“The Line Ventures into Art Wolrd with Artsy Collab”
by Michelle Tay
TheLine.com, an online fashion, home, and beauty retailer, is venturing into the art world.
It has, via a partnership with Artsy.net, launched an exhibition and sale of art by contemporary artists such as Lauren Seiden, Sanda Iliescu, Jeffrey Hoone, Werner Bischof, Nicholas Alan Cope, Chip Hooper, Do Ho Suh and Tony Scherman. The works range from photography to mixed media collage pieces sourced from Magnum Photos, Sculpture Center, Robert Mann Gallery, and more.
The works are currently on view at The Line’s brick-and-mortar outpost at 76 Greene Street, and will be available for purchase there, or on Artsy.net.
The Line, co-founded by Vanessa Traina and Morgan Wendelborn, prides itself on being a purveyor of fine things from established and emerging names in fashion, home, and beauty, including Reed Krakoff, Christophe Lemaire, Pallas, JW Anderson, Protagonist; The Warehouse, Metropolis Modern, Jonathan Burden; Rodin, Jao, M.E. Skinlab, and more. This initiative marks its debut effort at curating art.
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“Art in Context: The Line + Artsy”
Artist Hans Hofmann once described the ability to simplify as a way “to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” This is what we aspire to achieve at The Line. Our mission—to pare back and pull together, to focus on special things that will be treasured for years to come—is that of the collector, not the consumer, and so our collaboration with Artsy is a natural one, and one that we are excited to announce today.
When we opened The Apartment, our offline home in New York City, we were excited (and a little surprised) to discover that the artworks on the walls attracted as much interest from visitors as the quintessential fashion, home, and beauty items placed throughout the loft. The initial group of artworks, including those by Keith Tyson, Donald Judd, André Kertész, and Walid Raad, was drawn largely from the collections of our friends and family, who had no plans to part permanently with their pieces. We soon began to imagine a day when we could stop saying “Sorry! That’s not for sale.”
Enter Artsy. Over the last few months, we have delved into the diverse programs and deep collections of participating galleries and partner institutions including SculptureCenter, Magnum Photos, Robert Mann Gallery, and Mondo Cane to refresh the artwork in The Apartment. Our first selection of works ranges from architectural photography to figurative painting to mixed-media works that challenge traditional conceptions of sculpture and drawing.
Among the first works visitors see upon entering is Raw Wrap 8 by Lauren Seiden: a painterly application of graphite on whorled paper that is positioned between the loft’s pale grey lined baseboards and the gentle folds of the white curtains. In the bedroom, Werner Bischof’s 1941 contact sheet of Swiss Mountain Peaks coolly echoes the grid of six contemporary collages by Sanda Iliescu that hangs above the bed. Peering out from the exterior of the walk-in closet is Tony Scherman’s My Girlfriend Ophelia (13031), a Hamlet’s-eye view of the tragic innocent, while inside, a Chip Hooper seascape is a reminder of how much the necessary has to say when it is given room to speak.