Vladimir Kagan's Blog

Dumb vs. Stupid

Copyright Vladimir Kagan December 29, 2010 

 

There is a clear distinction between these two descriptive words:

 Dumb – (adjective)

1. unintelligent
2. offensive term
3. temporarily speechless – we need not go into this meaning

 

Stupid – (adjective)

1. regarded as unintelligent
2. silly
3. dazed

 

I am basically not DUMB….. I do lack philosophical speculations, I am not a visionary, I don’t gaze at stars and the moon and worry about their origin or where they are going…. I am a pragmatist…. I can’t spell to save my life…(thank God for spell check!)…. In my own defense, I do have a sense for syntax (don’t ask me how?) I’m darn good on the computer, but I am also slap-dash; typically shoot from the hip, not very meticulous except in my world of design where I become anal about tidiness, details and dotting “I’s” and crossing the “T’s”. I am impatient; I am a control freak “Do it my way!!!”…. I am a back seat driver of the worst sort…. In short, no one would want to live with me except my wife.

 

Here is where STUPID comes in…. no one but Erica would put up with me for 53 years.

 

Erica is curious, exploratory, everything fascinates and intrigues her. She is amazingly knowledgeable…. With her good English education, she can quote, when needed, from the Old and New Testament, recites poetry with surprising memory, can win spelling bees, and has incredible recall of events that happened 60 or more years ago. (Ask her what we are dong tonight and she can’t remember…. no, this is NOT Alzheimer kicking in…. she’s always been that way)…. She trusts my driving and as proof falls asleep almost the instant we get into the car. She is patient to a fault; thorough and detail oriented.

 

• I am notorious about being on time….
• Erica finds a last minute task making it virtually certain that we are late….
• My funnel vision interests keep me on track….
• Erica’s broad range of curiosity assures a drifting mindset….
• I consider myself dumb-ish and do not easily make light conversation. In my chitchat, I stay (mostly) focused….
• Erica with her vast curiosity rambles off into outer space, with obtuse hypothesis….

 

She rants on about the philosophic observations of Collin Wilson, (the English author and kinsman)… something about Einstein’s theory of twos making a third. No evening is complete without her postulating about this. This is where Dumb me keeps my mouth shut and Stupid Erica sticks her foot in her mouth each time.

 

As a final note:

• I am a computer maven….she is illiterate.
• She never wears a watch and guesses at what time it is… I can’t live without mine!
• She thinks the Lunar Calendar is cool: as in the Chinese, Hebrew, Islamic and Hindu….
• I’m quite satisfied with the Gregorian…. (except that I can’t fathom your birthday if you were born in a leap-year.)

And finally, finally:

• Both of us share this in common…. We’re often wrong but never in doubt!

 

 

LUNAR or GREGORIAN…… Erica and I wish you a Happy New Year…. good health and real peace in the coming year

 

 

Miami's Design District...A Cool Destination

 This is the final installment of my Miami Trilogy

 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan December 22, 2010

 

The hoopla of Art Basel, Art Miami, Design Miami and myriad other events that happened that festive week is finally over, but anyone who didn’t visit the Design District missed a treat.

Until a few years ago, this District was a run-down, neglected slice of Miami, accustomed to purse snatching and mugging. Heaven help anyone who was there alone at night. Thanks to the visionary foresight of Miami real estate developer Craig Robbins, this derelict part of town was brought back to vibrant life as the re-invented Miami Design District.

 It wasn’t always downtrodden.  Forty years ago the District served the design community with great furniture showrooms long before Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Naples had theirs. It was the only game in the state! The hippest showroom in the area was Bob Sapan’s 39 East. Bob was my first representative and a great showman. To greet me for the opening of my designs, he had an airplane drag a banner saying, “Welcome Vladimir Kagan.”

