People in Denmark are reportedly the happiest people in the world. Some say it's their generous vacation policy, other say it's due to the high percentage of people who ride bikes. I think it's because they figured out how to capture the rainbow.  All references to Skittles aside, this art installation, Rainbow Panorama by Olafur Eliasson, is a circular structure that allows people to move through and experience views of the surrounding area through the colors of the rainbow.  Eliasson says,  “Your rainbow panorama enters into a dialogue with the existing architecture and reinforces what is assured beforehand, that is to say the view of the city. I have created a space which virtually erases the boundaries between inside and outside – where people become a little uncertain as to whether they have stepped into a work or into part of the museum. This uncertainty is important to me, as it encourages people to think and sense beyond the limits within which they are accustomed to moving”.

The Rainbow Panorama installation, on top of the ARos Arhaus Kunstmuseum in Denmark, made me think about the famous saying: 'looking at the world through rose colored glasses.' As we move into a new year, are we coloring our view of ourselves? Other people? Our world? And if I look through the green section of this panorama, can I help the world truly become a healthier place? If I spend time in the yellow section, can I share more happiness? 

Yes, the colors of our accessories are chosen based on seasons and trends, but we also choose them because we believe the right color at the right time can change your mood.  A color can bring back a memory or be integral in forming one.  Here's hoping you find your rainbow in 2012! Live colorfully :)

In 2005 “The Gates,” designed by the famous artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude, filled Central Park’s 23 miles of pathways with 7,500 saffron colored portals. Echo was asked to make a scarf to coincide with The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit of Christo’s drawings of this project.  Sarah Frank, one of Echo’s senior designers, created a magnificent scarf that was technically difficult to achieve. The scarf has 22 screens showing an actual Christo drawing, a sketch of the elevations and an astonishingly close reproduction of the actual fabric. We are very proud to have been asked to produce this scarf, and know that in some way we were all involved in a part of history and this once-in-a-lifetime project.

Christo has just received clearance to pursue his next project, tentatively titled "Over the River."  His works often need government approval due to the local environmental, economic and aesthetic impact.  This is an intentional side effect, he said in a recent New York Times article: "Every artist in the world likes his or her work to make people think. Imagine how many people were thinking, how many professionals were thinking and writing in preparing that environmental impact statement.”

 "Over the River" will be an installation suspended over 5.9 miles of the Arkansas River in Southwest Colorado. As with "The Gates" Christo will use panels of fabric, in this case 8 panels in blue.  Some of the reasons for concern as a result of the installation would be the effects on the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep native to the area, as well as potentially hazardous tourism access via a narrow canyon highway. Christo's sketch of the final work is below and his site provides a great virtual tour of a recent exhibit of more drawings from this new project as well as from his drafts for "The Gates." 

661,509 fans viewed Alexander McQueen's retrospective (1992-2010) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 4 months the exhibit ran. The Savage Beauty exhibit was one of the biggest exhibits in the Met's history. Because of it's popularity, there is currently a push for the exhibit to tour and at the least reside temporarily in McQueen's hometown of London. So if you missed the experience in New York, watch for news on another viewing location.  As Echo's Senior design manager Sarah Frank points out in her assessment of the exhibit below, McQueen's work isn't just clothing design, it's art.  And art deserves to be shared and experienced. For that reason, we hope the quest for a global tour is successful. In the meantime, metmuseum.org has thoroughly comprehensive look at the exhibit as a whole, as well as with in-depth analysis of particular works, as seen in the video here http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/video/ narrated by Andrew Bolton, the curator of the Met's costume institute and of the exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.  Here is one designer's view of the exhibit:

"I have seen some of the greatest fashion retrospectives over the years: Yves St. Laurent, Christian LaCroix curating the Musee De La Mode in Paris, Poiret at the Met and Fortuny in Venice.  All were splendid but Savage Beauty by Alexander McQueen at The Met show wins the gold.

McQueen was a visionary who combined themes from history, literature and nature with the talent of a sculptor. Imagine a Victorian style jacket made from yoga mats covered in embroidered chinese flowers made from raffia. Another piece of chinoiserie is a dress made from 100 abalone shells that have been wired together like giant paillettes and partially covered with an embroidered sheath.

