newyorkcity

The action in Tribeca on Saturday night gave me a bit more proof that the art market is looking for a bounce. I attended an art show held by local artist Ben Krell and Lindsey Nobel, who came in from Los Angeles, and the action was palpable. At last count, six pieces sold at the event, and there were many serious buyers with an eye to add emerging artists to their collections again.

Krell and Nobel have vastly different styles, but the pieces complemented each other in the loft where the event, billed as an "open studio," was held. Krell's work through several periods was on display, from the tight geometric styles he favored several years ago to the organic approach he uses today. Nobel offered pieces using several media – including photography and plastic. Works by both artists captivated the guests who crowded the venue as the evening unfolded.

Nobel's work features intricate designs connecting larger abstract shapes that are based on photographs she has taken of sculptures. The intentional result is an interconnectedness reminiscent of neural networks, linking stations of consciousness into a greater, unified presence.

Unlike his partner at the event, Krell prefer broader, sweeping themes on his canvases (which he shapes himself). His latest movement evokes feelings of creation – in the cosmic sense – with concentrations of energy yielding to calming effects.

The Tribeca art exhibition was a trip home for Krell, who painted in that particular loft back in the 1990s. He also held a show there in September 2008, shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The mood couldn't have been more different this time around. Attendees were considerably more upbeat ... and in greater number. The sheer level of participation was enough to suggest that the art market is getting ready to turn, and the fact that several collectors made purchases reinforces the notion.

[Photo courtesy of Ben Krell]

If you live in the NYC metro area or will be visiting for the holiday season, and love chocolate, let me share with you a sweet spot I recently learned about: François Chocolate Bar. Famed pastry chef and chocolatier François Payard has teamed up with Parisian jeweler Mauboussin to open the François Chocolate Bar on the fourth floor of Mauboussin's Madison Avenue flagship boutique. Described by Payard as "a chocolate jewelry shop," the Chocolate Bar is entirely devoted to chocolate and features signature pastries from Payard as well as a new line of verrines, macaroons, and the "François Quatre Quarts" (pound cakes), along with hot chocolate, tea, coffee, and cappuccino. All the chocolate items are reasonably priced -- from $2.00 for the macaroons to $6.50 for the verrines. The Chocolate Bar also offers signature gifts.

The Chocolate Bar is running a special holiday promotion. Until December 24, customers who spend $100 or more at the store (or a bit more if ordering online) will receive a complimentary Payard signature Voyager Bag and a 15% discount at Mauboussin. One idea for how to ring up $100 is a gift basket. The Chocolate Bar's baskets range from $100 to $200, or you can customize one starting at $15. See the gallery for photos of the Chocolate Bar as well as four gift basket options.

François Chocolate Bar
714 Madison Ave. (between East 63rd and 64th Streets)
Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
212-759-1600

There are 11 tables of two and three seats at the bar. Save me a spot!

As New Yorkers pull out their sleeping bag jackets to weather the biting cold, and now the wave of winter rain, at least one friendly standby is here to mark the passage of the new season: the reopening of Park Avenue Winter. The decor of this New York institution, with crystal and glass chandeliers, white lacquered moldings, and lighting integrated with sparse birch branches, is one of the few things that can warm us up coming in from the cold. Add a fine vodka to your dinner, and you'll be set for the season.

Double Cross Vodka has teamed up with Park Avenue Winter to celebrate the restaurant's arrival. The gorgeous bottle reflects the restaurant's design: an icy white frost with silver snowflakes. But we really love what's inside: Double Cross is one of the purest spirits available on the market, expertly distilled seven times and filtered seven-times. This singular vodka is produced in the Slovak Republic, sourcing local winter wheat and mountain spring water, and distilled in a 13th century village in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains.

For the first time ever, Park Avenue Winter will offer a Tableside Ice Bar, featuring the exclusive winter bottle served with winter mixers: Citrus-Lemongrass, Bartlett Pear, and Lychee Elderflower. This exceptional bottle is the perfect complement to your wintertime meal, and the best way we know how to enjoy the chill.

Park Avenue Winter
100 East 63rd Street at Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212.644.1900 for reservations

Last week, The Strand, a boutique hotel recently opened in Manhattan's Fashion District, threw a party to celebrate the opening of it's glass-domed rooftop lounge. Friends, family and press sipped Champagne and stood with jaws dropped, staring at the incredible reach-out-and-touch-it view of the Empire State building just three blocks away.