Today that same showroom is the home of my Italian representative, Luxury Living. (This was the raison d’être for my coming to Miami during Art Basel). My illusive client, Alberto Vignatelli, travels the world and is hard to pin down, so Art Basel Miami was the right venue for us to catch up.... The Italians do things in great style and the opening of his Fendi – Kenzo exhibit during Art Basel was the perfect vehicle for a bang-up party. The marketing gimmick for my presence: Kenzo Dresses Kagan.  It didn’t quite work out that way. A container of my furniture was due to arrive in time for the exhibit but got stuck on the high seas. However, displayed in the entrance of the showroom was the sole piece by Kagan - a sofa to greet the exhausted guests.

 

My delightful Italian client, Alberto Vignatelli and I being greeted by a cute bird at the opening of the Luxury Living showroom party in Miami

The opening party was a hoot.... I am always looking at shoes!

My wife, Erica, and I did our bit for God and country by immersing ourselves in the party scene at Kenzo that night but the next day we set out on our serious tooling through the District. There was more than enough for everyone. Abundant furniture, fashions, food and lots of entertainment.

 

Erica and I are off on our "smart cars" to do the District....with Alberto wishing us a Bon Voyage

Checking out the competition, I am a chair tester... this is in the Capellini showroom

My friend, Dror's latest introduction at Capellini

We found this room for Florida outdoor living

Next, we came across these wonderful woven outdoor chairs....could have been my designs (weren't)

We've seen enough furniture and were very interested in balloons...only the girl got in the way!

In fairness to Erica, we next looked into fashion (there was a lot of it in the District)... Sauvage was one of the hippest. (The elegant lady is the owner....whose name we neglected to write down)

My continuing interest in shoes!

....and now to the art scene: a sculpture made of pantyhose!

This one could be straight out of the Basel Miami show

We both loved this lonely man

Erica tried to convince him to come home with us

Accommodations during Art Basel week in Miami are usually impossible to find.  The true bonus for us was a serendipitous invitation to stay with our here-to-fore unknown benefactors, Robert and Rita Swedroe.  This was arranged through the fortuitous efforts of my friend and client, the gregarious Joyce Scharfer. Joyce had recently moved from New York to Miami into an historic 1950’s house located on a quiet, cul-de-sac street on a scenic waterway.  This was the same street of the architect Robert Swedroe’s home.  I met and spent time with the Swedroe family; mother, father and their three children who are all architects.... what a unique family!

 

Joyce Scharfer's home made us feel right at home with a pair of Kagan sofas

....and this is the beautiful Joyce with her designer!

Robert Swedroe had been the senior design architect for the enigmatic Morris Lapidus, the doyen of Miami Beach Mid-century modern. On his own, Robert has designed some of Miami’s most impressive new landmarks, including Acqualina, the tallest, private entry elevator building on Sunny Isles Beach. In addition to a full career in architecture, Robert is a passionate and highly productive artist whose work was exhibited at Art Miami. His collages are assemblages of found objects covered by a heavy coating of resin. Being an architect, a great deal of his work is precise and cerebral.

 

This is Robert and Rita Swedroe's beautifully restored 50's home on Biscaya Island

 The Swedroe's house seen from the lagoon

The beautiful Deco inspired entrance gate designed by Robert Swedroe

The restored interior of Robert and Rita's house

Robert's studio showed an architect's eye for hanging his paintings - there were racks upon racks of neatly stored and catalogued paintings for visitors to view

Our new friends Lulu and Robert Swedroe...daughter and father: Architects

The Swedroes are a true Miami Beach family with their children born and bred on the Island. They are passionate about Miami Beach. When Rita and Bob were young, there were few high rises in Miami Beach as most residences were private homes. In the early 1990’s, Robert and his daughter, Lulu, along with a small team of supporters, successfully spearheaded a campaign to preserve and landmark the few remaining single family oceanfront homes on Miami Beach, which were located in a small community called Altos del Mar.  Through their efforts, an historic neighborhood designation emerged for what is now the flourishing Altos del Mar Historic Neighborhood.

