Ralph Lauren Blog

The art experience will begin for many at Miami International Airport with Harmonic Convergence, a 72-foot-long window wall with diamond-shaped panes of glass in 150 transparent colors. The installation by architect and composer Christopher Janney creates a gradually changing pattern of colors, similar to a rainbow. It was installed a few months ago in an airport entrance by a people-mover walkway. Travelers will hear sounds Janney recorded during trips to the Florida Everglades, scuba dives in the ocean, and other natural environments. At the top of each hour, a short composition with percussion instruments plays, marking the time of day.

SCOPE president and founder Alexis Hubshman said the photos offer a look at Warhol and Indiana “at a time when Americans were undergoing radical changes both politically and culturally.” He said the 1960s images present “a distinct reference point for many emerging and contemporary artists working today.”

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. Live graffiti painting. A colossal rose bed soaring 20 feet high. Early photos of Andy Warhol, a Picasso up for auction and a naked woman living in a pig pen. They’re all part of the lineup for Art Basel Miami Beach, which runs Dec. 1-4, with a host of related events beginning Nov. 30.

“I photographed Andy and other Pop Artists because I believed they were creating something different,” Kennedy said. “Andy was completely devoted to his art. I’m sure at the time I photographed him, he believed the photos would become an important record of what he was trying to accomplish.”

Miami gallery owner Gary Nader will launch an auction house during Art Basel featuring modern and contemporary work by big names like Fernando Botero, Damien Hirst and Roy Lichtenstein. Nader expects prices from $50,000 to $5 million, including for Picasso’s “Buste de Femme,” priced at $3.5 million to $4.5 million, and Lichtenstein’s large-scale aluminum painted sculpture “Three Brushstrokes,” estimated at $3 million to $5 million.

For the first time, works by artists from the outdoor art park Wynwood Walls will be for sale at “Shop at the Walls,” its first pop-up gallery.

The exhibit will include images of Warhol creating his Marilyn Monroe painting and Indiana holding his iconic LOVE piece, printed from original negatives as silver gelatin fiber prints.

Organizers for this year’s event are promising another round of great art, with thousands of works by more than 2,000 artists from around the world. Painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, print, photography, film, performance, video and digital art will all be on display at various venues, galleries, satellite fairs, outdoor exhibitions and private parties. New this year is Art Video, a 7,000-square-foot outdoor projection wall on the New World Center building designed by architect Frank Gehry.

Hundreds of volunteers will help lift a 20-foot sculptural platform with models of attractions from the 1939 New York World’s Fair for an installation by Los Angeles-based artist Glenn Kaino at Art Public.

Will Ryman’s “65th Street” installation of four colossal rose buds will bloom 20 feet over the Sagamore Hotel in Miami Beach. The pink and red buds, 5 to 10 feet in diameter, with a brass aphid and beetle nesting in the tallest bud, were recently in New York City. Ryman said Art Basel is “the perfect platform to introduce them to another extraordinary city of the arts, one that offers a completely different backdrop.”

Another side event, Design Miami, includes 28 galleries and explores the relationship between design and architecture, including furniture and lighting. One theme will be vintage and contemporary jewelry with pieces designed by sculptors Alexander Calder and Harry Bertoia. Design Miami also includes an installation of utopian architect Buckminster Fuller’s 1970s Fly’s Eye Dome alongside Lord Norman Foster’s reconstruction of Fuller’s Dymaxion car.

Art Miami, which predates Art Basel by a dozen years, will unfold in Wynwood with works by 1,000 artists including Henry Moore and Robert Rauschenberg, along with an installation by Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen called “As A Tree, I Can Feel the Wind” consisting of palm trees strung with secondhand clothing.

Miami’s Mandarin Oriental hotel will show work by 16 contemporary Chinese artists reflecting ancient traditions as well as Western influence. Among the artists on display will be Liu Bolin, who uses himself as a blank canvas by painting his body to blend with the background.

