miart 2025 Strengthens Milan’s Rising Art Capital Status https://ift.tt/CeDGfhB

Collaboration is the theme of miart 2025. Taking place from April 4th through 6th, with the VIP preview held on April 3rd at the Allianz MiCo, the fair is now in its 29th edition and brings together 179 galleries from 31 countries and five continents. This year’s fair also comes at a time when the city is looking to make a fresh impact on the international art scene, placing a renewed focus on reestablishing itself as a global city for contemporary art and design.

Nicola Ricciardi, the fair’s director, views the fair as an essential part of Milan’s evolving artistic landscape. “A key goal for us is to position miart not just as a fair, but as a central force in Milan’s cultural landscape,” she told Artsy. “We work closely with all major institutions in Milan to ensure that miart extends beyond the fair itself.”

Milano Art Week—which happens concurrently—is a testament to this. Every night, the city’s leading institutions are hosting major openings. These include a solo exhibition of paintings by Belgian artist Thierry De Cordier at Fondazione Prada, Ugo Rondinone at GAM Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Nico Vascellari at Palazzo Reale, and Robert Rauschenberg at Museo del Novecento. “The city is buzzing with artistic activity, and these galleries want to be part of that energy, ” Ricciardi added.

This year, the fair’s ethos is inspired by the 100th anniversary of Rauschenberg’s birth and the artist’s collaborative way of working, which is reflected both conceptually and structurally in miart 2025. It is further reinforced by the fair’s title, “among friends”—borrowed from the last museum retrospective dedicated to the artist, which was held at MoMA in 2017.

“We wanted to bring Rauschenberg’s work back to Italy, where his work hadn’t been shown in over 24 years,” Ricciardi explained, emphasizing the importance of partnerships in bolstering Milan’s status as a major art capital.

Galleries are flocking to the city, too. Sadie Coles HQ returns to the fair after a 10-year hiatus, and other major galleries, including Victoria Miro and Esther Schipper, are showing for the first time.

Throughout the fair, there are collaborative booths, including shared booths from Sadie Coles HQ and Sprovieri; NıCOLETTı and Tina; and Arcadia Missa and Misako & Rosen. The fair’s Portal Section is also inspired by Rauschenberg’s collaborative ethos, which the section’s curator, Alessio Antoniolli (director of Triangle Network in London, curator at Fondazione Memmo in Rome, and former director of Gasworks in London), describes as “bringing together ideas, emotions, and solutions all at once.”

Darlene, 2023
Diango Hernández
Wizard Gallery

Victory, 1997
Marina Abramović
Lia Rumma

This spirit of collaboration is evident in this section, with international artists from Ghana, Peru, Colombia, Paris, Berlin, and beyond, bringing their diverse perspectives to explore common global urgencies. “It’s about creating spaces where different ideas not only exist alongside each other but also find points of connection,” Antoniolli told Artsy.

Across the fair’s main section, booths cut across a range of modern and contemporary art, with highlights aplenty. Milan and London’s Cardi Gallery presents stone face sculptures by Ugo Rondinone, while Milan and London’s Wizard Gallery offers standout, frosted-glass paintings by Diango Hernández. Genova and Milan gallery ABC-ARTE is showing works by artists including Arnaldo Pomodoro, Nanni Valentini, and Chiara Crepaldi; Florence and Milan’s Galleria Poggiali showcases a freestanding, folded paper marble plane sculpture by Fabio Viale. Also notable is the Milan and Naples gallery Lia Rumma’s presentation of a range of pieces from artists including Marina Abramović, William Kentridge, and Joseph Kosuth, as well as works from Italian artist Gian Maria Tosatti’s “Fireworks” series, which draws from the Arte Povera movement through the use of rust on galvanized, metal sheet wall works.

Elsewhere, the Emergent section, curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini, highlights younger artists and galleries. Here, a strong contingent of presentations from U.K. galleries is featured, including artworks by Oscar Enberg and Brianna Leatherbury at London’s Brunette Coleman, Jack O’Brien’s work at London’s Ginny on Frederick, and Edward Kay’s series of 10 tempera and oil paintings of apples at Margate’s Roland Ross. Also present are lightboxes by Eva Gold, which glow next to Tasneem Sarkez’s paintings at London’s Rose Easton, and Nate Boyce’s abstract paintings at London’s Ilenia. Italian galleries also offer standout presentations, including Milan and Naples’s Zaza, showcasing a water fountain by Gina Fischli, and Milan’s MATTA, which presents luminous sculptures by The Back Studio. These galleries reflect a younger, experimental approach to contemporary art that complements Milan’s more traditional approach.

