Archive for July, 2008

Do champagne, schmoozing, and irresistibly good deals on works by well-established artists all for a good cause seem too good to be true?  Perhaps it is.  Celebrity studded charity auctions are increasingly popular and covered by the mainstream media, but is the art up for auction a wise investment?  Does it differ in quality from […]


By Lauren Dickinson Ceviche, like many Latin American foods and wine, is pretty hot right now. Chefs are playing around with different flavor combinations as the possibilities are limitless.  In Peru you can buy freshly made ceviche on the beach without moving from your towel- so why not take it poolside? An ideal hot weather […]


Today is your lucky day if you consider yourself part of that rarified and dying breed: the antiques aficionado.  The Wall Street Journal published an article about the recent dramatic downshift in 18th and 19th century antiques prices.  In our uber-sanitized, clean-lined, contemporary culture, antiques are no longer in vogue (they actually haven’t been in a […]


My fabulous friend, NY based designer, Marla Weinhoff, just returned from the photo show, Les Rencontres d’Arles, curated this year by world famous couturier, Arles native, and visual arts connoisseur Christian Lacroix.  She was kind enough to share her gorgeous photos with ArtsÉtoile readers and raved about the event, including exhibits of work by Paolo Roversi, Peter Lindbergh, […]


By Lauren Dickinson Generally speaking, the idea of a picnic sounds romantic but the reality of preparing and packing one tends to ruin the feeling of spontaneity that ought to be the point. Now The New York Times’ Mark Bittman has published a list of “101 Picnic Dishes to Make in 20 Minutes” full of […]


Caryn Coleman, founder of the fantastic website, art.blogging.la,  just posted a photo blogging feature documenting the latest openings she has attended in the Culver City gallery district with images and curatorial musings about her favorite pieces. The Culver City galleries can be intimidating to the uninitiated so I thought it would be useful to link […]


Kimberly Stevens wrote a delightful piece in The New York Times, profiling glamorous Kelly Wearstler’s favorite design bookstore, Potterton Books, a miniscule, one-of-a kind gem (and ArtsÉtoile favorite) surrounded by expansive showrooms inside West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center.


By Laura Gatewood Last March The Getty Center announced the purchase of a rarely seen Post-Impressionist painting, Paul Gauguin’s Arii Matamoe. Gauguin painted the work in 1892, a year after traveling to his beloved Tahiti. The subject of the painting, which depicts the severed head of a Polynesian man laid out for ceremonial mourning, has […]


By Laura Gatewood In her first solo Los Angeles show in almost ten years, Horn produces work in a variety of media, including sculpture, photography and language. Though born in Brooklyn, it is Horn’s frequent solitary trips over the last thirty years to the remote landscapes of Iceland that have became the important influence in […]


Jori Finkel just wrote an alarming article about the dangers of bidding in art auctions on cruise ships.  Park West is the largest auction house operating at sea, boasting roughly $300 million in annual revenue.  Operating on well respected cruise lines such as Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian, the auction house woos inexperienced clients […]