Update: Spendy Art is Trendy Art

It's such a perfect day here in Austin -- the sun is shining, birds are singing, and I should be outside planting fall trees, but no. Huh uh. I'm huddled in front of the computer screen, waiting for last night's vodka to relax its greasy fingers and release my poor pounding head. The upside? My Obsessive Computer Disorder always reaches epic proportions in the fever pitch of my worst hangovers, and as a result, I found this on the Domino website:

Another Robert Longo sighting! All five of you who have been reading DC since the very beginning know I have a wee fixation with Art trend spotting, and months ago I wrote a post on the flurry of Longo prints that were cropping up in interiors. For the vast legions of our new readers, time to review:

Seriously -- how apropos are these 80's Longo lithographs of suicidal stockbrokers? Remind you of anything?

(Thanks to the lovely Raina at If The Lampshade Fits for this excellent montage)

But wait! There's more! While some folks may be downsizing or downright panicking about market volatility as a financial harbinger of the end of days, others are comforted by the fact that art is always a sound investment... Right? Right???!

Architect Peter Marino's clients certainly seem to think so, as the now ubiquitous Yves Klein table continues to make its rounds in the homes of the well heeled. A few months ago I chronicled the rise of the Klein blue table in tony interiors, like the home of design superstars Yabu and Pushelberg:

But if you'd like to review, check out the post here, where you'll find such gems as this quote by designer David Netto: "You're not living until you have an Yves Klein coffee table." Newsflash -- I'm dead! Well, that explains the tremendous headache and dizziness, now accompanied by nausea. Thanks!

Suddenly, though, I am struck by the thought that an Yves Klein coffee table might not be such a bad investment after all.

Just make sure you get the one stuffed with 24 karat gold flakes.

I should be making the big dollars

I had to usurp my previously planned post when I stumbled across the latest Philippe Stark designed hotel and realized that I. Am. A. Creative Genius. Remember these chairs that Erin posted from our Round Top trip

Remember how I begged Erin to take the picture and I cried my eyes out the entire car ride home because I couldn't afford the $1,500 pair.  Remember how everyone else thought I was insane?

I guess Philippe will always understand me.  He heard my cries and said ever so softly and sweetly, it's OK, Karly, I'll put them in the Mama Shelter hotel in Paris where you will never be able to afford to see them in person but will sleep soundly knowing that, you too, are a design prodigy.

The one thing I still can't quite understand, however, is this: why was I mentally crafting this post whilst eating peanut butter straight from the jar in my (in dire need of renovation) kitchen rather than while racing through the streets of London with an entourage of interns frantically scribbling notes about every piece of furniture I point to on their overflowing clipboards.  Why?  Why?!  Your guess is as good as mine.  

More proof that I should be the head of a global designing empire (well, other than this steadfast blog, where I technically split the power):

Oh the shape is so good.  They didn't have this version in the cow field under the hot Texas sun.  Go figure.

And here's the best chair of all, I certainly would have found the $750 for this one:

All this crap is HAND BEADED, people.

My creative genius will certainly become more convincing once you realize that I, too, would insist on a mac computer and a wookie lamp in every room:

Did I tell you that I saw a concrete wall once?

Of course, this next picture shows the departure between myself and la amateur Stark:

What I forgot to mention in my Tag the other day is that I'm deathly afraid of elevators.  Las Vegas hotel employees LOVE me for requesting a room on the lowest possible floor.  A hotel of my design would never have elevators.  Well, unless, of course, they were the glass kind that really don't bother me at all.  Up.  Down.  All day long.  Look at me.  Oh, I also don't know about those aluminum foil explosion mold chairs.

Black Light, Schmack Light.  I really just wanted to show this picture in the hopes that Top-Design-Nathan would cruise on over and see that THIS is the proper way to display daily life artifacts from the past century.  Note the lack of fussy unfinished wood cubes?  Note the intentionally cluttered stacks.  Congratulations bar in the Stark hotel, you have the top design.  And the crowd goes wild:

I think this is a curtain.  I do not like barstools. I have nothing more to say about this picture.

Pros:  Magritte Bowler Hat Lamp; concrete walls.  Cons:  Overdone floor

More overdone floor.  Although I commend Stark for picking a carpet that will hide stains while being a little, um, are we supposed to call it edgy... this carpet just seems a couple of years out-dated.

So, to summarize, me = creative genius.  Mama Shelter = not so bad.  Philippe Stark = wouldn't hurt to listen to my advise.

PS.  More on this hotel here

Do you subscribe to Elle Decor?

Does anyone out there subscribe to Elle Decor?  If so, have you gotten the November issue yet?  They totally skipped me in October and I haven't seen hide or hair of November despite the fact that I paid my bill on time about a month ago.  I'm not sure if they've skipped me again or if it just hasn't arrived yet.  Help me decide if I need to make a nasty phone call (to a magazine that I generally love) *****UPDATE*****

The nice folks at Elle Decor caught this post and left me a nice comment to let me know that I should have received the magazine by now, they also gave me CS contact info.  While this issue isn't resolved, I still think it was REALLY nice for them to take the time to leave a note.  Ok, Ok, I'll keep my subscription.... not that I would have ever canceled it anyway, it's one of my faves.