 Lulu Swedroe's interior next to her family's and Joyce's homes

The Swedroe homes today, Robert’s, Rita’s and daughter Lulu’s, border Joyce’s home on the lively wide bay in the little known Isle of Biscaya. Each is a masterpiece of 50’s architecture meticulously restored. We were honored to stay in Robert’s and Rita’s guesthouse and treated like royalty.... It was their guidance and sage advice that kept us on the straight and narrow to see the majority of the highlights of the four days during Art Basel. Staying with and getting to know the family was the highlight of our Miami Art Week!

(We tried to be on our best behavior and hope to be invited again!)

 

To learn more about our host... Robert's website for his collage art is www.robertswedroe.com

and his architectural firm is www.swedroe.com.

 

 

 

 

 

DESIGN MIAMI – A GEM IN A PARKING LOT

 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan December 13, 2010

 

(The second article in a trilogy about the Miami Art scene)

 

Across from Miami’s Convention Center, plunked into the midst of their vast parking lot, stood a monolithic white tent that housed DESIGN MIAMI…. (As we found parking near a rear entrance, with some chutzpa and good luck, we snuck in the back door.) Management kindly turned a blind eye as both of us were hobbling on walkers…. These were our salvation to ease the strain of walking miles of exhibits…. Hence we missed the impressive entrance installation by Konstantin Grcic.

 

Konstantin Grcic's gossamer Netscape at the entrance to the exhibit

 

The show was a sleeper!.... (We expected an ICFF type exhibit The International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York with craftsmen of diverse skills displaying their wares.)…. What we found instead was a discerning international exhibit of cutting edge, furniture, lighting and limited edition creations by 17 exhibitors.

 

Konstantin Grcic, one of Germany’s most energetic designers, was honored with The Designer Of The Year Award…. A well deserved honor for this enigmatic young creator. He thinks outside of the box and comes up with extraordinary solutions to ordinary challenges.  As he has said in earlier interviews, “chairs need not be comfortable”….. the display of his idiosyncratic designs amply demonstrated this. They entertain and challenge the user…it’s what 21^st century design is all about. His Netscape installation of swinging-chair-hammocks at the entrance to the tent added an entertaining note to this wonderful show. Their white open mesh, in constant motion, floated in the dappled sunlight of the entrance to the exhibit.

 

Barry Friedman, the impresario of esoteric design, showed the latest sculptured rocking chairs by the master of the genre, Wendell Castle…. Ron Arad, one of my favorite cutting edge thinkers, introduced a stainless steel sculpture in the disguise of a rocker; Ron’s sensuous steel designs are breathtaking pieces of functional art…. Ingrid Donat's remarkable "Commode 7 Engrenages" from 2008, a three-drawer piece in cast bronze featuring a surreal set of gears embedded on one side of the dresser that move as you open the top drawer. The concept could have come straight out of a bank vault or medieval castle. One of the edition of eight commodes sold for $125,000. All items shown by Friedman were limited editions costing well into the hundred thousand dollars each…. and with a diminishing inventory, the price for the remaining ones go up!

 

Wendell Castle's latest rocking chair creations...more art than comfort

Ron Arad's stainless steel sculpture disguised as a rocking chair

A Bank Vault's sprockets and gears masquerading as a Chest of Drawers cast in bronze by Ingrid Donat....yours for a mere $125,000.

 

Todd Merrill, another purveyor of exquisite taste, displayed the creations of my delightful Irish woodworker, Joseph Walsh, whom I discovered and wrote about in this Blog this past October (see An Irish Craft Exhibit In New York)…. Todd’s discerning eye for the esoteric also showed the works of my friend, Michael Coffey, a superb woodworker who is finally enjoying a much-deserved renaissance. His work is so much in demand that Michael can’t keep up with the orders…. Todd blends the new with the old and showed a collection of exotic 70’s Paul Evans furniture… and going back further in time, found an early 50’s, a seating group by the enigmatic James Mont… a character out of the past, (coincidentally, my father’s first job in America, was making Mont’s prototypes…. but that is another story)

 

Irish cabinetmaker, Joseph Walsh, created these poetic pieces of wood sculptured furniture

Two great Paul Evans cabinets from the 70s

  Michael Coffey's Walnut sculptured Buffet. (Sorry Michael, for the small photo...got it off the internet!)

