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Irish Examiner
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Dalí décor: Create home of your dreams with the surrealist interior design trend
Just when we might have thought maximalism couldn't take us anywhere more extravagant, along comes the for surrealist interiors with its liberal distribution of curios and the feeling you might have woken up on the set of a Wes Anderson film. Think Grand Budapest Hotel with its whimsical Belle Époque buildings and its colour palette of soft pastels and bold reds and purples, and plenty of curated clutter added in. La Doce Vitabailey 12-light pendant chandelier; €2,235.93, Modern surrealist interiors are more liveable than that, although the look lends itself better to larger spaces. But even in smaller rooms, it can make its presence felt, even if it's just a poster of Salvador Dalí's Lobster Telephone (€29.90, Etsy). Walls are always a good place to start, and what we hang on them puts the final touches to our interior design efforts. For high surrealist drama, try coming face-to-face with the Mona Lisa of interiors, Italian operatic soprano Lina Cavalieri, whose gaze fascinated Piero Fornasetti, founder of the luxury design company, who made it the motif for his wall plates. It's a collection of eight, which will set you back by the princely sum of €2,000 to bedeck your walls or use as a decorative element in tablescaping. Rockett St George's Striped Lips sofa inspired by Salvador Dali's original design; €905. When Palm Beach-based interior designer Jonathan Adler, who has a surrealist theme running through much of his homewares, was designing his Druggist porcelain tableware, he said that wherever he looked, he wanted to see eyes looking back at him. You'll see exactly what he means if you raise one of his elegant blue and white cups to your lips and find yourself eye-balling a bright blue peeper. It's a strange mix of beauty and slight discomfort, but, hey, welcome to surrealism. Quirky enough to create a conversational buzz without going too far, pieces start at £20, with an individual place setting consisting of dinner plate, dessert plate, soup bowl and cup and saucer costing £132. The Kensington, London shop is happy to quote in euro and help with shipping, or make a flying visit and browse in person some subtle surrealist-inspired textiles and accessories. Kukoon's Zebra print stairs runner makes a statement in a hallway; from €4.20 per foot. Parisian fabric house Pierre Frey has always produced designs on the arty side, so when they teamed up with interior designer Ken Fulk, who has bedecked the interiors of homes for the likes of Pharrell Williams and Gigi Hadid, the Surreal World Collection was the result. It's pared-back surrealism in a grey cotton velvet, which on close inspection is sketched with faces inspired by Salvador Dalí's 1941 Rothschild masked ball at the Hotel Del Monte in California. You really can't escape Dalí's influence if you embrace this trend, nor can you escape faces and parts thereof. Lips are also a theme. Design buffs will know Dalí's original red sofa design was inspired by the lips of Hollywood siren Mae West. Rockett St George's Striped Lips sofa is a variation on the theme of this boudoir-friendly seat, although they've given it a contemporary twist with monochrome upholstery featuring black diagonal bands, €905. Jonathan Adler's Druggist tableware citing the eye motif synonymous with surrealist art. Overhead, lighting takes on the surrealist's pastels with the La Doce Vitabailey 12 light pendant chandelier; €2,235.93, from Admittedly, it can be pricey, high-end stuff, but there are wallet-friendly options to explore, especially when it comes to another surrealist theme: Animals. Kukoon Rugs has a stair runner in a zebra print, €21 per five-metre run, and a rug version, €60. Creatures serving no purpose except to be looked at include the Deco gold gorilla ornament, €159, from EZ Living Interiors, which could be added to a coffee table and herded with their Origami black elephant statue, €49, and a wooden ram's head on a plinth, €119. Rams are a symbol of courage, and you might just need some for this trend, especially if you buy into the sartorial end. Ken Fulk's Surrealist Ball fabric for Pierre Frey; €218.37 (ex Vat) per metre. Serviceable footwear company Birkenstock eyed up an opportunity to collaborate with fashion brand Opening Ceremony to celebrate the surrealist art of René Magritte. Taking his Le Faux Miroir as inspiration, they've applied a staring, heavily lashed eye to the Boston clog. The Irish Museum of Modern Art and Cork's Vibes & Scribes sell the Sole-Adore Dalí socks with a cartoonish rendition of the artist's face positioned just above the ankle; €10.50. Add a pair to the Birkenstocks for the socks-and-sandals look beloved of dads everywhere.