As the city also prepares for the Salone del Mobile design week, opening on April 7th, the synergy between art and design is more palpable than ever. The growing energy between the two is reshaping the Milan art scene, and the galleries participating in miart have taken notice.

Milan’s collector demographic is also diversifying, Ricciardi explains. “I keep meeting new people, collectors from the U.K., L.A., and northern Europe, who are moving to Milan to take advantage of these incentives. They’re discovering a city that’s not only more affordable than major capitals like London, but also incredibly dynamic. The food, the culture, the lifestyle—it all adds to Milan’s appeal.”

Ricciardi noted that, as more people relocate, the expatriate community is growing. Its high-net-worth collector base is growing in tandem, partly thanks to its attractive tax regime. Major galleries are also following suit, like Thaddaeus Ropac, which is preparing to open a new gallery in the city, and Ben Brown Fine Arts, which is looking to expand its presence.

This is a view shared by Massimo de Carlo, whose Milan-founded gallery is among the most significant returnees to the fair. For de Carlo, the city’s allure extends beyond the art world: “Milan is an incredibly attractive city—not just for art but for its entire lifestyle,” he said. “Even before the galleries, the city has been drawing people from London, Paris, and Belgium. That influx is helping to create a new artistic ecosystem.” He noted that the city’s cultural institutions, foundations, and overall way of life contribute to this exciting shift.

Still, the fair remains a focal point for Italian collectors. “We anticipate that most visitors here will be from Italy,” shared a representative from Victoria Miro. “There’s a growing trend worldwide where collectors are attending regional fairs rather than travelling as much internationally for art fairs. Milan, as Italy’s financial and economic capital, is a strategic place for us to be.”

The VIP day at miart, although initially slow, soon saw a steady stream of collectors. Indeed, reported sales also followed suit: Leading transactions reported by galleries from the VIP day included a $320,000 Rondinone work at Cardi Gallery, a €150,000 ($165,064) Felice Casorati work at OSART Gallery, and a Giorgio de Chirico work at Galleria dello Scudo priced between €200,000–€300,000 ($220,086–$330,129).

With increasing international attention, strategic tax policies, and an expanding collector base, Milan is positioning itself as a leading global city for contemporary art. As the fair continues to grow, evolve, and collaborate with institutions in the city and beyond, its role in shaping Milan’s artistic landscape will only continue to grow.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/M8rAnJB

Val Kilmer, “Top Gun” actor and artist, has died at 65. https://ift.tt/HvfzYp3

Val Kilmer, the charismatic actor and artist best known for his roles in Top Gun and Batman Forever, died at 65 on April 1st. His daughter, Mercedes, confirmed that Kilmer passed due to complications from pneumonia.

“If there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Val Kilmer should get it,” film critic Robert Ebert once wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. Kilmer showcased his eccentric charisma as a scene-stealing supporting actor in films such as Michael Mann’s crime thriller Heat or the gunslinging Western Tombstone, as well as appearances as a leading man in films such as Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever. While his acting prowess may have been underappreciated, his visual art was even less known.

Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, he ultimately overcame the disease but not without losing his voice. After his cancer diagnosis, Kilmer increasingly turned his attention to his painting practice, the actor told W Magazine in 2017. That year, Kilmer experienced a breakthrough as an artist when New York’s Woodward Gallery mounted his solo show, “Valholla.” The exhibition, explained as a play on Valhalla, a concept from Norse mythology, and Kilmer’s Norse heritage, featured a series of abstract paintings on metal sheets, characterized by colorful enamel splashes.

Untitled, 2017
Val Kilmer
Woodward Gallery

Before this show, Kilmer had already painted for decades, and once presented a show in Tokyo in 2004 with the help of Yoko Ono. His work ranges from these kaleidescopic abstract paintings to representational works depicting Doc Holliday, his character in Tombstone, Batman, as well as one of his greatest inspirations, Mark Twain.

Born in Los Angeles in 1959, Kilmer was accepted into the Juilliard School’s Drama Division at 17 years old, becoming the youngest person at the time to be accepted into the program. He made his first on-screen appearance as a rockstar in the 1984 comedic spy film Top Secret, after declining a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders. Shortly after, Kilmer turned down David Lynch’s Blue Velvet before taking his breakout role in Top Gun, playing hot-headed fighter Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky opposite Tom Cruise. He reprised the role in an emotional scene near the end of Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.

