Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/184524
Art Notes, Take Ten PHOTO JASON MANDELLA Our Deux Scents Le Labo's Edouard Roschi, Fabrice Penot What's the proper way to care for a proper fragrance with fragile ingredients such as yours? Penot: Keep it in the fridge, away from light and heat, which are the worst enemies of perfumes. Malle: It depends on how often you use it and what kind of fragrance it is. If you protect it from the light and don't change temperature all the time, it will stay much longer. The window is the worst place to keep perfume. But if you're slightly more careful, it can last for a very long time. Penot: COLLECTION DAVID BRAUER In one sentence, your philosophy on perfumery? Penot: We focus on the creation and hope for business, instead of focusing on business and hoping to be creative. Malle: Fragrances are very sort of primal things, and people can see the difference between good perfume and generic right away. The best way to explain is to put one on each arm, and people will see that there's an ocean of sophistication compared to the other. It's like fine wine. to be kissed." There is truth in that! I like it on the neck, on the cleavage of a woman because, indeed, these points are more personal. Malle: Too much perfume is a terrible thing. In the '80s, fragrances were like logos, and people were putting too much on and would layer throughout the day. That extra oomph is an atomic bomb, basically. When you start wearing a fragrance, be very conscious of how much you wear. If it's a light fragrance, put one, two or three spritz and stick to that. Frederic Malle's Editions de Parfums and Le Labo are exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue. Where and how should one apply perfume? Penot: When they asked Coco Chanel this question, she remarked, "Wherever you want Frederic Malle With a Little Help From Our Friends The SPA chairmen won't need help with this year's luncheon. Blockbuster bestseller Kathryn Stockett takes the stage to discuss her book The Help at the Society for the Performing Arts Annual Luncheon Wednesday, October 10, on the Jones Hall Stage. Lucinda Loya chairs, with honorary chair Karen Pulaski. Mariquita Masterson will receive the Ann Sakowitz Performing Arts Kathryn Stockett Advocate Award. Jackson and Company serves the courses, and PaperCity's Curate bookshop will sell deluxe editions of The Help ($30) for signing and inscribing. Tickets from $250 (limited availability). Tables from $2,500, through 713.632.8103; william@spahouston.org. We took a few minutes with Ms. Stockett to see if there's a sequel coming down the pike, and what she's reading herself. PaperCity: We understand 60 not-so-smart literary agents rejected The Help. Did you ever find out why? I got a few notes scribbled on the edges of the rejection letters … "Not a saleable story in New York … Too risky." I started sending out the book to publishers early in its development, and it changed a lot. So maybe the first 50 were right. Have you heard from any of the rejecting agents since it became a blockbuster? Not really …. You are all things Southern: Favorite Southern city? Natchez, Mississippi. You spend so much time in hotels on book tours. What are your top picks? The Elysian Hotel in Chicago, The Greeenwich in NYC. Soniat House in New Orleans is my absolute favorite — it's full of old things and antiques, so you don't feel like you're in some shiny new Target. You're reading? Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It's fantastic, with a very literary edge to it. I love her, I could stalk her. For generations, The Help will surely sit on Southern bookshelves with To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone With the Wind. What other books should be on that shelf? The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Sequel or a completely new book? It's book two, God help me, about women in the South in Mississippi in the '20s during a depression. It's kind of relevant to today — we're not starving to death like so many people did in the '30s, but it's the same issues. This group of women, who were not raised to be independent, nor do they have any marketable skills, wake up one morning, and the men are gone, run off, died — and they start a rather risky business. There's no title for the book yet. That comes at the end. No More Disaster Balls – Where We Want to Be After a decade of wild gala making, Glasstire, Texas' bold and authoritative arts Web site — and one of the best online art magazines in America — has spun off from its party partner, Fresh Arts Coalition, to strike out on its own. The result is a newly minted and more collector-focused fundraiser. This month, Glasstire: The Auction Texas is born, with a preview party Wednesday, October 3, at Pennzoil Plaza Lobby, in anticipation of the main event Friday, November 2, again at Pennzoil. Christie's VP Sara Friedlander arrives from NY to conduct the live bidding. On the block: a curated collection of 15 top Texas talents culled by eminent art eyes: consultant Julie Kinzelman of Houston, DFW-based Christina Rees, Austin gallerist Lora Reynolds and former San Antonio Erick Swenson's Sketch for Dressage, 2011 gallerist/now Houston dealer David Shelton. The lots encompass offerings created during the past decade, including a beautiful but disturbing Robyn O'Neil drawing donated by Jeanne and Mickey Klein; a gem from Trenton Doyle Hancock's personal trove; Alejandro Diaz's neon affirmation Happiness Is Expensive; a haunting animal vignette by Erick Swenson; and a Sharon Engelstein biomorphic ceramic "cookie jar." Best