Ten Steinway pianos decorated with art ranging from graffiti and acrylic paints to 3D sculptures will be scattered throughout Miami and South Beach for Pop-Up Pianos Miami. The pianos will eventually be donated to public schools and other organizations.

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If You Go…

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH: http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/. Dec. 1-4, with related events like Art Miami http://www.art-miami.com/_ and Design Miami http://www.designmiami.com_ beginning Nov. 30.

TOURS: Art critics will also be giving walking guided tours in English and Spanish each day for an hour, $20; details from ArtNexus, 305-891-7270, ext. 4, http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/ijb/

WYNWOOD: Wynwood Walls: http://www.thewynwoodwalls.com/home.html. Primary Flight: http://www.primaryflight.com.

Vespa tours of street art in Wynwood are available from Roam Rides, $75, http://www.roamrides.com/ and walking tours are $50.

Volunteers interested in helping with the Glenn Kaino installation can visit: http://www.glennkainostudio.com/levitating

The international art fair, sister event to Art Basel in Switzerland, is celebrating its 10th year in South Florida this December. Miami’s art scene has grown tremendously since it started, and last year 46,000 people attended, not counting thousands more who took in ancillary events piggy-backing on the main arts-filled weekend. The trendy exhibits, films, parties and performances attract not just art collectors but also art-lovers of all means, tourists and many others who want to see and be seen.

“The cultural growth emerged about 20 years ago when the world discovered Miami through the lens of South Beach,” said Tony Goldman, chairman and CEO of The Goldman Properties Co., which has helped transform the city’s historic districts into thriving, trendy neighborhoods like South Beach and the Wynwood Arts District.

The pig pen installation will undoubtedly be the most jaw-dropping event at the art fair. Known for photographing herself nude in subway tunnels or in front of graffiti walls, performance artist Miru Kim will be living with pigs for her performance “The Pig That Therefore I Am.”

The pig pen installation will be among the Primary Flight shows. “Some people are really going to love it. Some are going to be shocked. And a handful won’t really get it,” said Primary Flight founder Books Bischof.

Images of art world stars Warhol and Robert Indiana taken in the early 1960s by photographer William John Kennedy will be on display for a pop-up event on the heels of Art Basel. “Before They Were Famous: Behind the Lens of William John Kennedy” will be part of the special programming at SCOPE Miami in the Wynwood Arts District.

“Auctions like this only happen in New York and London,” Nader said.

“Ten years ago when we brought Art Basel to Miami, we moved into warp speed and it’s been growing every year since,” the real estate investor said.

“The immediate connection between pigs and me will be felt through seeing the living bodies mingle through skin,” Kim told The Associated Press. A glass barrier will act as “an insatiable gap between the spectacle and the onlooker, just like in a zoo.”

Elsewhere in the Wynwood district, which is known for open-air museums of street murals, street artists will be “buffing” or painting over dozens of the neighborhood’s graffiti-clad walls. An organization called Primary Flight will help nearly 30 artists find walls to make art, and work by 16 artists will be on display at the organization’s gallery space.

NEW YORK Andy Warhol moved to New Yorkfrom his native Pittsburghin 1949 and before long became one of the Big Apple’s most iconic citizens,advertising the city’s grittily experimental sensibility to the world throughworks like “Empire” and “Chelsea Girls.” He was also head over heels in lovewith New York, and now it’s possible to view the city through his eyes — justin time for what would have been his 83rd birthday, on August 6 — with”Andy Warhol’s New York City: Four Walks Uptown to Downtown,” a newbook by Thomas Kiedrowski that traces the artist footsteps across 80 sites hedoted on. Some are no longer inexistence (others are never-realized), but most are still around —  meaning that you can pretend to be part ofthe Factory gang, meandering around Manhattan with Andy to lunch at the Odeonin Tribeca, shop at Bloomingdale’s, and attend openings at the Upper EastSide’s Leo Castelli gallery.
The beginnings of the book came about when friends askedKiedrowski what he wanted to do during his first visit to New York. Unlike most tourists, he didn’twant to check out Times Square or see theStatue of Liberty. Instead, he pulled out a piece of paper containing a list ofaddresses of buildings having to do with the Pop artist: the Silver Factory on East 47th Street,the White Factory at Union Square,and the townhouse on the Upper East Side whereWarhol lived with his mother. Kiedrowski eventually moved to NewYork, continuing to map out Andy’s New York, and making a career out of hisobsession by offering tours to Warhol sites in the city.