“I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honored I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick,” Cruise said yesterday during a speech at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. “I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment [of silence] together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.”

Doc, 2014
Val Kilmer
Woodward Gallery

Val Kilmer was also a published poet whose book, My Edens After Burns, self-published in 1983, reflected his varied interests. His fascination with stage acting is prominently showcased in the 2021 documentary Val. This film, which highlights Kilmer’s health struggles post-tracheotomy, features home movies taken by his parents of his early performances in school plays. In 1983, Kilmer graced the off-Broadway stage in The Slab Boys alongside Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, and Jackie Earle Haley.

Kilmer also harbored a longstanding fascination with Mark Twain, dedicating years to researching and writing a one-man play titled Citizen Twain, which he performed across the country starting in 2010. He portrayed Twain in the 2019 film Cinema Twain, which was based on this play, and in the 2014 film adaptation of Twain’s work, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/KZRbC9g

SP-Arte 2025 Spotlights a Buzzy Brazilian Art Scene https://ift.tt/6Ey0MlI

Despite the official arrival of Brazilian autumn, a hot and sticky day took over the city of São Paulo for the VIP day of SP-Arte 2025 on Wednesday, April 2nd. The weather outside mirrored the warm, buzzing atmosphere inside the Bienal Pavilion at Ibirapuera Park, where the 21st edition of Brazil’s largest art fair kicked off with palpable excitement among gallerists and attendees.

A flow of visitors was steady once the fair opened at 10 a.m. and grew in the afternoon, with smiles, selfies, and the clinking of glasses setting a jovial scene. As the sun set in the evening behind the glass windows of the Oscar Niemeyer-designed circular building, a DJ set only enhanced the fair’s festive and energetic tone.

Founded in 2005 by the collector Fernanda Feitosa, SP-Arte remains firmly committed to its original ambition: to project Latin American art to the world from the cultural epicenter of Brazil. Nearly 180 booths make up this year’s fair, which includes a growing design section, as well as institutional participants and publishers. Some 102 contemporary and modern art galleries—12 of them international—are among them.

This year’s edition of the fair is notably taking place at a time of renewed international enthusiasm for Latin American art. Last year’s Venice Biennale main show, “Foreigners Everywhere,” was curated by Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director of the local institution Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP), and placed Latin American and Global South artists at its center.

“The Venice Biennale has played a crucial role in elevating the visibility of historically underrepresented voices, such as Indigenous creator Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami or Rubem Valentim,” said Hena Lee, a partner and director of Almeida & Dale. “This evolving landscape is reflected in the fair, where diversity has become increasingly prominent.”

The gallery—one of the leading names in Brazil—has three locations in São Paulo and recently made waves in the Brazilian art world by purchasing Millan, another Brazilian stalwart gallery with three exhibition spaces in the city. It has two booths at the fair. One, just past the entrance, features works starting at US$125,000, with highlights including a 1972 piece by the late Brazilian sculptor Sergio Camargo priced at US$2.2 million. On the second floor, works range in price from US$5,000 to US$50,000.

“After the impact of the Venice Biennale, it’s easier for us to present new artists or those from less represented regions,” explained Tomás Toledo of local gallery Galatea. For this gallerist, the typical SP-Arte collector is mostly local and traditional, but “there’s an emerging scene of younger collectors from the financial sector who are looking for more contemporary artists.”

The gallery’s booth is staged to resemble a home, including a bedroom, living room, and office decorated with artworks and designer furniture, including pieces by renowned architect Lina Bo Bardi, designer of the MASP museum (which has just completed a major expansion). Also highlighted are works by Allan Weber, an artist living in a Rio de Janeiro favela who reuses materials from tents used in local funk parties. Prices at the booth range from R$8,000 (US$1,500) to R$8 million (US$1.42 million) for a 1969 painting by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, a key figure in Brazilian modernism.

Over the past two decades, the fair has been both a witness and a driver of São Paulo's evolution as an artistic hub of the Global South. It also functions as a thermometer for the Brazilian art scene: The ground floor houses historical artists, the first floor is dedicated to contemporary art, and, for the first time, the third floor is open to the general public, featuring a VIP lounge and a series of talks.

