SCENES FROM A WINTER GARDEN

We are thrilled to announce the opening of Scenes from a Winter Garden this Saturday, November 28th from 11-6. This exhibition, curated by Richard Saja, will run through to the end of the year.

Inspired by the poetry of Pablo Neruda, Saja has brought together the works of Margot Becker, Christina Bolt, Amanda Clyne, Brandon Downing, Judy Engel, Julie Evans, Jacob Fossum, Elliot Green, Helen Grimm, Ellen Jouret-Epstein, Will McLeod, Tess Michalik, Richard Saja, Richard Scott, Anthony Sonnenberg, and Eric Wolf.

July Evans, Blush Stalk (2010), 18 1/8” x 14 3/8” (framed), acrylic, mica, gouache, and colored pencil on paper.

Elliot Green, Interesting Dirt (2019), 40 x 30”, oil on linen.

Helen Grimm, Snail Rd. (2020), 14 x 18”.

Our Hudson, NY gallery is open on weekends and by appointment with safety precautions in place.

Masks must be worn and are available as well as hand sanitizer and we are cleaning the gallery regularly as per New York state regulations.
We will be available through our website or please contact 917-270-2480.

DON FREEMAN / MY FAMILIAR DREAM

The Gilded Owl is pleased to present DON FREEMAN / My Familiar Dream / 1994-2108.

Don Freeman is an American photographer, best known for his large, monochrome prints that depict subject matter, be it landscape, human forms or architectural fragments, in states of transmogrification. He divides his time between New York City and a house in the Catskill Mountains that he shares with his partner Garo Sparo and his dog Louie.

In the early years, Don mined religious iconography and images of classical antiquity to produce his hybrids of painting and photography. It was during this time that Don discovered photographic print toning and abandoned painting completely and started working with only his camera and his toning chemicals, creating work that explored tonality, depicted blurred and often fragmented images. The toners that Don chose to work with were single color, dye based, manufactured by Edwal. Dye toning kits were the domain of the amateur photographer who wanted to evoke a mood and nostalgia. In Don’s hands, these kitsch materials were transformed into a highly nuanced color system. The resulting image is no longer a traditional black and white photograph as the toning bath creates a chemical reaction that transforms the metallic silver in the paper to a dye.

Over the years Don pushed the envelope on what a photograph could be, he next moved on to using architectural blue printing to create a series of highly nuanced prints of flowers and Greek and Roman antiquities. As the blueprint process is highly unstable, something that Don was aware of, the images would degrade when exposed to light, creating ghosts of the original images.  Then he thought about how to preserve them-the “race to stop the process of aging”. He talked to a conservationist at the National Gallery in Washington and got some tips on how they were protecting Robert Rauschenberg’s “Blueprints”. “If its beautiful, people will find a way to keep it around ” she said.  Don’s blueprints were first exhibited at The Elga Wimmer gallery in New York in 1994, and will be on view at The Gilded Owl.

Don’s work is shot on 35mm black and white negative film. He uses high-speed, Tri-X, film for its inherent graininess. Don has created a catalog of images over the years; photos of flowers, antiquities, letters and architectural details that function as his noumenon awaiting their transformation by Don into subjective, tangible images. Don refers to his collection of images as, “a sort of Noah’s Ark.” Being very influenced by cinema, specifically the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, and more specifically Tarkovsky’s film Mirror, in which Tarkovsky creates a visual narrative that combines past and present, dreams and reality, color and black-and-white; themes at the core of Don’s interests.

His hand-made book “My Familiar Dream” (1991) a collection of images that include his ghostly series “Pompeii, and Alabaster Vessels, “I am all you have to contain your fears” reflect his belief that there is a collective unconsciousness to all things, and his camera a tool to bring that out.

The Branches: “My branch series is an ongoing project. I like the idea of coming face to face with something beautiful without anything coming between the image and me. I often carry around a white card with me when I go on walks through the woods and use it as a background to isolate the branches I find, like a portable studio. I’m not going after a Blossfeldt type approach, they’re very graphic and probably reflect my formal training as a graphic designer. When I exhibit them they’re presented like a checkerboard, one black, one white, after the other, across the wall.”

The Curtains: “They’re from a confessional in a church in Arezzo. I was taken in by the minute, human detail; you can actually see that they were stitched by hand. I think they express ideas that are deeper than words.”

When I shoot portraits I often like to make people look like statues. None of my work is photo shopped. I shot my friend Katherine under a tree and the sunlight filtering through the leaves created this dappled effect and made her take on the appearance of a weathered statue – the idea of turning someone into marble. It’s based on my favorite myth, Pygmalion, only in reverse. My lighting experiments don’t always work – I often need to see the contact sheet to see if a succeeded, but this one certainly did.”

Don’s latest work in process “Stone Faces” are digitally manipulated photographs from his archives of black and white negative film. “I want to create a library of images, using my original negatives in a modern digital way. Recently I had all of my Super8 Black and White film digitized from a project I began 30 years ago in Paris, which is loosely based on “Nadja” by Andre Breton. Last year I returned to Paris with my Super8 camera and together, with we finished the film, finding just the right ending-30 years later. All it takes is time.”

The Gilded Owl will also be screening Don’s documentary “Art House” (2015). The film explores the handmade homes created and lived in by eleven distinguished American artists, including Frederic Church, Paolo Soleri, George Nakashia and Wharton Esherick.

For further information contact andy@thegildedowl.com and elizabeth@thegildedowl.com

PAUL JACOBSEN IN THROUGH THE OUTSIDE AND BERLIN DEKO

We opened our current show Paul Jacobsen “In Through the Outside” and Berlin Deko, a collection of furniture, lighting and objects by German architects from 1910 to 1930 this week with a stellar turnout and the installation will be on view through November 18th in our 105 Warren Street gallery.

All of the works ( 5 oils and 2 large scale charcoals ) evoke a sense of the life Paul has made here in the Hudson Valley. Initially, the drawings appear to be straight forward renditions of the wild weeds that envelope the artist’s studio and the acreage surrounding his home. But on closer observation, we notice that Jacobsen has imbued a gorgeous elegance and given a quiet stillness to the lucky ones chosen as subjects.  By separating these particular specimens  from the rest of the knotted weed sprawl which has a grand presence on Paul and Laura’s land, we are given the opportunity to stop, be still and notice every detail that the Milkweed, Nettles and Sumac have to offer. Strength and delicacy coexist within the drawings reminding the observer of the many mysteries, struggles and unexpected wonders that the land in Germantown constantly reveals.

Each of the 5 oils  produced specially for this exhibition tells a different story and reflect the ongoing ideas and observations Jacobsen has grappled with while living on the land and incorporating into his work. UNTITLED LANDSCAPE, 2017 and UNTITLED CRYSTAL, 2017 are perhaps most closely associated with the charcoal drawings because of the predominate use of black and white but whereas the artist gives an expansive amount of freedom to the wandering weeds, Jacobsen cleverly traps the viewer into his exact  perspective and mathematically precise observations of the land, it’s distance from us and, at the same moment, by adding elements of the real world ( dangling crystals, portraits, flags, everyday kitchen items and tools ) the artist reminds us that the land actually supports our physical existence.  All of this beauty is seen through the pin point precision of a lens and is encapsulated within the artist’s hand painted frames.

William Morris and Herman Melville serve as intriguing subject matter for Jacobsen. Both of these iconic figures represent the artist’s continued fascination with historic men and their relationships with their respective crafts. Morris was and English textile designer, artist and writer and is most closely associated with the English Arts and Crafts Movement. A close friend of Morris and his wife, Jane Burden, Phillip Webb the architect designed, for the couple, a house in the rural countryside which Morris wanted to be “Modern” but would portray a spirit of the Medieval which is exactly what Webb delivered. Their new habitat was named Red House and Morris spent 2 years decorating the place with the help of artist friends. The rug which Paul Jacobsen designed and was crafted by Equator Production is, in a sense, an homage to William Morris and to his illustrious patterns which were most popular in the wallpapers and textiles he continued to design throughout Morris’s life. The small portrait UNTITLED, WILLIAM MORRIS is an example of Jacobsen’s painterly use of bright colors and juxtapositioning of the figure seen up close, dangling from a thread and push pin and the lush landscape which supports the figure and creates a tension between the foreground and background. Illusion is hard at work here as is the precise technique the artist is so adept at which ultimately pulls the viewer in.

