07.17.24 | The Things she screenshot vol. i
The TL;DR on Villa Magnan, a dream hotel on the southwest coast of France, is this: it’s everything and we should all be taking notes. At some point it will probably need its own post but for now, we’re focusing on one of their guest rooms, specifically an instagram photo from a few months prior I keep thinking about.
It’s all a perfect smashing together of random things but the floor lamp in the back left corner gets extra points. I did a little digging and found a similar pair on 1stDibs, linked below. You’re welcome.
Domenico Gnoli was an Italian painter and set designer from Rome, who lived and worked in New York until dying from cancer at the age of 36, in 1970. His art career was short, but prolific; before passing he produced around 140 paintings- large but intimate portraits highlighting of the “thingness” of things.
Rare Books Paris (which is a great source if you’re looking to add to your library) posted a painting of club chair, arms outstreteched and protruding from a borderless backdrop covered in the same floral as the upholstery. Immediate screenshot. The book sold, but you can see his 2022 exhibition at Fondazione Prada covered beautifully in Emergent Magazine.
Sheila Heti already had my heart, but she won it further through her essay titled “Should Artists Shop or Stop Shopping ?”. In the piece, the habits of consumption and their implications in the life of the everyday individual are juxtaposed against the work of Sara Cwynar, a visual artist who creates elaborate photo and video works through the collage of various found objects and imagery (including 72 Pictures of Modern Art, wallpaper created for Exhibition at the Prada Foundation, which is unbelieveable and a different story for a different day)
I read this on a long train ride out to Rockaway and couldn’t help but think about its relevance; not limited to contemporary art. Viewed through the lens of interior decor it holds weight, and felt like an obvious and important inclusion on a blog about objects.
You can read the essay in its entirety, published on Affidavit sans paywall, or in the book “Art Essays: A Collection”, edited by Alexandra Kingston-Reese
furniture For Thought
Below, the mentioned 1stDibs find, and a table lamp I’ve had my eye on for a long time that’s incredulously still available.
$1,999.54 / Set | via 1stDibs
$1,557 | via Okay Art