Julian Schnabel builds a palazzo in Manhattan

I recently posted about artist and film director Julian Schnabel. Then my brother very sweetly bought me an awesome book with over 300 images of his work. Well, I was flicking through a copy of this month's Vanity Fair and came across an article about his latest project: a Pompeii-red palazzo atop an early 20th-century factory building on the western edge of Greenwich Village. Incredibly, that picture is not photo-shopped. The edifice includes five huge residences, plus a studio for Schnabel, some serious exhibition space, and swimming pool "fit for Citizen Kane". As such, Schanbel's Palazzo Chupi (for real) is a Gesamtkunstwerk, or total artwork.

Construction had begun in September 2005, and, like a lot of the artist's projects, it was initially controversial, drawing the ire of a Village preservation group, which staged protests. The cries of “there goes the neighborhood” hurt the artist, but they didn’t stop him. He said at the time, “In principle the protesters are right, but they’re wrong about me and this building.”

The photograph above is taken in Schnabel's bedroom. And yes, that is Picasso's Femme au Chapeau on the wall. Schnabel's talent for "decorating" can also be seen at the recently renovated Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, in collaboration with hotelier Ian Schrager. The lobby (below), restaurant and bar are filled with overscale works by Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Richard Prince, Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat and of course Mr Schnabel himself. Personally, I love his aesthetic and I can't imagine a better place to drink a cocktail in New York.