Jacobsen’s UNTITLED (PORTRAIT OF HERMAN MELVILLE) is directly related to chapter 42, the Whiteness of the Whale where Melville describes the voids and curiosities of the universe through the metaphor of the White Whale. In essence whiteness is not so much a color but the visible absence of color. In the artist’s portrait of Melville, Jacobsen incorporates symbols, American Flags, an architect’s compass, a golden crystal which upon close study reveals a small but pure white triangle, all of this painted against a vast, horizontal ocean which harbors the White Whale and provided a way for Melville to set sail on his 3 year journey at sea. The artist, Jacobsen,  has intentionally left images of the whale out of the painting and focuses on the author himself, his symbols and the white triangle containing all of the colors of the universe resting a top the crystal . This is an important portrait in context of the exhibition since Melville was a visitor to Hudson and in Moby Dick he uses imagery of the whale to describe man’s relationship to nature in terms drawn from 18th Century Aesthetic Philosophy which Jacobsen also  beautifully threads throughout his work.

UNTITLED ( COOPERS HAWK ) is perhaps the most direct  portrait in the exhibition, a life study of the bird Jacobsen found on his land in Germantown, it’s twisted body still warm from the fall that took place after he flew into a pane of glass and died. Feathers, greenish talons, a tiny black beak and a regal display of soft , gently patterned black and white feathers all became the perfect subject matter for the artist. After taking the hawk to his studio, Jacobsen rearranged it’s body delicately and then respectfully placed it into a wooden box, photographed the body before any signs of rigamortis set in, preserving the beauty and dignity of death. The portrait is gorgeous, reminiscent of and Old Master work painted with the hand of brilliance.

The Gilded Owl and Lampedo Gallery presents an exhibition devoted exclusively to furniture designed by Berlin architects between 1910 and 1930. The six-week show, “Berlin Deko – German furniture 1910 – 1930″ is a comprehensive survey of German design to look beyond the Bauhaus movement. It aims to highlight the long-overlooked significance and legacy of Berlin as an important European center of architecture and design. Among the protagonists are Leo Nachtlicht, Bruno Paul, Eduard Pfeiffer and Lajos Kozma.

Because Berlin has attracted artists from abroad for centuries, the city has also been a crossroads for a variety of approaches to art and design that originated in near and far corners of the world. These distinct influences and their many hybrids will unfold throughout the exhibition. The objects shown will span a vast arc from futurism to expressionism, from the avant-garde to the traditional, with an underlying current of the exotic and the baroque, which is typical of the period.

Over the past twenty years German interior design from this period has often been reexamined and found its way into private and public collections such as those of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, the Wolfsonian in Miami, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. To capture the truest essence of Berlin in the Deco Years, Lampedo invited Arne Sildatke to write an essay for the show. Mr. Sildatke, who wrote his doctorate paper on Art Deco Interiors in Weimar Germany, is a key expert who reevaluated German design of that era and gave it a new position in the history of art.

Established in 2004 in Berlin, Lampedo Gallery is focused on European continental furniture. In 2009 it relocated to New York. Owner Markus Winter has introduced furniture by architects such as Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bruno Paul or Gio Ponti into both public and private collections. In 2004 he curated, along with Brian Kish, the first exhibition in America on Guglielmo Ulrich and in 2008 he organized the first exhibition on Luisa and Ico Parisi in Germany.

Paul Jacobsen “In Through the Outside” and Berlin Deko will be on view at 105 Warren Street through November 18th.

GEORGE HOFFMAN FRAGMENTS / DUCCIO . HOURS . BREVIARY

The Gilded Owl is pleased to present it’s fifth exhibition titled FRAGMENTS; paintings on panel by the artist, George Hofmann. On view in the galleries are 3 bodies of work dating from 2011 & 2012, each of which refer to their respective titles including Duccio, Breviary & Hours. Following are selected works and insight from Hofmann.

Hours 4 2012 acrylic on birch board, 30″ x 24

“Like most artists, I look to the past – to see how it was done, for inspiration, and for guidance.
Increasingly, in recent years I have looked to the early Renaissance – probably kicked back further than I was looking before by the acquisition of the Duccio Madonna by the Metropolitan Museum some years ago. This simple tiny picture of the Madonna and Child – of which there are many – especially struck home because of the tiny gesture of the child’s raising its finger – a simple gesture, yet a departure, in expression, and a most moving one. How very much feeling there is in Duccio! Even the simplest compositions, like the depiction of Jesus and the fisherman in the National Gallery in Washington, are full of simple, and honest, emotion.
This is belief, and it is found, similarly, in the Books of Hours and Breviaries of the Middle Ages, in the simple color plates of adorations and other depictions in these Psalters, made by humble artists, and meant for clergy and lay alike – so honest, so simple…
Was there another time when such feeling triumphed in art? 

I think the Annunciations, in particular, found their way, compositionally, into my work: this why there is duality in many of my pictures, a right and left side. In thinking about it, it struck me that the improbable meeting of the Heavenly and the Human must have seemed to the artists of the time something so inexplicable as to be almost undepictable. And yet, they tried, in their way, to show these otherworldly creatures coming to the awestruck woman (can we even imagine such an encounter?) who is, for the most part, dumbstruck.
I love the Greeks, and all times, in art, where the form, in its highest development and true feeling merge into one. But in an overly mechanistic and technological age, it seems right to be drawn to those periods in art richest in feeling. And all that I have learned in life about human emotion seems to me to be the richest source, now, for us, in art.”

Duccio fragment 3, 2011 acrylic on board 30″ x 24″

“This is painting of emotional life – endless, fluid, recurring.
Gradually we become aware of ourselves in life – our experiences run deep, and are not without trial. Eventually awareness dawns – then it is a matter of sorting out. This painting is somewhat of a record of that.
Initially, Abstract Expressionism was a record of primality of emotion. It has to be remembered that many of those artists were born before electric light.
I am exaggerating, but think how, in their lifetimes the life of the psyche raised its profile in the modern world! Freud was only influential in a big way in the post WW2 years, and that was in my own childhood. The real examination of the psyche has been going on almost secretly since then, now discredited, now elevated, but largely unacknowledged.
But the emotionality of life has been showing up more and more in the work of younger artists, and breaking through in older artists.
I try to strip away, as in therapy, all that is extraneous, to lay bare the essential, and maybe, with luck, the beautiful.”

Codex minor 4 2016, acrylic on maple board 30″ x 24″

George Hofmann FRAGMENTS will remain open through September at THE GILDED OWL 105 Warren Street Hudson, NY.  For a complete list of works and PDF please email andy@thegildedowl.com

www.georgehofmann.com

THE MYSTERY OF BEAUTY “IL MISTERO DELLA BELLEZZA / WORKS BY INDIA EVANS & ROOMS INSPIRED BY CARLO MOLLINO

On February 27th THE GILDED OWL opened it’s fourth show The Mystery of Beauty “Il Mistero della Bellezza” in Hudson, New York.  Inspiration for the show comes from the inspired architecture and interiors of Italian architect Carlo Mollino intertwined with the expressive feminine collages by India Evans.
Carlo Mollino was born in Turin and created surrealist interiors which manipulated space in extraordinary ways. His use of materials, luxurious and sensual especially in his final home on the River Po served as a backdrop for the mysterious polaroids he took of dancers and other women. Alongside his organic furniture pieces and carefully placed accessories, costumes and wigs his photographs in his final residence are still collected today and his furniture pieces are setting record prices at auction.

Collage artist India Evans uses objects as a vocabulary of feelings and her work explores intuitively various stages of feminine awareness. Through the recycling and juxtaposition of various objects (forgotten, discarded and seemingly worthless), she attempts a transformation towards a precious recollection. Resurrecting memories, collective yet intimate, visceral yet tender……piecing together beauty as if telling a story.

