Istanbul Modern by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
Photo: Cemal Emden

The Artful Life: 6 Things Galerie Editors Love This Week

From Cassina’s new Los Angeles showroom to a stunning art museum in Turkey designed by Renzo Piano

Istanbul Modern by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Photo: Cemal Emden

1. Renzo Piano’s Istanbul Modern Museum Welcomes Visitors in Turkey

Istanbul’s burgeoning waterfront district now includes a glittering landmark designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), the renowned firm behind the Whitney Museum in New York. Originally founded in 2004, the Istanbul Modern was Turkey’s first institution dedicated to modern and contemporary art, and it quickly gained a reputation as one of the country’s leading cultural institutions. By 2018, however, the art museum had outgrown its modest home along the city’s Karaköy waterfront, where the Bosphorus Strait and Golden Horn meet, and relocated temporarily while RPBW created the new 110,000-square-foot structure, which opened to the public earlier this month. Sheathed in an array of iridescent aluminum panels that shimmer like fish scales, the modern edifice pays homage to its seaside location by evoking the passage of a ship through the harbor and includes site-specific works by Richard Wentworth and Olafur Eliasson. —Geoffrey Montes

Grey Fantasy by Rebecca Minkoff for ABC Stone. Photo: Courtesy of ABC Stone

2. Fashion Designer Rebecca Minkoff Launces Collaboration with Borrowed Earth for ABC Stone

While fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff may be most well known for her party-ready handbags and glittering stilettos, her latest creative endeavor comes in the form of six-inch thick blocks of natural stone. The unexpected collaboration was sparked when Minkoff reached out to ABC Stone during a kitchen renovation. From there, Lyndsey Belle Tyler, VP of marketing and creative directive director of ABC Stone, proposed the idea on creating something working with their partner Los Angeles–based Borrowed Earth Collaborative, a company renowned for its ability to transform natural materials into surfaces with a focus on sustainability. That partnership resulted in Anthozoa, three types of bespoke panels—rendered in Taj White marble, Grey Fantasy marble, and travertine—that challenge the limits of how people conceive of architectural stone into pieces that are more of an art form. “Experiencing the wonders of nature and working with stone first hand has been eye opening,” says Minkoff. “Unexpected veins and fossils show up in the middle of a block. It is unbelievable that the earth reveals millions of years of history in every piece that is extracted.” Based on the patterns that form in colonies of anthozoa coral colonies, the large-scale works “represent the perfect blend of timeless beauty with just the right amount of edginess,” says Tyler. —Jacqueline Terrebonne

Inside the new Cassina showroom in Los Angeles, curated by Patricia Urquiola. Photo: Weller Photography

3. Cassina Opens Its Largest Showroom Worldwide in Los Angeles During Legends

Los Angeles’s West Hollywood neighborhood was buzzing during the recent Legends design fair, which also include the debut of Cassina‘s largest showroom worldwide. Inside the 13,000-square-foot space on North Robertson Boulevard, the company’s art director, Patricia Urquiola, curated vibrant vignettes of authentic editions from the Cassina iMaestri Collection, which includes iconic furniture by Gio Ponti, Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand, and contemporary pieces from Michael Anastassiades, Rodolfo Dordoni, and Gaetano Pesce. Spread out over two floors, the art-filled location represents living, dining, and bedroom furnishings, plus a playful area devoted to outdoor that’s adjacent to a lounge-like bar backed by an exuberant jungle wall mural. Visitors can also shop Cassina’s modular collection, designed with the late Virgil Abloh, and discover other California-cool works, such as Franco Albini’s tempered glass radios.—Jill Sieracki

Two pieces by Jake Wood-Evans displayed at Frevo. Photo: Courtesy of Frevo

Frevo. Photo: Courtesy of Frevo

4. Artist Jake Wood-Evans Presents First U.S. Exhibition at Frevo

Perhaps one of most exciting speakeasy-esque establishments in New York City, fine-dining destination Frevo continues its rotating exhibitions with a new showcase by British artist Jake-Wood Evans. Presented by London-based gallery Unit London, “Altered Lands” shows five of Evans’s large-scale pieces both inside the restaurant and its outside gallery space all inspired by 18th and 19th-century English artists such as John Constable, Benjamin Williams Leader, and Thomas Gainsborough. Through these works, Evans places phantom-like figures in the center of shadowy landscapes where they seem to disappear into the background, exploring themes of identity and mortality. The exhibition is currently on view at Frevo. —Shelby Black

Powerhouse Arts. Photo: Courtesy of Powerhouse Arts

Flying Home by Ellery Neon. Photo: Courtesy of Powerhouse Arts

5. Powerhouse Arts Makes Debut in Gowanus, Brooklyn

Powerhouse Arts opened its doors in Gowanus, Brooklyn, this past Friday with a celebration and debut of a dynamic performance and installation by Miles Greenberg entitled TRUTH. The nonprofit organization, spearheaded by Eric Shiner, is committed to creativity and community and has transformed the former Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station and “Batcave” into a hip art space that houses fabrication facilities for ceramic, print, and public art. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron and PBDW Architects, Powerhouse Arts pays homage to the original architecture and history, keeping intact the concrete vaults, brick chases, and graffiti. The community space encourages art professionals and educators to co-create and share artistic practices. —Stefanie Li

David Zwirner in LA Photo: Courtesy of David Zwirner

6. David Zwirner Unveils New Los Angeles Gallery with Solo Show by Njideka Akunyili Crosby

David Zwirner has debuted two gallery spaces in Los Angeles, located at 612 and 616 North Western Avenue, with a solo exhibition by Njideka Akunyili Crosby—her first with the gallery since joining in 2018—and Stan Douglas. Built in the 1930s, the two buildings have been masterfully renovated by the art-world’s go to architect Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects, who is also designing a new three-story space at 606 North Western Avenue, slated to open later in the year. The new main building will have over 15,000 square feet of exhibition space, an outdoor terrace with views of the Hollywood Sign to the north, and a concrete staircase linking the first and second floors reminiscent of the stairs at David Zwirner’s 20th Street gallery in New York. The exhibition “Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Coming Back to See Through, Again,” includes new and recent paintings that explore the intricacies of African diasporic identity and contemporary life through beautiful layered compositions. The must-see show will travel to the New York gallery in September. —Lucy Rees

Cover: Istanbul Modern by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
Photo: Cemal Emden

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