Michael Blowhard writes:

Dear Blowhards --

PatrickH and Benjamin Hemric are raving about the new place that painter / filmmaker Julian Schnabel has created in New York City's West Village. Thanks to Benjamin for turning up this page of info and pix. I haven't visited yet, but from the photos Schnabel's place looks like overripe decadent boho bliss of a very high order.

(FWIW, I don't care for Schnabel's paintings, which I find bombastic and silly. But I think he's a very talented filmmaker. Start with his biopic "Basquiat," which features a great performance by Jeffrey Wright, and which does a peerless job of conveying the intoxicating / nightmarish quality that life in the NYC visual-arts world can have.)

One non-fan has this to say about Schnabel's new place, though: "He's obviously trying to pretend that this looks somehow Florentine or Venetian, when, really, it looks like a Malibu Barbie house that exploded."

Best,

Michael

yeah, i'm not a fan of his paintings either i think but i've loved all 3 of his major films. you should see "diving bell and the butterfly" if you haven't yet, michael. the lead actor (who will be the villian in the next bond villian) reminds me, looks wise, of a young roman polanski in "the tenant" and also stars the real polanski's sexy wife emmanuelle seigner and a several other pretty actresses. shallow reasons aside it's a beautiful film.

Posted by: t. j. on May 8, 2008 2:09 PM

t.j. -- Where movies go we seem to share a common brain! Shallow reasons rule, as far as I'm concerned -- people over-do that whole "depth" thing sometimes, or it's by way of the shallow that we're led into the deep, or something. Tempting as you make "Diving Bell" sound, though, I've gotta skip it. One of my main nightmares is being completely paralyzed. I read the book the movie's based on, for instance, and wasn't able to sleep for days after. God only knows how traumatized I'd be by the movie.

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on May 8, 2008 2:19 PM

Another one here who doesn't like his paintings much, but LOVES his movies, which are very painterly in the way he creates impressionistic images to evoke certain moods or emotions. Basquiat is a favorite at our house, for the performances, the direction and the kick-ass soundtrack (the first movie, I believe, to use the now ubiquitous John Cale cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah").

As for his new building, I love it. A but over the top, but in a good way. Also, he has very good taste in women, judging from his wife.

Posted by: JV on May 8, 2008 2:52 PM

Nice, gutsy statement for the neighborhood he inhabits. Long live his panache!

Posted by: Charlton Griffin on May 8, 2008 8:51 PM

yeah, i'm not a fan of his paintings either i think but i've loved all 3 of his major films. you should see "diving bell and the butterfly" if you haven't yet, michael. the lead actor (who will be the villian in the next bond villian) reminds me, looks wise, of a young roman polanski in "the tenant" and also stars the real polanski's sexy wife emmanuelle seigner and a several other pretty actresses. shallow reasons aside it's a beautiful film.

Posted by: t. j. on May 8, 2008 10:20 PM

It just occurred to me that in a way the Schnabel building seems like a 21st century, high-rise spirtual "cousin" to Greenwich Village's other much-discussed pink fantasy building: 102 Bedford Street. (According to Christopher Gray of the New York Times, 105 Bedford Street was renovated in the 1920s by a Clifford Daily with support from financier Otto Kahn.)

I am not sure of the correct internet protocol for referring to a flickr site, but the nicest photo of 102 Bedford that I could find is the one at JL 1967 on Flickr.

Here.

A less helpful photo is on an NYU site. (But it at least gives an idea of what 102 Bedford is like.)

And an interesting history of the building is given by Christopher Gray in an article in the June 14, 1998 "New York Times."

(Alternatively, all three sites can be easily found doing "Web" and/or "Images" search on Yahoo for "102 Bedford".)

Posted by: Benjamin Hemric on May 8, 2008 10:42 PM






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