India Evans “The Night Bird” 2103, 11 1/2″ x 9 1/2″

“I am inviting the viewer to explore their childhood innocence and fantasies through their adult nostalgia and sensuality. I hope to create a romantic and playful portrait of the female identity with the possibility of entering dreams: my own or someone else’s, as when a child plays dress up….full of the yearnings for beauty and mystery.”

In rooms inspired by Carlo Mollino’s work and India Evans’ haunting collage works we invite you to experience The Mystery of Beauty “Il Mistero della Bellezza”.
Opening Saturday February 27th 6:00-8:00 pm at 105 Warren Street Hudson, NY

For further information, full PDF of all 34 works or press inquiries please contact

andy@thegildedowl.com
elizabeth@thegildedowl.com

India Evans “Reflected Time” 2009, 7 1/2″ x 5″

BLACK WHITE + ALEX P WHITE

THE GILDED OWL is pleased to present it’s third exhibition in Hudson, New York titled BLACK / WHITE + ALEX P WHITE. Inspiration for the show comes from combining Alex P White’s design sensibility and our love of all things black & white.

A diverse grouping of images including works by VALIE EXPORT, Marina Abromovic, Sol Lewitt, Peter Blume, Sharon Brant, Klemens Gasser, Kahn & Selsnick, Jack Roth and Paul Jacobsen are uniquely paired with sculpture and objects created by Courtney Smith, Bill Stone, Cameron Shaw, Eric Fertman and Valerie Hammond. Furnishings and lighting designed by Alex P White are shown along with these works marrying the idea behind THE GILDED OWL’S vision which is to include the combination of art and furniture in a living environment focused on craftmanship.

Clockwise from bottom, works by Valerie Hammond, Courtney Smith, Paul Jacobsen, Cameron Shaw, Cameron Shaw, Johannes Dorflinger, Eric Fertman, Sol Lewitt and Al Held

An exceptional pair of hand dyed cotton and viscose lounge chairs playfully referred to as “The Creatures” are shown alongside White’s faceted black lacquer tables that can be reconfigured in multiple ways. “The Modules” come in custom colors as well.

Klemens Gasser “There will be snowy owls without you” hangs above Alex P. White’s “modules” with a Paul Jacobsen “Shadow Box Arrangement”

Alex P. White’s “The Creatures” in the foreground with Paul Jacobsen’s “Charcoal Flag”

In the front gallery “Betwixt”, a sensational wire brused cerused oak bench is positioned so that viewers can see if from all sides with it’s legs gesturing in different directions.

“Betwixt” bench by Alex P. White with Hella Jongerius black porcelain roses bowl, Eric Fertman’s “Boutonniere”, Eduardo Chillida and Paul Jacobsen

And in the center hall positioned next to THE GILDED OWL, White’s “Eclipse” lamp made of hand carved foam, poured aqua resin and neon illuminates the three story staircase.

The Gilded Owl with Alex P. White’s “Eclipse”

The austere simplicity of the THE GILDED OWL’S 1785 ship captains house combined with art that is pure and direct and otherworldly furniture and objects result in BLACK / WHITE + ALEX P WHITE.

The show runs through October 11th.

For press inquiries or information on any of the works in the show please contact

Andy Goldsborough / andy@thegildedowl.com

STEPHEN SPROUSE

In 2001 on the way to buy my mom a birthday present, I was running down 14th street and rounded the corner onto Eighth Avenue and ran into Stephen Sprouse so hard I knocked him down onto the pavement. It wasn’t the first time I had seen him and I certainly knew who he was but I was mortified and embarrassed but also excited to have met someone I had admired and who had inspired me for so many years in New York City. I helped him up and he asked my name. I told him and he said I’m Stephen and I laughed and said I know who you are. After a brief hello in his unmistakably husky voice, he wrote Stephen and his number on the back of my business card in signature sharpie graffiti style. That began a year and several month friendship that was one of the most memorable times I’ve experienced since arriving in New York in 1989. Although I was not here for much of Stephen’s ups and down in the early to mid 80’s I was aware of the impact and how much he influenced the downtown fashion and art scene and how innovative his clothing, art and design process was.

The Gilded Owl blacked out for the Stephen Sprouse book signing with screenprinted Harley Davidson banner by Sprouse

Silver mylar runway leading to the garden

Gallery view

Keith Haring works and Mario Botta armchair

Sprouse books and shorts produced in collaboration with Andy Warhol

Books ready for signing and drawings by Stephen Sprouse

Fast forward to 2015 and Elizabeth Moore and I meet Carol McCranie, an art advisor and her husband Javier Magri who had recently purchased a house in Hudson, NY blocks away from our new gallery. In the depths of an otherwise empty dumpster on the day after a snowstorm in New York City Carol rescued an archive of Stephen Sprouses’ brilliant drawings from the mid-70’s to the late 80’s. More than 1500 trademark works categorized inside envelopes including fabric swatches have been beautifully edited by Carol and Javier into a tour de force book published by Damiani. Sprouse’s inspirations, Andy Warhol, Patty Smith, Debbie Harry, Jackie O and his other muses are all here and the book brilliantly captures the effortless cool of Stephen’s magnetic designs and electrifying drawings.

A selection of clothing designed by Sprouse and fabrics from his archive

Stephen Sprouse “Gold Andy” 1980 in day-glo orange, gold, black and silver screen print on clear mylar mounted to panel under plexiglass

Stephen Sprouse “rocker detail” in day-glo screen printed on black canvas with blacklights

Absolut Sprouse ad campaign 1988

On Saturday, June 6th over 200 people gathered to celebrate the launch of the Damiani/DAPbook Stephen Sprouse Xerox/Rock/Art by Carol McCranie and Javier Magri. I carefully tried to re-create a combination of Stephen’s last apartment, studio and his infamous silver shop on Wooster Street. Black lights are a little tougher to come by these days but I was able to get 20 of them and black out the windows from the exterior to capture the intensity of the clothing collaborations he did with Andy Warhol and the day-glo ink used in two of his iconic paintings. “Gold Andy” the largest work he did of Andy Warhol depicts Andy as the president on a dollar bill with multiples surrounding the main image on silkscreened clear mylar with day-glo orange hair and a gold metallic face. Another Sprouse work was given as Christmas presents in 1988 when he did a second collaboration with Absolut Vodka. Stephen created small works 15″ square of his iconic rocker in pink and yellow day-glo ink on a black ground.

Gallery view with original Sprouse framed drawings

Sprouse portrait and memorabilia

Javier Magri and Carol Mccranie co authors of Stephen Sprouse xerox / rock / art with Jane Forth (center) Andy Warhol factory superstar

Javier Magri and Carol Mccranie, co authors of Stephen Sprouse xerox / rock / art

Elizabeth and I also featured works by Julian Schnabel, Keith Harings last editioned prints from 1989 and a Karl Wirsum work as well as furniture and lighting by Massimo Vignelli for Knoll and Mario Botta to capture the mood and feeling of Stephen’s aesthetic. Stephen Sprouse Xerox/Rock/Art and 80’s design through July 4th weekend at The Gilded Owl.

Many thanks to our amazing bar staff headed by Devin Whittaker. You guys rocked!

