“During the visit to the Maybach Manufaktur of Sindelfingen, I had the inspiration to create tho iconographic pictures conveying the same seducing and dynamic attraction of the Maybach itself”, said LaChapelle.

It was love at first sight since the last spring and it was expressed through a series of pictures whose subjects are the limited edition of the Zeppelin and its ancestor from the 1930s, the Zeppelin DS8, immortalized in the surreal and sensual atmosphere characteristic of the American photographer.

The shots, “Exposure of luxury” and “Berlin stories”, have been presented on the occasion of Art Basel Miami Beach in early December 2009.

Italian version

Born in the Seventies among the first international art fairs of modern and contemporary art in the world, the event, stage-managed by Silvia Evangelisti, proposes a wide range of works of art from the beginning of the Twentieth century until the most recent trends; 15000 s-m of exhibition, 200 Italian and international galleries, are only a few of the numbers of this new edition.

A unique occasion to discover popular masters like Carlo Carrà, Felice Casorati, Giorgio de Chirico, Gino Severini, together with the conceptual art of Enrico Castellani, Agostino Bonalumi and Vincenzo Agnetti, or the movements of informal art of Giuseppe Capogrossi, Alberto Burri and Emilio Vedova; the Spatialism of Lucio Fontana and the Poor art of Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Gilberto Zorio – to whom the Museum of Modern Art of Bologna dedicates an important exhibition until 17th February 2010 – and the representative of the Italian Transvanguard.

Many of the works of art at the fair also offer a wider view on the international stage, with works by Antony Gormley, Wym Delvore, Per Barclay, Tony Ousler, Hans Peter Feldmann, Alfredo Jaar together with the most popular representatives of the English artistic movement like David Ockney, Gilbert&George and Tony Cragg, or the masters of photography like Thomas Russ, Anton Corbijn or Luigi Ghirri. There will also be a collection of works of artists coming from different geographical areas and investigating the state of being contemporary through the use of the most diverse artistic tools like those of the American performer Nick Cave, the installations of the Russian Peter Belvi or the material compositions of the Chinese Zhang Huan.

To the new trends, presented by the emerging Italian and international artists, is dedicated the section Young Galleries, where research galleries with under five years of experience exhibit their works with prices ranging from 500 to 10,000 euros, for collectors just getting close to art or for those who want to discover new talents.

Of course there will also be book launches, meetings and competitions.

For the second consecutive year the International Art Fair Art First dedicates the daily schedule to the theme of collecting: collectors and museum directors will debate on the interaction between private collections and museums and how they enter the Italian and international artistic stage. The goal is to stimulate a dialogue, by inviting also representatives and collectors of the Asia-pacific area due to the synergy with ShContemporary, the first contemporary art fair dedicated to the Asia-Pacific Area organized in Shanghai by the Group BolognaFiere.

The entire city of Bologna will be involved with exhibitions in museums, courts, buildings and streets of the old town. Bologna Art First, an exclusive town itinerary, is at its fifth edition and for the first time it is a project made in collaboration with Julia Draganovic. The project is conceived of as a single big collective town exhibition through a path among images of art and history and it presents from 29th January through the end of February 2010 a series of installations by artists working for the galleries taking part in the exhibition, in order to create a dialogue between contemporary art and unusual locations of the old town and surroundings.

For the third year Arte Fiera OFF will be the frame of several events like exhibitions, concerts, festivals that will take place in Bologna and Emilia Romagna during the Fair.

Saturday 30th January Art White Night turns the old town of Bologna in a big window of contemporary art with the extraordinary opening of museums, galleries, buildings, concerts and exhibitions.

www.artefiera.bolognafiere.it

Italian version

It represents one section of the auction house website that will allow the fans of vintage fashion to upload the images of the accessorizes so to be evaluated by Gucci’s experts and to sell the items through Christie’s.