The glass-roof is retractable (shown here open) and is one of just two in the city. The other covers Plunge, the rooftop bar at The Gansevoort Hotel further downtown in the Meatpacking District). The Strand's lounge is more intimate and filled with comfortable Asian-inspired plantings and banquets, the perfect spot to enjoy a drink at night's end. The lounge is The Strand's sexiest asset, the rooms, while fairly large by New York standards, are simply furnished.

The hotel will likely be hopping twice a year during Fashion Week. As a tip of the hat to the fashion crowd, the owners sourced vintage fashion shots from Condé Nast's archives and framed them in rooms and public spaces. So even if guest aren't a part of the fashion crowd, they can feel like they are. And a new, soon-to-be-opened ground-floor restaurant features a cozy two-sided fireplace, another great gathering spot for this mid-town hotel.

The listing calls it the "most stunning renovation you have ever seen." I'm not sure I'd go quite that far but a four-bedroom loft in New York City belonging to David Tutera is certainly done up within an inch of its life. The Real Estalker reveals that the ultra-popular wedding planner who has a show called My Fair Wedding appears to have picked up this loft in 2007 for $4,312,500. Tutera has clearly put a team of decorators to work on the look of this home. It's a vivid one. The kitchen has red lacquered walls, the living room includes a gold leafed stone fireplace with golden walls and the media room has an Asian cabinet wet bar, Chinese lacquer details and a screen and speakers installed on an hydraulic lift. The most colorful room might just be the master bedroom. It features a variety of colorful purple patterns including a glittery mosaic-look lavender and silver ceiling and a cushy eggplant couch. This home is listed at $5.675 million.

We've already covered the late great author Dominick Dunne's Connecticut retreat. That house, which hit the market at $2.1 million, was recently reduced to $1.495 million. The Real Estalker reveals that Dunne's estate has also put his New York City pied-a-terre up for sale. The one bedroom penthouse at 155 E. 49th Street is a little jewel box of a place with a wraparound terrace with room enough for entertaining, a small study and a living room with a wood-burning fireplace. The kitchen is miniscule and overall the rooms are small but it seems to still carry the genteel spirit of its former owner. The celadon-colored living room has French doors which open out onto the terrace. The bedroom has vivid blue wallpaper and on one wall a poster for one of his son Griffin's movies still hangs on the wall. This apartment is listed at $1.45 million.

Mackage is so pleased with sales in its first NYC pop-up boutique, in the Meatpacking District, that it has opened a second, this time in SoHo. Open through December, the store will carry the Canadian company's Fall/Winter '09 collection for men and women including butter-soft leather bombers, shearling styles, and its ever-popular Puffy down-filled winter coats. The line is popular with such celebrities as Hilary Duff, Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Hurley, Eva Mendes, Kristen Bell, Will.I.Am. and John Legend, to name a few. And a non-celebrity -- me. The coats are beautiful, practical, and better-priced than I expected for such style and quality. The SoHo store's details can be found in the photo above.

The Water/Bodies exhibit kicks off on December 21, 2009 at the Eden Rock Gallery. Located at the Eden Rock Hotel on St Barths, the gallery has hosted shows from the top artists in the world and those who will be in the next few years. The new show, curated by David Kratz, President of the New York Academy of Art, will no doubt be consistent with the gallery's fantastic reputation. This year, Eric Fischl and Jenny Saville, both Senior Critics at the Academy, will be among the Academy-affiliated artists showcasing their work at Eden Rock.

Each of the pieces at Eden Rock this winter will be related to the theme of nature, water and the body. Only small works will be displayed at this event, though a variety of media will be present, including oil, watercolor, drawing and sculpture.

Water/Bodies is the latest in an ongoing relationship between the Eden Rock Gallery and New York Academy of Art. The program includes an artist-in-residence program, in which up to 10 students or graduates of the Academy can visit St Barths and participate. Some of the proceeds from the sales at Water/Bodies will be used to support this program and others at the Academy. Past participants include Richard Prince, whose early 2008 show sold out before the opening.

While we're unlikely to see a replay of Prince's sales at Eden Rock this year, the art market is certainly better than what we saw late last year. Maybe collectors will go back to voting with their wallets.