Javier Magri, Elizabeth Moore with Louise, R.J. John and Wendy Kennealy

Tomm Roesch, me and Mark Barnett

www.damianieditore.com

THE GILDED OWL GALLERY OPENING

On Saturday November 22nd THE GILDED OWL gallery officially opened at 105 Warren Street in Hudson, NY.  After exactly one year of renovation and construction Elizabeth Moore and I welcomed over one hundred and eighty five guests to celebrate our inaugural show in the 1785 Federal style house that is a now home to a realized version of our design, art, fashion and music journal. The brilliant Hudson based photographer Tomm Roesch documented our preparations and was on hand with us to capture the opening with his thoughtful eye.  Thank you to all who made the journey to our beautiful new gallery and here’s a glimpse into THE GILDED OWL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opYNxM24DFs

APPARATUS STUDIOS + CINNAMON PROJECTS

This week as we countdown to THE GILDED OWL gallery opening on Saturday night we will preview some of the artists and designers work kicking off our inaugural show! First up is the collaboration between APPARATUS STUDIOS + CINNAMON PROJECTS.  APPARATUS STUDIOS’ Gabriel Hendifar and Jeremy Anderson created the stunning spun cast and machined satin brass CENSER to be a multifunction incense and candle diffuser.  The design of this modern chalice may look simple with it’s delicate glowing porcelain dome when used with a candle but when removed the vessel can be used in a multitude of other ways. The detail of the incense burner inside is so beautifully crafted and can be removed to hold a votive candle or store personal treasures.

Censer in spun machined brass with porcelain dome diffuser

Andrew Cinnamon and Charlie Stackhouse of CINNAMON PROJECTS masterfully created six different incense sticks to “evoke the hours of a most inspired day”. 11 AM combines ginger, neroli, oud, tonka and violet……while at the other end of the spectrum 2 AM features notes of amber, cedar, cinnamon, honey and vetiver. All six incense fragrance compositions are sensational but the packaging alone is so beautiful we want all of them!

CINNAMON PROJECTS have also created two other burner options. CIRCA combines two solid brass geometric forms that can be combined in multiple ways while LINEA makes a fantastic travel companion.

Circa brass diffuser

Solo travel companion incense

Linea travel burner in solid satin brass

Combining ancient and new concepts this collaboration brings handmade detail and craftsmanship to an entirely new sensory level for both home and travel.

www.apparatusstudio.com
www.cinnamonprojects.com

FREDERICK MALLE + STEVEN HOLL

Sometimes collaborations produce extraordinary results and the new Frederic Malleboutique designed by Steven Holl on Greenwich Avenue is New York at its most inspiring.When Frederic Malle the perfumery genius decided to open his new Editions de Parfums in New York he wanted an important local architect that understood the city and would poetically interpret his vision with an extraordinary palette of materials and finishes. I visited the shop this week to photograph the details of this jewel box of an interior complete with its own tranquil garden in the back.

Steven Holl’s design for the boutique is based on two interconnecting semi circles, a motif that is carried throughout the architecture, walnut cabinetry, cobalt carpet, bronze door handle detail and in the garden fountain. The materials chosen create a very warm, inviting space but it is futuristic at the same time with walls clad of an aluminum material that have a dense texture and then a more open and airy version on the ceiling. Sleek silver spotlights pierce through the aluminum ceiling and highlight the twelve Editions de Parfum designers who have worked with Frederic Malle to create these exquisite fragrances. The lighting throughout sensitively incorporated into the display cases was conceived by lighting magician Herve Descottes who also worked closely with the late French interior designer Andre Putman.

Frederic Malle storefront of aluminum, stainless steel and glass with walnut shelves inside .

l-shaped door opening

Detail of cast bronze door handle

Steven Holl and Frederick Malle

During architecture and design school I greatly admired the work of Steven Holl, his beautiful watercolor conceptual drawings, copper and plexiglass models of future houses and buildings and his thoughtful use of materials and finishes. On my first trip to New York in 1987 with a group of design students we visited his showroom for the Pace furniture collection at Madison Avenue and 72nd Street as well as a small boutique he designed for a women’s clothing line nearby. It was one of those moments that changed the way I thought about materials coming together, how lighting could directly affect the way I felt in a space and the relationship between the surrounding environment and what was being presented inside.

Pace showroom at madison avenue and 72nd street in 1986 by steven holl

Conceptual layout of the boutique and secret garden by steven holl

Conceptual watercolor by steven holl of facade for frederic malle editions de parfums

Steven holl watercolor detail study of store fixtures in aluminum and walnut

In the back of the shop there are three smelling devices where I tested several scents including Dominique Ropion’s Vetiver Extraordinaire and Jean Claude Ellena’s Angeliques Sous La Pluie. The lovely sales associate Dinara Tuleuova sprayed the compositions into these illuminated cylindrical windows and when the fragrances were evenly distributed I leaned inside to test the notes. Of course I couldn’t leave without at least one, and I was so enamored with the packaging as well that I picked up a bronze travel tube to take the scent wherever I go.

Portraits of the twelve editions de parfums collaborators and illuminated testing windows

Travels cases including limited edition gradient colors by pierre hardy

Following are more details of the materials, finishes and the rear garden thoughtfully designed by Steven Holl for Frederic Malle Editions de Parfums.

Detail of walnut display cabinet with cut-out finger pull of semi circular motif

Walnut wall panel detail and aluminum interior cladding

Light fixtures piercing open pore aluminum ceiling

Interior bronze door handle detail

Wood and steel benches in the schist paved garden

Cast concrete fountain in the secret garden

Cast brass discs detail

www.fredericmalle.com

www.stevenholl.com

THE DR. OLIVER BRONSON HOUSE

Last weekend while continuing to ready The Gilded Owl gallery for a summer opening, I attended the first weekend of annual fundraising for The Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York.  On a stunningly beautiful day, while sipping rosé with Elizabeth Moore, Gary Purnhagen, Carl and Julie Muehleisen we toured this extraordinary house built in 1812 for Samuel Plumb, a wealthy Hudson merchant in the tow-boat business.  Extensively redesigned for Dr. Oliver Bronson from 1799-1875 by architect Alexander Jackson Davis. The original Neo-Classical landscape design was clarified in 1839 when A.J. Davis eliminated outbuildings and fencing reworking the approach to the house and refitting the east facade to take advantage of the picturesque theories of Hudson River School artists and intellectuals.

Detail of doors to sitting room

The spectacular three-story elliptical staircase

Exterior of the sunroom facing the hudson valley

Davis also extended the second floor roof eaves and added ornamental brackets an egg-and-dart vergeboard and an elaborate trelliswork veranda with a concave metal roof to give a more Romantic character to the house.  Capitalizing on the views of Mt. Merino to the southwest and the Catskills in the distance, the redesign of the house made great use of it’s dramatic setting high above the Hudson River.  One of the crowning highlights of the interior is the remarkable three story elliptical staircase.

The Dr Oliver Bronson House in 1839

Fretwork and moldings to be restored

View from one of the second floor bedrooms

Rear elevation at sundown

This year three artists works were shown in the beautifully proportioned rooms throughout this Federal-style masterpiece.  On the ground floor in the front parlor and opposite sitting room, Valerie Hammonds wonderful and haunting wax drawings and sculptures perfectly inhabited these elegant spaces as if they always belonged there.  The first room contains Pensee, a work in wax, silk and wire from 2010 placed on a stand with one bamboo side chair and a large drawing entitled Touch in pigment, colored pencil and wax on paper from 2011.  As you continue to the rear of the house Constellation, a blue wax hand with glass beads and pins is placed upon another stand with a thick glass top in the gorgeous bay window facing the lawn.

