ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Emerald.

After a brief hiatus, I'm back with my latest Artfully Awear + Pantone post, featuring the Color of the Year: Emerald.

Emerald has always been one of my personal favorite colors, and is surprisingly flattering with almost any skin tone. The hue is also well represented in the work of Helen Frankenthaler.

Her oversized canvases, though seemingly abstract, were often inspired by landscapes, such as her most famous work, Mountains and Sea, which measures 7 feet by 10 feet.

One of the few female artists recognized alongside the group of second generation Abstract Expressionists, Frankenthaler (1928-2011) was a Color Field painter.

The thin veils of paint that make up her paintings are reminiscent of watercolors, even though they are actually oils. Her "soak stain" method of thinning oil paint and applying to unprimed canvas was adopted by other artists including Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.

Two of my favorite posts of all time are inspired by Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.

Color Field painting was different from Abstract Expressionism in its denial of emotional or mythical themes.

"You have to know how to use the accident, how to recognise it, how to control it, and ways to eliminate it so that the whole surface looks felt and born all at once". --Helen Frankenthaler

Dress: Nicole Miller Artelier (full length version here for $100!)

Shoes: Calvin Klein

Necklace: Anthropologie Chasca

[Photos by @kay_elle_pea; images from stylesight.com, newcriterion.com, justalittlegreen.tumblr.com, and accidental-brilliance.com.]

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Knockout Pink.

I'd like to present the third in my series of posts sponsored by Pantone colors, featuring Knockout Pink. This one is tricky, as it appears much more neon in person than the swatch below.

Nearly all of my posts are inspired by established artists and their work.  This time, I'd like to present a student work, Cai Xi Silver's Pink Slips Flying, part of the Art=WorkStrengthenNourish project.

Pink Slips Flying exists as an outdoor installation, a wind-powered sculpture, and as a video work.

An MFA candidate at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Cai Xi's installation draws on the concept of the "pink slip" as termination notice and simultaneously as a woman's undergarment.

I find this work intriguing because of its use of the textile in an environment, vaguely referencing Christo's Surrounded Islands, my favorite environmental installation.

The billowing fabric also calls to mind the Ann Hamilton installation I discussed recently.

07 Pink Slips Flying, an art piece by Cai Xi Silver, fabric art, installation and video from Cai Xi on Vimeo.

Dress: Erin Fetherston One Shoulder Gathered Bodice Dress (80% off!)

Shoes: Betsey Johnson (similar here with a higher heel and platform)

Reptile Minaudiere: Lauren Merkin Lucca (on clearance here)

Photos by @kay_elle_pea, video stills from Cai Xi's vimeo page.

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Grenadine.

For the second installment of my Artfully Awear + Pantone series, I'm featuring Grenadine.

I originally intended to use this dress in relation to the flower paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe (see my previous post here), but when I came across Jason Martin's paintings on Artsy, the resemblance to both color and form was undeniable.

Martin's (b. 1970) paintings are almost sculptures, utilizing thick impasto, resembling brushstrokes.  They are actually made using modeling paste on canvas.

The "brushstroke" is the subject of these monochrome works, and his paintings have been described as paying homage to Abstract Expressionism because of their focus on the process of painting itself.

They hearken back even to Suprematism, reminiscent of works such as Kazimir Malevich's Visual Realism of a Peasant Woman in Two Dimensions (Red Square), 1915, and even Piero Manzoni's Achrome series, which I discussed here.

I appreciate the paintings because of the way they collapse the realms of two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork, existing simultaneously as both.  

Dress: BCBGMAXAZRIA Ginger Strapless Ruffled Silk Dress (the color in my photos is closer to the actual hue)

Necklace: Emporio Armani (some options here)

Shoes: Lisa for Donald J. Pliner (75% off here!)

Leather clutch: Lauren Merkin (similar here in straw)

Photos by @kay_elle_pea, images from artsy.net

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Magenta Purple.

I'd like to present Magenta Purple, the first color in my Artfully Awear + Pantone series.

When I discovered this gown, featuring Magenta Purple at the yoke and gradually changing gradient, I could not overlook its relationship to the Color Field paintings of Morris Louis.

Louis (1912-1962) lived and worked for most of his career in Washington, DC, becoming central to the Washington Color Movement along with Kenneth Noland and others.

Louis is best known for his gorgeous unprimed canvases featuring specially formulated Magna Paint.

