Click here to read The New York Times “The Moment” story!

Clear’s digital winter issue is up online now at www.clearmag.com. We’re really excited – and I’m personally pretty proud – to have collaborated with Designer of the Year Maarten Baas on the cover for the special Design Miami/Art Basel issue!

In addition to Mr. Baas, the new issue features profiles of and new projects by the likes of Marcel Wanders, Konstantin Grcic, Anna Sui, Yves Behar, Front Design, Mariko Mori, Theo Jansen and many more!

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!

"Power To The People" by Shepard Fairey; Image courtesy of Obey Giant Art

"Mujer Fatal" by Shepard Fairey; Image courtesy of Obey Giant Art

Shepard Fairey is probably best known for his iconic, stylized portrait of Barack Obama, accented by the word “HOPE,” one of the most memorable images of  the last presidential campaign. He originally gained notoriety by translating pop culture imagery into guerilla propaganda campaigns, most prominently with his ubiquitous “OBEY” images. Fairey’s recent work involves complex, multi-layered portraits of counter-cultural revolutionary figures combined with politically-charged propaganda style imagery. He’s currently the subject of a major traveling museum survey, “Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand.”

Now, Fairey plans to unveil a new project at The Fountainhead Residency (an artist’s studio program in residential Miami) at Art Basel Miami Beach in early December.  ”The Public Works: A New Mural Project” will be a site-specific mural consisting of a barricade structure covered with the Fairey’s signature, multi-layered portraits of counter-cultural revolutionary figures and propaganda style imagery. The blank canvas of the barricade will provide a significant expanse for Fairey to develop a cohesive series of images. The project is being produced by Country Club, a gallery with locations in Los Angeles and Cincinnati, in partnership with the Miami Art Museum and The Fountainhead Residency.

Looking forward to it!

For more information, visit CountryClubProjects.com

And check out Charlie Rose’s interview with Shepard Fairey, discussing the Obama poster phenomenon, here:

"A Curios Sight," 2006 by Hugh Kretschmer

Being a Brooklyn local for years (and a huge fan of Celebrate Brooklyn), this was not the first time I’d appreciated the local cast – and the fact that their strength as a group may be a direct result of their eclecticism. That night, however, the same day that Michael Jackson‘s death was announced, the cast created a particularly memorable moment.

After the show, just as we were packing up to leave, I recognized The Jackson 5‘s “I’ll Be There” on the loudspeaker. So did the rest of the crowd. I looked around, and the whole ragtag group of remaining concert-goers was dancing and singing along to the one of Jackson’s most famous tunes. It was FANTASTIC.

And I thought, the reason people have been so moved by Jackson’s death is that, despite the drama and, let’s face it, bizarreness of the last decade or two, the music was unmatched. Everyone I spoke to had a Jackson story – be it a concert memory, or what a song meant to them at a certain point, etc. So I’m hopeful that as time goes by, he’ll be remembered not for the gossip, but for the gifts he gave us…the same ones that can bring a random crowd of strangers together, even if just for a few moments.

"Corner Knot" by Daniel Arsham, 2008. EPS, plaster, paint, joint compound. 18 x 64 x 20 inches

Set design for Merce Cunningham, Val de Marne, by Daniel Arsham. France, 2009.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of a studio visit with sculptor Daniel Arsham. Arsham describes his work as “architectural interventions,” often playing upon existing structures to create unexpected yet organic sculptures – a knot at the corner of two walls, or a chair emerging from within a wall, and so on.

I first came across Arsham last December in Miami, and his light installation at the Beacon/Miami for Art Basel. Most recently, he was in the press for his second collaboration with legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham.  Cunningham is known for creating full evenings of dance in spaces other than traditional theater, with the understanding that the space itself becomes the performance’s décor.In the formative years of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, artist Robert Rauschenberg created scenic designs and costumes in situ, utilizing what was available either within the city or theater where the performance occurred.

