Yipes. So, it seems that Clint Arthur bought two Murakami prints at the MOCA pop up Louis Vuitton boutique for $6,000 each.

He came home and I guess he felt a little miffed because 1) there was no authentication paperwork and 2) the paperwork he did have said that, “This artwork is signed and numbered by the artist on the chassis.” He was hoping for a “this is number 12 out of 100 type thing… But. the only thing on the back was a “a dark M-shaped squiggle”.

Anyway… so he goes poking around and he finds that Sections 1740-1745 of the California Civil Code gives specific guidelines for art dealers selling “multiples”.

The deal is that California law mandates that sellers of limited edition pieces of art to disclose specific information on authenticity and the limited nature of the work. Which sounds fair…

But get this… violation of these sections allows for triple damages! Interesting that he’s suing Louis Vuitton- not Murakami or MOCA.  Yeah- something tells me he’s hoping to make quite a turnaround on that $12,000 investment!

Read more on this story from the LA Times.

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(Electric Chair listed at $4500: See the rest of the pics below…)

It seems like there is almost a movement of artists “appropriating” the Louis Vuitton logo in their work.

The thing is that IMO LVMH has two problems with the Darfur shirt:

1. Who the heck wants to be connected to Darfur? LVMH, I’m sure doesn’t want any association with the atrocites going on over there.
2. The bag that she’s pictured on her shirt is a fake: “confusingly similar” to a Louis Vuitton Murakami Multicolore. From the Cease and Desist letter that LVMH send Nadia Plesner:

“Although we applaud your efforts to raise awareness and funds to help Darfur, a most worthy cause, we cannot help noticing that the design of the Simple Living Products includes the reproduction of a bag infringing on Louis Vuitton’s Intellectual Property Rights, in particular the Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolore Trademark to which it is confusingly similar. We are surprised of such a promotion of a counterfeit bag.”

(Notice the Canal Street bracelets as cuffs)

So- now we’ve got Peter Gronquist’s blinged out, urban warfare gone Canal Street. I can’t imagine that Louis Vuitton would be pleased.

(Chain Saw sold for $3250)

Gronquiest’s exhibition, “The Revolution will be Fabulous- A Weapons of Mass Designer Show” opened Friday night at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. This is I guess a commentary on not only commercialism, but the luxurization of everything. (Think Prada Phone, Chanel or Gucci Bicycle, Louis Vuitton Teddy Bear.)

He didn’t leave anyone out…. you’ll find rifles, artillery shells, granades, glocks, machine guns and for whatever reason- a Gazelle decked out in Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, Fendi, Coach, Prada, Versace, Dior, D&G and Burberry.

(listed at $3500)

(Notice the tell-tale striping)

Gronquist used counterfeit scarves to cover these items, as is clear from the close-ups. (Louis Vuitton never made scarves with that striped effect, but they’re common in fakes.)

(Again with the striped scarf- this one sold for $3500)

(Artillery Shell- this one sold for $800)

(Blinged out Multicolore Murakami)

(No comment on the LV antlered Gazelle)

Hmmm, wonder if Louis Vuitton’s gonna send Gronquist the same love letter that they sent Nadia?

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Richard Prince is an interesting character. It’s really strange how much he lets us into his bizarre little world through his art- and now through his collaboration with Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. What can I say, he creeps me out, I’ve said that before- but maybe I’ll go into that another time.

For now, I thought I’d blog a bit about some of the inspiration behind some of his pieces. In this post, I thought I’d blog about where he gets his names…

So here we have the Richard Prince for Louis Vuitton Heartbreak. That’s my sister above wearing it. It’s a nice big tote- and you can wear it that way or with the sides clipped together to form a more triangular shape. You can see more pictures on our LV Richard Prince Heartbreak here on our website.

People Magazine Style Watch this month (March) picked the Heartbreak as one of it’s “Star Picks”

Anyway… if you didn’t know that Richard Prince had a thing for Nurses before the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2008 fashion show- you do now!

So, RP has been “into” nurses for a while now. He collects several specific genres of paperback pulp fiction. Honestly, I will be the first to admit- I’m kind of a prude, but these books are all tacky at the best, but often sleazy (IMO). We’re talking Harlequins, Lesbian Pulp Fiction, and other “Adult” fiction. I will also freely admit that many of the covers have a very cool, enticing stylized effect.

Anyway… so one genre that Prince is into… is “naughty nurse” paperbacks. Yep, I did not know they existed. But, there are hundreds of them- maybe even thousands, and they started back in the ’50s. Richard Prince apparently has a pretty interesting collection of them. (This woman has a huge collection if you want to browse- again, the covers are really interesting!)

So, above left, we have Jane Converse’s 1968, nurse paperback fiction- “Heartbreak Nurse”. Above right, you’ll find Richard Prince’s 2002 “Heartbreak Nurse” in ink jet print and acrylic on canvas). But wait, Richard Prince’s Heartbreak Nurse doesn’t look a thing like Jane’s does… Take a look:

Above left, we have another one by Jane Converse. This one, the 1965 “classic”, “Nurse Forrester’s Secret”. Compare Nurse Forrester to RP’s Hearbreak Nurse…

So, basically… Prince takes real vintage book that retailed for about 25 cents, and literally copies it. He transfers the book covers, changes the colors, ditches the guy, switches a nurse from one book- and sticks her over there. He then throws on a surgical mask, maybe bleeds the lipstick through it and vuala… he sells it for $6.09 million!

Brilliant.

I’ll talk more about “appropriation art”- and a ton of more stuff that relates to Richard Prince and his collaboration with Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton in later posts. For now- if you’re into what he does and want to spend less than $6.09 mil to get some Richard Prince art of your own- take a look at our Richard Prince for Louis Vuitton Heartbreak bag! It’s a bargain in comparison!

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You’ve probably seen Louis Vuitton’s Trompe L’oeil line before (that’s Chloë Sevigny above wearing the LV Trompe Trocadero). But did you know where it got it’s name?

Some of you know that Ben (my bro-in-law and partner here) speaks fluent French. He lived in Paris for a couple of years, and this comes in really handy around the office! Apparently Trompe L’oeil in French means- a trick of the eye.

This is actually an age old technique where realistic imagery creates the optical illusion that a two dimensional piece of art or architecture contains 3D elements that do not really exist.

For example: We went skiing in Garmish, Germany and there were MANY houses that were quite plain- but they had elements painted on them that made the architecture look more interesting than it was:

(these were just square windows- no borders or treatments at all… but with trompe l’oeil)

Take a look at this fabulous example from Andrea Pozzo… a late 1600’s painter. Here is the ceiling that he painted for the Jesuit Church in Vienna:

(The illusory effect of Trompe L’oeil makes this only slightly coved ceiling appear totally domed!)

This technique is just brilliant and so fun to see! Louis Vuitton uses these elements in the Trompe line… they have details that make the bags look like they have features that are purely design.

Why not own your own bit of Trompe L’oeil art?

We here at FASHIONPHILE have a fabulous little authentic pre-owned Louis Vuitton Trompe L’oeil Pochette listed right now on eBay! It’s discontinued… and was a limited edition piece, so you can’t find it in the boutique anymore! Come take a look!

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I mean, this stuff speaks for itself… but here are a few more pieces. I just love the personalization. I mean, everyone at the Grove can be carrying a Louis Vuitton monogram Speedy 25… but if mine is custom hand painted with the USC Trojans logo: it’s one of a kind! (This isn’t my bag- but how cool is that?)

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