Posts from — April 2008

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already Friday. I wanted to conclude this series in 1 week but I’ve been so busy that I’ve only had time for 1 post per day. New Yorkers have been enjoying gorgeous weather for the last 2 days, and it’s supposed to continue into the weekend. I truly hope the same applies to all of you! Have a splendid weekend and please check back next week as I continue my series!

Tatzu Nishi
“Chandelier” (2007)

(Images courtesy of Blum & Poe)

(Image courtesy of Stuart Whipps)

To finish off this week, I’d like to show the work of Japanese artist (based out of Germany) Tatzu Nishi. Here is an artist who, I feel, has made some great advancements in converging the boundaries between fine art and architecture, using one to play off the other in a complimentary show of design. Over the span of his career, Nishi has become renowned for incorporating public architecture and industrial design (anything from public benches to monuments) into his work.

In “Chandelier,” Nishi inverts 5 street lamps, creating an unexpected sculpture out of objects that we are so used to seeing – so in fact that we often don’t even see them – and placing them in a new, sometimes humorous, light.

Tadashi Kawamata
“Walkway” (February 9 – April 14, 2008)

Tadashi Kawamata’s most recent show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo was groundbreaking…at least I thought so. His work is the perfect example of what I have been talking about all week long!
Kawamata’s work has always been derived from architectural concepts, such as the flow of people within a space. In previous works he has often created additions to already existing structures. However, there is a deconstructive aspect about this work, including his most recent piece, “Walkway.” The crudely constructed walls and paths reminds one of a hastily built evacuation area; a space that one might find in a site of a natural disaster.

“Walkway” – 2007 (image courtesy of on the table)

I guess what’s so cool about this piece is that architecture is reduced to it’s most simplest form, yet performing it’s most essential task; creating direction and compartments for people to come and go.

(images courtesy of The Centre for Contemporary Art)

For those of you joining me mid-week, I’m in the process of examining a recent phenomenon in which the boundaries between fine art, architecture, and interior design have begun to blur. We looked at work by Sarah Sze and Olafur Eliasson and today is the 3rd installment! Woo-hoo!!

Jim Lambie
ZOBOP!

Jim Lambie has recently returned to MoMa for the exhibition, “Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today” (going on through May 12, 2008). The images, however, are from previous installations. As you can see, interiors are an actual media that the artist works with, covering their floors with colorful vinyl tape and, in the process, revitalizing the space with color and energy. There is an ornamenting aspect to his work, which is probably why it equates so well to interior design.

Images courtesy of Moma and the National Gallery

This is the perfect example of a crossover between fine art and interior design. Because it was actually implemented in the interior of an apartment. Below is an image of a Gramercy apartment that belongs to Tim Nye of the Nyehaus Gallery. Looking to purchase a piece of art by Jim Lambie, and at the same time attempting to gut-renovate his apartment, Nye came up with the perfect solution that achieved both goals!

Image courtesy of floto+warner

The next work I’d like to examine in my series on the convergence of fine art and architecture, is one that has been quite prominent in the media and I’m sure many of you have seen pictures.

Olafur Eliasson
Take your time
Coming to Moma April 20–June 30, 2008

images courtesy of olafureliasson.net

Having originated at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Eliasson’s retrospective is now headed to Moma. And if anyone is in the area, I have a feeling it will definitely be worth the trip (and the hefty cover charge). Eliasson’s curiosity about space and environment has led much of his work to take on architectural and interior design components. In fact, on numerous occasions, he has collaborated with architect Kjetil Thorsen (co-founder of Snohetta) on projects such as the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007 and the New National Opera House in Oslo.

As promised last Friday, this week I’ll be posting about recent convergences that I’ve noticed between the genres of fine art and architecture (and interior design). Traditionally, there has always been a clear line between these disciplines, with fine art maintaining a certain arrogance or pretentiousness against the others. But recently, a few notable works, by notable artists, have begun to blur these boundaries, creating a free-for-all orgy of cross-pollination. I’m not promising a conclusion because, frankly, I don’t know why this is happening, or what the ramifications will be. But perhaps by the end of the week I’ll have a better idea. SO, let’s take a look at the work!

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Sarah Sze
Exhibition at Maison Hermès, Tokyo
Feb 8, 2008 ~ May 1, 2008

Images courtesy of Tokyo Art Beat

NY-based artist Sze is widely known for her site-specific installations. In her most recent work in the grand exhibition space on the 8th floor of the Hermès store in Tokyo, Sze uses common consumer objects – everything from lamps to pillows to cardboard boxes, thread, sheets of paper, chemistry sets, humidifiers and toy cranes – to create a giant standing sculpture. The objects, piled high toward the ceiling, toy with our sense of fear and stability. Precarious as it appears, the structure reassures us (does it?) with it’s numerous suspension ropes that invoke images of grand engineering feats such as bridges and skyscrapers. Also at play are the many scattered objects on the floor that guide our eyes to the main structure. It almost looks like a sprawling urban city.

Happy Friday everyone! I’ve been working hard putting together a series of posts for next week concerning recent intersections between architecture and the fine arts. So I hope you will all come back on Monday. Should be an exciting week!

But in the meantime, the NYT has a fantastic piece on the philosophy of Architects Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins. The images below are their most recent work, the Bioscleave House in East Hampton.

They believe that their architecture can actually extend life by helping us “cradle tentativeness.” The concept is quite abstract, but from what I understand, the objective is to challenge the conventional notion of home = comfort. For example, the artists explain that in this house you can see a different horizon everywhere you stand, thereby not allowing you to become comfortable. Comfort does not last forever, and is therefore linked to anxiety. By learning to live in such an environment, you are actually “practicing how not to die.”

I was intrigued… I highly recommend watching the feature (it’s only a few minutes long).

Photos by Eric Striffler for the nyt.

Curated by Issey Miyake, and showing at the ever evolving hip 21_21 Design Sight, XXIst Century Man poses the question, “where are we headed, now that we live in the century once hailed as the future?” Along with several other notable artists and designers, the heroic Miyake attempts to answer that question by adorning mannequins made of Dyson cleaner parts with his Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Did you get all that? Let me summarize; fashion, art, design, rhetorical questions and house cleaning. This is definitely on my ‘to go see’ list.

Clockwise beginning at top left:
“Beginning of Time” by Yasuhiro Suzuki, “Cabbage Chair” by Nendo, “The Wind” by Dai Fujiwara and Issey Miyake, “Myth of the 21sst Century” by Issey Miyake.
Photos courtesy of Masaya Yoshimura/Nacasa & Partners Inc.

Okay, first of all, I’m a dude. However, I’m a dude that is proud to say, it’s about time we got some female perspectives in the world of men’s fashion. I mean, men design for men AND women but women design only for women…right? Well, meet Quod Erat Demonstrandum (or QED, which is soo much easier to say). You can read all about them on their website, but lets take a look at some images!

“Jerry Lewis vs. Kasparov” (Fall 07/08)

“Nevermore” (Summer/Spring 08)

“Cinesthetic” (Fall/Winter 08/09)

I’ve been intrigued by this image ever since I came across it in a college textbook. I had since forgotten about it until it unexpectedly resurfaced when I was going through some old copies of the New Yorker.

Image by Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison. Also the front image of “The Region of Unlikeness,” a short story by Rivka Galchen

Worth1000 had a cool photoshop contest in which they challenged graphic designers to come up with an advertisement for a modern product, except reposition it in the past. Here as some of my favorites but my top vote would have to go to Girls Gone Wild… hilarious! You can check out the other entries HERE.