In the early 1970s Larry Zox reached a level in the world of art that only a handful of artists ever reach. It was a major solo exhibition held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1973, which, for some, catapulted Zox and his unique style into global art prominence.

Now, as a celebration of Larry Zox and his ground-breaking art, the Stephen Haller Gallery in New York is exhibiting some rare collage paintings from the late artist’s personal collection of the 1960s.

The Stephen Haller Gallery focuses on exhibiting paintings of an evocative slant, and Zox’s signature style of the splicing of a colour field to give the sensation of shifting planes, certainly falls into the gallery’s commitment to displaying artwork of a redolent nature.

Talking about the rare and early paintings of Zox’s displayed at the Stephen Haller Gallery, the exhibition’s curator James Monte says that the collages are, “extremely graphic and take advantage of spatial jumps alternately back into an illusionary picture plane and forward into the viewer’s space.”

Despite being classified as an Abstract Expressionist, Colour Field painter and Lyrical Abstractionist, the American painter and printmaker, who died in 2006, did not readily use these categories for his work.

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The French Riviera has a spell and charm other areas rarely possess. Its unique magnetism is partly due to the more than 150 art galleries and almost 100 museums in the area, making the French Riviera able to offer the broadest range of artistic institutions in France outside the Parisian region.

This spellbinding expanse has been the home and working environment to some of the world’s greatest artists over the decades and consequently the French Riviera is a cultural and artistic haven of monuments, treasures, museums and exhibitions.

We explore the top five ‘must see’ cultural delights on the French Riviera.

Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild

Overlooking the quayside of Baie des Fourmis and Villefranche, the Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild was built by Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild during the “Belle Epoque”. Its inspiration by the major renaissance residences of Florence and Venice is blatant and create a magnificent site to experience the great cultural atmosphere of the French Riviera. The site features seven stunning gardens – Japanese, Provencal, classic French, Spanish, Florentine, oriental and exotic.

Chapelle Notre-Dame des Fontaines – La Brigue

This 12^th century shrine in La Brigue is decorated entirely by the Italian masters Baleison and Canavesio in 1492.  This remarkable collection of wall frescos will be displayed at the Chapelle Notre-Dame des Fontaines until October 31, 2011.

Trophee des Alpes – Trophee d’Auguste

This stunningly mighty Roman monument was built to venerate the victory of Emperor Augustus over the unruly Ligurian tribes and to honour “pax romana” throughout the region. Standing high above Monacco, the Trophee des Alpes – Trophee d’Auguste provides a fantastic perspective of the Cote d’Azur.

Les Arenes de Cimiez, Nice

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Until December 31, 2011, the Francois Pinault Foundation set in the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, is holding ‘The World Belongs to You’ exhibition, which explores the re-assessment of the traditional boundaries associated with the geography of art, and how it is related to the rest of the world.

This unique exhibition which uncovers and decodes aspects of art forms that we have previously ‘taken for granted’, gathers and accumulates works by artists from varying artistic genres, generations and backgrounds, and by doing so, offers an intriguing portrayal of art’s relationship to history and reality.

Francois Pinault was born in 1936 in Brittany, France. In 1992 the renowned entrepreneur and dealer in luxury goods created Artemis, a private company owned by the Pinault family which controls the French daily newspaper l’Agefi, the news magazine Le Point, and the Chateau-Latour vineyard in Bordeaux. In 1999, the company acquired the Gucci Group and became the world’s third largest company in the luxury goods sector, with Francois Pinault even controlling the famous art auction house Christie’s.

In 2006 and 2007, the Frenchman was named the most influential person in the world of contemporary art by the magazine Art Review.

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The innovative designer has launched his first major retrospective exhibition at The Louvre’s ‘Les Arts Décoratifs’ museum in Paris.

The exhibition celebrates Chalayan’s remarkable fashion career, which spans 17 years. It plans to give visitors an insight into the intricate design process that Chalayan applies to every masterpiece, whilst showcasing the end products including; runway clothing, furniture designs, sculptures and new media art. It even gives a rare insight into the thought processes behind each of his collections, with boards of drawings and visual inspirations laid bare.

The event is sponsored by Swarovski, who have sponsored quite a few of Chalayan’s shows over the last 5 years.

As a homage to its sponsors, the show features Chalayan’s 6 Swarovski-studded dresses at the centre of the exhibition. Chalayan describes his collaborations with Swarovski as creating “a new language which combines fashion, performance and design so that we can create something unique every time”.

One innovation that resulted from this collaboration was the Swarovski Floating Dress from the A/W 11 Kaikoku Collection. It was created from polyester resin and fibre glass matting, and then painted in a metallic gold paint with over 50 Swarovski crystal “pollens”.

The dress resembles a shell that the model steps in to. It is also remote controlled, releasing the pollens individually when activated and causing the dress to give the effect of floating. According to Chalayan, the dress symbolises new beginnings as “it can move and go on a journey”.

Noted for his talent for the structure and technological engineering of his garments, Hussein Chalayan also joins the ranks of Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney as a graduate from Central Saint Martins.

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The rap superstar is planning to debut his first clothing collection at the upcoming New York Fashion Week.

He has been busy honing his designing skills by taking up internships with Fendi and designing footwear with Louis Vuitton since 2008. He has also been taking notes from his fashion peers as he is regularly spotted on the front row of fashion week events around the world.

West began working on his own line earlier this year, and is said to have enlisted the help of British knitwear designer, Louise Goldin for guidance on how to break into the Womenswear market.

He has is also working with Louise Wilson – a professor at the top fashion college Central Saint Martins, who’s alumni include Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. Kanye was also seen visiting the prestigious college in London, causing the university to deny reports that he was planning to study with them.

Kanye attracted global media attention after he took to the stage at the Coachella festival in April, wearing a women’s shirt by French designer Celine. A move that has caused people to speculate whether he was channelling inspiration for his own collection.

All of the work towards unveiling the line is reportedly being done at West’s design studios in London and New York, and the aim is to have the collection ready for September to be shown on the runway at New York Fashion Week.

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