Point Reyes Light - July 3, 2002

Britney Spears hopes for hit using Bo artist's work

By Andrea Blum

Though pop-star-turned-restaurateur Britney Spears might not be a girl, and not yet an art critic, she is a slave to true talent. As proof, Spears chose the blossoming flowers of Bolinas artist Birgit O’Conner as the centerpiece of her new restaurant Nyla in New York.

Projected on a giant 12-foot screen in the main dining room, 120 of O’Conner’s floral watercolors are shown in a continuous loop, giving patrons of the trendy bistro, essentially, a retrospective of her work. "It brings watercolors into New York in a big way," said O’Conner. "It also takes watercolor to a new level."

Both the watercolors and the artists career are simultaneously reaching new plateaus as O’Conner described the painting’s exposure moving both artist and art from a normally quiet existence into a "pop culture kind of world."

The restaurant’s architect, Jay Haverson, had the idea to transform the space into a reflection of Britney Spears. Works shown add to the restaurant’s theme of "a girl moving into womanhood," said O’Conner.

After Spears was introduced to and became an instant admirer of Georgia O’Keefe’s work, Haverson’s team began a search for art with similar style, a style that would also evoke the pop star’s personae. The natural first stop to accommodate all these criteria was to explore Spears’ native Louisiana.

O’Connor, an award-winning member of the Louisiana Watercolor Society, was the immediate first choice for the architect, who recommended the paintings to adorn the restaurant’s walls. The works struck a cord with Spears, and after some deliberation and negotiation, O’Conner’s work was sent to New York in the form of slides instead of original paintings. "I knew it was real when I turned on the TV and saw my work on Extra," O’Conner said.

"It’s been a unique experience," she added, "It helped me get another perspective on my own work." The artist’s thoughts are literal as some of the pieces meant to be shown vertically, are rotated on a horizontal plane and then projected to enormous proportions.

When asked if she attended the restaurant’s opening on June 27, in New York O’Conner told The Light: she happily dined in that night. "My husband and I ended up eating bowtie pasta and watching [the opening] on the video tape that arrived in the mail that day."

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