faux'mance

n. when you try to fool yourself into thinking the nice things s/he does are of a romantic origin; when in fact they are not.

usage: "girl, he didn't buy you that large movie popcorn to share. he bought it 'cause he's hungry. that's fauxmance!"

I know hotel.

But this hotel - the Chambers Luxury Art Hotel - this is something else.

As always, I am a sucker for clean lines, stark decor, and modern furniture. But the Chambers takes it to a whole new level. For an art lover, this hotel is a must-stay.

In walking down the hallway, I got caught up in the middle of some minor renovations, and got bumped in the arm with a Damien Hirst splatter painting. I haven't washed that arm since.

One of my particular fascinations with art has always been in the presentation - the lighting, the flooring, the sound, the distance, the framing. Staying for a week at the Chambers (for the Lullabot workshops) was a great chance to get to "live with" some museum quality art.

The hotel restaurant, the Chambers Kitchen, by much-lauded chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten was a hit or miss (mostly miss, due to the service). However, the rest of the service was impeccable, the showers were a total spectacle, and the experience, for an art lover, was totally rad.

Check it out sometime.

Insane, in an amazing way. My favorite moment is obviously going to be 6:19. (via jjeff)

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

"Curators have about the most complicated and daunting job in the art world; they are pulled apart by pressures to raise money, write, hunt out hot new artists and oversee acquisitions, while organizing shows that attract the public. Their value and responsibilities seem less and less understood by trustees, who are experiencing their own kind of pressures. But for the continued life of museums, biennials need to be laboratories, not annual reports. Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt; it reduces the capacity for risk and dulls the imagination."

Roberta Smith, NY Times, 'Life on Mars'

I've finally got some photos up in over in the pics section. Hop on over to fabulousness to read the descriptions and then have a peek through the galleries.