COLETTE UNVEILS METAPHYSICAN PORTRAITS

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Colette Charms New York’s Meatpacking District
Jason Grant Around Town
Photos By: Roger Webster
Destination NY
32-36 Little West 12th Street
www.colettetheartist.com
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Window With Mannequin Lumiere


Roy Kean And Julie Sharbut


Elizabeth Rogers And Colette


Juan Pablo Mantilla And Mia Morgan


Keri And Isabella Ingvarsson


Roger Webster and Umiko Tamaka


Colette And Janna Bullock


Susan Sarandon Metaphysical Portrait by Colette


In keeping with her tradition of exhibiting art in unexpected places, the legendary, multifaceted artist Colette unveiled her “metaphysical portraits” at destination NY, in the heart of the meatpacking district. In contrast to her earlier work, which is known for its Baroque aesthetic, these portraits are minimal in style. Among the subjects of the paintings were Jeff Koons, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Martha Stewart, Jim Jarmusch, Debbie Harry, Bill Murray, Katharina Otto Bernstein, Anthony Haden Guest, Rufus Wainwright, Sylvia Miles, Donald Baechler and the artist herself. Even before people entered the über hip art space and clothing store, despite the cold, they spent time looking at Colette’s window display, a tableau titled “The Letter.” The panorama is staged and framed like a light box, a familiar presentation for her work since she burst on the downtown art scene in the seventies.Central to the window installation is a Colette sculpture like the one that was on display at the Guggenheim’s fashion art show, 1997. Lumiere, the mannequin, is dressed in white silk rushed fabric and tulle. Like all of her work, this brings to question ideas. In “The Letter,” she questions cloning and time. The scene also contains many of her signature items and trademarks including a Colette suitcase, Colette lamp, a Colette gown and a new painting.Inside, the two rows of portraits covered the back wall and two sidewalls. And, there were her sayings. “Fight terrorism with glamour.” Or, “that’s all she wrote.” Guests, while sipping white wine, studied the portraits in groups of twos and threes, or watched the short film Colette made about the destruction of her historic atelier in the landmark 213 Pearl Street. Among the colleagues, collectors and art lovers were: author Holly Block, Director of the Bronx Museum; author David Dalton; Janna Bullock; MoMA curator Jenny Schlezska; Gen Art’s Keri Ingvarsson; Joyce Pomerantz Schwartz; art publisher Alexander Heinrici; couturier Maggie Norris; Alexandra Anderson Spivy and Jock Spivy; Barbara Spiegel; film maker Paul Tschinkel; Carol Blake; Dan Schwartz; Ed Rubin; Elizabeth Cannon; Elizabeth Rogers; Graham Gilmore; Isabelle Kellogg; Juan Pablo Mantilla; actress Julie Sharbutt; Justin Mitchell; Marc Miller; Marcia Grostein; Pamela Willoughby Smith; Pryor Dodge; Tasha Gordon-Solmon; Shavon Martin; Ylya Kabokov; Kevin Baker; Ingrid Dinter; Pavel Zoubok; James McLaren; Helene Verin; fashion stylist Mia Morgan; Jake Bright, interior designer Jennifer Bradford Davis; Gigi and Rodrigo Solomon, Maxine Danowitz, Hede Tachibana, Hisa Yamamoto, Umiko Tamaka and Kyoko Muramatsu.

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