My local phone store’s holiday window. See here for the happier days before they started falling off the trees.

I would not think that associating the Gucci name with Donald Trump is really a plus.

Gucci inks deal for Trump Tower flagship, Crain’s New York

Luxury retailer Gucci Group has made plans to move its flagship to Trump Tower and create the world’s largest Gucci store.

..

Gucci will relocate to the new site from its current holding at 685 Fifth Ave., at East 54th Street, in 2008.

The image above is from the DVD of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, directed by Peter Sellars. It is set in a luxury apartment in Trump Tower. It’s very 80s. The countess has a Princess Di haircut.

John Hodgman, photo from captain joy’s flickr stream

John “the PC guy” Hodgman’s new book, Areas of My Expertise, is now available as a free audiobook at the iTunes store.

[via MacSlash]

Jonathan Podwil, Meeting, 1983
1998
oil on linen
36 × 42 inches

The blog on the Saatchi Gallery website has a preview of Jonathan Podwil‘s upcoming show at Plane Space. I’m told the writer found his show via the ArtCal listing.

I was watching the latest video episode of Cool Hunting, and enjoyed the images of Joe Ovelman’s work at (I assume) Oliver Kamm/5BE at the NADA Fair. Here are a few stills.

Horn & Hardart building at Broadway and 104th Street
(amNewYork Photo/Lane Johnson)

Several people I know are in the paper today. Susan Dessel is in an article in AM New York about the attempts to save the Horn & Hardart building at Broadway and 104th Street.

Ed and Debbie Hamilton, whom we met at our place finally last week, have a piece on the editorial page of the New York Times (!) about their Hotel Chelsea Blog.

[photo from AM New York]

Yes, there’s ArtCal for making a list, but given the street layout of Williamsburg, we always use a map to plot out the most efficient course when we visit the galleries there. And we always use a copy of WAGMAG.

This indispensable resource is having a fund raiser tonight. It works the same as Momenta Art’s benefit: buy a ticket, and when your number is called you get to choose a work from among those remaining. Tickets are $150. You can view the works today from 1-6PM if you need a preview to make your list.

Reception and Raffle of work Saturday Dec. 16th, 7-9
The Front Room is at 147 Roebling St.
(the corner of Roebling & Metropolitan, Brooklyn).

Works by:
Amanda Alic, Mike Asente, Sarah Barker, Cecelia Biagini, Kelly Bowman, Thomas Clark, Ethan Crenson, Greg Curry, Linda DiGusta, Hubert Dobler, Elise Engler, Benjamin Evans, Diego Fernandez, Peter Fox, Linda Ganjian, Erik Guzman, Jerelyn Hanrahan, Jody Hanson, Randall Harris, Sean Hemmerle, Amy Hill, Eric Hollander, Curt Hoppe, Mary Hrbacek, Richard Humann, Fran Kornfeld, Peter Krebs, Ben La Rocco, Eliot Lable, Jesse Lambert, Yulia Lanina, Pauline Lethen, Dominick Lombardi, Stephen Maine, Eliot Markell, Karen Marston, Mark McGloughlin, Loren Munk, Aron Namenwirth, Ivan Navarro, Alexandra Newmark, Russel Parish, Gelah Penn, Deborah Pohl, Carl Pope, Lisa Reddig, Ron Richter, Grace Roselli, Daniel Rosenbaum, Todd Rosenbaum, Emily Roz, Carol Salmanson, Secret Project Robot, James Sheehan, Judith Simonian, Patricia Smith, Carri Skoczek, Deborah Spiroff, Sto , Miho Suzuki, Jim Torok, Jeanne Tremel, Joanne Ungar, Rosa Valado, Kathleen Vance, Don Voisine, Nancy Wechter, Jessica Weiss, David Wells, Mary Westering, Mark Wiener, Mika Yokobori, Dan Zeller

Go here for images of some of the works.

We’ll be there, so say “hi!”

For the Mac geeks in the audience, this is an interesting idea: 10 Mac apps for just $49 (over 85% off) and have 25% donated to a charity of your choice. I was already planning to buy the Delicious Library for cataloging CDs. If they hit $100K, we all get TextMate for free, which is what really interests me.

Ryan and me on 24th Street, photo by James Wagner

A lot of artists I know are really into reality TV / competition shows. Ryan Humphrey is the first one I know personally who is actually on one: Bravo’s Top Design.

More info on Ryan from:

• me
• James

[via Dennis]

James already wrote about one of these, but here are my favorite things I’ve seen lately in Chelsea.

David S. Allee, Garage Driving, 2006, Chromogenic Print, 50 × 60 inches

David S. Allee, Cross Lands at Morgan Lehman (already closed)

Disturbing but gorgeous large-format prints of American civilization’s battle for space of cars and humans.

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Installation view of When The Revolution Comes at Kathleen Cullen

This is a great show of primarily politically-oriented art curated by Michael St. John.

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Josedgardo Granados, Commute 8

There are some beautiful works on paper by this artist in the project space at Kathleen Cullen.

[The installation view is by me. The rest are from the galleries’ websites.]