spittle summer special: recs for sun decks x
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The weather is still giving seasonal affective disorder, but we have just the ticket to get you in the mood for the summer break: fabulous art-world-secret island getaways, enticing exhibitions and the hottest new paperbacks – see you in the departure lounge!
1️⃣ “It’s a very sensual place, an isle of fire and passion”– spittle has heard from a trustworthy source (and Vogue) that Hydra has been trumped as the art world’s niche August holiday destination by a much smaller Aeolian island: (no, not Stromboli) Fillicudi. Local fishermen host BYOB supperclubs in their homes for hungry visitors as, with a population of just 235 (including a collector who hosted a Peter Doig show there last year), there are no restaurants. As well as being a collector magnet, spittle has also heard rumblings that it’s the hottest new sex pilgrimage spot. Coincidence? we think not x 🌋
2️⃣ “Its colour, pure and radiant, echoed the surrounding walls”– spittle fave artist-cum-gallerist Jamian Juliano Villani is set to open a restaurant named The Cafe at O’Flaherty’s this August in NYC. Perhaps surprisingly, given the messy reputation of the gallery, the website reveals the enterprise will be inspired by the simple white polo shirt. We have a feeling this venture might be short lived so have booked our flights and purchased a new Ralphy to attend the opening. Food review to come. 👕
3️⃣ “He points his camera at people who live” – Bored of Barbie? Over Oppenheimer? Want to show your new summer fling that you take film very seriously? Take a trip to Werner Herzog: Ecstatic Truth at Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum. The exhibition spans his career, delving into his feature films, documentaries and shorts, ultimately exploring how Herzog manipulates fiction to such a degree that a ‘deeper truth’ emerges… ⛵
4️⃣ “Biarritz Is Having A Moment [Again]” - Probably the most stylish gallerist on the planet, Lucy Chadwick (previously Director at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise), now runs a space in Biarritz, the French seaside town which is seeing a revival moment. This summer at Champ LaCombe she and Company gallery’s Taylor Trabulus have curated the sceniest show we have ever seen. Including the likes of Alexandra Metcalf, Andra Ursuta, Ed Atkins, Cosima von Bonin, Eunnam Hong, John Waters, Tosh Basco, Sylvie Fleury, the list goes on, we can’t wait to get down there and check it out x 🍦
5️⃣ “While a cigarette smoulders beside him, he’s threading the last sequins on a costume commission for Beyoncé’s dancers” – We are making sure to visit the new Nasir Mazhar exhibition at young Margate gallery, 243 Luz, run by curator (and former Vetements model(!)) Ed Leeson. Describing Mazhar’s unique approach, Frieze said ‘There’s a collaborative, new age feel that teeters on ‘crusty’, salvaging materials and detritus for new, covetable fare.’ Crusty is back baby. 🚬
6️⃣ “There are always flowers for those who want to see them" – It's been on our bucket list since birth... a road trip tour of the multitude of art destinations in the proximity of Nice. We’re talking Matisse’s gorgeous rosary chapel, the hilltop Calder / Miró / Chagall ridden Fondation Maeght, the red wedding cake Château de Crémat (from the stained glass windows of which Coco Chanel stole her iconic logo), Eileen Grey’s elegant villa E-1027… where’s Le Corbusier in all this we hear you cry? There is, of course, a little yellow floored modernist gem of a wood cabin that Corbusier actually built for himself, and where he would die swimming off the coast nearby aged 77. A lesson for us all to stick to the galleries, girls. 🪣
7️⃣ “God died, and soon the Earth will too, but in this Danish dystopian novel… work remains” – spittle can’t wait to take some much needed time off from the rat race, with OOO on and our work phones off. Find us lounging on the beach, sinking our teeth into Olga Ravn’s incredible sci-fi novel The Employees which covers the futility of work, and the threat new technologies pose to our sense of purpose in a capital-focused present. 🖇️
8️⃣ “The art of feeding others occupies an expansive field” – This has been ‘coming soon’ for a while but mysterious gallery TRAMPS are supposedly opening a bar in London (and a gallery in Paris?!). The menu promises to offer: martinis (gin, vodka, maybe mescal); the Jonathan beer, red onion and cheese sandwich; salt and vinegar crisps with Greek yoghurt. Or maybe it has opened and we just haven’t been invited …… x 🥪
9️⃣ “Travelling around the world with her intern, who is also the Home Secretary’s nephew…” - This book looks like one of those strange algorithm generated products that have started popping up all over Amazon, and we are so curious to read. Authored by a Director at Sotheby’s - though apparently all fiction - the novel investigates the mysterious deaths of numerous auction house clients. Apparently, the reason ‘traumatises the whole art world’. Tantalising xo 🔪
🔟 “At the centre of a beautiful excitement” – There’s only one art fair we will touch in August: ART-O-RAMA in Marseille. This year friends of the ‘sletter Ginny on Frederick, Nicoletti and South Parade are participating alongside fave galleries like Good Weather, Mascota, and Someday. Marseille tip: Marché du Soleil is the best place to buy fake designer clothes and bags, you’re welcome. 🌊
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