Project Runway Designers Visit SoCal Desert

Fashion and reality television collided in a good way at Fashion Week El Paseo in Palm Desert last week. The most anticipated runway show featured six former Project Runway competitors, with Coachella Valley resident and Project Runway alum Michael Costello the brightest star. Costello was instrumental in lining up the designers, along with Palm Springs Life Magazine Fashion Editor Susan Stein. Participating with Costello were Mila Hermanovski, Seth Aaron, Joshua Christensen, Michael Drummond, Gordana Gehlhausen.

The designers wowed the standing room only crowd at the runway show with their original collections.

Costello is always a favorite with his local peeps, and he didn't disappoint with his signature draping and sleek designs.

Designer Seth Aaron's collection was audacious with his punk sensability, 50's French style theme, and pop art inspired fabrics.

Possibly the most fun of the entire week was the Project Runway trunk show where fans and fashionistas had an opportunity to browse the collections, try on pieces, meet the designers and have one-on-one consultations.

Business was brisk for most of the designers as a steady stream of customers packed the tent, trying on pieces and being measured for orders.

Costello catered to new and old customers, many pleasantly surprised by his reasonable prices.

Art Bikes

Why limit yourself to art works that hang on a wall?

Lab Art, a gallery known for its focus on street art, teamed up with Sole Bicycles to create custom designed fixed bicycles by 12 influential street artists including AJL, Chad Muska, Common Cents, Cyrcle, Desire Obtain Cherish, GoodBoy, Gregory Siff, KH No. 7, LOUIS XXX, Mar, Septerhed, and Thank You X. The one-of-a-kind designs were part of the Fixed Bicycles & Canvas exhibit that opened last September.

The custom art bikes retail for about $950 to $1200. If interested in viewing, taking a test ride or purchasing any of the bikes still available, they're at Lab Art on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. More info at http://www.labartgallery.com/.

$10 Million Dollar Rock

"Rock Star" takes on new meaning for a 340-ton boulder that arrived to cheering crowds this week at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) after a painstainkingly slow eleven day journey from a quarry in Riverside.

Along the approximate 60 mile passage, thousands of people lined the route and visited the pre-arranged stopping points as the rock passed through 22 communities. One man proposed to his girlfriend with the two-story high rock in a massive custom built carrier as a backdrop. Doesn't sound too romantic, but I guess they'll always remember that moment.This isn't the first time a rock garnered widespread attention bordering on hysteria. For about six months in the 70's Pet Rocks became a craze, although Pet Rocks cost about four bucks a piece.

This is certainly not your grandmother's pet rock. The cost of the LACMA rock is expected to exceed $10 million which has many questioning the wisdom of such an expense during economic trying times, indeed questioning whether it's art at all. But not earth artist Michael Heizer, who has been searching for the perfect giant boulder more than 40 years when he originally came up with the idea for a creation called "Levitated Mass."

He found the Riverside rock about six years ago and the logistical nightmare moved forward with the help of private donors who don't mind spending millions on.... huh... a rock. Heizer says the rock will be placed over a trench allowing visitors to walk underneath and experience the illusion that it is floating above them.

This is not Heizer's first large scale work utilizing the earth itself. That's what he does. "I think earth is the material with the most potential because it is the original source material," he says.
He has been working on a major project called "City" in the Nevada desert near his home for decades. It's not finished or open to the public yet but photos show more than a mile of desert landscape draped with pyramid style buildings, modernist "complexes."

The cost of "City" is in the neighborhood of $25 million. Heizer is an artist who doesn't let expensive production costs of his projects get in the way. "As long as you're going to make a sculpture, why not make one that competes with a 747, or the Empire State Building, or the Golden Gate Bridge," he says.

Heizer told Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for The New York Times, he never finished high school and was a "straight F student." Time will tell what grade "Levitated Mass" deserves. LACMA Director Michael Govan is excited the rock is finally at the museum. "It's great," he says, "a real gift for the public."

Metal Man

One of my favorite artists is Eric Banas. Here he is working at his studio in Joshua Tree.

I tracked him down after seeing his Metal Man sculpture - a magnificent, towering piece - at the Joshua Tree Music Festival last year.He lives and works at his home in Joshua Tree, where his whole family is engaged in artistic endeavors that reflect a love and respect for the environment.

Most of Banas' works are created with recycled and reclaimed materials. His youngest son is also experimenting in the artistic realm with recycled materials, and his oldest son is a musician who killed it on the drums when I was there.His wife, Michele, keeps everything humming on the business side and on their website. Speaking of their website, it's http://www.labonetto.com/. La Bonetto is about a "family concept of working together to create a more balanced way of life." That's what I love about this family. They all embrace artistic expression and strive to live each day with an eye toward innovation, creativity and discovery.
Eric's talent extends beyond any single media or method. Aside from his extensive metal work (including sculptures and fabrications), he paints, makes furniture, designs architectural detail work, and creates beautiful mosaics. One of Eric's metal sculptures is now on display at a Spring Exhibition called "Desert Wildflowers: Kaleidoscope of Colors" at the Twentynine Palms Visitors Center, 73484 29 Palms Hwy, Twentynine Palms. The exhibit runs through May 31.

Check out all of Eric's work at http://www.labonetto.com/.

PS Art Museum in Palm Desert

I had the opportunity to enjoy a sneak peak of the new Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert the other night.

Greeting me inside the door was one of the centerpieces of the opening exhibit, Cybele, a monumental bronze seated figure by Auguste Rodin, ca 1890. The piece by the French artist is the perfect introduction to the exhibit on the history of sculpture in the modern era.

Moving into the open gallery, there's a sense of whimsical fun with Robert Therrien's pop art piece, No Title (stacked plates, butter), 2007.

The main room and smaller, connecting galleries will expand on the exhibit with works by other important artists of the twentieth century including Edgar Degas, Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Antony Gormley, Claes Oldenburg, Bettina Pousttchi, and many more.

"Ongoing and temporary exhibitions of internationally important art in different media" are planned for the 8,400 square foot building, according to the museum's website.

A key component of the new museum site is an ambitious education program with school tours, artist demos, family affairs, film screenings, and other community-minded events.

Finishing touches were still underway during my visit.
The museum will open to the public March 15. Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert, The Galen, 72-567 Highway 111, Palm Desert. Located at Entrada del Paseo at the western most intersection of Highway 111 and El Paseo. 760-346-5600. http://www.psmuseum.org/