Valerie Hammond’s pensee wax sculpture in the foreground and touch wax drawing behind

Valerie Hammond’s Constellation sculpture

Transition 2, 2008 wax, silk and wire

Kiki Smith’s wonderful large scale ink drawings on Nepal paper with gold and silver leaf and her sister Seton Smith’s photographs filled the rooms of the second and third floors.

an ink work on nepal paper with silver leaf by Kiki Smith

one of the rear bedrooms facing the mountains with afternoon sunlight

Detail of cracked and peeling paint

Gary Purnhagen and Kiki Smith with guests

Historic Hudson’s commitment to The Dr. Oliver Bronson House and it’s extensive renovation began in 1997 and continues to generate support for this National Historic Landmark. Historic Hudson’s Path Through History Weekends continue June 14th and 15th.  Don’t miss this opportunity to contribute to a worthy part of New York history and a peak inside one of the most important Federal style houses. You can also contribute by clicking the link below.

www.househudsonvalley.com

www.historichudson.org

www.valeriehammond.com

www.kikismith.com

www.setonsmith.com

with Elizabeth Moore in the sitting room

ARMAND JONCKERS SEBASTIAN + BARQUET

Currently on view at Sebastian + Barquet is a stunning collection of tables from 1973-1983 by Armand Jonckers, the Belgian furniture designer. The seven works on view are from Jonckers own personal collection and indeed worth seeing in person simply for the intricate detail involved in the combining of etched brass, resin and leather to create these beautiful tables. Because there is very limited information about Jonckers work that has been published in the US, I am including excerpts from an interview Number 33, October, November 2012, ‘Juliette and Victor‘, a French magazine. “Armand Jonckers is an unclassifiable artist. Sculptor, antiquarian buff about mineralogy and mostly decorator, he willingly defines himself as handyman.  When you enter Armand Jonckers’ workshop, it is quite difficult to define what he has created, or even, identify what is in front of you. Between workshop and depository, the place is mainly a shelter for thousands of finds gleaned over time, rows in aisles of shelves rise to the ceiling, to serve one day as freaky new creations.  Among antique items dating mainly from 1930’s-1960’s, classified by kind, or by material type, you can find old giant pieces of wood taken from industrial sites which stand next to a collection of glassware, huge ostrich eggs and quartz pieces:  the raw material of an infinity of possible projects.

Unique “Lola” low table 1983, clear colored and opaque resins, acid-etch and engraved brass, 10″ h x 32″ w x 34″ d

Detail of “Lola” table

Unique low table 1980, clear and colored resins, engraved and acid-etched brass, painted iron, 13 1/2″ h x 56″ w x 56″ d

Detail of underside of low table

Born in 1939 to a Belgian father and a French mother, Jonckers studied sculpture at the Lausanne’s school of fine arts between 1957 and 1962. He set up a workshop upon graduation near a Beaujolais castle where he used to spend every summer with his parents. He then became a middle man between Belgium and Lyonnais antiquarians, specializing in black mourning furniture created for high society, made as symbols of their frustration in respect of the revolution. This allowed him to open a shop in the Louise’s gallery that he kept until the eighties, La Calade, a place that made him known to the general and art public. Tireless and self-educated, he became interested in mineralogy, and passionate about a little unknown town in Germany called Idar-Oberstein. The town is famous internationally for its jewelers that have specialized since the IX century in gemstone work. Workers from the town have been making crowns for all major European dynasties of the X and XI century. In 1965, an antiquarian, (well known in the art world for having some of the best pieces), befriended Jonckers and introduced him to these sensitive works. After some purchases made at random, Jonckers gained a passion for gems and travelled worldwide for several years looking for mines, searching for the most uncommon gems.

Unique low table 1979, engraved and acid-etched brass, brass. 12 1/2″ h x 59 1/2″ diameter

Detail of two part low brass table

Around the same time, Jonckers invested himself in his first decorating projects for individuals and shops. One of his best projects, the club Le fashion, became very well known to the elite at this time. In the clothing shop Lollipop he created a maze of podiums where none of the clothes were displayed but hung from the ceiling. The clothing would appear when pulling on cables. The seventies and eighties were a special period in terms of the stunning creations he produced during this time and projects in Belgium were abundant. He had the opportunity to work with the designer DeCapitani who always loved challenges and between 1978 and 1983 he collaborated with him on the decoration of two Saudi Arabian palaces. He then began designing furniture with a predilection for recycling objects and old materials or old art deco ironwork. Jonckers liked the idea of transmitting craftsmanship which had been little by little disappearing over time. His style is referred to as baroque with a touch of humor. He prefers working with wood over metal saying that it is easier to sculpt. Jonckers is said to be the opposite of Brancusi (his most admired artist) who spent hours and hours polishing the same piece and works in a much faster style.

Unique dining table, 1980. hand-tooled and painted leather over wood, oxidized copper. 30″ h x 43 1/2″ w x 67″ d

Detail of hand tooled and painted leather top dining table

Unique “two-face” low table 1978. colored and opaque resins, painted wood. 12″ h x 34 1/2″ x 34 1/2″ d

Detail of two face low table translucent resin edge

Jonckers has never duplicated the same work twice and works mostly by commission although he has not had a formal gallery show. Some recent projects include making a bar for Portuguese wine bar from a colored enamel sheet ordered from a really old Alsatian enameling and disassembling factory engine coils in which you find different copper colors to create other coffee tables.” The private collection being shown at Sebastian and Barquet currently are part of a greater body of work created with a specific focus on engraved and etched brass, with some tables also combining resin and other metals and found objects. For the past ten plus years, his two sons and his daughter have also worked with him in shop in Ixelles, Belgium creating these intriguingly beautiful pieces. A special thank you to Tara DeWitt at Sebastian + Barquet for sharing Armand Jonckers work with The Gilded Owl! The collection is on view through March 18th at 601 West 26th Street Suite 300.

Unique low table 1973. colored and opaque resins, acid-etched and engraved brass, brass and copper. 9″ h x 53″ w x 37 1/2″ d

Underside of low table copper and brass legs

www.sebastianbarquet.com

www.jvmagazine.be

KEITH SONNIER / ELYSIAN PLAIN + EARLY WORKS

The new Keith Sonnier show of both early works and his Elysian Plain series at Pace is sensational. As a great admirer of his illuminated and sensual sculptures it was an eye opening experience to see the new works alongside his 1969 “Neon Wrapping Neon VI and IV” and 1970 “Ba-O-Ba V” elegant glass composition.  As you enter the right front gallery of Pace the nine new Elysian Plain works that were created in his Bridgehampton studio are positioned in a grid of three zones.

Zig Zag Square 2013, neon, enamel paint, glass, aluminum, electrical transformer 8′ x 9′-11″ x 9 1/2″

Lobbed Shape 2013, neon, acrylic, enamel paint, aluminum, electrical wire and transformer 8′-5 1/4″ x 8′-5″ x 14 3/4″

Mirrored Slant 2013, neon, glass mirror, acrylic, aluminum, electrical wire and transformer 9′-6 1/2″ x 76 1/2″ x 17″

Detail of Mirrored Slant

Elliptically Lobbed 2013, neon, acrylic, enamel paint, aluminum, electrical wire and transformer 10′ 1 1/2″ x 88″ x 10 1/2″

Torso Trunk 2013, neon, acrylic, aluminum, electrical wire and transformer 9′-6″ x 88″ x 4″

Standing inside the center section with all of the works around me, I was stunned at the sculptures and their material strength and Sonnier’s evolution from incandescent light and sheer fabrics to his mastery of neon, acrylic, glass and mirror. The surfaces reflecting other sculptures as well as shining brightly onto the polished concrete floor inspired me for many projects to come in my own work. I pondered how I could incorporate all of these materials and the qualities they possess with the same mastery that Keith Sonnier has captured in these beautiful new works.

Schmoo-o.g.v 2013, neon, acrylic, aluminum, electrical wire and transformer 10′-11″ x 92 3/4″ x 4″

Peeking out of the back of the gallery I could see the older work “Ba-O-Ba V” centered in the rear of the space.  It truly is a masterpiece of composition and such an interesting work with the two circular glass elements reflecting the neon colored light tubes like skin.  Opposite the larger work are “Neon Wrapping Neon VI” and “Neon Wrapping Neon IV” in the corners.  These two more architectural sculptures fluidly capture color, surface and volume brilliantly in linear elements that twist and turn as they change hue.

Ba-o-Bav 1970, neon, glass, electrical wire and transformer 84″ x 17′ x 18″

Neon Wrapping Neon vi 1969, neon, electrical wire and transformer 73″ x 43″ x 67″

Neon Wrapping Neon iv 1969, neon, electrical wire and transformer 87 1/2″ x 72 3/4″ x 42 1/2″

Don’t miss this mesmerizingly beautiful show!

