Anna Carnick

Check out my review of photographer Sally Mann’s amazing new Gagosian exhibit/Aperture book, “Proud Flesh,” at Clearmag.com! Thanks!

Clear Magazine‘s latest issue, “Dream Weavers,” debuted at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York this past week. In honor of the event, Clear produced a collector’s edition, tree-free, 100% recyclable fall issue, and it’s being distributed throughout the week at related venues: in Tents at Bryant Park, and at hotels and galleries throughout the city. The limited-edition issue was printed on YUPO® synthetic papers, and was printed by Tepel Brothers Printing.

Also exciting to note: designer Stefan Sagmeister co-designed our cover wrap (above), and there’s a slew of great stories inside, featuring stars like Stefan Sagmeister, Issey Miyake, Hussein Chalayan, Yigal Azrouël, Matthew Williamson, Ross Lovegrove, Barbara Bui, Todd Bracher, Cappellini, Terence Koh and more.

Pick one up, or visit clearmag.com for more info. And check out my latest reviews plus interviews with Sagmeister, Miru Kim, Ross Lovegrove and Todd Bracher in the issue or on the writing samples page here (in the next few days). Thanks!

In honor of Fashion Week in New York, I just reviewed Assouline‘s new cookbook – American Fashion Cookbook: 100 Designers’ Best Recipes - for BehindtheBurner.com. The book features designers favorite recipes, along with original illustrations, by the likes of Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Tory Burch, Derek Lam, Nicole Miller and many more. The site’s also featuring a handful of the designer recipes from the book throughout the week. Check it out at BehindtheBurner.com!

“In Alice in wonderland, when the white rabbit vanished down the hole, we encounter many strange and surreal visions. I thought the white rabbit would be a good metaphor for this exhibition.” -Albert Watson

This week, famed photographer Albert Watson‘s new exhibit, The White Rabbit, opens at Italy’s Forma gallery. In the new series, Watson takes on the role of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and invites his audience on a trip through his photographic world – one made of stunning portraits (many celebrity), fashion photography, his recent Las Vegas series, grandiose panoramas and brand new photographs.

Watson was born in Scotland in 1942. After finishing his studies at the Royal College of Art in London, he moved to the USA at the beginning of the seventies. He opened a studio in Los Angeles and in New York. Despite a serious physical disability (he is blind in one eye) he soon became famous as a fashion and portrait photographer, for magazines such as Vogue, Rolling Stone, The Face, VIBE and Newsweek, and his work has appeared on the cover of leading international publications. Apart from creating several advertising campaigns for cosmetics and clothing corporations such as Gap, Levi’s, Revlon and Chanel, he has directed over 500 TV commercials and short movies. In his frequent travels all over the world, from Morocco to Europe and the USA, he has consolidated his own very precise vision, which makes him a reference for originality, innovation and language. His work has been collected in important photography books, including Cyclops (1994), Maroc (1998) and in major solo exhibitions.

For more information, check out www.formafoto.it
Photo above by Albert Watson.

Over the long weekend, I finally got a chance to see “Maelstrom” (2009) by American artist Roxy Paine. Set on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Maelstrom” is a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture. Walking out onto the rooftop, surrounded by gorgeous views of the city and Central Park, visitors are encompassed by the sculpture – what initially appears to be a chaotic maze of tree branches. It is Paine’s largest and most ambitious work to date, and it gives one a sense of being immersed in the middle of a cataclysmic force of nature.

But there is definitely order to the piece – the steel itself implies this, as does the piece’s overall grace. And the juxtaposition of the natural world and the built environment – “Maelstrom” is one of the Paine’s Dendroids, based on systems like vascular networks, tree roots, industrial piping, and fungal mycelia – further reinforces Paine’s balanced success. The installation is up through November 29th, and I definitely recommend stopping by. I know I’ll be back, if only to see how Paine’s piece plays with the changing seasons in NY.

For more information, visit The Met’s website. And check out the installation video below.