Art
Art is at the heart of Manuela. Guests will find dramatic site-specific commissioned works of art – many of them functional elements of the restaurant and bar – created by eight internationally renowned New York artists. Working over a period of eighteen months, Mika Rottenberg, Mary Heilman, Rashid Johnson, Rita Ackermann, Lorna Simpson, Pat Steir, and Uman brought forth a variety of mediums into the mix in order to endow Manuela with its unique atmosphere. And celebrated London-based artist and designer Duro Olowu added an echo of Artfarm’s UK roots with a new custom textile for the New York restaurant’s interior.
Louise Bourgeois’ fantastical bronze Spider II (1995) and new and recent paintings and works on paper by artists who have lived, worked or been inspired by SoHo are also on view, including contributions by George Condo, Gordon Matta Clark, Philip Guston, Nicolas Party, and Cindy Sherman, among others.
Mary Heilmann
TABLES FOR MANUELA
Mary Heilmann (b.1940, United States) is a contemporary Abstract artist renowned for her joyful, often unorthodox take on Minimalist painting.
Mika Rottenberg
CHANDELIER FOR MANUELA
Mika Rottenberg (b.1976, Argentina) is a New York based artist whose practice combines film, architectural installation and sculpture to explore ideas of commerce, labor, and waste and examine the absurdity of our rampant production, distribution, and consumption of objects and energies.
Rashid Johnson
BROKEN MEN TABLE
Rashid Johnson (b.1977) is a multi-disciplinary New York based artist whose kaleidoscopic practice encompasses painting, sculpture, installation, film, photography and mosaics. His work explores questions of cultural identity, individualism and diasporic culture; weaving rich symbolism with art historical tradition to relay existential themes such as personal and collective anxiety, interiority and liminal space. Johnson’s large-scale mosaics are installed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and the new Delta Terminal at the LaGuardia airport. In 2021, his work was added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Johnson’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Cindy Sherman
UNTITLED #92
Cindy Sherman (b.1954) is an American artist known for her role in the contemporary revival of directed, or staged photography. For over four decades, her ground-breaking photographs have interrogated themes around the construction and projection of individual identity in mass-media.
Untitled #92, 1981, Chromogenic color print
61 x 121.9 cm / 24 x 48 inches
GEORGE CONDO
THE INNER TEMPLE
George Condo (b.1957) is an American painter, sculptor, printmaker and draftsman. Born in Concord, New Hampshire he moved to New York in his early twenties, where he soon became a central figure in the East Village art scene, and witnessed firsthand the cultural collision of New Wave music, graffiti and visual appropriation tactics in art.
The Inner Temple, 2021, Acrylic and oil stick on canvas
132.1 x 119.4 cm / 52 x 47 inches
LOUISE BOURGEOIS
SPIDER II
French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911 – 2010) is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art. She also made drawings, paintings, and prints over the course of her prolific, seven-decade long career, and consistently explored the most intimate and complex aspects of the human psyche.
Spider II
1995
Bronze, wall piece
AP; Edition of 6 + 1 AP
185.4 x 185.4 x 57.2 cm / 73 x 73 x 22 1/2 inches
PHILIP GUSTON
CRESCENT
Philip Guston (1913 – 1980) is one of the great luminaries of twentieth-century art. His commitment to producing work from genuine emotion and lived experience ensures its enduring impact.
Crescent, 1976, Oil on canvas
198.1 x 294.6 x 3 cm / 78 x 116 x 1 1/8 inches
NICOLAS PARTY
LANDSCAPE
Nicolas Party (b. 1980) is a contemporary Swiss painter and sculptor who lives and works in New York. Known for his bright and fantastical images, Party uses color to explore the dreamlike and uncanny aspects of the world around us; from his signature pastel hues to pigmented neons, alpine greens and deep ultramarines, his work creates a throughline from twentieth century Expressionism and Fauvism to modern day computer-generated imagery.