of all, the artists selected — whose prices vary to appeal from beginning to Basel-type collectors — receive half of the proceeds. The winning bidders support both the makers and the promoters of Texas art. Glasstire: The Auction Texas, Wednesday, October 3 Preview Party, Pennzoil Plaza Lobby, 6 pm (free); Auction Night, Friday, November 2, Pennzoil Plaza Lobby, 6 pm, '70s-theme "Glory Days," cocktails and dinner, tickets from $100; PaperCity as media sponsor; for info, artist list, tickets and advance bidding, glasstireauction.com. Catherine D. Anspon COURTESY OF THE ARTIST T wo French perfume houses are making fragrance into art again. Frederic Malle's Editions de Parfums and Eddie Roschi and Fabrice Penot's Le Labo have taken the emphasis off marketing and put it back in the bottle, eschewing generic scents that cater to the masses for expertly crafted fragrances that, in the words of Penot, "make life more beautiful." Here, Malle and Penot discuss their rebellious methods and why customers are thanking them. Caroline Gallay and Kate Stukenberg 1. Our annual October art issue coincides perfectly with a big architecture story that amplifies the art energy emitting from Houston: Blaffer Art Museum's redux, an innovative reimagining of the original '70s-era structure into a futuristic kunsthalle. WORKac, New York–based architects whose other clients include Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova, do the razzle-dazzle, at a modest $2.25 million budget that breathes light and air into the University of Houston art destination. Take in the new Blaffer at the Tony Feher opening, come October 12 (through March 17). Gaze upon this American sculptor whose fave substances range from plastic water bottles filled will colored liquids to all manner of extruded polystyrene. Read about the lady who made it all happen on pages 56 and 57. 2. Pop is top, but how many know the Brit kingpins of this movement? See who was there in the beginning and get a view from the other side of the pond when brilliant Glassell School of Art teacher/MFAH lecturer David Brauer presents a slice of his personal trove of Pop prints, collected from artist pals from back in the day. This rare view at The Jung Center Tony Feher's Blossom, 2008, at Blaffer Art Museum (October 2 – 29; lecture at The Jung, Saturday, October 6, 6:30 pm) promises revelations from the same eye who co-curated The Menil Collection's intriguing U.S./U.K. survey in 2001. 3. Don't you love "Simple Machines and Simple Dreams," the title of Ariane Roesch's next solo at Redbud Gallery? It proves that emerging hipster-innovator Roesch and Gus Kopriva, a stalwart gallerist/patron since the "Fresh Paint" days, can concoct a very compelling show (October 6 – 27). 4. Rudolph Blume Fine Art/ArtScan Gallery deserves to be on every collector's path of perusal. Its latest, "On Walden Pond," brings together four painters/installationists — Martin Amorous, Joanne Brigham, Tudor Mitroi and Seth Mittag — who share a penchant for the hallucinogenic or the macabre regarding landscape, but in a good, creepy way (through October 27). 5. Speaking of fresh talent, investigate Regina Agu's "Visible Unseen" at the Fresh Arts ARC (Artist Resource Center, 2101 Winter Street, B11). Self-taught Agu's vision has been honed on travels throughout Africa and Europe, and study at Cornell, from which she holds an undergraduate degree (through October 26). We're eager to check out her graphite, collage and pen and ink works on paper, which put forth a dainty, deconstructed, almost scientific stance. 6. Australia calling: Pick up the transmission about aboriginal art. First up, Booker-Lowe Gallery celebrates its 10th anniversary with mixed-media paintings by aboriginal visualist Karen Mills (through November 3). Late month, Vaughan Christopher Gallery presents "My Country," a survey that examines aboriginal talents from the desert to the reef (opening Thursday, October 25). 7. After seeing Richard Stout at the Houston Fine Art Fair, we're determined to make tracks to William Reaves Fine Art, where Stout shines in a group view detailing "Texas Expressionism" and those who shaped the state of our art scene (through October 13). Gerald Laing's Bridget Bardot, 1968, at 8. Who could possibly be better than Dorothy Hood? The Jung Center Thom Andriola/New Gallery rolls out a series of the late Houston artist's canvases filled with deep space and luminous color that can only be described as transcendental (through October 27). 9. "Paper Work" at Darke Gallery frames sublime creative types who mine works on paper to memorable effect. Seven Texans are in the mix: Wendy Wagner, whom we can't wait to see well again, and her fantastical creatures; Lillian Warren of the epic traffic-scapes; twiggy beauty by pen man John Adelman; Kia Neill, whose rocks rimmed with glitter are extraordinary (what will her works on paper be like?); Rabea Ballin of the revealing drawings of braided hairstyles as identity pieces; Lovie Olivia; and Steven J. Miller. 10. A parting accolade to Houston Arts Alliance for doing good with its power2 give.org initiative fueled by founding sponsors Bank of America and the Anchorage Foundation of Texas. Check it out to make a difference for one of our town's cool and important arts nonprofits. Speaking of notable diverse arts groups, savor the riches of Indian Film Festival at Studio Movie Grill, CityCenter, October 3 through 6, capped by a black-tie (or Indian chic) fête Sunday, October 7, at Hotel Sorella, celebrating Indian cinema's centennial (tickets iffhinc.org). Catherine D. Anspon OCTOBER | PAGE 6 | 2012