Legwear and shapewear experts Sculptz made their NYC and U.S. debut earlier this month with an upscale cocktail party and display at The Glasshouses in Chelsea. What made this show special was that there was a mix of mannequins and live models, so you could really see how the products worked and ask the models questions about their outfits. Hosting the event were Sculptz president Jean P. Vernor and "tastemaker" and celebrity stylist Robert Verdi.

Scultptz, which makes products along the same line as that other shapewear company (beginning with an "S" and ending with an "x"), only less strangling, more affordable, more colorful, and more wearable, has been in business since 1974 and is headquartered in Philadelphia. All products are made in the U.S.A. I tried one of the products, and like the slogan says, it was so comfortable I did indeed forget I was wearing it. (When I tried that other brand, I wanted to pull it off as soon as I got in the door.)

The NYC event was titled "A Girl for All Seasons" and featured models dressed in Sculptz products, à la iconic '40s and '50s pinup girls, in displays that represented the four seasons. Another model walked the room and a sixth was in a classic evening display complete with faux fur rug and garter belt. (See the gallery.)

Sculptz products promise to "flatten the tummy, lift the rear, and slim the hips and thighs, while providing the freedom and confidence to wear everyday styles from day to night." The collection features shorts, sheers, tights, slips, body shapers, camis, bras, and briefs. There also are sexy thigh highs and pants-friendly trouser socks. New for fall 2009 are leggings and capris in lots of fun, autumnal colors as well as classics like red and black. All the colors feature clever names, too. Black is "A Girl's Best Friend," for example, while copper is "All Spiced Up" and white is "String of Pearls."

Sculptz prices range from $15 - $70. Products are available only online right now, although plans are in the works to be in retail stores soon. Sculptz also has sites in Britain and Canada.

Special for Luxist readers: Get 25% off Sculptz shapewear and legwear from Sunday, November 29, 2009, until Thursday, December 10, 2009. Just enter promo code B809 at Sculptz.com.

Too much Swarovski is never enough, especially during the holidays, when we all want sparkle. And during the holidays in New York City, the most popular sparkle can be found at Rockefeller Center, where each year gaggles of locals as well as tourists stop by to view the Christmas tree, which has been topped by a Swarovski star each year since 2004.

This year's star is 9½ feet in diameter, 1½ feet in depth, weighs a whopping 550 pounds, and comprises 25,000 crystals with 1,000,000 facets. The star is high-tech and low-cost (energy-wise): It has enhancements such as a new cutting-edge computerized lighting system and energy-efficient LED bulbs. The star's 12 rays are outfitted with 720 bulbs on 3,000 feet of wire to create a twinkling effect through customized light sequencing programmed by a complex computer system.

Rockefeller Center officially began the Tree Lighting Ceremony in 1933, when a Christmas tree was erected in front of the then-RCA Building and covered with 700 lights. This is the first year, however, that the Swarovski star will feature dynamic light movement. A team of nine artisans and engineers spent three months (1,200 hours) installing, programming, and testing the star to ensure the effects would withstand the challenging winter weather conditions 76 feet above Rockefeller Center.

A replica of the Swarovski Star will be on display in Rockefeller Center to allow visitors to get a closer view of the detailing and craftsmanship. Swarovski is even offering a selection of star-themed holiday jewelry and ornaments on sale at the Swarovski holiday kiosk at Rockefeller Center, at Swarovski boutiques nationwide, and online.

The 77th Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held on Wednesday, December 2, from 7-9 p.m. The ceremony will be televised live, locally on WNBC-TV from 7-8 p.m. and nationally on NBC from 8-9 p.m. Spectators can view the lighted tree each day from 5:30 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.; all day (24 hours) on Christmas Day; and from 5:30 a.m. - 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The last day to view the tree is January 7, 2010.

Sources: LuxuryLaunches.com and PR Newswire

The publicity may have slowed down, but Michael Jackson fans are still coming out in force. Several lots soundly beat presale estimates at an auction conducted by Julien's Auctions. The staples of Michael Jackson's image -- such as the famous white glove and the jacket from the "Bad" tour -- went under the gavel. A presale estimate for the entire auction of $80,000 to $100,000 quickly became irrelevant, as bidders sent prices into the stratosphere.