Warhol enthusiasts can choose from four walks: Upper EastSide Above East 70th Street, Upper East Side From East 57th Street to East 68th Street,Midtown, and Downtown. Full of photographs from Warhol’s life that map importantevents in the city, from the opening of Paraphernalia (a boutique where BetseyJohnson got her start) to a group shot of the crowd outside Max’s Kansas City,the book also includes helpful illustrations commissioned from Vito Giallo,Warhol’s former assistant.

So, this weekend, grab a copy of the pocket-sized guidebookand say a prayer at the Churchof St. Vincent Ferrer on East 66th Street,where Warhol worshiped during the last 13 years of his life, or stop by thesite of the Open Stage on St. MarksPlace, and imagine the first time Warholintroduced the Velvet Underground. (Since you’ll be in the neighborhood, you can also check out Rob Pruitt’s silvered Warhol sculpture in Union Square.) Finally, have a silent moment when visiting New York Hospitalon 68th Street,where the New Yorklegend was pronounced dead on February 22, 1987.

To see a slide show of significant Warhol sites around New York, click here.

DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE: Oracle’s earnings and revenue for its latest quarter fell well below analyst estimates. In a telltale sign of weakness,Inflatable Bouncers, the company’s sales of new licenses for its business software edged up just 2 percent from the same time last year. Analysts had projected a double-digit gain.

THE FEAR: Wall Street has been worried that the recent economic turbulence caused by Europe’s debt woes would cause major companies and government agencies to curtail technology spending. Oracle performance suggested a slowdown has already begun.

THE REACTION: Oracle Corp. shares fell 10 percent after the results came out late Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) Singer Beyonce has given birth to a baby girl in New York, local media reported on Sunday.

The widely anticipated first child of the international star and R&B singer, 30, and rap mogul Jay-Z, 42, whose real name is Shawn Carter, was delivered late on Saturday in a private wing of Lenox Hill Hospital, according to the Daily News.

Spokespersons for the singer did not immediately return comment.

The singer, whose hits include “Beautiful Liar” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it),” showed off her pregnancy on stage earlier in the year at the MTV video awards,wholesale Ed hardy jeans, performing her song “Love On Top” and telling the audience to stand up. “I want you to feel the love that’s growing inside of me,” she said then.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

NEW YORK Nickelback has had a number of Top 40 hits over the years, and although today’s pop scene is dominated by dance music, the band doesn’t plan to shift gears to attain past radio success.

“We don’t look at what all the popular artists are doing. We’re not chasing Lady Gaga or Katy Perry or any of those guys. They’re doing fabulous doing what they’re doing, and we’re just doing what we do, and that’s it,” lead singer Chad Kroeger said.

“Obviously, there isn’t a person in the world that would say, `You know Nickelback is so trendy.’ And we’re not. We don’t care. We really just don’t care.”

The Canada-based act which includes Kroeger’s brother, Mike, on bass, guitarist Ryan Peake and drummer Daniel Adair was named group of the decade by Billboard magazine and their 2001 breakthrough hit “How You Remind Me” was the decade’s top rock song. Their best-selling album is 2005’s “All the Right Reasons,wholesale Burberry,” which has sold 8 million copies in the U.S.

Peake pokes fun at the state of contemporary pop music: “Unless some famous DJ wants to make a huge, Euro-pop smash remix of our song! Call our label.”

Nickelback’s seventh release, “Here and Now,” recently debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. Chad Kroeger says the key to their success or any band’s success is the love among its group members.