Feitosa noted that the landscape of the fair has changed after the COVID-19 pandemic: The number of international galleries is still lower than before 2020. “This year the fair is 90% national,” she noted. A result of this, however, is an expanded interest in other regions of Brazil beyond the traditional São Paulo–Rio de Janeiro axis, such as Belo Horizonte, Salvador do Bahia, Recife, or Curitiba

As the fair has grown more local, its audience is becoming increasingly international. “We have a record number of international visitors this year,” noted Feitosa. "More than 80 collectors, curators, and advisors from countries like Japan, Australia, Germany, Poland, South Korea, and the United States have come.”

Collector interest was apparent from the start of the fair, gallerists noted. “We've already sold several works totaling R$3 million ($533,499),” said Galatea’s Toledo midway through the fair’s VIP day.

Other booths also reported strong sales from local galleries during the VIP day. Nara Roesler sold works by Tomie Ohtake and Abraham Palatnik for US$180,000 apiece, along with works by Jim Lambie for US$80,000, Marco A. Castillo for US$75,000, and Cristina Canale for US$36,000. At Casa Triângulo, works by Vânia Mignone, Marina Hachem, and Sandra Cinto sold out. At Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, over 70% of the booth was sold, including pieces by Erika Verzutti, Leda Catunda, and Sarah Morris. “We had an excellent first day,” reported partner and director Alexandre Gabriel.

At local powerhouse Mendes Wood DM, works by Lucas Arruda, Sonia Gomes, and Guatemalan artist Edgar Calel were among the luminaries receiving strong attention. “We’ll have to make a lot of changes to the booth for tomorrow,” said Isadora Ganem, a director at the gallery. Mendes. “It’s been a great day, with sales ranging from US$10,000 to over US$100,000.”

Indeed, this positivity was shared by several gallerists across the fair. For Paulo Kasaab, director of Galeria Lume, this edition of SP-Arte is signaling a renewed interest in Brazilian artists who, ten years ago, were considered creators of “popular art.” The gallerist was pleased to see more artists from different states of Brazil represented at the fair and highlighted the work at his booth of young Barra do Garcas-born artist Hal Wildson, who explores the theme of memory through photographs printed on school erasers. Also of note, he pointed out, are works by São Paulo–based artist Nazareno, which are priced up to $84,000.

While painting appears to be the dominant medium across the fair, a strong presence of ceramics and textiles is also notable. Also prominent are references to Indigenous cosmologies and decolonial narratives linked to the African diaspora.

Julia María, artistic director of Galeria Mitre (Belo Horizonte), noted an appetite among collectors to take a discerning approach to new artists and artworks. “Visitors want to understand the discourse behind the artworks, especially this year, as the 36th edition of the São Paulo Bienal takes place in September,” she said. Her booth features artists like Manauara Clandestina, Éder Oliveira, and Pedro Neves, with works priced between US$3,500–US$12,000 apiece.

Among the most unique proposals at the fair is from the new gallery Yehudi Hollander-Pappi, which opened a mere week ago in Jardins, an elegant neighborhood of São Paulo. Convinced that there is an oversaturation of digital imagery, the gallery has no social media presence. Its focus is on video and performance, with a group of artists who are, as founder Matheus Yehudi Hollander puts it, “art history nerds.” Highlights here include a work by Gabriel Massan that presents a video game installation weaving together queer and decolonial perspectives. It is priced at around US$40,000, and during the fair’s VIP day, the gallery had already sold works to private collections in Los Angeles and to local institution Pinacoteca de São Paulo.

The presence and demand for works by women artists also continues to grow at SP-Arte. “The fair is a party,” said Brazilian collector Ana Paula Cestari, who focuses mainly on women Brazilian artists. “I meet friends, talk to gallerists, see what artists are producing. It’s important to arrive early: When I got here at 11 am, a piece I wanted to inquire about by Marina Rheingantz had already sold,” she added.

Cestari said that she would—if she could—purchase works by Lygia Pape, Lygia Clark, or Adriana Varejão. In a group chat with other collectors, they share anecdotes and favorites from the fair. “A friend tried to buy a work by Daniel Senise, but when he arrived, it was already being negotiated with a local museum.” She noted that the growth of international interest for Brazilian art is only strengthening her passion for ‘brasilidades,’ a concept referring to the country's unique cultural identity.