The title of the show is Savage Beauty which is very apt. There is a tortured opulence about the clothes and accessories. Many garments are created with vast amounts of shredded fabrics, fringes and feathers which creates an eerie volume. There are heavy sculptural accessories which look like they could pierce through your skin were you to wear them.  Even classic McQueen tartans are slashed and pieced with lace and tuille in a collection called 'highland rape' which is a nod to McQueen's native Scotland.

The curation is beautiful. The rooms are dark with lugubrious music playing. The mannequins are battered and patched in contrast to the opulant garments.  All the shredded dresses have fans behind them to illuminate the movement in these pieces.  All the accessories are housed in dark wood cubbies which run floor to ceiling in a room that resembles a Victorian cabinet of curiosities.

Fashion can be fun, fabulous and a chronicle of history. Rarely is it art. But, this show proves fashion can be art. Savage Beauty is a tribute to the tortured genius with a visionary approach to clothing."

As you may notice, we have quite a few batik pieces in our spring and summer collections this year. The pattern is quite popular in fashion (scarves, swim suits, beach dresses and coverups, umbrellas, etc.) as well as in all kinds of wrapping papers, wallpapers, bedding, fabrics etc.  Since print, pattern and color is our mantra, the process of creating a batik pattern as well as the pattern's rich cultural significance presents an especially wonderful and powerful story.  In October of 2009 the batik pattern was officially recognized by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization as an 'intangible world heritage'.  Indonesia also erected the first and only Batik museum in 2006 to preserve and chronicle the method of creating a batik pattern as well as to honor the people responsible for continuing such amazing handcrafted art.

Batik can be defined by many different patterns but the look is quite immediately identifiable much like a hawaiian shirt. However, Batik holds more of a global cultural significance because it appears in the traditional and ceremonial dress of many countries, foremost in Indonesia but also in China, Japan, Africa and India.  The batik method can be seen in textiles and art as far back as Egyptian times but a batik pattern always utilizes imagery meaningful in that culture. For example, Chinese batik uses the phoenix, Japanese uses cherry blossoms, Indian uses peacocks and lotus flowers, African uses seed pods, etc. The word batik is from the (Indonesian) Javanese words amba ('to write') and titik ('dot' or 'point') which both refer to the signature lines and dots as well as the method of creating a batik pattern. Batik is basically a resist-dye process using hot wax in which one can either draw or write with the wax onto areas of a handdrawn pattern so that when the fabric is submerged in dye, these areas remain color free.   African batik uses flour and water mixture instead of the wax used by other cultures. Once the fabric is dried in the sun, the wax can be scratched or carved away to create a pattern. The process is repeated several times to create a more intricate design of layers of color and pattern. Modern production of batik designs does not use wax resist-dye method since it is such a time consuming process but also because the results are rarely colorfast. The batik patterns that Echo creates are designed in reverance of the traditional process but updated to endure multiple washing and wearabilty.

Most batik patterns signify status, lineage or honor religious iconography. In Indonesia, kebaya is the word for every day clothing and traditionally, batik was worn as a keybaya sarong but it is also on shirts and hats.  The Batik pattern on keybaya often carried a message. The symbols on an infant's batik sling are designed to bring the child luck. Certain batik designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms, as well as their families. The dead are shrouded in funerary batik. A sultan would wear a batik different than his attendants: wider stripes or wavy lines indicated higher rank. Colors are also a very important part of the message.  Javanese traditional batik is made in the colors of indigo, dark brown, and white, which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahma, Visnu, and Siva). For special occasions, batik was decorated with gold leaf or dust. This cloth is known as prada (a Javanese word for gold) cloth. Gold decorated cloth is still made today; however, gold paint has replaced gold dust and leaf.

In Indonesia today a batik is worn by men on more formal occasions, even in place of a suit & tie. Batik is also considered formal attire for women as well.   In recognition of the UNESCO acknowledgement, wearing batik every friday is encouraged in all government offices and private companies.

