The Art Show Gets A Makeover with NOIR!

Though many New Yorkers' dancecards might be full with fashion shows and related events next week, Rachel Wilkie and Ezra Mabengeza, are hoping their upcoming art event, NOIR!, stands out.

NOIR!, according to Wilkie and Mabengeza, will act as a venue for emerging painters and designers to show off their work in a more tony, nightlife-inspired setting. "We're creating a fresh new take on what's going on for this generation of artists" Mabengeza says of the event, which he and Wilkie, a poet, dub as "an opportunity to express unity through the individual, create a bridge between emerging artists, buyers and collectors, and create partnerships between luxury and excellence."

For Wilkie and Mabengeza, this has required a several-months-long process of transforming ICO Gallery in Chelsea into a lounge-like atmosphere using vintage furniture from Brooklyn and Manhattan shops. Guests will be treated to drinks and cocktails in a multi-room layout showcasing painting, photography, poetry, live performance, a silent film, fashion, and music. Artists include the New York-based Christopher Hassett,  Los Angeles-based artist Meli McNees and Italian jewlery designer Ugo Cacciatori among others, who have all created pieces based on "the embrace." 

Wilkie and Mabenegeza have two other themed NOIR!s slated for New York and hope the events will become as esteemed in New York as they have in Scotland -- the Scottish Art Institute partnered with the the last NOIR! party there to showcase the school's top designers. "That's where NOIR New York is going to go,"  Mabenegeza. "Those sort of relationships are the ones that are so important and that we want to help build here."