Keith Sonnier / Elysian Fields + Early Works is currently on view at Pace Gallery 510 West 25th Street in New York.
www.pacegallery.com
www.keithsonnier.com

KRIEST / KRISTIN VICTORIA BARRON

In 2002 my business was celebrating it’s one year anniversary, I had signed the lease on my first office at Union Square and Kristin Victoria Barron became my second assistant.  It was an exciting time for me and Kristin is one of those incredibly talented people that have so many tricks up their sleeve – extraordinary artist and sculptor, thoughtful and insightful designer and exquisite taste – it was obvious we would become fast friends and collaborators! Barron received a B.A. in Art History and Ceramic Sculpture from New York University and then a Masters in Interior Design from Pratt.

I was introduced to Barron through Erin Hazelton, my first assistant and discovered her haunting doll sculptures that were so beautifully made I was instantly intrigued and wanted to know more about her.  Her time me with me was short lived but we remained great friends and I’ve always been curious about what she would do next. In 2010 she founded her design firm Kriest and launched her first collection of lighting and objects inspired by the “aether element” or dream world and the pieces are both delicate and unexpected, just like her. Kristin invited me to her Irving Place atelier to preview the collection and here are some of the images of her handsome studio space where these magical pieces came to life.

The Orchis collection was derived from mythical archetypes and personal dream sequences Barron culled over a period of time. Inspired by a variety of sources ranging from Lascauxcave paintings and talismanic objects like the Venus of Willendorf and Nepali Shaman sculptures, all of them have Kristin’s otherworldly sensibility that makes them so alluring. Barron’s childhood in Florida and the pygmy deer that eat orchids and roses off the coast as well as ancient Chinese horse renderings provided further inspiration for her unique first collection. The objects, finials and lids to some of the exquisite vessels were sculpted in Nepal and then cast in solid polished brass and fabricated in New York and the elegant Aesculus wood columns were turned from fallen burl trees. I asked Barron a few questions about the collection.  Where is the collection produced?  “All the finished work is done in New York City, the wood is turned in Colorado, and some of the metal work is done in Michigan, where I was born”.

Hathalop vases and vessels in aesculus wood with brass finials

Hathalop snakes in polished brass

Orchis vessels in aesculus wood and polished brass

Triechi vessels in polished brass

Hathalop domes in aesculus wood and polished brass

Hathalop deer in polished brass

How are the pieces fabricated and is there a team involved in the production? We work exclusively with other artists/artisans, people who really love the process and enjoy the challenges of making new things. There are obviously a lot of different hands that touch the pieces before they are finished but, our wood turner Keith Gotschall has been really central to our education about wood as well as a continual delight in our day. In bringing together our team we really focused on working with curious, big-hearted individuals. It’s made the process so incredibly rewarding.

Triorchis jasper table lamp in aesculus wood, carnelian and polished brass

Orchis japser table lamp in aesculus wood, carnelian and polished brass

Diorchis major table lamp in aesculus wood and polished brass

Triorchis major table lamp in aesculus wood and polished brass

Barron had an enviably diverse design portfolio before founding her own interiors studio in 2010.  She designed a USB music stick for Ghostly Records which was sold at Moss in New York’s Soho, a futuristic vending machine for Coca-Cola, and a line of artisan-made furniture. But even now that she spends her days conjuring ambience into residential projects and restaurants, Barron is above all a maker. After studying sculpture as an undergrad and moving on to craft elaborate puppets based on the analysis of a Jungian dream expert, she’s now engaged in a collection of lighting and small scale sculptural home accessories under the tutelage of New York artist Vladimir Rodin. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, German Architectural Digest, V magazine, Lonny Magazine, and Interior Design online.

Kristin Victoria Barron

The Orchis collection of objects, vessels and lighting is available exclusively at Mondo Cane174 Duane Street in Tribeca and Gaspare Asaro at 251 East 60th Street.

All photos of the Orchis Collection by Joseph De Leo

CARVEN / GUILLAUME HENRY

Sixty nine years ago Madame Carven launched her first Haute Couture collection at Rond-Point des Champs-Elysees in Paris.  In 2010 Guillaume Henry becomes Carven’s art director and in 2011 presents his first mens collection for the house.  Last month Henry opened Carvens’ first US shop at 83 Mercer Street in Soho in collaboration with architect Eric Chevallier and it’s a study in contrasts “day and night, sophisticated and casual, sexy and shy”.

When you enter the narrow space there is white tiled wall with an elevated display and a long black leather “Saint Sulpice” bench designed by Chevallier for Domeau and Peres leading to the marble enclosed cash wrap cube and a sparkling glass display fixture combining plants and accessories.  As you move further into the store six mirrored bays house four areas of the women’s collection with the two rear bays for men.  The mirrored columns and walls that delineate each of the bays seems to float above the floor, a nice unexpected detail allowing the clothing to have a lighter feeling hanging on the fixtures.  An undulating line of black corded light bulbs leads you front to back and goes on for infinity in the mirrored walls above creating an exciting rhythm throughout the space.  The floors are a combination of smooth poured concrete with red stained borders in the collection zones flanking an aniline dyed plywood runway down the center giving the spaces a comfortable feel.

The overall vibe of the space is refined and elegant with elements of French influence, hints at 80’s Memphis design but in a decidedly new and modern viewpoint.

Carmen de Tommasso, founder of Maison Carven, portrait by Henry Clarke

Guillaume Henry portrait by Camille Vivier for Vice

Glass display for accessories

Blue and green metallic encased lucite bangles

Detail of red aniline dyed wood floor with colored and natural concrete floor

Womens SS 14 collection

Detail of felt covered stools

What really intrigued me this season-although I have been a fan of Carven since Guillaume Henry’s brilliant relaunch in 2011-is the relationship between interiors and fashion with Henry’s SS 14 mens collection.  His inspiration came from the colors of Southern France and the landscape and textures that inspired artists like Van Gogh and Picasso.  A very painterly palette of pale pastels in golden sunflower, wheat, and a range of blues from deep azure to periwinkle.

The Spring Summer 2014 campaign shot by Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen featuring Guerrino Santulliana perfectly captures the colors and mood with layers of vivid flowers superimposed over the collection.

The textures of the clothes and the prints and weaving techniques are also intriguing.  There is a stunning coat made of an natural abaca material woven in the most extraordinary way with an exaggerated collar.  And sweatshirts and t-shirts with printed patterns resembling brightly colored terrazzo and marble.  A handsome cotton sweater in blue and white resembles a twinkling night sky.  I look forward to seeing what exciting directions Henry takes Carven next and I’m sure it will be inspired!

Carven SS 14 campaign by Viviane Sassen featuring Guerrino Santulliana

Mens Collection SS 14

Detail of woven abaca coat

2014 THE YEAR AHEAD

As I begin a new year I can’t help but look back on 2013 and think about all of the amazing people I have met through the world of interior design and blogging, a place that I never thought I belonged or would be able to contribute to in a meaningful way.  I started The Gilded Owl with the idea of creating a journal about craftsmanship in design, a travel log of significant places of interest and in the process brought along some friends I respected tremendously to contribute on art, fashion and music as well, personal interests of mine.  Elizabeth Moore, art advisor extraordinaire and my best friend for twenty four plus years has tipped me off to the most significant art openings in New York and beyond.  Erin Hazelton, my first design assistant and the most fashionable and stunningly beautiful friend writing with wit and thoughtfulness about her fashion experiences.  And David Shebiro, another friend of twenty plus years that I have attended numerous concerts I will never forget but who has an ear for music like no one else and the coolest record store in New York, Rebel Rebel Records.  I thank you all and am grateful for being part of this journey.

Erin shooting the Casa Mollino in Turin and me capturing her. one of our many journeys together in 2013 and a future post.

It took a lot of nudging from my colleagues and friends to get me motivated to spend the time and energy needed to write from a personal perspective about design but it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.  After years of teaching at Parsons School of Design and Auburn University where I studied under Gaines Blackwell, Sheri Schumacher, Bobby McAlpine, David Braly and so many other architecture and design heroes of mine I hope that I can give back some of the things they instilled in me when I was an eager student with eyes open to all the design world had in store for me.