Italian version

On 1 December 2009, the Ferrari Coinages by Pininfarina was presented. The art collection realized by Bolaffi is made of six medals, inset within a transparent resin sculpture, each representing a detail of the automobiles that have been the milestones of the Prancing Horse’s history.

Hand made by Italian craftsmen, this exclusive collection, whose limited edition produced 999 pieces, pays tribute to the made in Italy thanks to the merging of art, automobiles and design.

Absolute protagonists of the project, selected and ideated by Pininfarina and Ferrari, are: Ferrari California (2008), 360 Modena (1999), 365 GT4 BB (1973), Dino 206 GT (1967), 400 Superamerica (1961), 250 GT Cabriolet (1960).

“This project sees car design, upon which 80 years of Pininfarina’s history are based, becoming a cult item, collectors’ material – stated Paolo Pininfarina. Ferrari Coinages by Pininfarina becomes the ideal synonym for the encounter of automobile and industrial design. It also embodies the perfect chance to celebrate a collaboration that is still vital: evidence of this is Ferrari 458 Italia, that was awarded the tile Best in Show at the last Frankfurt Salon.”

Dedicated to collectors and fans of the Prancing Horse, every single piece is made of 925 silver, featuring a 35 mm diameter and weighting approximately 30 gr. It takes an entire year to produce one.
The medals are hand carved and refined, whereas the main body is made out of a casting process. By overlapping the single works, it is obtained pyramid-shaped sculpture. Each set is provided with an introduction signed by Paolo Pininfarina and with the copy of the original draft of the vehicle.

“With great pleasure we hand in the Ferrari Coinages by Pininfarina to the collecting world – commented president Alberto Bolaffi. The gesture of merging the mastery of two of the most important automobile industries, represents the ideal synthesis of the encounter of three historic names of the made in Italy.”

Italian version

The main purpose of the event is to reverse the rules of the current fairs system by putting a special emphasis on those works of art that will come through fashion and compromises.
Nowadays galleries and fairs have become a real business market, hardly characterized by exclusiveness and rather focused on the importance of the artist’s name rather than on the specific value of the artistic emotional impact.

We decided to give prominence to painting, introducing nine very different artists. The event aims to demonstrate that even in the contemporary art scene there is still an ongoing painting knowledge, although contemporary art seems exclusively focused on important and popular names and on being provocative.

The ideal venue for this event is the Spazio Pergolesi 8, former TV studio, now White Cultural Cube.

The artists called together for this first event are nine. Angelo Cruciani has been going through a spiritual path for years that begins from the character of Christ through the Street art Operations until social exhibitions. Alberto Garbati is a popular fashion director and an artist at the same time. He has worked for years on the figurative-material vision of the metropolis. Gatto Nero, writer of the Old School of Milan, is an international protagonist of the Street Art with over twenty years of experience. Pietro Geranzani is a painter searching for an obscure reality expressed through paintings full of uneasiness and of psychological shadows. Fabio Inverni, instead, followed the strand of hyper realism. Walter Ladislao came to the world of fashion in the seventies and since he has carried on a long relationship with Gianni Versace. In 2000 his great passion for painting led him to tackle a deep analysis of the colour bringing up its utmost emotional and expressive potential. Luca Lillo is an example of artist who went from Graphics to Contemporary Art. Technology and soul found a aesthetic and conceptual compromise in his works of art, that counter childlike intimity with the future. Salvatore Melillo gets lost in torment and in the deforming expression of the image to entrap the reality that often only one’s sensibility can bring into focus. Eventually, Roberto Silvestrini Garcia combines the manga with sacred iconography.

Milan Art Affairs Special Event
By Hamilton Moura Fiho and Grace Zanotto
11-12-13th December 2009
Spazio Pergolesi
Via Pergolesi, 8 – Milan
Phone: +39 02 66986054
milanartaffairs@email.it

Italian version

It was inaugurated in Rome on 2nd December 2009 the White Gallery, the very first big lifestyle store of the capital, dedicated to fashion, food, design, art and fragrances. An enchanting venue where luxury and excellence rule, starting from the very structure of the store.

