Happy New Year! I’ve been thinking a lot about trends we’ve seen this year in Miami at Art Basel 2013, and how those trends apply to what we do in the hybrid Art/Design world.  There was so much emphasis on new  or unexpected materials this year in Miami. I can’t tell you how much felt, yarn, cut paper and wood we saw used in such exciting ways. We have noticed a move away from framed art in the past few years, and we are asked much more often now for artist fabricated architectural elements like screens and lighting.  Art has become more interactive and experiential than ever before.  Here’s a photo of one of the laser cut walnut screens we created for the newly renovated Sun Dial restaurant at the top of the Westin Peachtree Plaza and a photo of our Lobby screen dividers for the same project.

Laser-Cut Screen at Sun Dial Restaurant

Custom Screens Being Installed at Westin Peachtree Plaza

I think the gravitation away from what we have traditionally viewed as artwork is a trend we will continue to see develop as technology and art collide.  The accessibility of video art for home use and hand-held devices  is something I find particularly interesting, and the site S/edition is doing this incredibly well.  Check them out if you haven’t already:  http://www.seditionart.com/.  It’s mind-blowing to me that you can purchase a Jenny Holzer editioned video piece for less than $100 and have it play on your home television or tablet! Let me know what your thoughts are! Are you seeing trends in Art & Design that you find interesting? Happy New Year! Make it everything you want it to be.

Please read the  terrific piece by Deanna Sirlin entitled Her Left Cheek included in this month’s online issue of  The Art Section.  www.theartsection.com  If you haven’t discovered this online critical arts magazine, I encourage you to subscribe. It’s rich with fantastic contemporary art content, much of it written by our great friend, the artist and recent author, Deanna Sirlin.

This month Deanna takes The High Museum to task for its marketing blitz focusing on  Vermeer’s masterpiece Girl With A Pearl Earring  currently on view as part of the High’s exhibition Girl With A Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis.  Deanna’s point is that by heavily marketing Vermeer’s”Girl “, The High has, in essence, overshadowed the 34 additional masterpieces in the exhibition.   Deanna, I hope you will not take offense, but I’m going to disagree with you on this one.  Having worked for a non-profit arts center early in my career, I can tell you that sitting around a table trying to figure out how to get people through the turnstiles was a daunting challenge, and that was before the world of instant technology had taken up valuable mental real estate of potential museum-goers. While I agree that “Vermeer with a Schmear”  (The High’s offer of  bagels  and coffee with admission) seems downright silly, it’s precisely the kind of event that attracts folks who might not ordinarily visit the High to see not only Vermeer’s famous Girl, but the additional, lesser known works and artists in the exhibition. The goal is, and should be, to get people through the damned turnstiles, because once they’re in, there’s much more than the Vermeer to behold.  You speak, in your piece, about being weak in the knees while spellbound by an artist you’d never heard of.  Mission accomplished.

My friend, you and I are impassioned by the visual arts-we would have gone to the exhibition with or without the incentive of a schmear, so these marketing campaigns are not really aimed at us.   The bottom line is, museums like The High have a responsibility to the works they exhibit that will always supercede any marketing campaign, and that is to have the work viewed by as large an audience as possible, and it’s a  tough task these days.

In closing, I just couldn’t resist the High’s promotion to create a “Go Girl” masterpiece with my German Shepherd, so I present to you,  in all her glory:  Luca with a Pearl Earring.  C’mon, admit it…it’s pretty fun!

Luca With A Pearl Earring

After many months of preparation and some crazy logistics, we are super excited to be a full week in to the six week commission of the monumental painting on the four story core of the iconic Portman-designed Westin Peachtree Plaza here in Atlanta. We’ll keep the blog posted with progress photos and please check our Facebook project page for photos and video . Thanks to everyone involved in the process, most especially the amazing painter Raymond Saa, who is not only hand painting the entire circumference of the core including 75 feet or so in height, but who learned to operate an interior boom lift just to complete the commission! Raymond is a phenomenal artist, and we’re thrilled to be a part of this incredible transformation.