James Mon't surprisingly modern platform sofa from the 50's

A very cool exhibitor from Paris, Perimeter Art & Design, represents some of the world’s major designers such as the Campana brothers, Francois Arnal, Pierre Paulin and the indomitable Zaha Hadid. Their exhibit was reflective of truly 21^st Century technology and design.

 

The always inventive Zaha Hadid does it again with this....what is it? 

I am probably a minority of one, but I could not get exited about the retro exhibit of Jean Royère 50’s designs in a room setting by Gallery Patrick Sequin… (exception: the chairs and sofas were great)

This retro room by the notable Parisian dealer,Patrick Sequi features the 50's furniture of Jean Royère 

An Anglo-French exhibitor, The Carpenters Workshop Gallery, introduced a mixed show of international designers, exploring materiality, function and art.  A sculptural multi-level sofa called Tephra Formations by Robert Stadler is meticulously tufted in leather, its undulating shape interpreting the molten flow of volcanic larva…. The collective, rAndom International developed an ingenious piece of electronic engineering, magically emulating the flight of a hive of bees. Using LEDs behavioral algorithm and sound sensors, The Swarm Chandelier, consists of three segments, soundlessly buzzes away…. The imaginative Dutch designer Marcel Wanders plays with materials in his Bon-Bon-Gold, combining resin, rope and precious metals.

The English designer, Robert Stadler emulated the flow of larva in this multi-leve, multi directional sofa
 

Here is Erica giving it a comfort test at the show

The Swarm of Bees Chandelier created by rAdom International....several were sold for $18,000 each

Swarovski, the Austrian firm best know for its crystal chandeliers, mesmerized us with a state-of-the-art animated light display in a walk-through darkened chamber.

 

The Belgium gallery, D&A Lab specializing in functional furniture, designed by artists, (though the function was often obscured by its art). A simple cubic hanging cabinet, created by Dimitri Vangrunderkeek, upon closer scrutiny, sprouted hundreds of laser-cut miniature walking figures inspired by the photographs of the 19^th century photographer Muybridge.

 

 A most original work of art trying to be furniture...Dimitri Vangrunderkeek's laser cut steel cabinet

Among other important exhibitors were Sebastian & Barquet/NY, Christina Grajales/NY, R20th Century/NY, Gallery Patrick Sequin/Paris, Stilwerk/Hamburg, Gallery Seomi/Seoul…. Jennifer Roberts, Publisher of MODERN MAGAZINE had a stand prompting her publication, which is beyond a doubt, the best magazine dedicated to modernism.

 

Below are photos of some other items that caught our eye

 

A chair made with a Moose horn as an arm

A very hip modern hooked rug

R20th Century's funky jungle installation 

Audi, one of the event’s sponsors, used the show to introduce their latest concept car: a sexy hybrid called Spider - scheduled for production in 2011…. (Look out Mercedes, here comes the competition!)

 

Audi's sleek new Spider available in 2011

Erica loves hub caps...so fo peace in the family, here is a photo just for her

This was a show of significant importance….We comfortable amongst friends and reveled in my new notoriety as a “Design Icon”….. Nothing nicer than being cow-towed to!

 

 

 

 

BASEL – MIAMI…THE WORLD CUP OF ART

 

 (…and best three-ring circus in town)

Copyright Vladimir Kagan December 8,2010

 

I will leave the serious observations to the solemn Art Critics, who are better qualified to address the important works at the exhibit…. (There were magnificent masters such as a Henry Moore marble sculpture, Alexander Calder’s mobiles, Frank Stella paintings and other prime-time players.)