Andromeda presents Fluxus, a wavering Murano glass sculpture created to adorn White Gallery. The sculpture originated from the collaboration between artist Michela Vianello, whose inspiration gave concrete shape to the overall concept of the sculpture, and designer Karim Rashid, who designed the Knit – individual hand-made glass element.

“Knit – stated Karim Rashid – for Andromeda is a system I designed of hand-made Murano glass loops that can be woven together from a few to thousands to create endless configurations of delicate ornate glass chandeliers and lighting. Our living spaces and objects should ideally be organic, transformable, flexible and allow objects and furniture to breathe,  to shape the personality of the space. And knit is the fabric of light itself, to forever keep space dynamic, luxurious, and inspiring.”

Fluxus covers a surface area of 60 sq metres, using 42,000 handmade glass Knit elements in 5 colors. The lighting is provided by 5000 punctiform micro lights distributed on the internal surface of the wave.

The White Gallery was conceived to be a contemporary art gallery, stretching over a surface of 5000 sq metre where fashion, design, art, books, music, technology and food will interpret the news and cultural contaminations proper of contemporary lifestyles.

Fluxus is “in charge” of expressing the meaning and identity of the place, through the apparent flow of a structure that seems to be a fabric.
“The challenge – stated Michela Vianello, author of the work of art – consisted in imagining myself as an element and being carried away by a rhythm in an optical, and overall dreamy space, where negative and positive, black and white, would make me move around through a grey area as if it were a pause in an endless journey.”

White Gallery
Piazza G.Marconi, 18/19 Rome (EUR)
info@whitegallery.it
www.whitegallery.it

Italian version

The classic objects of desire – cars and boats, helicopters and design, jewels and watches – will light up for four days this enchanting spot of the Como Lake, but the real luxury of the event will be the donation of the proceeds, collected both from the contribution of the exhibitors and from the sale of the entrance tickets, to nationally and internationally renowned ONLUS.

E20 Como, the non-profit Association organizing the event, couldn’t put up but an initiative strongly charity-oriented: therefore, ethical luxury, sobriety and not ostentation, smart consume and no to wastes.

Therefore, it will those three ONLUS to benefit from the fund raise: AISM – Italian Association Multiple Sclerosis, FFS – Foundation for the research on Cystic Fibrosis and the Foundation Giacinto Facchetti for the study and care of tumors. On 6th December, during the closing ceremony, the funds will be handed to the representatives of the three ONLUS.

Italian version

On 3 November, on the occasion of the Gala dinner organized by Ferrari at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, the Ferrari 599 China was auctioned and it is now worth €1.2 million.
This jewel, embellished by the fine mastery of Lu Hao, the very first Chinese artist collaborating with the Prancing Horse, was knocked down by an anonymous client from Shanghai.

Apart from the vehicle, other items were up for auction: a suit worn by pilot Giancarlo Fisichella, a helmet and a mini-model of a 599 GTB autographed by Michael Shumacher.
The proceeds generated from the sale of this car will be used on an educational sponsor programme aimed to help young Chinese students and researchers of the Department of Automotive Engineering of Tsinghua University. They will have the chance to study at the Politecnico in Milan and do a stage at Ferrari.

At the Gala dinner there were Ferrari clients, collectors, Managing Director Ferrari Asia-Pacific Marco Mattiacci, artist Lu Hao, Professor Cen Zhangzhi from Tsinghua University, the most prestigious university in China, and the delegate of the Milan Politecnico, Bruno Pizzigoni.

Italian Version

From 4 to 28 November, Spazio FMG in Milan will host “Milano work-in-progress 2,” a truly interesting exhibition.
Luca Molinari and Simona Galateo curated the set up of the projects realized by MABarquitectura, Consalez Rossi, Paolo Pasquini and 5+1AA, at the discovery of Milan to be.

