WHAT IF DISNEY & DALI COLLABORATED ON A FILM? THEY DID – WATCH.

In 1945 Walt Disney hired Salvador Dali to design a surreal animated short to be part of a packaged film in the vein of Fantasia. Disney chose Ray Gilbert & Armando Dominguez's ballad 'Destino' because of the title —the Spanish word for “destiny”. 

Dalí split his time between Pebble Beach, California, and Disney Studios in Burbank, California, working side-by-side with the studios’ John Hench on the collaboration. But over time it was clear there were big differences in the two men’s approach of storytelling. Dalí described the story in an article in the Los Angeles Times on April 7, 1946, 

“A magical exposition of life in the labyrinth of time…”

Disney described it as, 

“A simple love story—boy meets girl.”

Character and personalities were the most important elements of Disney’s traditional stories, while Dalí saw them unfold like dreams, with characters wrapped in symbolism. Less than a year after they started, work stopped on their collaboration.

Despite its disappointing end, Disney and Dalí remained friends. The walls of Disney’s Palm Springs home were hung with Dalí’s paintings. After welcoming Dalí and his wife Gala into his home, Disney and his wife Lillian traveled to Spain to visit them in 1957.

More than fifty years after Destino‘s inception, it was completed from existing drawings and story boards. Here’s the incredible result. 

Plug in your speakers or headphones, go full-screen and watch.

ALEX KATZ ON HIS BARNEY'S COLLABORATION, "ART MOVES JUST LIKE FASHION"

Alex Katz is 87 and still going strong. He’s just collaborated with Art Production Fund and Barneys New York to create their Madison Avenue windows. The mural spans all four windows, and at 8′ x 60′, is one of the largest works of his long career. It features portraits of 18 women, including Yvonne Force Villareal, Doreen Remen, and Casey Fremont(all from APF), Ada Katz (his longtime wife and muse), and Elizabeth McAvoy. This is the second partnership between Barneys and Art Production Fund, who collaborated two years ago to launch a collection with the estate of Roy Lichtenstein (I bought several pieces, but it sold out almost immediately) Katz’s a line of merchandise in his signature style has a bit of a twist. It's black and white. Barney asked Katz…

The color scheme is unexpected for you. Why black and white when you usually use such bold colors?
I’ve been doing it a lot lately, and it’s the opposite of what tends to please people—you know, lots of colors. Also, black and white is always a fitting color scheme for New York. I think the products turned out really well like that. I’d like to give some to my wife.

How does your art translate onto items like bags and bedding, as opposed to being created on canvases to be admired on a wall?
I wouldn’t want to do it for a living, but it’s really fun to do. I like to mix it up. I do stage sets. It’s all a way of extending your vision. The overall message is just fun. Honestly, it’s what I could get away with! I have a publisher who goes with anything I do now, because if I do the right things, he can make money! I asked him if we could do prints of the windows—in the same size—which stressed him to no end. So, we made 18 additional prints, which was so much fun.

What is the relationship like between the art world and the commerce world?
Art is supposed to be eternal and fashion is always moving, but I’ve learned that art moves just like fashion. In the art world, there’s a no-no regarding fashion. People think fine art is above fashion, and I think that’s ridiculous! Now, there’s a big merging of the two. When I had my show in Paris recently, I had about 15 magazines review me. It was a fine art show yet most of my reviews came from the fashion world. The fashion world is moving into the art world, and not the other way around.

What’s your own relationship with the fashion world like?
I’ve been involved with fashion for quite some time. I’ve designed sets and costumes for Paul Taylor Dance Company. I also grew up in an atmosphere of fashion, and my parents were involved with clothes, so it was very natural. I like window-shopping, but I hate trying on clothes. I never dress up anymore, but I used to. When I came to New York, the artists dressed very conventionally as artists—you know with paint on their clothes, very bohemian. I never dressed that way. I would wear a shirt and tie and tweed jacket. I didn’t want to paint like them, and I didn’t want to look like them either!

To read the full interview and nab this merch, go here.

ART-TEE: VISIONAIRE & THE GAP TEAM UP AT FRIEZE

Yes, yet another artist collaboration. I’ve done them myself and I’m getting a bit bored of the idea – but this one is affordable and looks cool. The Gap (yes, THAT Gap) and Visionaire magazine are reuniting again, after last December’s Art Basel Miami Beach, for Frieze Art Fair which opens on Randall’s Island this week. The collection includes Richard Phillips, Yoko Ono, Marc Quinn and more — and will be available May 9 at a few Gap locations and on Randall’s Island, as well. Which is your fave? The gold Yoko is very nice but I think the Marc Quinn would look equally good at the pool or peeking out from a blazer. And to be honest the paint by number Alex Katz is slightly derivative of SOMEONE but the guy is 86, so I’ll cut him some slack and assume the idea was probably suggested by an assistant.

Yoko Ono, Peter Lindberg, Richard Phillips, Roe Ethridge

Mario Sorrenti, Tony Oursler, Francois Berthoud, Alex Katz

LANES MERGE UPTOWN: STELLA McCARTNEY AND GARY HUME

Last week, Stella McCartney took over a cozy townhouse on the Upper East Side to debut her Pre-Fall 2014 collection, but as always with McCartney, it was more of a chic party than your standard fashion presentation. The designer invited editors and a few of her bf's, like Helena Christensen, Dree Hemingway and Liv Tyler.  On the first floor of the Harold Pratt House, under a giant chandelier and in front of a giant candy sculpture that spelled out “STELLA,” models posed in intarsia sweaters and embroidered dresses featuring the drawings of minimalist YBA artist Gary Hume.  Upstairs in the ballroom, models played hopscotch and drove mini cars around, wearing the collection. In the library a jazz band played and a good time was had by all. This seems a civilized and certainly more cost-efficient way of presenting a new line.

Stella McCartney's Pre-Fall 2014 with artist Gary Hume's drawings

Fashion forward...