The Kips Bay Decorator Show House is a New York fundraiser for The Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. Famous designers design individual rooms within a residence and create amazing interiors. Scratch that,…they create art. A friend of mine tweeted that it seemed a little “Halloween House” for her tastes. But at it’s heart, livability is not what the intention of the house is. It’s about pushing bounds and making something worth paying money to see in person. It could be the future of Interior Design; one part museum and one part crystal ball. I say it’s art.

For example, Campion Platt is a very urbane, stylish designer. One of the hottest around. And for his room in the Kips Bay House, he incorporated very current art – some shown as recently as last fall at MOMA. A recent NY Times article explained:

“The short film, (by Alex Prager) of spectators at a horse race, was Mr. Platt’s nod to John Hay Whitney, the clubby, horsey and progressive philanthropist and newspaper publisher who was once an owner of this house. (The house was lent to Kips Bay by the family of Disque Deane, a real estate developer and financial adviser who died last year.) Also on view was a painted drama of ’60s-era womanhood by the time-traveling artists McDermott and McGough, called “You Said Your Lips Were Mine Alone to Kiss.” Tubular wall sconces designed by Mr. Platt looked like sex aids; the Venetian plaster walls, done by Ricardo Brizola, looked like ancient porcelain.”

These rooms definitely push boundaries and showcase art in a way that gets the heart beating a little faster. For instance, I was thrilled to see an instantly recognizable infiniti neon light and mirror piece by Iván Navarro, a Chilean artist that I first got turned on to in the August 2010 issue of ArtNexus magazine . The piece is included in a study by Aurélien Gallet that includes a vintage football helmet beside the contemporary art piece. A simple juxtoposition at first glance. But to have Navarro’s art, which explores bringing social injustices to light in very public and personal way – next to a football helmet of “The Redskins” no less – makes quite a commentary to the viewer.
Most of these rooms appear to have a back story and double meaning such as the two examples above. A subtext that reads as inside joke. The ultimate New York experience,…to be “in” on the designer’s intention, while allowing an opportunity for an interior designer to work on social commentary for a social cause.

Alas, I will not be in NYC this month. But if you are, please take the tour and tell me about it.  The Kips Bay Decorator Show House, to benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, is open through May 26th, 2011. Admission is $30. For tickets, call 718/893-8600 xt. 245. Or visit http://www.kipsbay.org

- Dream Walls by Gardner Glass Products, Inc.