Curator Rita de Alencar Pinto is the client in the front at one of her roving nail art parties, and nail artists Sophie Harris Greenslade (aka The Illustrated Nail) and Ami Vega (aka El Salonsito) are creating the nail designs. (Photography by Chloe Beck)
Nail art has been catching the eye of the art world lately, and curator Rita de Alencar Pinto is one of the captivated. This fall in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Pinto is revealing Vanity Projects, a gallery-style space with an atelier-type nail salon where clients will watch contemporary fine art films while getting their nails done by internationally acclaimed nail technicians.
“I started to meet some of the best nail techs in the global community through Tumblr and visited with them while traveling, as if I was meeting with artists in their studio,” Pinto tells NAILS of her recent interest in nail art. “I have been an independent curator for the last 12 years and have worked on many different alternative projects. With the economy still struggling I wanted to have fun doing what I love while engaging people with the medium of video in a space where the audience is captivated.” Pinto herself even enrolled in nail school, graduating in March of this year.
To drum up visibility for Vanity Projects, Pinto organized numerous roving nail art parties starting in 2010. “It has been interesting to note how open women become in this setting, and I hope to encourage a dialogue within my client base so we can connect and exchange ideas and resources organically,” Pinto says, adding, “The best moments are when the client is done and we photograph the nails. There is such a sense of exhilaration as the nail designs are all so intricate and fabulous.”
For more information, visit www.vanityprojectsnyc.com.
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