The Colony Pop-Up at Christie’s Southampton.
Photo: Christie’s

The Artful Life: 6 Things Galerie Editors Love This Week

From the Colony Hotel’s pop-up at Christie’s Southampton to Champagne sabering lessons at the St. Regis

Michael Lin: "Pentachrome" installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1. Artist Michael Lin Unveils Site-Specific Installation at the Met

Tucked away by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Great Hall Escalator, a large-scale installation piece titled Pentachrome by Taiwanese artist Michael Lin has officially opened to the public. Inspired by the delicate art of Chinese ceramics, as well as the museum’s rich collection of pieces, Lin incorporated bold colors and imagery of nature and wildlife into the work. For the project, Lin used motifs from two Chinese porcelain vases, where he then crafted parallel wall panels which surround the escalator. Museum visitors will be surrounded by heroic images of birds and flowers while heading to their next stop, spotlighting the relationship between Asian art and European architecture. —Shelby Black

Sabering Ritual at The St. Regis Rome. Photo: Courtesy of The St. Regis.

2. St. Regis Hotels & Resorts Launches Champagne Sabering Lessons

As far as party tricks go, nothing surpasses the dramatic effect of sabering open a bottle of Champagne. With a flick of the blade, bubbles burst forth and there’s no question that the festivities have truly begun. St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, which has a long tradition of opening bottles in this fashion, is tapping into that feeling of celebration by launching sabrage master classes at all of its North American locations. Guests and locals alike can book a 30-minute private session with a highly skilled butler, who, over canapés and glasses of Champagne, will take them through how to perform the art form as well as its history, which gained popularity with Napoleon Bonaparte, who famously said “Champagne: in victory, one deserves it; in defeat, one needs it.” Later, the technique became a part of the St. Regis legacy in 1904 when founder John Jacob Astor IV would have a bottle sliced open every night to mark the beginning of the evening. Whichever of the nine properties one visits, from Toronto to Bal Harbor, the lesson is unquestionably an unforgettable experience that proves to be the ultimate souvenir of the hotel stay. And what’s better than a souvenir you don’t have to fit into your suitcase? —Jacqueline Terrebonne

Whatever Floats Your Botanical wallpaper by Cynthia Rowley with Parete. Photo: Courtesy of Parete

Social Butterfly wall covering by Cynthia Rowley with Parete. Photo: Courtesy of Parete

3. Cynthia Rowley Debuts Wallpaper Collection with Parete

With her painterly patterns and refreshing color palette, Cynthia Rowley routinely introduces fashion collections that readily translate to home goods, including the vibrant table linens currently available featuring the bright florals and sherbet-colored fabrics utilized in her clothing designs. Now, the designer has expanded her offerings, reimagining playful prints seen on dresses, pants, and surf suits during her Spring-Summer 22 runway show into scenic wallpapers, available through Parete, with whimsical names like Birds of a Feather, Social Butterfly, and Whatever Floats Your Botanical. “I have always wanted to add wall coverings to my growing home collections as it felt like a natural evolution,” Rowley tells Galerie. “So meeting Parete was serendipitous. The way our patterns translate to the wall makes this collaboration incredibly exciting and fun.  I am excited for our customers to get to know these papers and to love them as we do.”—Jill Sieracki

Kwame Brathwaite, Sikolo Brathwaite, African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS), Harlem, ca. 1968. Courtesy the artist and Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo: Courtesy the artist and Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles

Kwame Brathwaite, Carolee Prince wearing her own jewelry designs, African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS), Harlem, ca. 1964. Courtesy the artist and Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo: Courtesy the artist and Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles

4. “Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite” Comes to the New-York Historical Society

The first major exhibition of activist Kwame Brathwaite‘s powerful photographs, “Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite,” comes to New York City this week. Launching at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in 2019, the exhibition organized by the Aperture Foundation has travelled across the country, making its way to the New-York Historical Society. The exhibition features 40 large-scale color and black-and-white photographs that helped to change the political and cultural landscape during the Second Harlem Renaissance. Brathwaite’s striking fashion photographs celebrate the African American community and brought attention to the Black is Beautiful movement in the 1960s. These historic images will on view until January 15, 2023. —Stefanie Li

Fort Makers launches beachy candle collection by Janie Korn. Photo: Alistair Matthews

5. Fort Makers Launches Beachy Candle Collection by Janie Korn

Buzzy Brooklyn art and design collective Fort Makers is marking the dog days of summer by launching a playful array of beach-inspired candles crafted by New York City wax sculptor Janie Korn and photographed by Alistair Matthews. The line—dubbed #HaveANiceSummer—is the fourth collaboration between Korn and Fort Makers, and it includes facsimiles of a classic seasonal ephemera such as a hot dog, boombox, Coppertone bottle, Jaws poster, a tennis racket, and various Bic lighters. For his part, Matthews captured the handcrafted works, which start at $125 each, in a sandy setting that deliberately recalls I Spy picture books. –Geoffrey Montes

The Colony Pop-Up at Christie’s Southampton. Photo: Christie’s

6. The Colony Pop-Up Brings a touch of Palm Beach to Christie’s Southampton

A whimsical dose of South Florida has landed in the Hamptons. Palm Beach’s famed Colony Hotel is hosting a three-week pop-up at Christie’s in Southampton that includes its iconic beach buggy and striped loungers set up within a tropical garden designed by Lewis Miller, one of Galerie’s Creative Minds. Also on hand will be a bespoke ice cream cart and Summer in a Bottle Rosé from Wölffer Estate Vineyard. The colorful event will conclude at the end of the month. —G.M.

Cover: The Colony Pop-Up at Christie’s Southampton.
Photo: Christie’s

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