Two are the main themes faced by the exhibition: public housing and retail malls. Very different from each other but both offering interesting prospects for experimental, leading-edge design.

“These are new-generation works, designed by some of the most interesting young architects on the Italian scene, and they convey the concept of a different Milan, which looks out towards Europe and expresses the idea of contemporary architecture responsive to its users’ needs, such as the physical and environmental quality of the complexes created,” comment by the exhibition’s curators Molinari and Galateo.

The winners of “Living Milan,” MABarquitectura and Consalez Rossi put their works on public display on Via Gallarate and Via Civitavecchia. Both projects are currently almost finished.

“Milano work-in-progress 2” also focuses on the subject of new retail developments through the design for the Food Park in the Maciachini area realized by Paolo Pasquini and the Retail ParkArea at Milanofiori by 5+1AA.

“With ‘Milano work-in-progress 2’, Spazio FMG continues its investigation of the near future and reinforces its mission as a space open to quality architecture and a responsible approach to the destiny of our habitat,” concluded Luca Molinari and Simona Galateo.

For further information:
SpazioFMG per l’Architettura
Via Bergognone 27, Milano
4– 28 November 2009
tuesday – saturday h 15:00 – 20:00
Free Entrance
Info: 0039 (0)2 89.41.03.20

Italian version

From 6 to 11 November 2009 Basel will host the BAAF, Basel Ancient Art Fair, dedicated to antique dealers, fans and collectors of ancient art.

The exhibition, which is now in its sixth edition, will host 15 exhibitors from Europe and the United States that will put on show pieces of Classic, Egyptian and Middle Eastern art, belonging to ancient civilizations, preserved in perfect conditions. The charming selection of pieces appeals experts, designers, collectors and lovers from all over the world.

Among the works on show: an Egyptian relief on chalky stone dating 1838-1759 b.C. belonging to the Royal Athena Galleries, New York; the Aphrodite or Nymph statue belonging to Charles Ede, London; an Egyptian mirror dating back to the 1400 b.C. belonging to the Robert R. Bigler Asian & Egyptian Art, Zurich.

There will also be on show pieces of art whose value is slightly more held down such as an Hellenic bracelet for children, with spiral-form decorations.

www.baaf.ch

Italian version

A section of the space, with a seven-marble qualities wall on the background, coming from India, iran, China and South America, is dedicated to flowers: clients can admire a rich variety of orchids exclusively distributed by Trussardi 1911. The new concept store is open at night as well: it’s open everyday until 10 pm. Conceived and designed by the creative directore of Trussardi 1911 Milan Vukmirovic, able to interpret with his contemporary sensibility the excellences of the maison of the Greyhound, the new shop re-creates all the ground floor of Piazza della Scala.

The Café Trussardi as well, inaugurated in April 2008 (with the déhors designed by the architect Carlo Ratti and the vertical installation of green created by Patrick Blanc) now unites and shares its spaces with those of the boutique, creating a unique 400 s-m environment whose floor is made of over a thousand wooden staves painted with craftsmanship. On the first floor of the building lies the restaurant Trussardi Alla Scala, decorated with two stars from the Michelin Italia 2009 guide book, which has recently re-opened after a complete restoration.

Each of the group activity is directed by a young international talent: Milan Vukimirovic, creative director of Trussardi 1911, Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of the Foundation Nicola Trussardi, Andrea Berton, director of the restaurant Trussardi Alla Scala and of the Café Trussardi. All the activities are created and coordinated by Beatrice Trussardi, who is managing director and head of the group. In particular, in fashion department, Trussardi 1911 represented for the group a great revolution but is a synthesis of the values that have always characterized the Trussardi world: craftsmanship, made in Italy production, use of prestigious materials, definition of the cuts, care of the tiniest details but also an eclectic and contemporary taste redefining the idea of luxury.

