If You’ve Got it, Why Not FLAUNT It?

Posted by Maryanne Salvat On December - 23 - 2013

 

Flaunt Miami (4)

Rose McGowan

More than five hundred invited party-goers did just that-at the opening of  Flaunt Magazines Affordable Carea four-day exhibition-examination of art, music, fashion and culture with photography,  paintings and video, from Vanessa Beecroft to Nicolas Jaar.  Invitations went out only two days prior, but there was major buzz in the international art world from New York Times and Vanity Fair articles the previous weekend, making this one of Art Week Miami 2013’s most coveted and exclusive events for those truly in the know.   The opening evening premiered art legend Vanessa Beecrofts VB72″ a major performance piece in collaboration with Kanye West, with 65 nude models, some masked, all covered from head to toe in two types of silty, earth-tone clay, pushing the forefront of contemporary art.  Ms. Beecroft is the Artistic Director and Choreographer for Wests current Yeesus tour.  She stood anxiously backstage at the beginning of her three-hour piece.  The tall thin Italian artist peeked through a small opening in the180 foot wide towering white-felted curtain.  This was a departure from her usual venues the Guggenheim-New York, the Venice Biennale, Museum für Moderne Kunst-Frankfurt, among others.  Beecroft chatted backstage with event producer Michael Leondas Kirkland of mkarte, and said: VB72 is inspired by my current sculptural work which is mostly in clay,” exemplified by the amorphic ceramic heads carefully placed on the floor in varying positions interspersed among the clay-clad models. Invited guests entered through one of the giant warehouse doors into the enormous Mana Wynwood Production Village-a series of once abandoned warehouses, now associated with New York Citys Milk Studios, covering several city blocks southwest of Midtown.  The VIPs were greeted by members of Flaunts team who offered a customized collections of the upcoming art issue, aptly titled The Care Issue: Mixed Feelings, selecting which of the 290 pages they wished to have in their personalized issue, and make insertions of their own with personal messages.  Magazines were bound at the end of the long production table and presented immediately.   Then guests entered a massive museum level installation of modern masters of photography, including Melanie Pullen and David LaChapelle.  Fourteen of Pullens mural-sized works from the  High Fashion Crime Scenes series prevailed with their shocking, sensuous and humorous portrayals from NY-LAPD archives.  Seven pieces from a new series of LaChapelles work was shown which will premiere in January 2014 at New Yorks Paul Kasmins Gallery.  Other artists on exhibit included: Petra Cortright, Young Jake, Robert Montgomery, Ben Jones, Hunter and Gatti, Greg Lotus, Vance Lorenzini, among others.  The exhibition was curated by Flaunts Matthew Bedard.   Following Beecrofts performance, guests were swept into the gigantic 3P Productions sound studio-turned-mega-club where Kendrick Lamar, took to the stage and performed into the wee morning hours.   The next evening was both art, music and celebrity driven with a special performance by Balthazar Getty and his new project, The Wow, Chrome Hearts heiress Jessie Jo Stark also performed with her band.   Robert Montgomery ignited his fire poem, which was photographed by Hunter and Gatti for Flaunt’s January cover.  In the midst of it all, David Arquette and girlfriend  Christina McLarty referenced her new baby-bump.   Guests included: Rose McGowan, Diesel, Margiela and Victor and Rolf owner, Renzo Rosso, Chrome Hearts Laurie Lynn and Richard Stark, Timo Weiland and Alan Eckstein, sisters Christina and Cecilia Getty, Robert Peter Miller, Fernando Mastrangelo, Flaunt Editor Luis Barajas, Brandi Reddick and Maximilian Lecki,  Mary Jo and Michael Shore, John Hall Nelson, Nina Johnson-Milewski and Daniel Milewski, Marcella and Daniel Novela, Tara and Jack Benmeleh, Ariel Burman, Tali Jaffe, Migel Halebu, Zachary Scott and Santiago Ynigo, Elliot Leiva, Erica Freshman, Lyly Villanueva, Bobby Heller and Charlie Shahim, Jimmy Sommers, among many others.   Guests again returned to the 3P sound studio for the evenings epiphany, a performance by Darkside with musical prodigy Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington. Champagne poured freely long into the morning hours for an incomparable Art Week Miami fetè. It youve got it, FLAUNT-IT!!!

 

       

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