W Washington DC to Highlight Emerging Artists

June 30, 2009 at 3:10 PM | by KatieK | Comment (1)

Dianna Wong, interior designer of the W Washington DC

From the moment you enter the soon-to-soft-open W Hotel in Washington, D.C., hotel interior designer Dianna Wong�s carefully curated art program vies for your attention. To your left, a digital fire flickers in the fireplace. Look closely, and you might notice the flames exhibit some curious Benjamin Button symptoms. Video artist Adam Duplay remixed the staid fireplace, starting with glowing embers and progressing backwards.

And just above the fireplace, Israeli artist Ori Gersht offers a statement charged with post-9/11 politics, laced with throwbacks to both the American and French revolutions. After spraying liquid nitrogen on red, white, and blue flowers, Gersht wired each stem with firecrackers and set up 11 cameras around the blooms. He triggered the cameras and explosives simultaneously to capture the exploding-but-intact petals. His enlarged photo of the flowers �look like brush strokes of paint across the canvas,� as L.A.-based designer Wong described on a recent tour.

And that�s just the lobby foyer. Throughout the hotel, Wong and curator Chip Tom highlight 13 emerging and international artists in a unique hotel art program that Wong says reflects the �era of inclusivity� ushered in by the Obama administration � whose HQ, as you might recall, sits conveniently across the street from the W. Pieces include Egyptian artist Sherin Guirguis�s delicate latticework on the lower level, Japanese chi master Yoshio�s abstract sumi ink landscapes, Timothy Tompkins� painting of a nebula on aluminum in the roof bar, and Andy Taylor�s diamond and magnesium dust paintings in the suites.

�We wanted to be very inclusive with our art program,� Wong says. �We wanted to create a collection of emerging young artists from all around the world. Our art choices reflect a duality between masculine and feminine, baroque and beauty. The idea was to bring diverse voices together, international and across many cultures, ethnicities, and genders.�

Of course, the art program is just one small part of Wong's interior design work for the W. Stay tuned for more details on the rest of the hotel as we prepare for the hotel's soft opening next Wednesday (!).

Photo by Eric Raptosh

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