The Guardian
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Tate Modern at 25: ‘It utterly changed the face of London'
Opening night at Tate Modern, 25 years ago this May, was the kind of party that defines an era. Stars of the arts world and politics, including prime minister Tony Blair, attended. All of them were dwarfed by a giant spider – Louise Bourgeois's visiting sculpture – perched on the gangway over the vast, packed Turbine Hall. For Alex Beard, particular joyous moments still stand out, but not just from the evening: 'It was a remarkable night, but I most clearly remember the first morning, 12 May, when I walked around outside, really early doors, and saw people lining up right around the building. I talked to the first person in the queue, who told me this was something they'd been waiting for all their life,' recalls Beard, who was deputy director of Tate. 'The queen had officially opened the building with the words, 'I declare the Tate Modern open', adds Beard, remembering how Nicholas Serota, the director and the driving force behind the venture, discreetly winced at the monarch's use of the definite article. This was simply Tate Modern. 'The last gallery proposed for London was in 1936, so this one took a long time coming,' says Beard, who now runs the Royal Opera House. 'There were worries about funding, and a moment when we discovered some asbestos in the Turbine Hall, but our most spectacular inaccuracy was in the projection of business for the first year. 'We thought there might be two million visitors, and it was more than double that.' Last week, the gallery, built inside the brick hulk of a former power station on the south bank of the Thames in London, revealed plans to mark its anniversary with a 'birthday weekender' of events. It will host a free celebration of visual art, live music and performance, running from 9 to 12 May. Bourgeois's spider will be back, as it was in 2007, and in honour of an eventful quarter-century, a trail of 25 art works is being installed around the galleries, featuring modern art landmarks such as Andy Warhol's images of Marilyn Monroe and Salvador Dalí's Lobster Telephone. Art historian Tim Marlow, director and chief executive of the Design Museum, feels that another party is justified. 'Tate Modern has utterly changed the face of London's museums. We didn't have a separate museum for modern art and it pretty quickly gained status, up alongside Moma [the Museum of Modern Art in New York] and the Pompidou [in Paris], even if there are some questions about its collections.' It is, Marlow believes, everything Tate wanted it to be, although the original Tate Britain – on the other side of the river – may have suffered at its expense. 'Tate Modern was the result of a series of things happening, not just one key moment,' says Beard. 'There was the lottery money, of course, then all those 'YBA' graduates of Michael Craig-Martin's at Goldsmiths College, as well as Charles Saatchi collecting at Boundary Road, and then all the new technology, turning us into a more visually aware nation. All that came together to create a gallery that could further energise what was going on.' But the chill March wind also brings sobering news. Tate, the parent organisation, is now in serious survival discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is banking on central government coming to the rescue while it looks for a 'financially viable model'. The most recent annual report also reveals that trustees have approved a deficit budget for this financial year. So while Tate Modern may have held on to its high place in the annual popularity rankings for British visitor attractions, released on Friday, it does face a dilemma. The Tate's four galleries have jointly lost 2.7 million visitors in five years, according to Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva) figures. Tate Modern is in fourth place with 4.6 million visitors, 3% fewer than last year and 25% down on 2019. Only Windsor and the Natural History Museum lie between it and the British Museum, in the top spot again. Its neighbour up the river, the Southbank Centre, also celebrating 25 years since it was significantly overhauled, lies just behind in fifth. As some other attractions return to pre-pandemic visitor levels, the original site, Tate Britain, is still down 32% on 2019, though up a bit on last year. The financial lifeline discussions and visitor figures come after recent reports outlining plans to cut staffing numbers by 7%. Alva's director, Bernard Donoghue, suspects that Tate 'has been heavily dependent on overseas visitors', and so is being hit by the comparative lack of Chinese tourists since the pandemic. Tate points out that 2019 was a record-breaking year as Tate Modern pushed the British Museum out of first place in Britain for the first time in nine years on the Art Newspaper's annual survey of international museums and galleries. The success was chiefly down to the appeal of its acclaimed 2018 Picasso exhibition. Alison Cole, a former editor of the Art Newspaper who now directs the Cultural Policy Unit, a new thinktank, believes that renewal – and money to carry it out – is now vital: 'Tate is not alone in facing these issues, and it has to manage many sites in terms of attracting visitors. 