Saks: Art Gallery or Department Store
Richard White, April 1, 2014
I rarely purchase anything at an upscale fashion store but I do love to wander them as they are more like art galleries than stores for me. I love the way items are placed with the precision of a curated exhibition. Like an art installation, each vignette is carefully organized to exploit synergies of colour and composition, of line and shape and of passion and sensuality.
In fact, I often find visiting a high end retailer more interesting than many contemporary art exhibitions. Too often the latter are more cerebral and than visual for my tastes.
The images below are from a recent visit to Saks Fifth Avenue in the Fashion Show shopping centre on the Vegas strip. I will let the images speak for themselves.
UMCA images
I thought it would be interesting to compare the images from Saks with some that I took just a week ago at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) in Salt Lake City.
A close up of a mixed media collage.
A still image from a video.
A photo taken of a large drawing on the wall, taken from the side.
A close up of a didactic display of books and artwork.
Window Art Exhibitions
Over the years, I have also amassed an interesting collection of retail storefront windows that I also find competitive with public galleries in their visual statements. All of these images are from a single trip to Europe where the importance of storefront windows as a visual art form is much more advanced than in North America.
Shoe store front window
Eyewear store
Bridal Shop
Last Word
As an everyday tourist, I don't have to go to a museum or an art gallery to get my daily visual art fix. I can find it almost anywhere - from a storefront window or back alley graffiti. Love to hear your thoughts. Send me a photo your favourite non-gallery artwork and I will post it.