Maybe it’s because both of our office locations have been beside the train tracks or  that Atlanta’s history is so closely tied with the railroad industry, but I’m pretty much a sucker for all things train-related,  even when they roar by our office with horns blaring so loud it shakes the rafters and we have to ask people if we can call them back if we’re on the phone.  So we were pretty excited when the Hotel Indigo brand asked us to procure a selection of train-related murals for an Atlanta area Hotel Indigo.  We sent our photographer out for four days to capture some pretty amazing imagery.  Here are a few shots of the installed murals, one of which is nearly the same size as an actual box car.  Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Almost Life-size Boxcar Mural

Hotel Indigo Guest Room Mural

Train Wheel Mural Guestroom

It’s hard to believe it, but Summer’s almost over! While it’s still a bit “sultry” outside, as one of our friends likes to say, we thought we’d give you an update on some of the “summery” things we’ve been working on these past few months!

Shadowboxed Vintage Swimsuits Laketown Wharf

These shadowboxed vintage swimsuits from the 40’s are a fun addition to a project we worked on down in Panama City Beach with one of our most favorite design firms. As tempting as it was, we did NOT try them on before framing them. They were a little smelly to be honest…

Abstract Fish Mural

This abstract wave of stylized fish was created by our awesome graphics team for the Laketown Wharf project, and it spans over 50ft. of wall space.  Kudos to the installer too,  she did a terrific job!

Hyatt Miami Blue Stairwell Sculpture

We are asked for affordable sculpture A LOT!  It can be a challenge to procure  pieces that deliver the visual impact and SCALE required while also satisfying a budget.  This piece was commissioned with a California artist who works in glazed ceramic. The craftsmanship on these pieces is absolutely top-notch and the piece is perfectly suited to it’s Miami location.

Hotel Indigo Garden District Crown Image

We are fortunate to be working with a great team of folks on the soon-to-open Hotel Indigo Garden District.  The photographic imagery for the murals and framed artwork are all neighborhood based , and really could you ask for a better neighborhood to shoot?.  Our photographer had a beautiful few days to capture the area,  and this imagery is just AMAZING! We can’t wait to share more of the finished project with you, but we thought we’d post this image-it’s been a favorite of everyone who has seen it.

…and finally. Meet Luca!

As some of you know, we lost our beloved Shepherd Mix (and official Art Initiative mascot),  Sophie,  to cancer,  after 13 years together early this Summer.  Life is wonderful in the way that it can bring joy while sadness is still present, and Luca is proof of that.  She’s 5 mos. old, weighs in at over 50 lbs.,  and is all goof-ball.  She’s here most afternoons, so if you’re here in Atlanta-come on by and meet her!

Hope you’re having a great Summer! Squeeze some more fun out of it while you can! We’d love to hear from you, so give us a call or drop us an email, if you’d like to talk art!

Rarely is our process so succinctly visual as it was this morning when I walked in.  We’ve been working with an artist on the design for a two-story stairwell sculptural piece in Miami for the past few days, and it kind of stopped me in my tracks to see it there in flux and on pause at the same time.  It’s all there-the composition, the scale, the palette, the materials, and to some extent-it’s destined location. I snapped a quick shot of it, so that I could post the installation shot for you in a couple of months when the piece is installed.  What happens next is the part that I’ll never stop being blown away by, and that’s the creation by the artist of the actual piece, because right now-while it’s a cool picture, that’s ALL it is until the artist breathes life into it.
Truly astonishing.

Sometimes the tight parameters of a project  can actually be a beneficial aspect of the process.  This was the case recently,  as we were asked  to curate a collection of 21 images representative of the College Park neighborhood in South Atlanta for a hotel brand. Given a 3 mile radius to the property to work with for imagery, we settled on a fine art photographer we knew could find the soul of the area.  As fate would have it, and unbeknownst to us at the time, the photographer had a deep connection to the area, having lived in the neighborhood many years ago.  What he was able to capture in a 2 day shoot was pretty astonishing.  Rusted trains with spectacular graffiti,  vintage Americana signage, and gorgeous textures of peeling color and grit that look like paintings.  I remember thinking when we heard about the 3 mile radius we would be restricted to-“That’s so small!  How are we ever going to pull this off?” and now I know it wouldn’t have been the same had we been given a larger scope to work within.  So,  sometimes what we think of initially as a constraint, (budgets, palettes, etc.)  actually force us  into more creative thinking and better work.

