Eastern Leaf Films (June 12, 2023) – A walking tour of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Bonsai Museum. The museum is curated by David Castro, who does an amazing job of caring for the trees and their presentation.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s world-class bonsai collection is displayed in the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum. Some of the trees are well over a century old, with many still cultivated in their original containers.
The display changes with the seasons, and as many as 30 specimens are on exhibit at any given time. More than 400 temperate and tropical bonsai trained in classic modes such as the windswept, slanted trunk, rock clinging, and forest styles are included in the collection, one of the largest on display outside Japan.
The Local Project (June 9, 2023) – Positioned on a piece of land with rich history, Bass Coast Farmhouse by Wardle overlooks an expansive coastline that reaches out to Bass Strait. Inside the ultimate farm house, where an internal courtyard is hidden, the home offers its owners thoughtful connections to their natural surrounds.
Video timeline:00:00 – Intro to the Ultimate Farm House 00:37 – The Original Idea 00:57 – The Second Primary Strategy 01:03 – Revegetation of Indigenous Planting 01:36 – A Walkthrough of the Farm House 02:51 – The Two Living Zones 03:24 – The Integration of Primal Activities 04:00 – Illumination Throughout the Home 04:17 – The Materials Used 04:55 – Neutral Palettes and Other Aspects 06:13 – The Intimate Requirements of a Home
Throughout the reformation of the old farm, the architect has worked with a deep sensibility to rehabilitate the home, as well as the land on which it sits, by both re-using materials and employing new environmentally kind ones. When tasked with Bass Coast Farmhouse, Wardle began the process of rejuvenating the home by reducing its plan down to three simple elements – a steel roof, timber walls and a single chimney.
This idea naturally flowed into the the ide of designing the home to not only sit upon the land but to interact with it. Upon arrival, Bass Coast Farmhouse appears almost cartoon-like with its rectangular form and minimal materials. Surrounding the home is a rolling garden. Designed by Jo Henry Landscape Design, each plant has been finished with plastic containers that will nurture the growth of the indigenous plantings until they reach maturity. Furthermore, the home’s form has been designed to sway with the typography of the land.
Previously cleared as farmland, the entire 300 acres have also been reworked to encourage and inspire the growth of vegetation around the home and across the entire site. The single front door opens to welcome the owners and guests inside the ultimate farm house, where Wardle has placed a mud, boot and cloak room at the entrance of the home.
designboom Films (June 8, 2023) – Pierre Bonnard is one of the most beloved painters of the twentieth century, celebrated for his use of colour to convey an exquisite sense of emotion. His close friend Henri Matisse declared that Bonnard was ‘a great painter, for today and definitely also for the future’.
Opening in June 2023, the blockbuster Melbourne Winter Masterpieces® exhibition Pierre Bonnard presents the iridescent paintings of Bonnard within immersive scenography by Paris-based designer India Mahdavi
Pierre Bonnard (3 October 1867 – 23 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis, his early work was strongly influenced by the work of Paul Gauguin, as well as the prints of Hokusai and other Japanese artists. Bonnard was a leading figure in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism.
The Local Project (June 6, 2023) – Inspired by the conventions of a boutique hotel, Kovac Design Studio administers an array of design elements that cater to its clients’ desires to have a modern house that celebrates the surrounds and can host friends and family.
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction 00:43 – A Boutique Residence 01:07 – Enabling the Feeling of Secludedness 01:41 – The Organisation of the Building 02:12 – The Element of Surprise 02:38 – Built for 2 people or 200 people 02:54 – Covered in Glass 03:09 – Matching the Materials with the Surrounds 03:32 – The Glamorous Material Palette 03:57 – Giving Each Room its own Identity 04:33 – The Oculus 05:10 – The Canopy 05:28 – Designing a Concept from Start to Finish 05:57 – Proud Moments
From the first steps inside, Madison Desert Club is deliberately designed to offer the feeling of being outside when moving from room to room. Imbued with space for the owner to entertain and unwind, Madison Desert Club rejoices in the landscape of La Quinta with an open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows and doors.
Additionally, unique design elements are employed to enhance the home’s connection to the outdoors, beginning with a continuous canopy-style roof that is set over parts of the modern house, offering a change of light throughout the day. Another element seen upon arrival is the Oculus – a circular shape integrated into the roof, which allows for uninterrupted views of the sky above. Spanning all three levels, the modern house tour begins at the lower level, where a sauna, spa and gym are placed.
The above two levels hold the guestrooms, kitchen, living, dining areas and private cocktail bar. Expressed by its metal mesh curtain, the cocktail bar is imbued with warm colours that reference whiskey and give the impression of being inside a sophisticated space reserved for VIP clients. On the top level, a dedicated screening room offers a rare surprise when the screen wall opens up to the entire living space below.
The Times and The Sunday Times (June 5, 2023) – Seabird colonies, Viking ruins and untamed wilderness await walkers on the new Shetland Way — via a new direct flight from London Heathrow. Simon Parker explores the new hiking route.
The route covers approximately 80 miles and run through up the ‘spine’ of the islands linking Shetland’s natural, cultural and community assets, opening them up to walkers and potentially cyclists too.
