We end the week of Wallpaper* limited edition covers with work by Keiichi Tanaami, Nigel Robinson and Hedi Slimane from the cover*version show in Milan.

"Keiichi Tanaami’s cover offered a unique interpretation of Autumn/Winter 07’s print trend and featured his trademark goldfish. ‘I envisioned a huge tank of many goldfish, such as the pop-eyed goldfish I encountered as a child. The incoherent conversations I used to have with them still inspire me and I tried to recreate one of these scenes.’

When creating his cover, artist Nigel Robinson experienced the overwhelming demands of being an editor/creative director first-hand. ‘The challenges were to try to get a low-tech feel on the cover of a high-quality product. I think without the input of Wallpaper’s creative director, it wouldn’t have worked properly.’

When Hedi Slimane left Dior Homme last year, the fashion world lost a son, but the photography world gained one. The posters Slimane created for his guest editorship of Wallpaper* are part of an ongoing photography project. ‘Photography is really an organic process for me, systematic and repetitive. I document anything around me.’"

Artists: Keiichi Tanaami, Nigel Robinson and Hedi Slimane
+ wallpaper.com

This cover by Larry Sultan was one of our favorites. Also after the jump are covers by Tom Friedman and Johanna Grawunder.

"Wallpaper* has a long-standing creative relationship with legendary US photographer Larry Sultan. This cover, shot as part of a mischievous men’s fashion shoot in the issue, is a reworking of his iconic Practicing Golf Swing – an affectionate, candid portrait of Larry’s father, Irving, from his celebrated Pictures from Home series from 1992.

Sculptor Tom Friedman had his larger-than-lifesized fly, made from clay, hair, dust and wire, stalk a tiny wooden figure along a wall. ‘I didn’t have a lot of time to think about this cover and decided on a manipulated photo of a piece I had just finished. I liked that it offered no information other than what it was, and posed questions as to why it was on the cover.’

If money were no object, we could well have produced our most extravagant cover yet. Says Grawunder, ‘I work with a lot of light, so I could have made a luminous cover. Trying to get a similar effect of luminosity, but with colour, was a challenge. I wanted to do something graphically strong using my work, but also make it mysterious and ambiguous.’ "

Artists: Larry Sultan, Tom Friedman and Johanna Grawunder
+ wallpaper.com

Jeff Koons, Thomas Demand and Alan Fletcher are the featured cover artists in today's selection of Wallpaper* covers from the recent Milan exhibition.

"In homage to Led Zeppelin, one of his all-time favourite bands, Koons reworked a piece from his Hulk series. The elk stems from his interpretation of the Led Zeppelin song Babe I’m Gonna Leave You. ‘It’s like a migration, like a big elk. You have a certain consciousness about developing out of an animal, but at the same time it’s very primal, instinctive. Sexual.’

There’s little doubt as to what inspired Thomas Demand when he created this graphic paper sculpture. The giant 10 he built and then photographed possesses the bold simplicity and seductive dimensions that are both characteristic of his work – a fantastic tenth birthday present for Wallpaper*.

‘As he was one of my heroes, it was with some trepidation that I approached Alan Fletcher to create a cover for us,’ admits our then-creative director, Tony Chambers. Fletcher convinced us to drop the entire masthead from the cover, saying, ‘If you’re gonna do it, you may as well bloody do it.’ The cover was one of his final works before his death in September 2006."

Artist: Jeff Koons, Thomas Demand and Alan Fletcher
+ wallpaper.com

Here's what Wallpaper* has to say about the special edition covers by Marcel Wanders, Metz + Racine with Hervé Sauvage, and Dieter Rams.

"We previewed Marcel Wanders’ ‘Pillar’ lamp before it launched at the Salone del Mobile in 2007. Visitors to the fair could acquire a miniature version of the lamp, as long as they rocked up with one of our Global Eco Edit flyers. Each flyer was designed by origami expert Robert J Lang and cleverly folded into a paper ‘Pillar’ lamp that made great keeping.

For our first entertaining issue, photography duo Metz + Racine initially wanted to put ‘Entertaining’ on the cover, but decided on ‘Enter’ as a play on entering the party and the magazine. They asked set designer Hervé Sauvage to make the surprisingly large letters, which he carried over from Paris, on Eurostar.

We turned to Dieter Rams to create the first cover of 2007. Rams, one of the greatest product designers of the 20th century, is also an avid doodler and this illustration comes from his personal collection. When approached to contribute a cover, Rams added the line, ‘Less But Better’, accompanied by the succinct explanation, ‘You see, all is very simple.’ "

Artists: Marcel Wanders, Metz + Racine with Hervé Sauvage, and Dieter Rams
+ wallpaper.com

Jaume Plensa's Love of Home was one of our favorite installations at Art Basel Miami Beach. It was the first one that really jumped out, almost as soon as we arrived the first day. The various figures that protruded from the wall were different family members in an unsentimental depiction of what is dear. Martin Herbst's Faceballs were shiny spheres that reminded us of Fornasetti and Michael Landy's no-frills oeuvre was big and bold.

There was so much to see at Art Basel that, by the end, our vision had blurred. Kay Rosen's wall installation, however, was clever and catchy, the type of piece that really stood out. As did an arrangement of 11 Rotraut wall sculptures, smaller than some of her other work and of aluminum instead of the thicker plastic (and with a red sold sticker beside it, one might add). A careful of installation of kernels of corn made up the Corn House by Lucía Madriz and keeping on the crop them, there was a floor of potatoes that powered the camera used by Tue Greenfort to take a photo of the sun. Sadly, the camera had been stolen from the convention center just hours before we arrived at the installation.

We can't always keep up the pace, so we're opting for (read: absolutely need) a quieter, more peaceful start to the year with A. Balasubramaniam's Study of a Fallen Bird because we bet that's how a lot of you probably feel right now. Follow this with Ann Hamilton's Shell for maximum comfort and protection and Untitled (Bad Ideas) by Jeanne Silverthorne is for the particularly fragile, if not broken or shattered.

This customized bike with a mirrored base by Dzine for Deitch Projects is blingy enough to say "Hey, it's a new year. Go for it." And if the sparkle isn't enough, follow the sequins and Fight for the Spotlight. Or maybe just help yourself to a drink, via the Mouflon de Pauline by François-Xavier Lalanne. Whatever the case, keep the party going.

Happy New Year from Art MoCo!

If one were to purchase this Spencer Finch, where would it go? We'd consider the front window or at least ensure it be seen from the street, these colours are too good not to share. But any purchase at Art Basel takes a lot of what Mel Bochner covers in his oil on velvet (after the jump), Money. And in many cases, bags of it, especially if one is shopping for some Takashi Murakami.

One forgets that everything is for sale, especially at Art Basel. The atmosphere is so far removed from a museum, especially with the champagne trolleys and the girls twisting the stems onto the plastic champagne flutes (Perrier Jouet at 14 bucks a glass FYI). All that to say, we didn't even bother asking how much the installation by Cerith Wyn Evans was going for, as wall space at home is at a minimum. The Damien Hirst cabinet after the jump would be a better fit. And we might just be able to squeeze in the Sylvie Fleury.

It's a wonder we managed to get shots without the hordes. There were thousands of shoppers at the Miami Convention Center, but remarkably no one was standing in front of these pink pieces by Franz West and Gunther Forg, incredibly striking so close to each other. Also intriguing was the embroidered sales receipt from Schipol, a piece by Gabriel Kuri and the caged birds by Eder Santos, both after the jump.