The white glove opened at $10,000 but went immediately to $120,000 before settling at the final price of $350,000 (not including fees and commissions). After all fees and taxes, Hong Kong businessman Hoffman Ma spent around $420,000 for the piece of Americana that Darren Julien, the auction house's CEO, describes as "the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson." It was expected to sell for $50,000.

The black jacket, with all the straps and zippers, that Jackson wore during his 1989 "Bad" tour, also made presale estimates pointless. It closed at $225,000 (before any fees or taxes), more than 20 times the expectation.

At the auction, held at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square, most of the 80 lots pertained to Michael Jackson, generally provided by friends and family who had received them as gifts. Other lots included a car driven by Jackson, a guitar once owned by David Bowie and memorabilia from the Beatles.

Ten artists found a way to make vacant commercial space incredibly exciting. I wandered by 25 Central Park West on a walk in my neighborhood a few days ago and saw artists inside. They were hard at work cleaning, preparing and hanging their pieces. Tapping on the window was one of my smartest moves this week. By doing so, I learned of a new exhibition, which opened Wednesday night. The show, 10 from 25: Emerging Artists using Photography, is set to run through December 13, 2009. It includes flat art and video, bringing to life an empty space in a part of Manhattan generally forgotten by the art community.

The artists, including Bess Greenberg, who gave me a tour of the space as she and the other artists prepared for opening night, have created an integrated show that doesn't sacrifice the message of each of the participants. So, in addition to a group exhibition, visitors are treated to 10 individual efforts, in which one can appreciate a specific style without having to cope with the intrusion of other pieces on his experience.

Firmdale Hotels, privately owned by husband and wife team Tim and Kit Kemp, opened its first hotel in the United States this fall in New York City's SoHo. The Crosby Street Hotel is located in the heart of SoHo between Prince, Spring and Lafayette streets and is bringing the duo's famous luxurious European style and long standing reputation for world class personal service to this side of the Atlantic. Their London properties are consistently on the Conde Nast Traveller's hot list for both the US and UK.

The interiors of the hotel are designed by Kit Kemp who has been responsible for the luxury group's design since its inception. She recently won the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year award and House & Garden Hotel Designer of the Year for her work on their Haymarket Hotel in London. She has brought her trademark quirky London style to the Crosby Street Hotel which was built from the ground up on the site of a vacant parking lot.

Inside guests will have their choice of 86 individually designed rooms and suites spread over 11 floors, each featuring floor-to-ceiling warehouse windows, a rarity in New York City. The hotel is also one of the most environmentally friendly hotels built in the United States and hopes to be one of the very first certified GOLD LEED hotels in New York. Guest rooms provide all the usual amenities found in a deluxe hotel including luxury linens, WiFi, flat screen tv and i-pod docking station. The public rooms of the hotel have there own unique features including:

• The Crosby Bar which stretches an entire city block
• A state of the art 99 seat screening room with orange leather Poltrona Frau chairs
• A private courtyard garden
• A personally selected art collection featuring a 10 foot high Juame Plensa sculpture, Peter Clark dog collage, mixed media pieces by Justine Smith and Jack Milroy, and oil paintings by Francois Bard

There is even a bespoke fragrance created for the hotel by acclaimed British perfumer Lyn Harris. The scent will be featured in all the hotel's toiletries free of charge to guests and available for purchase in the form of a scented candle.

Prices start at $525 a night but they are offering a special opening rate of $495 and up.

The Phillips de Pury auction on Thursday night raked in what once would have come from a single painting. Despite parading out pieces by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Richard Prince, the sale was good for a mere $7 million, with individual lots moving for prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thirty-nine went under the gavel, and eight didn't sell.

The Chelsea auction house lacks the savvy, knowledge and reach of Sotheby's and Christie's, so it had to lean on British art collector Charles Saatchi, who has agreed to complete most of his transactions through Phillips de Pury. In trade, subsidies from the auction house help keep access to Saatchi's gallery free.

Roughly a dozen of the lots came from Saatchi, while the others are said to have been rejected by Sotheby's and Christie's. In general, the pieces were "pretty skimpy," according to Manhattan art dealer Edward Tyler Nahem, who observes that the auction house "did pretty well with what they had."

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama was the top seller, with her painting "Infinity Nets (T.W.A.)" busting past its high-end presale estimate of $400,000 and settling at $842,500 (including fees). Kusama's performance follows a well-hyped exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery this year.