KCET (June 2, 2023) – Keith Haring’s first museum exhibition in Los Angeles debuts at the Broad, featuring over 120 artworks that showcase the artist’s legacy of blending fun street art with activism.
The exhibition features works that span the artist’s career, tackling pertinent social issues of the time like anti-Apartheid movements and the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 80s as well as works that address relevant issues that persist today — from capitalism and environmentalism to race, sexuality and religion. “” at the Broad is on view from May 27 through October 8, 2023.
In his short but prolific career, Keith Haring was known for his fluid, uniform lines, intricate compositions, and repeating imagery such as the barking dog and radiant baby. Since the 1980s, Haring’s art has garnered worldwide recognition, breaking down barriers and spreading joy while shining a bright light on complex issues from capitalism and the proliferation of new technologies to sexuality and race.
Born in 1958, Keith Haring grew up in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, where his father, Allen, taught him to draw cartoons from Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss. He moved to New York City in 1978 to enroll in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). In New York, he embraced his homosexuality, which informed his worldview and art practice. The city was pulsing with energy with the emergence of hip-hop, graffiti art, and an active nightclub scene. In alternative spaces such as Club 57 and Paradise Garage, Haring developed his visual style alongside artists Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, performers Grace Jones and Madonna, and many others.
The Local Project (June 2, 2023) – Walk-Street House offers a seamless continuation of the Southern Californian beach lifestyle where the natural house resides.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Light Filled Natural House 00:23 – Walk-Street Homes 00:48 – A Walkthrough of the Home 01:38 – An Indoor Outdoor Connection 02:19 – The Unique Interiors 02:43 – Working with a Small Floor Plan 03:13 – The Natural Materials 04:01 – A Warm and Inviting Home 04:16 – A Focus on Natural Light 04:45 – Quality Control 05:04 – Blurring the Lines Between Inside and Out
From the raw timber façade to its open plan living, there is a lack of separation between the residence, the street, the climate and the locale, which gives the home its distinct nature. ras-a studio homes in on a quintessential city-beach aesthetic that speaks to its South Los Angeles location. The natural house has a strong attachment to place – a vibrant street with pedestrian-only access.
However, the prime location means the home is compact, posing a significant challenge for the construction. Overcoming this revealed a deeply considered open floor plan that nurtures the feeling of space at every opportunity. Eliminating interior partitions within the kitchen, dining and lounge areas allows for the spaces to borrow room from each other. Upstairs are the bedrooms, a study and a balcony that overlooks the street below, as well as a rooftop terrace that boasts panoramic ocean views.
Philip Mould & Co Films (June 2, 2023) – Starting off at Charleston House, where Stephen Tomlin’s friends, lovers, and sitters came together, this exhibition film traces Tomlin’s life and career, revealing the stories behind the artworks on display in ‘Bloomsbury Stud: The Art of Stephen Tomlin’, on view at the Philip Mould Gallery from 5th June until 11th August 2023.
Stephen Tomlin, the Bloomsbury group’s primary sculptor, immortalised the faces of Bloomsbury’s best-known characters, including Duncan Grant, Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf. With inexhaustible charisma, disarming good looks and undeniable talent, Tomlin captivated his contemporaries, and references to Stephen ‘Tommy’ Tomlin pepper countless biographies of 20th century figures.
However, until recently, that was where his story remained. Now, this exhibition aims to return Tomlin to the artistic spotlight where he belongs.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art –Join Susan Alyson Stein, Engelhard Curator of Nineteenth-Century European Painting, to virtually explore Van Gogh’s Cypresses, the first exhibition to focus on the trees—among the most famous in the history of art—immortalized in signature images by Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890).
Such iconic pictures as Wheat Field with Cypresses and The Starry Night take their place as the centerpiece in a presentation that affords an unprecedented perspective on a motif virtually synonymous with the Dutch artist’s fiercely original power of expression. Some 40 works illuminate the extent of his fascination with the region’s distinctive flamelike evergreens as they successively sparked, fueled, and stoked his imagination over the course of two years in the South of France: from his initial sightings of the “tall and dark” trees in Arles to realizing their full, evocative potential (“as I see them”) at the asylum in Saint-Rémy.
Juxtaposing landmark paintings with precious drawings and illustrated letters—many rarely, if ever, lent or exhibited together—this tightly conceived thematic exhibition offers an extraordinary opportunity to appreciate anew some of Van Gogh’s most celebrated works in a context that reveals the backstory of their invention for the first time.
Phillips (May 31, 2023) – A tour of gallery highlights including an important group of fabric works from artists including Grayson Perry, Damien Hirst, Louise Bourgeois, and Tracey Emin.
Andy Warhol – Alexander the Great (1982)
Andy Warhol – Marilyn (1967(
Andy Warhol’s unique trial proof of Alexander the Great and two Marilyn screenprints, along with Pop Art by Keith Haring and Robert Indiana are featured.
Robert IndianaThe Book of Love, 1996
Roy Lichtenstein I Love Liberty, 1982
Further highlights include Contemporary Street Art from the likes of Banksy and an auction debut for Thierry Noir’s East Side Heads, which will be offered alongside significant Pablo Picasso linocuts and lithographs.
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