One of the "you had to be there" events during New York Design Week last week was the opening party for The Wrong Store, a closed up, curated display window/concept store which was inspired by Maurizio Cattelan & co's 1'-deep doorway exhibition space, The Wrong Gallery. [The party was basically an outlaw smoke-athon on the sidewalk, which I guess is where all the fun is in Bloomberg-era NYC. Not that I ever smoked, or go out any more.]
Anyway, the NY TImes has a little video report on The Wrong Store, which all looks well and good to me, but there's something screwy going on: when the video cuts to this modded PlaySam racecar on a shelf, the reporter mentions the Dutch designer Hella Jongerius. Then in a wider shot of the shelf, she mentions "a toy car by artist Jenny Holzer". Unfortunately, both of these attributions are wishful thinking.
The car actually goes with the display label shown in a later shot; it's by Yves Behar. It's titled "Monster, 2007" and it's supposedly unique, and it's supposedly $2,900. I say supposedly, because it looks an awful lot like the modded PlaySam racer Behar donated to the FitzSu Grand Prix charity auction last fall. In 2006. [the page is gone from FitzSu; an image from notcot is inset next to the Times' closeup.]
My first thought was it's a regifting by someone trying to recoup their over-generous auction bid/donation [Did Behar buy back his own PlaySam creation? I know my ego drove me to do some crazy bidding at the class auction to buy back the kids' handprint table I slaved over.] But my second thought is, 2007? How unique is that, he made at least one more just like it last year.
Actually, what I really wonder is what kind of toy car Jenny Holzer might have made. Anyone?
Pop-Up Art: The Wrong Store [nyt video]
Previously, Oct. 06: 50 modded PlaySam Racers to be auctioned off at FitzSu
I came upon your site during a search for handprint tables. We are making one for my kids school, and I was wondering if you had any pictures of your work you could share?
Thanks!