Since its founding in 2005, SP-Arte has not only consolidated a scene—it has helped build a market. “People often say there is a Brazilian art market before and after SP-Arte,” said Feitosa. “Because it’s held in April, it sets the tone for the year to come.” And at a time when Latin American art is in the global spotlight, the diversity and quality of Brazilian production on view here will only go further in positioning the country as a key player on the international art circuit.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/fJ91Qpd

Frieze New York announces new performance commissions for its 2025 edition. https://ift.tt/YJbGE0d

Frieze New York has announced its performance programming for its 13th edition, which will run from May 7th to 11th at The Shed and the High Line in Chelsea. The new program will feature new works by Finnish artist Pilvi Takala, New York–based artist Asad Raza, and American artist Carlos Reyes.

“Visitors to Frieze New York 2025 will have the opportunity to engage artists from around the world,” Christine Messineo, Frieze’s director of Americas, said in a press statement. “The vitality of their art is not only seen in gallery presentations but extends to the auxiliary spaces of the Shed architecture and our neighbor, the High Line, where our visitors will encounter a series of newly commissioned durational performances.”

Takala, a Finnish artist who is based in Berlin, will present The Pin, a performance that challenges societal norms that dictate behavior in everyday settings such as offices and parks. This performance is curated by Taylor Zakarin, associate curator of High Line Art. This will mark the second co-commissioned performance from High Line Art and Frieze, after Matty Davis’s Die No Die (The High Line) in 2024. Takala represented Finland in the 2022 Venice Biennale.

Another performance co-commissioned by High Line Art and Frieze is Raza’s Immortal Coil. This participatory event will feature seedlings, cuttings, and clippings from several High Line plants selected with the help of the High Line’s senior director of horticulture, Richard Hayden. Participants will be invited to walk the city trail with one of these plants on May 10th. As part of the project, climate science journalist Zoë Schlanger will give a lecture on the environment, and Los Angeles–based singer Kelsey Lu will create a song to accompany the performance. The walking participants will be encouraged to take home their plants.

Living between Caguas, Puerto Rico and New York, Reyes explores ephemeral phenomena in his sculptural, site-specific works. At the Shed, the artist will present Freestyle Hard, an immersive soundscape at the Shed, a durational performance on May 8th, featuring a series of live bird calling by bird callers. These sounds will be projected across the Shed, including the building’s escalators, coat check, and passageways.

After debuting at Frieze in 2022, the “Artist Plate Project” will return to the fair, featuring plates designed by more than 50 artists, including Amy Sherald, Mickalene Thomas, and KAWS. These artists’ limited edition plates will benefit the Coalition for the Homeless. Each plate sold will directly support essential services like meals and housing assistance. Boutique design company Atelier Eightyeight will produce 250 editions of each plate.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/QRK0f4L

Spanish gallery Alzueta Gallery announces new Paris space. https://ift.tt/cxzy6u0

Spanish powerhouse Alzueta Gallery has announced its first location outside of Spain, where it operates four locations in Barcelona, Madrid, and Casavells. The new gallery is located in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood in Paris, just one block from the Seine.

On April 3rd, the Paris gallery will be inaugurated with the gallery’s new “Tête à Tête” exhibition series. The gallery describes this program as a “Dual Dialogue” exhibition series, which features pairs of artists invited to explore and discuss their creative processes and methodologies, allowing their works to interact, bringing both contrast and harmony. This initiative is exclusive to the Paris location and will highlight diverse artists.

The initial opening exhibition will feature Barcelona-born sculptor Luis Vidal and Spanish artist Xevi Solà Serra, running from April 3rd to 30th. Vidal’s ceramics are characterized by unsettling juxtapositions, and occasionally include an animal head on top of a colorful vessel. A selection of Vidal’s work will be in conversation with Serra’s figurative oil paintings.

The inaugural two-person exhibition will be followed by a further “Grand Opening” exhibition, which will be part of the same series. This show will feature the works of Spanish painter Hugo Alonso and Finnish sculptor Kim Simonsson. Alonso is known for his monochromatic, photorealistic acrylic paintings, often portrayed in a hazy, warped style. These will be paired with Simonsson’s figurative, fairytale sculptures of children in lime green ceramic and other media. This show will run from May 7th to May 31st.