We love the batik pattern for its complexity and for its history and we've designed our pieces with a fun, trendy and modern woman in mind. The exotic blend of the rich colors of the batik patterns are the perfect look for our well-traveled fashionistas - for vacation and for every day kebaya. Batik is more than your average pattern. We hope it inspires you too!

This digitally animated video was created by Candaş Şişman who was inspired by the work of Ilhan Koman, a Turkish sculptor and artist. Şişman used the structural features of such Koman works as Pi, 3D, Moebius, Whirlpool and To Infinity... as a starting point and Flux became a "morphological transformation which re-interprets (his) formal approach." Koman's original works ranged from large outdoor metal monuments (To Infinity.... - which is currently in Istanbul) to smaller sculptures (3-D Moebius) which implied motion and movement but were ultimately static works. Şişman interprets this implied motion, changes the medium and visualizes one form into the next by using the mathmatical relationships between them. The result is a strangely beautiful, fluid display of a shape that changes its look and emotion from soft and smooth to fractured and textured; from overwhelmingly fast to gentle and shy. The effect is startling and exciting, provocative and eerie - all at once. Koman's work remains mostly in Turkey and in Sweden, where also remains his artist studio and family home, aboard the ship Hulda, which he retrofitted to live and work in. The ship is currently sailing around the world as the "Hulda Festival: A journey into art and science" featuring works inspired by Koman who died in 1986.

F L U X from candas sisman on Vimeo.

Above left: Ilhan Koman 2006-07 MONUMENT: TO INFINITY…   

Above right: Ilhan Koman 1980-86 3-D MOEBIUS DERIVATIVES & PYRAMIDS

Echo is proud to congratulate Nadia Klionsky Olidort for receiving the Florence and Irwin Zlowe Memorial Award for her painting "Reflections."  The award was given by the The National Association of Women Artists which was founded in 1889 and is the oldest professional women's fine art organization in the United States. Nadia has been a studio artist at Echo for 9 years working with our designers by painting and preparing artwork for Echo's scarf collections.

This painting “Reflections”  is oil on canvas, as most of her other works are.  While traveling through Maine and the greater New England some years ago, Nadia said "I was struck by the remarkable similarity between Cathedral woods on Monhegan Island and the Russian countryside where I spent many summer growing up. I'm engrained in this reminiscence, this reminder of the relativity of time that I try to convey."

Nadia was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she began her art training at a school affiliated with the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. After immigrating with her family to the United States she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where she continued her studies with an emphasis on landscape painting. Nadia said "As far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated by nature- its majesty, mystery, and above all else, the absolute sense of timelessness. I have been enchanted by atmospheric conditions that produce fog and haze, evoking the still mood of tranquility. I have been drawn to scenes that convey the passage of time, such as twilight, sunsets and sunrises. What is important to me the most is not just a rendition of a realistic landscape, but the feeling, mood, and emotions that it inspires. I am most interested in capturing the poetry of these moments, and in this sense, my point of view is similar to the "Tonalist" school of painters." Tonalist is a 19th century American art movement that includes James Whistler, Frederic Church and George Inness. Nadia's work is represented by 2 galleries in Maine, in Kennebunkport and in Portland.

Last week, on Thursday, May 20th, 6 paintings (including works by Matisse and Picasso) valued at $124 million were stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern Art. When paintings are stolen and we get past the obvious questions about how the theft was orchestrated and what was the dollar value, we're left with the enormity of the real loss: the fact that we, as a society, no longer have access to specific artistic works crucial to the art world and our history. These works are representations of techniques that became whole artistic movements illustrating cultural trends from hundreds of years ago. This isn't just stealing a diamond necklace or an expensive car.  These paintings, although valued in the millions of dollars, really are priceless in terms of our shared global culture. I remember the first time I saw Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night". I'd seen photos of it over the years since it's such a popular piece -  but to stand where Van Gogh stood, with my face inches from the canvas, to see, up close, the lines of the bristles from the paintbrush, the texture of the swirling starlight, and think of Van Gogh moving the brush through the thick paths of paint, the year 1889 folded into 1996 and back again like a shockwave and then stood still. Everything went silent. I was overwhelmed by weight of the decades between his brush on the painting and me standing there looking at it.