Detail of an exquisite mural by my auburn university professor, mentor and friend David Braly

But through this blog the people that I’m so thankful to have met in the past year are my fellow designers and bloggers who have encouraged me and enhanced my life in so many ways.  Their words and images that they put into the social media stratosphere have enriched my life and perspective on design so much and for that I am truly blessed.  Following these extraordinary designers, writers and thinkers have pushed me to new levels in the past year and I look forward to the year ahead.   Here’s to 2014 and all that it has in store and follow these innovators for more inspiring design!  I thank you all for your friendship and for inspiring me!
David John / You Have Been Here Sometime

A visual masterpiece in blogging in my opinion, David writes from the heart and with a sensitive eye on detail in design from past to present.

Carl J Dellatore / cjdellatore.com

Thank you for writing about my design work this year and your friendship means the world to me.  But it’s the thoughtful and enlightening things you write about design and your introduction to Carl Lana and Anthony Costa that I am so grateful for.

Erin Hazelton / The People I Like

Another great year for us and our travels throughout Switzerland, France and Italy I will never forget, nor working together on yet another Interior Design project!  Her blog is a personal look into the lives of the most fashionable including her own.  Can’t wait for you to get back to New York!

Caroline Mattar and Margot Weller of Knoll / Knoll.com/shop/inspiration

Caroline for the introduction and Margot for including me in the new Knoll.com and personal inspirations feature on their beautifully redesigned website.

Patrick J Hamilton / Ask Patrick

One of the nicest, most talented guys I have met in my career and someone everyone should have the good fortune of meeting.

MAARTEN BAAS CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY DESIGN MIAMI

Design Miami was sensational this year and every gallery present pulled out all the stops to make their exhibition spaces spectacular and compelling.  There was so much thought put into the spaces themselves and the design innovation and craftsmanship was of an extraordinary level but one designer took top prize in my opinion for creating two functional objects that were so poetic I was speechless.  I’ve admired Maarten Baas‘ work for many years and purchased one of his burnt Argyle Chairs from 2005 for a client from MOSS in Soho in the past, but this year he created two clocks for Carpenters Workshop Gallery, a grandfather (in corten steel) and grandmother (in brass) that truly resonated with me. Expanding on the idea of a grandfather clock, he created his and hers versions with live characters inside the faces of these beautiful towers.  Filming two actors in real time with digital equipment, Bass filmed them carefully writing the numbers by hand with a black marker denoting all 24 hours in the day and wiping away the drawings as the minutes pass by underneath a hazy etched glass face.

Grandfather Clock, 2013, corten steel and digital equipment, h90.5 l 25.5 w16.5 in limited edition of 8 + 4 ap

Detail of grandfather clock in cor-ten steel

Grandmother Clock, 2013, brass and digital equipment h78.7 l 28.4 w15.4 in
limited edition of 8 + 4 ap

Detail of grandmother clock

Continuing his exploration of sculpted forms Baas welded a COR-TEN steel grandfather clock and a patinaed brass grandmother clock.  The Roman numerals on the face of the grandfather clock give it a stately presence while the softer numerals and curved shape of the tower give the grandmother clock a more sensual form.  I took many images of both clocks watching carefully as the actor and actress hand drew the numbers and gently erased time and gazed at both pieces almost in a trance.  Until the crowds grew larger and I gave others a chance to discover these fascinating pieces.  Following are my images in sequence of both clocks evolution of time.

Sometimes form and function come together in very original ways and I think these pieces by Maarten Baas do just that!

Thank you so much to Marie Duffour and Carpenters Workshop for sharing these images with me and The Gilded Owl.

www.maartenbass.com

www.carpentersworkshopgallery.com

www.designmiami.com

www.mosspop.com

LALANNE / THE POETRY OF SCULPTURE

On a beautiful fall day in New York I was lucky enough to catch the Les Lalanne exhibit, The Poetry of Sculpture at Sotheby’s at my friend Elizabeth Moore’s recommendation.  I had heard what an incredible installation it was and it far exceeded my wildest dreams.  Four vignettes that feel genuinely authentic replicating garden settings for these magical bronze and stone works have been carefully designed as backdrops to Francois-Xavier and Claude Lalannes‘ handsome sculptures.  There is even a reflecting pool with waterlilies and the sound of the Olympe (Petit) fountain trickling into the water was so peaceful I didn’t want to ever leave.  The rooms have all been painted very dark so that you feel as if you’re in a completely private boxwood hedge environment at night and around every corner is another creature ready to greet you.  In contrast, one room hidden in the back corner of the exhibit houses more of the functional pieces-the spectacular pair of Crococonsoles, Miroir, and Singe Allume, two bronze monkey lamps-all at home in a warm reddish brown glowing space.  I was the only person in the exhibit except a lovely woman watering the moss that covers the ground platforms throughout the exhibit making my experience even more wonderful.  The mastery of these two sculpture masters and curation of Paul Kasmin and Michael Shvo in collaboration with Sotheby’s was a strike of genius.  I will let the images speak for themselves but it is a magical and beautiful installation, catch it this week before the show closes November 22nd.

The view as you enter the exhibit

Nouveau Lapin de Victoire (grand), bronze 2010

Olympe (petit) bronze fountain with Carpe (petit) bronze and Tortue Topiaire ii copper in the foreground

La Grande Ourse bronze, 84″ x 39″, 1994

Oiseau de Marbre chair, Oiseau de Marbre low table, marble and iron painted black 1974

Metaphore, white bronze 2002

Singe Attentif, zinc 2011

Pomme D’ hiver, bronze 2008

Requin (moyen), Manganese white bronze 2003

Moutons De Laine (Troupeau de 3), Miroir, Crococonsoles and Chouette De Cristal

Crococonsole, bronze 2012

Grue Lumineuse

Chouette de Cristal (front view), crystal 2003

Chouette de Cristal (side view), crystal 2003

Singe Allume, silver 2002

www.sothebys.com

www.paulkasmingallery.com

HECHIZOOJORGE LIZARAZO

Last week I was invited by my friend Cristina Grajales to preview the work of Jorge Lizarazoand his textile company Hechizoo before his second show opened Thursday night.  I was very familiar with his work and have been following him for several years since Cristina introduced me to his extraordinary carpets and sculptures intricately woven of metallic fibers.  But his new show Voyages/Explorations focuses on his love of nature combined with the most detailed embroidery taking weaving to an entirely new dimension.  Also featured is a wall hanging made of horn that gradates from darker to lighter translucent pieces from end to end.  As well as ottomans of varying sizes and incredible sculptures using rubber tubing from tires and a canoe floating in the gallery that is completely covered in the tiniest glass beads evoking all of the colors of the sea.  I tend to gravitate towards surfaces that have a sheen or reflective quality in my work and Jorge uses copper, aluminum and gold as well as every other color in the rainbow in combination with natural materials from Columbia to create pure magic.

Detail of caribbean rain carpet, embroidered aluminum and colored copper wire

Horn wall hanging in varying tranlucency

Luiz in the atelier with woun, wouna & chanco ottomans made of tubing and copper, aluminum and black colored copper wire

Hand cutting and etching the leaves in copper, aluminum and gold plated metal

Gallery installation of copper, aluminum and gold plated metal leaves etched on both sides. a collaboration with a master craftsman

Jorge Lizarazo was born in 1968 and studied architecture at Los Andes University.  He then moved to France and worked in the offices of both Santiago Calatrava and Massimiliano Fuksas gaining a masterful knowledge of modern architecture and new technology in construction methods that would have a profound influence on his future work.  Being exposed to the uses of technology and materials in both architecture offices combined with his love of nature Lizarazo set out to redefine what could be done with weaving techniques.  Part of the appeal of this extraordinary self taught weaver is his ability to use materials that would not typically be perceived as textile-friendly and making them have such a tactile and three dimensional quality.  He founded his weaving atelier in 2000 and has achieved incredible success in a short time with his staff of Jorge’s work is already in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and Design and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.

