ART PRODUCTION FUND X ALEX KATZ X BARNEYS NY
Press Release
BARNEYS NEW YORK CELEBRATES ARTIST ALEX KATZ WITH EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITION COLLECTION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ART PRODUCTION FUND (APF)
New York, NY – April 28th, 2015 – In its second partnership with Art Production Fund (APF), Barneys New York, the luxury specialty retailer, announces Art Production Fund x Alex Katz x Barneys New York, a collaboration with world renowned artist Alex Katz. Consisting of home goods and gift items, the limited-edition collection created exclusively for Barneys New York will be available starting in May 2015.
From home goods, including glassware, bedding, and candles, to leather tote bags, clutches, and scarfs, the line features Alex Katz’s iconic drawings of black and white florals and portraits of female figures. Retailing from $28 to $1400, the collection will be available at the Madison Avenue flagship pop-up shop located in the 9th floor Chelsea Passage home section, as well as in Beverly Hills, Chicago and on Barneys.com beginning May 1st through September 3rd, 2015.
Barneys New York will donate 25% of all retail sales from the Art Production Fund x Alex Katz x Barneys New York product collection to Art Production Fund, a non-profit founded by Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen and directed by Casey Fremont, which is dedicated to commissioning and producing public art projects.
In addition to the dedicated pop-up shop, Barneys New York will feature a one-of-a-kind Alex Katz mural spanning all 4 of the flagship’s famed Madison Avenue windows. The mural, which was created exclusively for this project, is one of the largest works of Katz’s career and spans 8ft. x 60 ft. It visually celebrates the partnership between Barneys and Art Production Fund, and includes the fund’s own Yvonne Force Villareal, Doreen Remen and Casey Fremont; Katz’s longtime muse and wife, Ada; and Elizabeth McAvoy, to name a few. Inspired by the large-scale mural, there will be 18 original Katz prints displayed in the Madison Avenue store and available for purchase throughout the duration of the project. Also available for sale will be a fine-art portfolio and trade book that Alex Katz has created with his son, poet Vincent Katz, published by Bernard Chauveau Éditeur for the occasion of the Barneys collaboration.
“I’ve been involved in fashion for quite some time and it seems natural to me. Art is supposed to be eternal and fashion is always moving, but I’ve learned that art moves just like fashion,” said artist Alex Katz. “Working with Barneys and APF on this project has allowed me to extend my vision to the public, whether it’s to a passerby on Madison Avenue or on a dinner table. It’s very exciting.”
“With a career spanning over 60 years, Alex Katz continues to create bold and brilliant work, and we are incredibly honored that he partnered with us on this project,” said Barneys New York Creative Director Dennis Freedman. “From the monumental mural that he created for the window displays to the development of product, Alex was enthusiastically involved in every single aspect of this collaboration.”
“APF is honored to be a part of a collaboration that provides the public with greater access to the work of Alex Katz,” said APF Co-Founders Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen. “The iconic and graphic sensibility of his images makes this wonderful home collection timeless."
This is the second partnership between Barneys New York and Art Production Fund, who collaborated in Summer 2013 to launch an exclusive collection with the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.
Press Contact:
Ashley Calandra
Barneys New York
Acalandra@barneys.com
About Alex Katz
Born in 1927, the Brooklyn-raised artist Alex Katz studied at Cooper Union in 1949 and the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Katz was first exposed to the notion of plein air painting at Skowhegan, which would prove pivotal in his development as a painter and remains a staple of his practices today. Katz’s painting style can be characterized by his portrayal of complex groups of figures – the social world of painters, poets, critics, and other colleagues that surrounded him. In the 1980s, Katz made a return to landscape in the form of large-scale “environmental” paintings, and has continued to explore these interests up to the present day. Works by Alex Katz can be found in over 100 public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Albertina in Vienna. Alex Katz's work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions internationally since 1951. Brand New and Terrific, an exhibition of works from the 1950s at the Colby College Museum of Art, and This is Now, a retrospective of large-scale landscapes at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, will both open in the Summer of 2015.
About Art Production Fund
Art Production Fund (APF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Recent projects include: After Hours: Murals on The Bowery, NYC, 2011; David Brooks, Desert Rooftops, NYC, 2011; Josephine Meckseper, Manhattan Oil Project, NYC, 2012; Kiki Smith, Chorus, NYC, 2012; Yoko Ono, Imagine Peace Times Square, NYC, 2012; Yvette Mattern, Global Rainbow After The Storm, NYC, 2012; Ryan McGinley, Taxi TV, NYC, 2013; Tony Smith, One-Two-Three, NYC, 2013; Tracey Emin, Roman Standard, NYC 2013; Pop Up 1: Montauk, NY, 2013; ThreeASFOUR, MER KA BA, NYC, 2013; Marco Brambilla, Anthropocene, NYC, 2013; Vanessa Beecroft, VB73, NYC, 2014; Deborah Kass, The Street, MA, 2014; Jessica Craig-Martin, Hyde Park Village, FL, 2014; FriendsWithYou, Light Cave, NYC, 2014; Snarkitecture, Calvin Klein Holiday Installation, NYC, 2014. Co-Founders: Yvonne Force Villareal & Doreen Remen; Director: Casey Fremont. For more Information, please visit artproductionfund.org.
About Barneys New York
BARNEYS NEW YORK (Barneys) is a luxury specialty retailer renowned for having the most discerning edit from the world’s top designers, including women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and gifts for the home. Barneys' signature sense of wit and style is manifested in its creative advertising campaigns, original holiday themes, and celebrated window displays. Founded as a men's retailer in 1923 in downtown Manhattan, it became an international arbiter of high style for both women and men in the 1970s, renowned for discovering and developing new and innovative design talent. Today, Barneys New York operates flagship stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Scottsdale along with a preeminent luxury online store, Barneys.com, as well as 20 other stores and outlets across the United States. For more information about Barneys New York, please visit www.Barneys.com and explore its luxury content site, The Window, for an insider's look into the Barneys world: a behind-the-scenes visit with exciting designers, fashion, events, and the Barneys team.
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