 

Every major art dealer was represented, selling his wares…. Rumor has it that they sold well indeed.

 

Let me give you the lighter view from a spectator’s perspective: It was huge – it was overwhelming – it was a Barnum & Bailey Three-ring Circus.

 

Everyone was a work of art!

We are all a work of art...

....especially if you are pretty and know it!

Given the limitation of time, (it was impossible to absorb this vast exhibit in a single visit), I concentrated on “the Emperor’s New Clothes”: The absurd works of art and the gawking visitor that merged into a kaleidoscopic mélange.

 

No show is complete without its pile of dirt

For the art aficiondos... a close-up of the pile

Perhaps the tomb of an Afghanistan stoning victim????

...more living art prancing its charms

A room just like home!

Recognize and of the guests?

A mattress to rest on...but be careful....it's covered in mosaics

An aligator on the floor...but don't trip over it....it may bite!

In the same creative exhibit... How's about an outboard motor on your wall?

Is your mason ready to install your floor tiles? They were left on your doorsteps.

....and here is the tub for mixing the cement

Pleas chastise your kids for leaving the yoga mat in the living room

...and while you're at it, tell your son not to have his friends leave their skateboards in front of the garage

I always knew Helvetica Bold would one day decorate your wall

From the same gallery, we can buy a European Pharmacy cross....shouldn't it be illuminated with flashing lights?

...and finally, an almost tame piece of work: An apple for the teacher left subtly buried in a chair rail

 BASEL occupied the D Pavilion of Miami Beach’s cavernous Convention Center, featuring over 200 of the world’s leading Modern and contemporary art galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia. These galleries represented more than 2,000 artists…. And Basel-Miami was only one of over a dozen other venues vying for a piece of the action.

 

Erica and I set the speed record by doing the perimeter of this exhibit in only three hours. Had we done it thoroughly, crisscrossing every isle, it would have taken days…. To cover all the exhibits, easily a week…. It is the World Cup of the art world.

 

Thankfully, a much smaller exhibit diverted us across the street: Design Miami, which I will report on next.

 

Vladimir at Basel-Miami & Design Miami

MEMO FROM VLADIMIR KAGAN

 

 

I’ve just returned from four days in Miami…. more specifically an immersion in BASEL – MIAMI, a staggering conglomeration of events relating to the arts and design…. Over the next few days, I will give you my overview of what’s up and what’s not.

 Be on the lookout.

 

Vladi

 

 

NICK CAVE AT THE NORTON

 

Copyright Vladimir KAGAN 2010

 

What better way to dip our feet into the cultural waters of Florida than a visit to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach! The Norton is a local treasure with world-class exhibits. Their curatorial eye is unfailing. Last year they brought us the photographs of Richard Avedon’s final years…. Big splashy yet intimate. The year before it was Iris Apfel’s amazing fashion collection, infinitely better presented than in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts’ original stuffy version…. (Manikins passively enclosed within glass cases)…. the Norton had them in the open in a dare-to-touch me exhibit replicating a fashion runway.

 

This year it’s Nick Cave’s turn; five galleries devoted to this amazing multi-media artist. (Our ignorance of the hip art-scene made our discovery all the more dazzling.)…. The show originated in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)* and will travel for the next five years, hopefully, to a Museum near you.

 
 "Soundsuits" up to 10' tall are used by dancers, including Nick Cave, in videoed performance images

Mr. Cave’s work is literally larger than life. He shies from nothing. His fertile mind latches on to the simplest of materials from discarded sweaters, as in his bigger-than-life polar bear dressed in remnants of discarded Icelandic sweaters, to costumes, he calls “Soundsuits” worn by performance artists, that are embellished with thousands of collected buttons, robes fashioned of crochet, lace, sequin, hooked rugs, knitting (and to Erica’s delight), tons of embroidery ranging from Crewel Work, to Needlepoint, to Indian Shisha work (embedding mica mirrors into embroidered textiles), to Appliqué. (It is virtually an encyclopedic embracing of all the needle arts.) He must have a warehouse full of found objects from children’s toys, ceramic objects from tourist gift shops to handbags, hats and clothing which he transforms into a kaleidoscope of colors and textures to overwhelm us.