“Look around at your band members and make sure that you really like those people,” he said. “We can all name 1,000 bands, amazing bands, that haven’t stood the test of time because they just couldn’t get along.”

Though happy with his band’s career, Kroeger does have one regret.

“When I see the video for `How You Remind Me,’ I just want to go back and beat myself up,” the 37-year-old Kroeger said. “My hair was like super long and I had this big goatee, and I shot that video when I was super young, but I looked like I was like 40 years old in the video … I really wish I could go back and snip, give a little trim.”

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Online:

http://nickelback.com/

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Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) Sir Ben Kingsley plays silent film pioneer Georges Melies in Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo.” The film has proven to be a tricky sell commercially, and it’s unlikely to be a moneymaker — but the film is a marvelous and magical journey that fully justifies Scorsese’s decision to adapt Brian Selznick’s book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” and to shoot it in 3D. And Kingsley is sly, sad and commanding as a man desperate to bury his glorious past.

Were you familiar with the book, or with Georges Melies’ work?

Neither. Neither the book nor Georges’ work. My starting point was the script by John Logan, which was a wonderful read. The arc of everyone’s character is so extraordinary it jumps off the page.

And also, I loved to see that Georges would be filmed by Marty at the height of his powers, in his glass palace where he was a king with so many domains: writer, director, designer, set decorator, editor, leading man, magician, special effects creator…Probably because he didn’t know what the limits were, he was breaking boundaries all the time. Because he was the first of the great auteurs, nobody told him, “Georges, you can’t do that,” as I’m afraid they would today. He just had no boundaries whatsoever. I watch those early films of his, and his joie de vivre was completely contagious. It must have affected his audiences.

But when we first meet him, that feeling is long gone.

Yes. What I loved was to have that sequence filmed by Marty in which I’m deeply happy, at the peak of my creative powers, and then to film the sequence where I’m standing by an enormous conflagration as Georges burns all his things.

That was a very real day for me. The bonfire was extremely hot, and quite painful. I was burning things that our company had made, and they were beautiful. The moon’s face, the spheres, the swords, the costumes, the helmets, the drawings of my wife, they were all perfect. And I was able to inhabit Georges’ sense of utter defeat, and probably anger.

It’s a very violent act, a kind of little suicide. He was the king in his palace,wholesale Ed hardy underwear, then the suicide, then the toy shop. For me, that was an arc that I could fully appreciate and fully inhabit.

Did you film it in that sequence?

As a matter of fact, I didn’t. But I have a way of approaching a script rather like a symphony, in that if I know each movement well in my heart, then I can inhabit it, even if I haven’t played that sequence yet. Knowing that I would be in that glass palace gave me an appreciation of Georges’ imprisonment in that toy shop.

There’s actually a drawing that Georges made himself, where he has a dog collar around his neck and is chained to the back of the wall of his shop. As I saw in his early films, Georges had a very straight dancer’s back. But in this drawing, he drew his back completely round and collapsed. And so when I talked to Sandy Powell, our costume designer, I asked for a padded back and tummy to wear.

It took me about two hours to get completely ready for Georges in terms of makeup and costume, and then I was stuck in defeated Georges all day. And I also realized that Georges did all his own stunts, and I’ve noticed this on a film set when I am involved in a stunt: In the evening, once the adrenaline has dropped, I’m lying in the hot tub, and there’s a bloody great bruise on my thigh, and it hurts. You’re not aware of it when you’re working, so he was probably living on adrenaline for about seven years. And I know a little bit about that withdrawal. When they say “It’s a wrap,” those are the worst words in my vocabulary.

In many ways, we think of 3D as just another special effect. But “Hugo” doesn’t treat it like that at all. It uses 3D to say, “Come into this space where our story is happening.”

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Marty does bring you into the world, and he uses 3D to surround you with that world: the railway station and the toy shop and the apartment and the little hole in the wall where Asa lives. He pushed 3D round a very important corner, I think. He’s done it.

