Client: L'Ermitage, Viceroy Hotels

Overview

Blue Tangerine Art was asked to curate artwork in the public areas, including the lounge, bar and restaurant, of L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills, a luxury 5 Star Viceroy hotel frequented by Hollywood celebrities. Our brief was to replace existing artworks and to source, deliver and install a new collection of quality art to reflect the hotel's history as a meeting place for Hollywood creatives, as well as to provide interest and a boost to the interior decor which awaited refurbishment. (www.lermitagebh.com)

Goals

The hotel's existing art display consisted of framed prints owned by the hotel and a range of unrelated figurative paintings of varying quality. Blue Tangerine Art therefore proposed commissioning 100% new artwork to create a cohesive collection of paintings to reflect the hotel's popularity as a meeting place for Hollywood creatives, its regular live music events including weekly jazz nights. Local figurative artist America Martin was commissioned to create a series of Jazz Musicians paintings on paper, bringing humor and fun to her personalities playing the saxaphone, drums, singers and harmonica.

Process

The collaboration process was directly between Blue Tangerine Art and the artist, with final approval of proposed artworks from the hotel management. Blue Tangerine Art approached artist America Martin with initial project vision and brief, which led to on-site brainstorming with the artist so she could envision specific artworks for each locations, with additional images that could be rotated as works sold. The artist produced several paintings on paper for each location, from which Blue Tangerine Art selected a shortlist for presentation to the hotel management.
As the refurbishment of the bar and restaurant progressed, new art was commissioned to complement the new decor.

Additional Information

The project was a true collaboration and focus on creating a win-win-win solution for the hotel, artist and art consultant. Since there was no budget for the project, the artist paid for artworks and framing herself while Blue Tangerine Art paid for shipping and installation and manages ongoing curatorial maintenance. The hotel received a curated program with great artwork and the proceeds of sales are split between artist and Blue Tangerine Art. The program has proved very popular with guests and art has been sold to collectors as far as Melbourne, New York and Rome.