Fairy Tale Fantasies; " Black Antoinette " by Olaf Hajek

Black Antoinette is a collection of Olaf Hajek's most recent work that was created over the last three years - a striking selection of personal artwork, editorial contracts, and commercial portraits that showcase a remarkable style that has become more free and painterly during this time. His  colorful illustrations and textured paintings are infused with a folkloristic naivety and freshness. The German artist masterfully melds influences from West African and Latin American art to create surreal juxtapositions of fairy tale fantasies and disordered realities.

Based in Berlin, Olaf Hajek is currently one of the world's most successful and well-known illustrative artists. His work can be seen in newspapers including the New York Times and the Washington Post, in magazines such as Rolling Stone and Time, in advertisements, and on stamps for Great Britain's Royal Mail. Over the last several years his personal work has captured increasing attention on the international art market. After exhibitions in London, New York, Atlanta, Buenos Aires, and Cape Town, Olaf Hajek's artworks are now on view at Gestalten Space in Berlin.

This exhibit also celebrates the launch of Olaf Hajek's second monograph Black Antoinette.

The exhibit

 © African Beauty, 2011 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

 © African Nature Man, 2011 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

 © Milagros, 2010 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

 © Milagros 2, 2010 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

 © Chopin, 2009 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

 © REM, 2011 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

 © Tree of Ancient Times, 2011 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

© Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, 2011 by Olaf Hajek. Courtesy of Gestalten

Black Antoinette by Olaf Hajek

Illustrations from the book

Images Courtesy of Gestalten

Black Antoinette, The Work of Olaf Hajek will be released in August in the US.
Courtesy of Gestalten, Berlin.

HEY 'YA (Let's Go): Arab Women in Sport by Brigitte Lacombe

In celebration of the 2012 London Olympics, Hey 'Ya: Arab Women in Sport, the first exhibition by the renowned French photographer Brigitte Lacombe with the documentary film-maker Marian Lacombe, will be on view at Sotheby's Gallery, London from July 25 to August 11, 2012.

Commissioned by Qatar Museums Authority, this timely exhibition is a visual exploration of Arab women in sport, and features a new series of large-scale photographs by Brigitte Lacombe of more than 50 women athletes, from beginners to Olympians, from 20 different Arab countries, shown alongside videos by her sister, Marian Lacombe, which situate images within the women's personal histories and a wider - often unspoken - discourse of gender, culture and sport in the Arab world.

The project, shot over a period of seven months, began in December 2011, in the Athletes Village at the Arab Games in Doha, where Brigitte and Marian Lacombe set up their own outdoor studio, working side by side. Thereafter they travelled working with women athletes of all ages and levels of achievement in countries from the Gulf to North Africa. With the support of Qatar's Aspire program, which promotes sporting opportunities for young people, they also worked with the talented younger generation of sporting hopefuls.

Hey 'Ya: Arab Women in Sport

 Basketball player Amal Mohammad Awad, from Qatar
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

 Equestrian Dalma Malhas, from Saudi Arabia
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

 Athlete Feta Ahamada, from Cormoros
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

 Basketball player Miriam Hussein, from Somalia
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

Swimmer Nada Mohammed Wafa Arakji, from Qatar
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

 Fencer Sarra Besbes, from Tunisia
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

Athletics Team from Sudan
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

Tennis player Olla Mourad, from Qatar
Photograph © Brigitte Lacombe / Qatar Museums Authority

Courtesy of the artist / Qatar Museums Authority / Sotheby's Gallery, London

He 'Ya Arab Women in Sport

Sotheby's Gallery, London

July 25 - August 11, 2012

Prêt-à-Papier or Couture Paper: The Exquisite Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave

For over 15 years, inspired by the rich history of fashion represented in European paintings, famous costumes in museum collections, and haute couture designs, the Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave has turned her passion for painting toward the recreation of elaborate costumes - crumpling, pleating, painting, and sculpting the surface of ordinary paper - to achieve the effect of textiles and create the illusion of haute couture.