'It's hard to continually reinvigorate yourself; it is a question now of renewal. Many institutions are feeling their age since that big museum expansion at the turn of the millennium, not only in terms of deteriorating buildings but also flagging staff morale when finances are under strain.' Cole's thinktank would like to see a temporary switch in the way lottery funds are distributed, in an effort 'to help these great organisations put themselves on a sustainable footing'. The first Tate Gallery at Millbank was founded in 1897 by the sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate to champion British art. Away from the action in a residential area and with a limited collection of foreign and modern works, it wasn't until the 1980s that it became a prominent feature of the art world. Its creation of the Turner prize in 1984 brought it – and the modern art world – much needed publicity and controversy. Then the appointment of Serota as its director four years later changed its fortunes. 'Right from the beginning, on a crisp, two-sided application for the job, Serota laid out his vision,' says Beard. 'He has got the most fantastic 60,000ft view of the role art plays in society and also knows how to get things done, with incredible attention to detail.' Now in the hot seat as chair of Arts Council England, Serota is becoming accustomed to less enthusiastic praise, after criticism of the organisation's most recent round of cuts. Children and young adults were at the heart of the new Tate Modern gallery 'from the get-go', explains Beard. The idea was to avoid the atmosphere of a reverent temple to the arts. 'The entrance into the Turbine Hall was that liminal space between the city and the museum and part of the whole philosophy. It established what was so different about Tate Modern. 'It was genuinely groundbreaking in its relationship with the city. The bridge over to St Paul's was conceived really early on and it caused a great opening up of the river. It's ridiculous to think you couldn't walk along it easily then. It has helped London develop its confidence, to become one of the greatest cities in the world, rather than the dysfunctional capital of a lost power.' The two sides of the river have since reached a fairer balance, putting the Thames back at the centre of the city. 'I was recently on the Southbank and it was heaving,' says Marlow. 'Before, there was a sense that all the arts happened north of the river. Now it is a vibrant cultural corridor. And it seems incredible that a city with so much major art being produced in it didn't have a separate museum for modern art until 2000.'
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tate Modern's 25th Birthday Bash Is Sponsored by Uniqlo
YOU'RE INVITED: Tate Modern is going big for its 25th birthday bash. From May 9 to 12, the London museum will throw a free, weekend-long party in partnership with Uniqlo, where visitors can eat, drink and purchase Uniqlo products, including limited-edition T-shirts. 'Tate Modern's birthday isn't just a moment to reflect on 25 years at the cutting edge — it's a chance to keep pushing artistic boundaries and to give a platform to the next generation. Our birthday weekend will be a truly public celebration of art and creativity to which everyone is invited,' said Karin Hindsbo, Tate Modern's director. More from WWD Shein, Chanel, Hermès Buck Apparel Market Slowdown Johnnie Walker Distills Kelly Wearstler, Gabriel Moses, Yoyo Cao Into Drink Koibird Shuts E-commerce, Focuses on London Store Like all good parties, there's an activity for everyone. There will be headline music acts and various art performances, talks, workshops and tours. There will also be tarot readings and film screenings. Products will be available to purchase from Uniqlo's pop-up shop at Tate Modern. Open from May 5 to Sept. 16, the store will offer an exclusive line of T-shirts and customization options. Graphic Ts will be printed with artwork from the Tate's collection, ranging from Salvador Dalí's seminal Lobster Telephone to cool contemporary work from Ayoung Kim. 'This deep relationship with one of the world's greatest museums is an expression of the Uniqlo LifeWear philosophy of Art for All,' said Koji Yanai, group senior executive officer of Fast Retailing Co. Ltd., Uniqlo's holding company. 'We look forward to welcoming customers into the first Uniqlo Tate Shop, Art for All, where they can experience an in-store arts program alongside our LifeWear products,' he added. Uniqlo and Tate Modern are no strangers to highbrow collaborations. The brand recently released its latest capsule with JW Anderson, while Gucci sponsored Tate Modern's 'Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet' exhibition, which closes on June 1. Best of WWD John Travolta's Daughter Ella Bleu Travolta's Style Through the Years: From Lagerfeld Model to Red Carpet Fixture, Photos Every Celebrity Skims Campaign: Kim Kardashian, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and More [PHOTOS] Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost's Red Carpet Couple Style Through the Years: Photos
