If you’re wondering what would make the perfect unique present this season, then you could take a cue from Paris Hilton. The blonde heiress sure isn’t renowned for holding back. And neither is Cimon, the Australian artist. Not when it comes to crystals. Hilton commissioned Cimon to make a crystalized Lego motorcycle model for her 30th birthday, and now Hong Kong’s Landmark North has decided to spread Christmas cheer with Cimon’s Swarovski studded sculptures. The Sheung Shui shopping destination is erecting an exhibit, which will showcase eighteen of Cimon’s works, including twelve works from the “Little Love Stories” collection and the world premiere of the sculptural installation, “Holiday Town.”
“I started my artistic career first as a painter where I worked with rich, strong, and powerful colors. When I decided to move into sculpture, I wanted to work with a familiar medium but one that was not used often. I remembered how I loved building LEGO sets and decided to try that,” said Cimon, who is now based in New York. His Hong Kong exhibit will officially kick off with an event on Tuesday, 12 November, and is scheduled to run from November 16 to December 26. But before any of that happens, we’re giving our readers an exclusive peek into our top five favorites from the upcoming exhibition.
5) White House
There is a story and 800 crystals behind this piece. Speaking of the former, a client asked Cimon- how would Donald Trump redecorate the White House if he had run for the presidency, and won? As an answer, the artist created his White House sculpture.
Inspired in part by the style of the over-the-top casinos and residential buildings with their shimmer, Cimon’s vision of the White House is completely covered with beautiful crystals. A truly symbolic item recalling the Trump lifestyle, it also reflects the power and majesty of the Presidency. It references the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by billionaires, corporations, and in elections.
4) Love Comes Around
And this sculpture goes around. A lot. One of Cimon’s most popular pieces, it captures the magic of the holiday season with an animated carousel that comes to life as children and horses glide up and down to music.
This “Little Love Story” sculpture, like the others, required highly skilled craftsmanship to showcase its delicate details. Cimon painstakingly hand placed its approximately 1700 crystals and the moving merry-go-round that plays music also features kinetic elements.
3) Somewhere Wonderful
The artist is talking about none other than the site of his first solo exhibit. Not any less wonderful like the location itself, the Landmark North sculpture marks the occasion with approximately 2500 crystals.
Made of Lego bricks skinned in silver and gold and embellished with a spectrum of different colored crystals, this especially designed sculpture costs a whopping $12,000. Its wonder, however, is not for sale. Which is quite a tragedy bathed in all that color.
2) Love At Sea
As was love at sea, in Titanic, the movie! But a romantic one indeed! Just like this silver ship, which evokes the romance of a lost era, when swashbuckling heroes sailed the seven seas.
A sweet maiden can be pictured pondering the glittering ocean on this installation awash with approximately 3400 cool blue Swarovski elements, each shimmering crystal echoing a nautical theme.
1) Holiday Town
Truly the centerpiece of this exhibit, Holiday Town depicts a small town built of Lego bricks and encrusted with Swarovski. Having its world debut in Hong Kong this holiday season, it consists of an ice-skating rink, a Santa’s workshop, a hotel, a grocer and a shopping emporium. A running Lego train surrounds all of these.
Instead of a Christmas tree in the town center, a large crystallized heart symbolizes universal love. Making this installation the ultimate labor of love, however, is the fact that it took Cimon the course of a year to complete. Encrusted with approximately 20,000 crystals besides hard-to-find limited edition Lego sets, its retail value is set for over $100,000, making it one of the most opulent festive finds of this year.
The showcase will take place in the shopping center complex of Landmark North, located at 39 Lung Sum Avenue in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong. And while the artist’s ode to it, ‘Somewhere Wonderful,’ may not be for sale, all the other installations are available for folks to email [email protected].