Museums are stately shrines beautifully decorated and cared for, built for the sheer purpose of displaying these works of art for anyone and everyone to appreciate.  The Paris Museum of Modern Art happens to be a esteemed institution that is a part of the fabric of the city of Paris.  And yet someone just broke a padlock and a window, and without any respect to the time or talent it took to create these paintings, without any impression of the generations of people who have viewed it, the years that have passed, the hours of painstaking care by museum staff, just cut the canvas out of the frame, stuffed it in a bag and walked out. On one hand one would think the person(s) knew the value, otherwise, why try? But by knowing the monetary enough to want to steal it, why not value the intrinsic value?? Could you have brought a nice case maybe? Or better yet, take a photo and leave the painting on the wall. And then go get a job. 

2 of the paintings taken from the Paris Museum of Modern Art May 20, 2010: Henri Matisse "Pastoral" -1905; Pablo Picasso "Dove with Green Peas" -1912.

It's common knowledge that due to the high profile of these paintings and the ensuing publicity of the theft, that these paintings can't be easily re-sold.  Not to an art lover of course, which one would hope at least that they would go to.  But they are sold - usually as collateral for weapons or drug deals.  So these paintings are now out there being manhandled and thrown into the back of a van, merely pawns in a drug or weapons war for territory.  No one can legitimately buy these because that may implicate them in the crime just by sheer possession. However, maybe a drug lord decides he likes one of them and he puts it up on the wall of his sprawling estate.  HE can. Because, who's really going to report that he has them? He's a drug lord. I've seen Miami Vice. I know what happens to a narc. 

The art world does list the thefts in the Art Loss Register but most often, sadly the works are never recovered, often destroyed or left to languish, abandoned, unlabeled in basements or buried. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark anyone? In 1990, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston suffered one of the most expensive and embarrassing thefts of paintings that, to this day, have never been recovered. With new DNA testing advances investigators may be able to find some evidence to pursue these thieves, but the statute of limitations ran out 5 years after the crime.  THAT is a crime in itself.  That theft, as expensive in dollars as it was, also dealt a sizable blow to our art collection as a whole.  One of the paintings stolen was Rembrandt's only seascape, "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" painted 377 years ago. Another was Vermeer's "The Concert" painted in 1664. This was one of only 35 works attributed to Vermeer and, yet despite that small portfolio, he is considered to be one of the finest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Perhaps that is why 'The Concert' is now worth an estimated $200 million. Now it's gone. The worst part was that the theft highlights the easily avoidable and embarrassing mistakes of the museum's security who fell for the oldest trick in the book: "It's the police. Open up!"  Seriously, we protect our banks with 4 feet of solid lead, but the museum has a buzzer on the door?  The museum still displays the empty frames where they were left on the wall because Gardner's will expressed that the collection should remain unchanged. It did - kind of.  

Matisse said: "Expression, for me, does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive; the place occupied by the figures, the empty spaces around them, the proportions, everything has its share."

What do you think he would say about what these 'empty spaces' art theft creates? Does art theft inadvertently play a role in increasing the value of the paintings that are left behind? Are the 'empty spaces' left by art theft necessary to our understanding and appreciation of the art world as a whole?  Does the price of a painting change the effect it has on us?  Regardless, if we value these works simply for the sheer talent and vision in their creation it took to create them, and the emotional message they relate to each viewer from the artist, the holes left behind by art theft are truly priceless AND 'empty.'