For the latest Cunningham-Arsham collaboration, Arsham created site-specific set designs for Au Tour De Paris (coinciding with Cunningham’s 90th birthday). As the performers dance and the music plays, Arsham cuts into heavy black foam cubes, lit white from within, manipulating the scenery as the show progresses. The performances were a surprise for all, as Arsham and Cunningham had little creative communication prior, and all the design elements (choreography, music, décor, costumes, and lighting) changed throughout the tour.

This July, Arsham’s newest work will be on public display, courtesy of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. A collaborative performance called “Untitled Corner” by Arsham, choreographer and media artist Jonah Bokaer and choreographer and dancer Judith Sanchez Ruiz will examine “pattern recognition and perceptual faculties as they apply to the human body, creating the illusion of expanded space.” Part dance, part music, part architectural manipulation (and part of Sitelines ’09), they’ll be performing for free at One Chase Manhattan Plaza at Nassau Street July 6, 10, 13 and 17th at 12:30 pm and July 8th and 15th at 7pm. It’s sure to be a good show, so come by!

For more information on Daniel Arsham, visit www.danielarsham.com

Set on the second floor of the Front Street Arts Building, through an orange door, up the stairs and to the left, the Randall Scott Gallery is one of many galleries in the building, and just one of many more galleries to welcome photo enthusiasts and practitioners during the week’s festivities.

At the request of gallery owner Randall Scott,  six photographers (each represented by Vaughan Hannigan) were asked to step back from their normal commercial work to share more personal projects, for a show entitled, of course, “Personal.” The result is a small but potent exhibit that reminds us of the magic kept up photographers’ sleeves, and the potential losses that occur by limiting artists to any one genre.

The twenty images ultimately selected are diverse – from Martin Schoeller’s raw, close-up portraits of a man and woman from the Piraha tribe in Brazil’s rain forest to Henry Leutwyler’s series of objects studies associated with iconic individuals, to Timothy Hogan’s pair of burnt fashion photos to Brad Harris’s “Swimming Hole” series, Mark Zibert’s sexy “Woman in Oil” or Giles Revell’s archival pigment insects  (“Scarab” and “Damsel Fly”). But throughout, the personal thread is clear, and the sum total a success.

Schoeller, who has been a New Yorker contributor for many years and at one time worked as an assistant to Annie Leibovitz (this influence is clear in some of his elaborate settings), is probably best known for his extreme close-up portraits of celebrities and politicians. And though the subjects here are far less recognizable than Barack Obama, Angelina Jolie or Jack Nicholson, it’s a testament to Schoeller’s eye that regardless of our familiarity, his intimate portraits consistently elicit that same human truth through their rawness, in exposed facial crevices and unflinching eyes.

Photos from Leutwyler’s ongoing “Artifacts” series  – Hendrix’s guitar, Michael Jackson’s bedazzled glove, the gun that shot Lennon (aptly named “The Day the Music Died”) and Elvis’s television, complete with bullet hole – demonstrate the object’s potential for power and drama, and just how much life and energy a story or persona can imbue.

Timothy Hogan, known for high-end commercial work, literally set fire to the assignment, at the suggestion of Mr. Scott. Slowly burning a Dolce & Gabbana dress shirt and Bally loafers, with his camera set on a timer, Hogan captured the evolution of fashion on fire. Shots of the two fabric remains hang on the gallery’s wall; a screen near the sitting area reveals a revolving series of photos that document the burn from start to finish.

Harris’s “Swimming Hole” set recalls any-town America, and the magic of adolescents set free, with portraits of teens climbing trees above the water, sharing a cigarette on the water’s edge, and individual portraits that reveal his subject’s simultaneous maturity and childishness.

One of the beauties of art – and photography, specifically – is the empathy a piece can evoke in the viewer, the response one’s work can elicit from another, that human element that connects us. In this way, “Personal” hits home. And thankfully, though the NYPH09 festival’s parties are over, this one runs through June 6^th, .

For more info, check out www.randallscottgallery.com.

Images courtesy of Randall Scott Gallery.