Did shooting in 3D change how you did your work?

Yes. Every gesture you make has to be linked directly to the narrative. Nothing can be arbitrary. Nothing can be explained. I learnt a long time ago, you must never explain anything to the camera, because it doesn’t need it. All it needs is to see the behavior of the character. It doesn’t want to see any acting. The camera is allergic to acting, it hates it. But the 3D camera has such X-ray capacity that you almost have to modify your acting to a terrifying degree.

Fortunately, my first 3D experience was with Martin Scorsese. And between action and cut, he sees everything. He sees every single gesture, nuance, shift in emphasis that you offer him on every take. So if you take the 3D camera, plus working with Asa, who has no filters and works from the heart, plus Marty, it forces you into a corner out of which there’s only one way. And that’s your version of the absolute, honest truth. Anything else will interfere, and the 3D camera will see it, and the audience will say “Oops, bit of acting there!” You daren’t act. You daren’t act.

I’m sure I’ll coin the right phrase for it sooner or later, but it’s an exercise in under-acting. That’s the only way I can put it, rather crudely right now. It’s under-acting.

SALT LAKE CITY Administrators at a Utah middle school outed a gay teenage boy to his parents because they feared he would be bullied, but the move has outraged civil rights groups that claim the student’s privacy was violated.

Alpine School District took the unusual step after the 14-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, created an advertisement about himself and his sexual orientation during a class project.

An aide later overheard other students ridiculing him and became concerned about bullying. Even though the boy was openly gay in school, he did not want to tell his parents.

“He was nervous” about telling his parents, school district spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley told the Salt Lake Tribune. “He initially said, `No, that can’t happen.’ He finally agreed reluctantly.”

Bromley said the boy’s parents are supportive but have removed him from school until the controversy subsides. She did not return telephone messages from The Associated Press on Thursday.

Civil rights groups blasted the move as a violation of the student’s right to privacy.

“The school’s decision to disclose deprived the young man the right to reveal highly personal aspects of his life at a time and manner of his choice,” Joe Cohn of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Cohn said there are serious consequences in such cases, especially in communities where homosexuality can carry a tremendous stigma.

In one case, Cohn said, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed after a football player committed suicide when small-town Pennsylvania police officers threatened to tell his family he was gay.

“You shouldn’t be pressured into making such an important decision,” Cohn said.

Andy Marra,Cheap Moncler, a spokeswoman for the New York City-based Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, said such cases aren’t confined to Utah.

“It’s something we’ve seen in the past and something school administrators will continue to grapple with,” Marra said.

She agreed it was important for school officials to address bullying behavior but added that schools should notify parents of bullying without disclosing the child’s sexual orientation.

“Taking away the choice for a LGBT student to come out on their own terms opens the door to significant risks, including harassment at school and family rejection,” network Executive Director Eliza Byard said in a statement. “Schools should be able to provide LGBT students with support and resources in order to make an informed decision if and when they decide to come out to their school community and family.”

Valerie Larabee, director of the Utah Pride Center, agreed there can be serious consequences when parents are told of a child’s sexual orientation before a young person is ready to reveal it themselves.

“Often times the relationship between the youth and the parent is one of the most difficult to manage when it comes out,” Larabee said.

Check out my tips for successful shopping:

3. Bring a phone to post your finds on Facebook or email a photo to friends to get quick opinions on whether you need yet another Louboutin slingback with a cork platform or a Tory tunic in a color you’ve never seen before.

5. Maintain your sanity. There will be bitchy salespeople as well as the bitchiest customers you’ve ever seen. You may also need a translator for all the different New York dialects spoken/spewed at you.

4. Wear a little black dress, slip or tank - something that will work with all of these sale items: shoes, bags, jackets, etc.