"I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me. I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I get from life and the way I translate that feeling into painting." -Henri Matisse

2 of the paintings taken from the Gardner Museum in 1990: Rembrandt van Rijn  "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee." -1633; Johannes Vermeer "The Concert" -1664

"It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored than the day." Van Gogh said this September 8, 1888, right before he painted his famous 'The Starry Night.' Van Gogh was fascinated with using color to portray darkness and the night sky but painting at night wasn't particularly easy to do in the late 19th century. So he relied on his memory and his imagination. "The Starry Night" was loosely based on Saint Remy and the Alpilles mountain range but the sky itself is all imagination. From MOMA, "In the open skies Van Gogh perceived formidable forces in nature capable of providing consulation amid life's daily adversities and evoking eternity." Van Gogh said "I have a tremendous need for... religion, so I go outside to paint the stars. " So it's easy to understand why his ability to finally portray what he saw in his mind's eye became truly one of the most important works of art. The Museum of Modern Art currently has an exhibit called "Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night" that explores his letters and his favorite literary works that gave him inspiration for his paintings. They also have an interesting interactive overview on the website.

Nighttime technically is the opposite of day but beyond that, nightfall does cast a bit of an interesting twist to things doesn't it? Things are a bit more exciting and mysterious because of the dark sky and shadows - and let's admit, who doesn't look good in candlelight? Much of the '40s noir genre films were shot at night - in the rain - with a siren wailing in the distance - or a single, mournful saxophone .... and the soft, eerie, drifting, silent smoke from a long cigarette..... . Anyhow, whether you're waiting on the tarmac for a plane to somewhere else or "...of all the bars she had to walk into this one, " here are a few Starry Night suggestions for your ... starry nights. Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Encrusted Collar;  Ombre Square with Coins Scarf;  High Shine Metallic Wrap; Topstitched driver gloves; Cascade Ruffle Vest

While on a trip to London recently, we came across this beautiful display of umbrellas.   It is part of a series of outdoor art installations across the United Kingdom called the Big Art Project.  This particular location is outside London's Channel 4 TV station and the idea is to either integrate the giant number 4 logo into the piece or to attach the artwork to it. Each installation is created by an artist whose idea was voted upon by a panel of artists, local community members, gallery owners and staff from Channel 4.   This work is titled "Shelter" and was created using umbrella's from the city transport's lost & found store. The artist, Stephanie Imbeau, said  ‘(the umbrellas) would have a transformative effect on the steel structure, softening it and making it almost plant-like.’

If you're in the UK or planning a visit, go to http://www.bigartmob.com/ to see a map of locations of other 'big art' installations. And you can also submit any that you come across.

What is the single most important art object of the 20th century?

Marcel Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel.

Why? Simply because, when it was created in 1913, it generated such outrage by the public that it launched a whole new way of thinking about art and the definition of Modern Art. As you can see, this piece is a bicycle wheel attached to the top of a common kitchen stool. Think about this in the context of 1913. Art at that time was primarily defined by earlier movements such as Impressionism - meaning people were used to seeing watercolor paintings of flowers. That's art, they said. But here comes Duchamp with this wheel on a stool and we are supposed to call it art. We're outraged! Also keep in mind that in the early 1900s the bicycle was a new but very popular form of transportation. 10 million people owned bicycles by 1900. 'The wheel is functional,' they said. 'How can we look at that and appreciate anything other than the spokes and tire that get us jolly well 'round to the market or the corner store for the evening paper?' You may have had this same reaction the first time you viewed Warhol's painting of the Campbell's soup can. It's a can. With soup in it. This is art? Why, yes, it is. It's Modern Art.

The official definition of Modern art is sculpture, architecture, and graphic arts characteristic of the 20th century and of the later part of the 19th century. Modern art embraces a wide variety of movements, theories, and attitudes whose modernism resides particularly in a tendency to reject traditional, historical, or academic forms and conventions in an effort to create an art more in keeping with changed social, economic, and intellectual conditions. It's this last characteristic that most helps define an object as Modern Art. Duchamp switched the roles: he made the viewer the artist. The viewer became a part of the object. Duchamp was inviting the viewer to decide for himself whether to consider this art or a joke.

Moma.org currently has a whole series of interviews by highschool students with curators at the Museum on various topics, including this one. Joachim Pissarro, curator in the department of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, answers, in depth, this question of what is Modern Art. He discusses Duchamp's work as well as defines further what is art, how to view modern art vs. a traditional painting, and so much more. These kids ask every question you ever wanted to ask about art. Take a look! Enjoy!