A remarkable art collection
Lobby -
Look for Invader
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In the lobby be sure to look up. Look around. Look everywhere. The hotel’s art collection is in unusual places. Just as the artists themselves have very different backgrounds and connections to the contemporary art movement and marketplace.
Have you found the space invader? How many space invaders have you found?
Ok, so let’s look at the variety of sculptural expressions. I love that sculpture affords us the experience of art in the round, meaning that we can physically walk around the artwork and experience it from different perspectives, with different visual backgrounds.
Julian Opie’s series of disembodied heads is a playful take on the idea of a bust. Opie has reduced the bust to a flat shape with nondescript features. Historically, of course, the bust would present someone of historical acclaim with recognisable features. Here Opie casts his figures with cookie-cutter shapes and outlines that suggest the figure is looking down toward a device, possibly echoing the guest’s behaviour who may be seated on the couch.
Very differently, Anish Kapoor’s 2017 ‘Mirror’, appears a simple red bowl that may well accompany the black dog’s head above it. This is a playful placement of artwork. Kapoor’s bowl is in fact an interactive sculpture beckoning us to look closely and experience the inversion effect of the concave design. Careful— for some this creates a feeling of vertigo. How remarkable that sculpture can have this physical effect.
Yoshimoto Nara’s massive black puppy head points across the room to the author’s story of a child discovering a new pet on another planet and bringing it home. The large scale of the head with its gentle smile may remind us of the best friend we have at home or the Charles Schulz Snoopy character. The scale and static nature of the work serve as an effective juxtaposition or contrast with the other artworks in the room.
Taking center stage from the entry perspective is the artwork of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei with his elegant wooden sculpture ‘Divina Proportione”. As the title suggests, the artist is referencing Renaissance studies in perspective and geometry. It’s all math, as the artist colludes with the mathematical treatise of Luca Pacioli c. 1509, illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci. This object also echoes the common cat toy, happened to have taken a year to create and also contains no nails.
Ai Weiwei Spotlight
Look up to discover the glass work of the Verhoeven Twins. A series of bubbles that have escaped the child’s toy, hovering impossibly overhead. The simplicity of these iridescent forms disguises the decade long effort by the brothers working with glass technicians on the island of Murano, Italy. From the upper balcony you will experience the bubbles close-up and better appreciate the oily shimmering effect of the glass. Stunning work aptly titled ‘Moments of Happiness’.
Challenging the definition of sculpture is British artist Rana Begum, with her installation ‘No. 1029’ made up of 30 rectangular shapes. Like suspended piano keys, these shapes create distinct atmospheres depending on the angle of viewing. From one side, we have the sense of a peaceful melody, and from the other a concert of energy.
Rana Begum Spotlight
These colours are echoed in the camouflage artwork series by Andy Warhol, above the bar entrance. One of the successes of this private art collection is that it can present a series in total. This allows us to experience the artist’s experimentation with colour and shape. Here Warhol subverts the camouflage, a connotation of warfare, with a palette that comes off as playful.
American artist Shepherd Fairey pays tribute to Ai Wei Wei in a portrait that conveys a sense of pride and power. This placement decision is so smart. We now have a face to the sculptor and an elegant connection between two artists who have dedicated the lion share of their practices to social justice.
This theme is echoed in the work of American artist activist Keith Haring. ‘Statue of Liberty’ is a timeless reference to the defense of democracy, while giving us insight into the hearts of the collectors. The Keith Haring Foundation, started by the artist in 1989, continues to provide philanthropic assistance to those affected by HIV/AIDS.
Radical street artist and art world disruptor BANKSY fits neatly into this circle. This image of the child and heart shaped balloon is iconic of a portfolio that provides social commentary on how we treat each other— in this case the subject may be interpreted as the innocence of youth punctured by loss.
BANKSY Spotlight
BANKSY echoes this theme in the “TV Snow Boy”, an artwork on the way to the front desk reception. The snow on the screen could be the joyful winter substance or the ash falling from a smelt factory. Artists like BANKSY are interrogating society, using satire to make us laugh, cry, and reflect, while establishing a new art market built directly from the street.
Where it is