7. There is always, always, always a way to get what you want if you want it that badly. Make friends not enemies with a salesperson and ask them to grab a particular shoe in your size on your behalf, give them your credit card number and instruct them to charge away. Sometimes the hot products end up on hold with no takers and you can breathe once again when that item is in your hot hands. Also, my requests sometimes seem futile, yet suddenly the YSL patent leather, shortie sold out bootie miraculously appears…in my size!

Check out which celebrities are bargain shoppers too!

Here it comes! Department stores give birth to complete insanity. My insider guy at Bergdorf’s, Eddie, informed me that BG will mark down Spring and Summer merchandise to 50% this Thursday. I can hardly contain myself. And I’m not the only one! Women go bananas when there’s a sale, especially on items with big ticket names: YSL, Alaia, Chanel, Manolo, DVF, Stella McCartney, Kors. I have learned that entering a sale this low may cause mental and physical harm to you.

9. Keep your purchases close. I once dropped a left shoe to try on another on-sale left shoe and almost got a back spasm chasing after a rather over zealous customer who took my Miu Miu ballerina thinking it was up for grabs.

10. Have fun! Happy shopping…and listen up, doll: If you think your ass looks fat in that - it probably is, you answered your own question.

6. Read, ask about, and do not assume the return policy. You may want to know how to get out of something when your husband demands why this is the 60th BG bag in the house this week. BAG TIP: you can always schlep over to Jam paper products [(212) 473-6666] and get those brown paper bags with no name printed on them and switch bags around before you get into the house.

8. If anyone asks: “which color do you wear more often?” “Red goes with everything” “what would you wear more of..?” Slap them! It”s not about that! Or anything that sounds like that? Another slap!

1. Do not drink coffee before a sale. For two reasons: 1) you will be hyped up on caffeine and not think clearly. 2) you will need to go to restroom which is not on the same floor - which means you may/ miss out on that one Valentino floral applique bag.

2. Wear an anorak or some lightweight coat with deep pockets: not because you’re shoplifting, but because you will ditch that suitcase of an “it” bag and keep all your necessities in those deep pockets.

Purchase info: Buy it here.

Every once in a while, I like things that are cute and whimsical. This Old Navy Women’s Humor Coin Purse is one of those items. At just $5, and adorned with phrases like ‘girls night,’ these purses are just darling! This fits the bill and for Fall you can get black or teal and laugh all the way to the bank!

Irene Neuwirth is known for her colorful, slightly bohemian jewels, but every girl—even those who live, like she does, on the beach in Venice—need to go full-throttle upscale now and again. So when Barneys, one of her earliest supporters, came knocking with a request for a diamond collection, Neuwirth obliged. The Barneys pieces represent her first foray into fine jewelry, a move the designer describes as a natural next step. “I’ve been designing jewelry for ten years,” she explained last night at a private bash at the retailer’s Madison Avenue flagship. “All of my clients who had been collecting pieces over and over, I felt they needed something different and a little bit finer. I feel like there was a hole in the market for something youthful.” The collection mixes diamonds with Neuwirth’s old favorite stones, like chrysophase, Rose of France, and Peruvian opal. Prices start at $15,000 and go up to $200,000—the Weinstein range, you might say. And there was Harvey, schmoozing in the corner.

The California connection may have helped account for his presence and all of the star power collected at Barneys’ eighth-floor penthouse. Michelle Williams (in orange and black striped Prada) and Lake Bell also stopped by, and the evening was hosted by Cougar Town’s Busy Philipps and musician Joanna Newsom, who had her boyfriend, Andy Samberg, in tow. Philipps (above, with Neuwirth and Williams) has been a big Neuwirth supporter: The actress wore Neuwirth’s pieces to this year’s Oscars and Golden Globes. “I’ve known Irene a relatively short time,” Philipps admitted, but “it’s been a love affair that’s blossomed to its full potential very quickly. We fell into instant friend-love.” Williams, her longtime friend—devotees may remember they both starred on Dawson’s Creek—was sitting beside her. “I wasn’t jealous,” she deadpanned.

—Matthew Schneier

Photo: Joe Schildhorn / BFAnyc.com