New York City’s Lower East Side hotel Sixty LES celebrated the start of Frieze in New York with the summer re-opening of its rooftop bar – the island-themed Tiki Tabu, featuring an immersive installation by Brooklyn artist Misha Kahn.
‘We immediately thought of Misha as an artist who would embrace the whimsical, retro tiki vibe, not change or fight with it,’ says Artsy curator Elena Soboleva.
Kahn dug into the tropical Americana aesthetic whole-heartedly, creating hand-painted wallpaper replete with fuzzy, crushed velvet peaches and painting resin floor tiles embedded with sand and glitter. ‘The bars I like going to are a little gritty and casual,’ says Kahn. ‘I didn’t want anything to feel too precious – people are meant to touch the walls and scuff up the floors.’
The warm, sunset-hued space is also outfitted with Kahn’s coil pot planters resembling hot dogs, colorful tentacular mirrors and primitive, totem pole-esque planters that the artist carved using a chainsaw. Oversize, hand-blown lava lamps were tucked into nooks and corners throughout. With their organic globular glass lamps and metal bases, the softly glowing sculptures are at once nostalgically familiar and space-age avant garde.
‘I love tiki bars, so this was a good opportunity to try out all these ideas I had,’ says Kahn.
At the renamed Tiki Tabu, Kahn dug into the tropical Americana-aesthetic whole-heartedly, creating hand-painted wallpaper replete with fuzzy, crushed velvet peaches
Kahn's eccentric aesthetic also came to life as primitive, totem pole-esque planters (pictured left) that the artist carved using a chainsaw, oversize, hand-blown lava lamps (right) standing on top of metal bases...
... and colorful tentacular mirrors hung throughout the space
The artist, pictured on the painted resin floor tiles, embedded with sand and glitter
INFORMATION
‘Artsy Projects: Tiki’ will be open until the end of September. For more information, visit the Sixty LES website
ADDRESS
Sixty LES
190 Allen Street
New York, NY 10002
-
We asked six creative leaders to tell us their design predictions for the year aheadWhat will be the trends shaping the design world in 2026? Six creative leaders share their creative predictions for next year, alongside some wise advice: be present, connect, embrace AI
-
10 watch and jewellery moments that dazzled us in 2025From unexpected watch collaborations to eclectic materials and offbeat designs, here are the watch and jewellery moments we enjoyed this year
-
Patricia Urquiola reveals an imaginative inner world in ‘Meta-Morphosa’From hybrid creatures and marine motifs to experimental materials and textiles, Meta-Morphosa presents a concentrated view of Patricia Urquiola’s recent work
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week'Tis the season for eating and drinking, and the Wallpaper* team embraced it wholeheartedly this week. Elsewhere: the best spot in Milan for clothing repairs and outdoor swimming in December
-
Nadia Lee Cohen distils a distant American memory into an unflinching new photo book‘Holy Ohio’ documents the British photographer and filmmaker’s personal journey as she reconnects with distant family and her earliest American memories
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s been a week of escapism: daydreams of Ghana sparked by lively local projects, glimpses of Tokyo on nostalgic film rolls, and a charming foray into the heart of Christmas as the festive season kicks off in earnest
-
Ed Ruscha’s foray into chocolate is sweet, smart and very AmericanArt and chocolate combine deliciously in ‘Made in California’, a project from the artist with andSons Chocolatiers
-
Inside the work of photographer Seydou Keïta, who captured portraits across West Africa‘Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens’, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, celebrates the 20th-century photographer
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the capital this week
-
Who are the nine standout artists that shaped Frieze London 2025?Amid the hectic Frieze London schedule, many artists were showcasing extraordinary work this year. Here are our favourites
-
María Berrío creates fantastical worlds from Japanese-paper collages in New YorkNew York-based Colombian artist María Berrío explores a love of folklore and myth in delicate and colourful works on paper