A selection of iconic dresses, reinterpreted in trompe l'oeil paper masterpieces is presented in the exhibition Prêt-à-Papier: The Exquisite Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave, currently on view for the first time at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens in Washington, DC. More than 25 of de Borchgrave's quintessential interpretations of historical costumes and haute couture dresses, with six new pieces made for this exhibition, including one commissioned solely for Hillwood will be on display.

From the lavish apparel of the Russian imperial family and 18th century French aristocracy to turn-of-the-century fashion designers Mariano Fortuny and Charles Frederick Worth, discover the extraordinary paper sculptures of Isabelle de Borchgrave.

Prêt-à-Papier: The Exquisite Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave

Installation view

  Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

 Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

Pompadour Dress
 Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

Pink Dress, costume realized at the occasion of the installation of the Marie Antoinette Bathroom at the Palace of Versailles. Inspired by ca. 1776 engraving in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

 Ballerine, Black with Red Ribbons
Photo © Pauline de Borchgrave
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

 Callot Soeurs Dress based on c. 1908 design
Photo © Andreas von Einsiedel
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

 Fortuny Light Green Dress
Photo © Alain Speltdoorn
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

Fortuny Orange Dress, after late 19th century design

Photo © Jean-Pierre Gabriel

Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

 Lanvin Dress based on 1924 period in spirit of Chinese prints and lacquers. painted to resemble diamanté and bead embroidery
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

Peter the Great dress based on c. 1730 design

Photo © Andreas von Einsiedel

Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

 French 18th Century dress à la Polonaise. The patterns come from a costume at the Kyoto Costume Institute and the shape of the dress is from an etching by Antoine-Jean Ducios, c.1760, based on a painting by Augustin de Saint-Aubin
Photo © Alain Speltdoorn
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museums and Gardens

© Créations Isabelle de Borchgrave

Redfern Dress based on 1924 Redfern ofLondon dress

Courtesy of the artist and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Washington, DC

Prêt-à-Papier: The Exquisite Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave

June 16 - December 30, 2012

Sophie Calle; For the Last and First Time

I went to Istanbul. I spoke to blind people, most of whom had lost their sight suddenly. I asked them to describe the last thing they saw.
~~ Sophie Calle

La Dernière Image (The last Image), realized in 2011 in Istanbul, once named the "city of the blind", gives voice to men and women who have lost their sight and asks them to describe the last image they remember, their last memory of the visible world.

The new solo exhibition by the French conceptual artist Sophie Calle Pour la dernière et pour la première fois (For the Last and First Time) is currently on view, alongside a series of recent films, Voir la mer (See the sea) from the lens of Caroline Champetier's camera, at Les Rencontres d'Arles, Chapelle Saint-Martin du Méjan, France.

For the Last and First Time is a heartbreaking exhibit. The photographs are so moving that you will have tears just by looking at them.

Born in 1953 in Paris, Sophie Calle's work, which combines image and narrative, amounts to a systematic laying bare of reality, whether it be her own or other people's, with a limited portion left to chance. Absence is a central theme in her work. She is now considered as one of the most important artists of our time.
Sophie Calle lives and works in Malakoff, France.

Courtesy of the artist, Les Rencontres d'Arles and Galerie Perrotin, Paris

Sophie Calle: Pour la dernière et pour la première fois (For the Last and First Time)

Chapelle du Méjan, Arles
July 2 - September 2, 2012

Yiqing Yin; Spring of Nüwa

Another fabulous couture collection by the Paris-based designer Yiqing Yin.  After In Carne showed on January, Spring of Nüwa, Yin's new Autumn-Winter 2012-13 collection re-imagines the female form in a world of purely mineral and vegetable composition.

Light cascades of satin and muslin offer oblique suggestions of chasteness through their mounting layers. Skin is laid bare beneath pink-besprinkled tulle. Red remains pure. Silver and blue fade into one.

Yiqing Yin constructs her volumes through a series of metamorphoses enacted upon the body. Rough surfaces are honed and fluid materials sculpted in pursuit of the right weight. Garments are hand-made in Yin's studio, each bearing the mark of the designer's hand.

Yiqing Yin

Spring of Nüwa

Images copyright © Shoji Fujii

Courtesy of Yiqing Yin