OK, first things first. Wow, have I been remiss in my blogging duties…I’ve been working on another writing project for the past few months, and things are hoppin’ again over here at the Plow, so while I was THINKING of all the fascinating blog topics I wanted to share, I wasn’t actually blogging, and for that I am deeply regretful. OK, not DEEPLY regretful, but I  did miss it! So  last night we were having dinner with an artist friend and his wife, and the discussion turned to the endless requests he receives for donations of his artwork to various fundraisers throughout the year.  What some of the folks asking for the donations don’t realize is that artists donating their own works are only able to deduct the cost of materials (in my friend’s case-canvas and paint), not the fair market value of the work.  It’s incredibly unfair that artists are not afforded the same deduction benefit as a private collector, who (with documentation) would be able to write off the fair market value for the same piece!  H.R.1190 The Artist-Museum Partnership Act of 2011 was reintroduced in the U.S. House by Rep. John Lewis (GA) in March.  You can read more about the status here: https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hr1190/report#nation  and here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1190 .   Let’s work to change this nonsense, and at the very least–let’s not take for granted the real sacrifice artists make when they donate a work to charity.

Yesterday we finished up a project (see image below) with a couple of very large salon-style groupings, and since we are being asked more and more to design these collections of groupings for our clients,  I thought I would pass along some tips for putting them together.   The salon-style of hanging came about historically as a very efficient way to showcase the many works of the recent graduates of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in pre-revolutionary Paris at the  Salon de Carré at the Louvre.

Nowadays,  it’s used aesthetically to fill a large space by showcasing a lot of smaller pieces. It’s a great look,  and can be an interesting and really personal way to showcase your style.  It’s pretty cost-effective too since you utilize a lot of negative space. You  probably already  have a lot of small interesting imagery you can use in your composition too! Variety is the name of the game-Photos, bookplates,  old keys, sketches, flea market oil paintings,  all work great!  Get nostalgic (think vintage) and creative.  I like a wide variety of frame styles and frame finishes too.  It should look like a collection assembled over time.  You can have your artwork custom framed or shadowboxed by a framer,  or if you’re up for  a do-it-yourself  project, you can visit your local craft store for a good variety of ready-made frames you can fit on your own.

Once you have your framed art together, you’ll need to lay it out on the floor preferably in front of the wall you’d like your grouping to hang.  We usually make a box out of painter’s tape, the general size of our grouping. Once you’ve got your composition together, it’s time for the not-so-fun part of  making a diagram of your layout,  and measuring between each piece.

Once you have your diagram, start by hanging the piece near the center of your layout and then build from that piece, hanging the piece above and below. Then hang the pieces on either side and keep building until you’re finished!   Admire your grouping-it’s uniquely yours!

Salon Style Grouping Serrano

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTlm6dU2xHk]

Billed as “the world’s first street art disaster movie”, the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop is a compelling delve into the elusive world of the pseudonymous street artist Banksy and more broadly, a look at the over-commercialization of the contemporary art world.  If only it were that simple.  The film follows the unlikely pairing of French shopkeeper turned videographer Thierry Guetta and the, up-until-now, largely anonymous street artist & provocateur Banksy.  Guetta is ever-present, recording every detail of Banksy’s studio and working methods for a street art documentary he’s ostensibly working on.  Turns out Guetta isn’t a filmmaker at all, but (as Banksy describes him),  a “mentally ill person with a camera”.  Banksy decides, at this point,  to turn the tables on the Frenchman and  begins filming  Guetta as he adopts the moniker “Mr. Brainwash” in an attempt to instantly fashion himself an artist’s persona and career.  There’s so much more, but I’m not giving it away. See the film, and decide for yourself if it’s real (Banksy swears it is), or if it’s  just a really, really clever Banksy piece.