As if JB being at the Venice Biennale without me wasn’t bad enough.. I saw this article on The Guardian Site today thanks to a tweet from @artnetdotcom. Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli have unvelied a public exhibition of their art collection, coinciding with the Venice Biennale. The works currently located in Ca’ Corner della Regina, will be moved to a permanent gallery space in Milan, which is being designed by Dutch-architect Rem Koolhaas. Prada has used Koolhaas for several projects including  the flagship SoHo store in NYC (2001). Critics were hostile towards the design not only because of its difficult circulation and retail display space (that is what a showroom is for, right?) but because it was the most expensive store per square foot in Manhattan’s history at the time ($40M for 23,000 SF or  approximately $1,740 / SF)

When discussing their collection, Prada and Bertelli pointed out that they did not hire an art consultant  — they traipsed around museums and galleries like the rest of us, trying to figure out what they liked and then, subsequently, what they wanted to purchase. Although it’s difficult to believe that completely, I find that attitude to be consistent with Prada’s design aesthetic which is pretty independent. She always seems like she is on her own trajectory which means that her collections feel pretty timeless. Maybe what I mean by that is if I had a budget allowance to buy a simple suit for work, Prada would be high on my list because I wouldn’t be worried about it falling out of fashion. And although I am always critical of collections anchored with celebrities like Hirst and Koons, I would like to think that these are probably a few of the pieces that the writer picked up on for their “wow” affect since the space holds other works.  Since much of the Prada-Bertilli collection still resides in storage, I look forward to seeing what is shown in Milan.

Enough talk — let’s see what their collection looks like. Beacuse I can’t resist, at the end of the art pictures are some images from the Koolhaas store.

Here is Jeff Koons “Tulips” (1997 – 2005) in its temporary Venetian home.

Next up, let’s check out Damien Hirst. Here is the 1996 “Loving in a World of Desire.”

Maurizio Cattelan’s “Untitled 1997”

Louise Bourgeois “Cell (Clothes)” Now, the reporter didn’t do a good job of listing this piece because LB did ALOT of cells with clothes in them so I am just going to take a guess and include one  of the images here.

Here’s a picture of the Prada Store transformed by Damien Hirst in honor of NYC 2008 Fashion Week:

Here is the monumental stair transformed into a display area (you can also see the people trying to figure out how to get around it).

I am now in even greater need of fashion and art today. Somehow heading to the Galleria doesn’t seem sufficient.