Two important series make up his artistic oeuvre, the Unfurleds and the Veil paintings, pictured here.  View my previous Morris Louis post here, from 2011.

In addition to the beautiful tissue-like quality of the layers of paint on Louis' umprimed surfaces, I've always been drawn to his use of color, and the way they interact on the canvas by overlapping and becoming more or less sheer.

Dress: Nicole Miller Evening Ombre Strapless Gown (on sale!)

Shoes: Badgley Mischka Ginnie

Beaded handbag: Vintage, thrifted

Necklace: So Good Jewelry in SoHo

Thank you to Pantone for sponsoring this post!

Photos by @kay_elle_pea

Images from phillipscollection.org, dfwarts2010.files.wordpress.com, faculty.etsu.edu, and guggenheim.org

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE

Anyone who knows me understands the importance of color in my wardrobe (and life!) and I am beyond thrilled to announce a new series sponsored by THE color experts at Pantone. 

The Pantone team selected a gorgeous palette of fashion trend colors for Spring 2014, and I've created a collection of outfits showcasing their forecasted hues, shown below.

Green Glow, Blue Aster, Emerald (2013 color of the year), Champagne Beige, Knockout Pink, Grenadine, Magenta Purple

I debuted all of the outfits at The Art Directors Club's 92nd Annual Awards Gala on April 4 in South Beach, and I'm excited to unveil the first installment (featuring Magenta Purple) here tomorrow. 

Stay tuned!

Many thanks to Giovanni with Pantone, my quick change specialist, Olga, and my longsuffering photographer, Kathy. 

MARTIN CREED

I recently stopped by the new Hauser & Wirth outpost on 18th Street in Chelsea.  Intending to peruse the Dieter & Bjorn Roth exhibition (which I will review shortly in my Art Blanche column), I was pleasantly surprised to discover this Martin Creed installation taking over the entryway.

Creed (b. 1968) is most well-known for his Minimalist, Conceptual works of art such as Work No. 227, the lights going on and off, which won him the Turner Prize in 2001.  The work's title is self-explanatory: Creed orchestrated a 5 seconds on/5 seconds off light cycle in and empty room.

This site-specific installation (Work No. 1461) is anything but empty, featuring a dramatic motif of tape lining the walls.  Evoking the work of many other artists, from Barnett Newman and Donald Judd, to Aakash Nihalani, Creed's installation is a multifacted, colorful experience.

Blouse: 3.1 Phillip Lim

Skirt: Diane von Furstenberg (I love this version from Opening Ceremony)

Mohair Coat: H&M

Purse: Maison Martin Margiela x H&M Leather Glove Purse

Boots: United Nude

[Photos by @kay_elle_pea.]

LIANG YUANWEI

In honor of the First Day of Spring yesterday (and, of course, my birthday) I debuted this lace frock, which brought to mind the floral paintings of Liang Yuanwei.

Yuanwei (b. 1977) is a Chinese painter known for her large-scale, meticulously painted canvases, thick with impasto.

The floral works pictured here appear, at first, to have a wallpaper-like quality to them.  But upon closer inspection, it is apparent through the raised, expertly knifed oil paint and uniformity of the detail, that they are meticulously painted by hand.

Yuanwei's paintings are exercises in time management and expertise, taking her up to 8 hours to complete one horizontal strip of a painting.  

Like most works of art, the intense skill demonstrated by Yuanwei is better examined in person, when the detail of knife work and thickness of the paint can be clearly seen. 

Liang's works have been described as "gorgeous paintings that mix the visual appeal of tapestries with the conceptual inclinations of American Minimalism."

Her work is expertly summed up by the following: "Liang is uninterested in representation or smiotics.  Perception is via a flurry of delicate strokes on the canvas that manifest time's accumulation and the personal, even spiritual, experiences of the painter." 

Dress: Nanette Lepore (near exact dress available here)

Mohair Coat: H&M (recent; spring-friendly version here)

Peacock Embroidered Clutch: vintage, belonged to my grandmother (a gorgeous current version here)

Shoes: J. Crew Etta Cap Toe Pump in Neon Persimmon (Sold out color; other options here)

Birthday Flower Crown: handmade by my friend Meri

[Photos by @kay_elle_pea. Quotes from Barry Schwabsky in Vitamin P2 Images from artasiapacific.com, archivodenuevosartistas.blogspot.com, and thebesttimeoftheday.blogspot.com]