Milan Vukmirovic represents a way of working very close to today’s rhythms and values: as a  designer, director of a magazine like L’Officiel, buyer for a multibrand like The Webster in Miami and as a photographer has a wide overlook over all the variables of the fashion world. It’s rather the perspective and the outlook rather than Trussardi’s taste that have changed: Trussardi today is much closer to new generations whose values he represents (mobility, eclecticism, speed but also the great care for details and the taste for prestigious craftsmanship) and it is a luxury brand whose quality is easily be recognized.

Besides Trussardi 1911 there are Tru Trussardi and TJ: both expressing a more informal world, the former dedicated to the city and its rhythms, with its soft but elegant style, the latter for the spare time. Variety is one of the elements of the winning formula by Trussardi: each moment of the day and each occasion can be accompanied by a Trussardi experience.

The restaurant Trussardi Alla Scala is acknowledged as one of the greatest experiences of the new Italian Cuisine and, while it has been growing within its own walls cultivating an informal, elegant and cosmopolitan environment, it has also contributed to renovate the centre of Milan, offering a new outpost of absolute quality. The chef Andrea Berton has been able to combine experiments with a certain rigour in his proposals: the restaurant Trussardi Alla Scala is, in fact, a place where the culinary technique is never showed off and where the pure taste gets the better of complexity or of the research per se.
One of the keys to the success of the restaurant Trussardi Alla Scala has obviously been placing again the clients at the centre of the gastronomic experience: The great novelty of the restaurant has been the recent restoration of the room to make it even closer to the new identity of the brand. With a new inspiration, taken from the urban atmospheres of the contemporary world, the clients can now choose whether to spend the evening looking out on the spectacular view of Piazza Alla Scala, comfortably seating on soft armchairs, or in a more dynamic environment, right at the centre of an open kitchen with a monumental golden wall in the background. It is very important for Trussardi to keep the public away from the idea of a classic starry restaurant where one can almost be in trouble because of the gastronomic research.

Eventually the Trussardi Foundation is currently busy organizing a project which is still at an early stage when it’s preferable not to spread news. The Foundation became popular in the city because of quick and sudden events, but also because of more private and introspective projects, like the last exhibition at Palazzo Dugnani showing the films by the English artist Tacita Dean. The Foundation has a gipsy and varied identity that led it to gain over the past years an important role not only among the institutions of contemporary art in the world, but in the collective imaginary of the city.

Alessandra Iannello

Italian version

Protagonists of this exhibition Sitting and seating, limited edition collection of seating by Martino Gamper + Costellazioni, a limited edition collection of lamps by Duccio Trassinelli. An exhibition aiming at comparing two generations of design and the work of two contemporary authors dealing with wood.

Sitting and seating by Martino Gamper is a limited edition of three seatings made of oak, nut and pine wood, with five copies for each shape. Together with the two big benches Audio benches (in this case two copies each shape) has been created in 2008 as commissioned by Manifesta 7, European Contemporary Art Biennal, for the multimedia  exhibition and ‘nonmaterial’ Scenarios.

Costellazioni by Duccio Trassinelli is a series of ‘enlightening objects’ in limited editino drawing on studies and sketches dating back to the Seventies. The woods used range from pine through chestnut and the prestigious nut and cherry-wood. The lighting system makes use of low voltage electromagnetic contacts.
Hydra has an arm with a movement going from the ground up to 4 meters heigh. Cetus is an arch lamp featuring a rotating 360° basis. Cassiopea is a swinging source with a light spot adjustable towards all directions.

The event takes place simultaneously with the exhibition Martino Gamper organized at the Milan Triennial.

Opening hours:
15th October 2009 – 14th November 2009
Tuesday through Saturday from 10.00 to 19.30,
Monday from 15.00 to 19.30

For information:
Nilufar Gallery
Via della Spiga 32 – 20121 Milan
www.nilufar.com
www.gampermartino.com
www.ducciotrassinelli.com

Italian version