One of the looms installed in the gallery to show the weaving technique

Detail of textile pattern

Walking jade carpet in nylon monofilament and colored metal

Detail of walking jade carpet

The title of the show Voyages/Expeditions stems from Lizarazo’s interest in the indigenous communities in the south of Columbia, an area known as Putumayo.  This region has a great biological diversity and is home to many ancestral cultures and the new work follows his quest to understand forgotten crafts and traditions associated with these territories.  On one of his travels to this area, Jorge acquired a canoe which was previously used to transport coca leaves on the Putumayo river. Indians and Campesinos who plant Coca (the sole crop that gets a decent price on those remote and isolated areas) are the weakest link in the drug trade, a booming industry fueled by consumption in First-world countries which has had devastating effects in terms of deforestation of the jungle, violence and the breaking up of whole communities.  Jorge worked with the Inga family from this region to completely render the canoe covered in glass beads with an intricate and colorful geometric pattern.  Underneath the canoe is a twenty foot by ten foot wide carpet inspired by the Moreira Salles Institute in Rio de Janeiro by architect Olavo Redig and features a large yarumo tree.  When this beautiful tree sheds it’s leaves they are silvery gray in color and Jorge captured this with aluminum seen through the architectural window wall of this landmark residence.  More than eight master craftsman assembled this enormous embroidered masterpiece with each window alternating natural fibers of woven cumare and fique.

Canoe covered in glass beads in a geometric pattern

Detail of canoe with carpet below

Detail of moreira salles inspired carpet, aluminum embroidery, cumare and fique

Yarumo leaf detail

Detail of Moreira Salles House

When you enter the gallery there is woven copper drapery panel that extends the width of the space with varying degrees of open and more dense areas hanging from the most beautiful custom copper hardware.  Lying beneath is a black copper and copper carpet with birds embroidered in flight and beyond an undulating sculpture inspired by the rubber trees native to Columbia.  The sculpture is lit from below capturing the handmade work of this incredible factory and it must be seen in person to experience fully and understand the labor and skill involved in the creation of such masterful hands.  Hechizoo Voyages/Explorations is on view at Cristina Grajales Gallery until January 31st, don’t miss this extraordinary show.

Custom woven copper drapery panel

Detail of copper drapery and hardware

Carpet of black copper and natural copper with embroidered birds

Creating the rubber sculpture covered in copper wire

A completed section of the rubber and copper wire tree sculpture

Jorge Lizarazo

www.cristinagrajalesinc.com

www.hechizoo.com

ERRATUS / STEPHEN APPLEBY-BARR

I just returned from Toronto after attending Stephen Appleby-Barr’s second solo opening Erratus at Nicholas Metivier Gallery and it was sensational!  I was invited to a private dinner for the artist and ended up being seated next to Stephen himself after the opening and I must admit I am still in awe of how talented this young artist is.  When I started my blog last year I was hesitant to take on another social media platform and begin writing with all of the talented friends and fellow designers that I admire already doing this for years and what could I do that was different?  What would be meaningful to me and what was missing from the world of bloggers was a different take on design, focusing on craftsmanship and details.  I didn’t necessarily want to cover things that other blogs were talking about or if so, I wanted to capture the making of things and how handmade design still resonated with me and how I could educate or share my experiences with a design based audience.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how many incredible designers, artists, and musicians I would meet in such a short time and Stephen is definitely one of those people.

Self portrait, late arrival, 2013, oil on linen 26 x 20 inches

Invitation, 2013, oil on linen, 45 7/8 x 30 7/8 inches

When I arrived in Toronto I went directly to the gallery and met with Nicholas Metivier and Greg Manuel to discuss Stephen’s new show and how his work has evolved over the past three years since I discovered him at the Pulse New York art fair and purchased my first work.  I learned that Stephen has recently taken his own studio space after sharing space with a group he is still involved with Team Macho, but is now focusing on his work more intensely and his work is becoming more deeply personal and larger in scale.  Many of the works in the new show are self portraits and other self personas as well as friends that have been taken out of context and placed in a magical world that is both historical and surreal at the same time.  His Self Portrait, Late Arrival and Invitation (above) are so technically accurate that the stars in the paintings are astronomically precise.  In a very short period, Appleby-Barr has captured a devoted audience of collectors internationally and the show almost sold out prior to the opening night.

To the Dark Tower Came, 2012, oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches

Punchclaw On the Mountain, 2013, oil on linen, 60 x 72 inches

In his new show Erratus, meaning to go astray and make mistakes, Stephen’s fraternity has disassembled and been taken to a metaphorical road, the protagonist embarking on his own journey.  Appleby-Barr borrows symbolic locations – the mountain, the garden, the cave and the furnace – from one of his most important literary influences, Northrop Frye.  One of the first paintings in the new body of work, To The Dark Tower Came depicts a hooded messenger, one of Appleby-Barr’s facets of his persona on a horse with a burning beautiful sky in the background.  The character is leaving something behind and there is dramatic shadow indicating moving on to another place.  Also set upon a horse but after spending time in the Met and studying the details of armor in fantastically realistic detail, Punchclaw, one of his recurring characters is also embarking on a journey but the background is much brighter and of a very different mood.  Both of these paintings at five feet by six feet are dramatically larger in scale and obviously turning points in Appleby-Barr’s journey.  In addition to the self portraits and friends he has incorporated into the works, two new portraits of a recurring character P.T. Hose or Pantyhose caught my attention.  Stephen shared with me “the character was created many years when I discovered a traveling water colour set in my grandmother’s basement.  At the time I was watching a lot of Miyazaki, the famed director, animator and manga artist.”  Stephen generously shared some of his favorite studies from this series of over 50 fantastic water colors and following them is my latest acquisition, P.T. Hose Reclining.

Watercolor study of P.T. Hose with key

Watercolor study of P.T. Hose

Watercolor study of P.T. Hose descending from tunnel waterfall

Watercolor study of P.T. Hose from above

Watercolor study of P.T. Hose peering into the well

Watercolor study of P.T. Hose looking back at the tunnel from a tree

Pantyhose awaiting the late arrival, 2013, oil on linen, 26 x 22 inches

P.T. Hose Reclining, 2013, oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches

The day after the opening Stephen graciously agreed to meet me at the gallery and discuss what went into the past year and the creation of these incredible paintings.  He may have been slightly overwhelmed by the previous days opening and dinner with so many supporters, admirers and friends attending the show and seeing this come to fruition but I found him to be a humble artist on a fantastical journey that I feel lucky to be a part of.  Getting his new studio and locking himself away for hours at a time was a new self discipline that made the works even more personal and introspective.  Last year he even did his first etchings and plans on doing more in the future.  When he described the process of the wax and drawing technique in which all of the details of the scribed surface get pulled out from the copper plate and the ink is transferred to paper it was as if I was speaking to an old master from another century.  The following paintings hearken back to his first works in that they are diminutive in scale but say so much about where he is going as an artist.  The show was beautifully installed and I have replicated the order of the Still-Life series below as they shown at Metivier gallery because of the presence they had as a grouping.

Still-life, broken vessel, oil on linen, 10 x 8 inches

Still-life, Ranunculus, 2013, oil on linen 10 x 8 inches

Still-life, Afterparty, 2013, oil on linen, 10 x 8 inches

Still-life, Foxhunt, 2013, 6 x 7 inches

One of the last paintings Stephen did was of a friend who works in a local bar he frequents.  “Casey was the first person who asked me to paint a portrait of her.  I was intrigued and after a trip to the Met studying the armor and details I decided to incorporate her stoic presence into this work.”  In Stephen’s hands she becomes a strong character that is both steeped in history but also modern and the detail captured in the armor and how the light reflects on the embellished metal surfaces is really stunning in person.

Caley M.E. Jones, 2013, oil on linen, 26 x 20 inches

Volunteers in the Briar, 2012, oil on linen, 26 x 30 inches

Thank you to Nicholas Metivier, Greg Manuel, Sarah Massie, Rita Stuart, and Martie Giefert of Nicholas Metivier Gallery and my friend, the extraordinarily talented Stephen Appleby-Barr.

Erratus / Stephen Appleby-Barr remains on view at Nicholas Metivier Gallery through November 9th in Toronto.

www.metiviergallery.com