 

Found materials are the inspiration and color palette of Mr. Caves work... Here is uses crochet hats as the costume for one of his Sounsuits

Thousand of buttons adorn his costumes and wall hangings

Erica was thrilled to find her Crewel Embroidered Owl from 1970 used in an embroidered costume

A flower Sound costume using ceramic and porcelain flowers mounted on a wrought iron dirigible framework...note the attention to detail right down to the legging.... 

....and embroidered socks

Nick Cave working in his San Francisco studio.... a treasure trove of found and recycled objects

Nick Cave’s work is deeply routed in his Afro-American background, recalling shamans, voodoo, ritual dances, and the burden of slavery. In his own words, “The arts are our salvation – the only thing that allows us to heal and also helps us dream about what will make the world a better place….”

 

Voodoo inspired strands of fur-like material dyed in rainbow colors

Hood detail with embroidered beads and appliqued fabrics 

His work engages us at a completely sensual and tactile level. The Video performances of his Soundsuits are mesmerizing. The Huge 20’ diameter discs called Tontos dominate one gallery. In another wing, giant figures dressed in colorfully dyed strands of hair loom over you like a witchdoctor about to perform his rites.

 

The spider's web detail of a 20' diameter Tonto

A giant Tonto...one of two hanging in their own gallery at the Norton

This exhibit is not to be missed and worthy of repeat visits to absorb and rejoice in Nick Cave’s vision.

 

 

 

 

*Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is San Francisco’s premier contemporary art center presenting films, performance and visual art by local, national, and international artists. (In its broader than community service, it is amusing to note that Gary Jobs used it for the launch of Apple’s i.Pad.)

 

 

Hello to all Vladimir Kagan fans,

Some of you may be following my Blogs regularly… those of you who only surf the net sporadically, (like me), will have missed some fun postings…..

Below is a list for the last two months. Hope you’ll find them entertaining and informative.

Drop me a line…. I’ll read your comments with pleasure.

Best regards

Vladi

 

 

RECENT POSTINGS:

 

• Being posted later today!....NICK CAVE AT THE NORTON - an eyeful of color, mixed media and out-of-the-box thinking
• THANKSGIVING AT THE KAGANS - a Gourmont romp in Nantucket
• THE COUDERT INSTITUTE IS OFF AND RUNNING - sage advice from Jeremy Wiesen, an economics professor
  • THE ELECTRIC CAR IS ALIVE AND OUT OF MOTHBALLS - it’s all about the batteries
  • THE DESIGN WORLD IS A LIVE AND KICKING - a conversation with Dror Benshertrit
  • HERE’S SOME STUFF WE CAN ALL AGREE ON - a short list of no brainers
  • KIPS BAY SHOW HOUSE - an annual NY design event
  • WHAT TO DO ON A BALMY FALL SUNDAY IN NEW YORK - a trip on the Hudson with lots of photos and interesting info.
  • NEW YORK’S UNSUNG ARTISANS - a visit with our local treasures: the butcher, the tailor and the shoemaker
  • AN IRISH CRAFT EXHIBIT IN NEW YORK - an unlikely place for an exquisite craft show in a charming environment.
  • STAMFORD WHITE’S DESCENDANTS - Five Generations of creative artists
  • DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL - three days of total emersion into the design world through film
  • MODERN VIEWS AT SOTHEBY’S - the gala finale of a yearlong campaign to raise funds for the Farnsworth House and Glass House restoration.
  • THE RALPH PUCCI OPENING - The hippest event of the gallery scene.