass paintings.

 

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