Founded by Miqual Alzueta in Barcelona, the gallery has a long history in the Spanish gallery scene, operating for more than 25 years. Coinciding with the inaugural show this week, the gallery is presenting a group presentation featuring Bruno Ollé, Manolo Ballesteros, and Imi Knoebel at Art Paris.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/Lytc97o

6 Artists to Follow If You Like Ruth Asawa https://ift.tt/F32NSH5

There was very little uplifting art world news in the fall of 2020. However, the release of USPS Forever stamps honoring Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa was one celebratory occasion. Close-up photographs of her diaphanous, gravity-defying loop wire sculptures graced a series of ten stamps. Not only was the postage beautiful, but the occasion inspired renewed interest in the pioneering artist, leading to widespread recognition of her enduring contributions to art seven years after her death. She’s since received the National Medal of Arts and been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including “Ruth Asawa Through Line” at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2022, her biomorphic wire forms were showcased in “The Milk of Dreams” at the 59th Venice Biennale.

Born in 1926, Asawa, along with her parents and six siblings, was confined to Japanese internment camps in California and Arkansas during World War II. There, she learned to draw with both hands, using whatever media she could find. The experience afforded the young artist an anti-hierarchical approach to materials that she maintained throughout her career. Asawa believed her lines could “go anywhere.” They led her from finely limned sketches, calligraphic ink paintings, and patterned, geometric abstractions, to her signature tied- and looped-wire hanging sculptures. While she is best known for her voluminous, cascading lobed forms, Asawa never stopped drawing—the medium she described as both “the greatest pleasure and the most difficult.”

Desert Plant (TAM.1560, From the Portfolio Flowers (Tied-Wire Sculpture Drawing with Six-Pointed Star Center)), 1965
Ruth Asawa
David Zwirner

Both Asawa’s drawings and sculptures borrow from natural forms like spiraled snail shells, latticed insect wings, spider webs, and light refracting through morning dew. No matter the material, her work is consistently characterized by meticulous detail, repetition, and a sense of levity that defies common perceptions of weight and gravity. “An artist is not special. An artist is an ordinary person who can take ordinary things and make them special,” Asawa once said.

The artist’s first posthumous survey, “Ruth Asawa: Retrospective,” opening at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on April 4th, gathers more than 300 works that span her six-decade career. The presentation traces Asawa’s career from her illustrations, to her sculptures, and back again, illuminating her enduring influence on artists across media and movements.

Here are six contemporary artists Ruth Asawa enthusiasts should follow.

Mari Andrews

B. 1955, Dayton, Ohio. Lives and works in Emeryville, California.

Aquatic, 2022
Mari Andrews
Maya Frodeman Gallery

Copper Mitosis, 2019
Mari Andrews
Maya Frodeman Gallery

Mari Andrews considers her ethereal sculptures “three-dimensional drawings” that continue her lifelong drawing practice. Composed of steel wire, metal panels, branches, and various found objects like pine cones and honeycombs, they visualize the artist’s enduring relationship with nature’s overlooked forms and materials. These lyrical abstractions combine elemental shapes in novel configurations that simultaneously register as ancient and contemporary. Similar to Asawa’s suspended lobes, Andrews’s sculptures cast shadows as vivid as holograms that oscillate along with the light throughout the day. In this way, both artists set static objects in motion, imbuing matter with the capacity for continuous transformation.

Andrews earned her BFA from the University of Dayton, Ohio, and her MFA from Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. She has been awarded an NEA Fellowship and several residencies, including the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in Woodside, California, and the Cold Press Gallery in Norfolk. Her work is held in the collections of the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the San Jose Museum of Art, and she is represented by Maya Frodeman Gallery.

Nnenna Okore

B. 1975, Australia. Lives and works in Chicago.

Things that meet the eye, 2017
Nnenna Okore
October Gallery

Raised in Nigeria and now living in the United States, Nnenna Okore converts organic materials into mesmerizing, vibrantly colored sculptures. In these works, Okore turns ethically sourced burlap, paper, jute rope, and bioplastics into three-dimensional gestures that appear to burst from the wall. The intricately sewn, richly textured shapes unfurl and intertwine like root systems, capillaries, or flowering vines. Through her use of natural materials and forms, the artist hopes to draw attention to conservatism and sustainability. Like Asawa, Okore relies on iterative, labor-intensive techniques in her practice, such as tying, twisting, teasing, and weaving. Both artists represent nature’s cyclical processes by creating forms that appear to have no end, looping back in on themselves and beginning again.

Okore has a BA from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, an MA and MFA from the University of Iowa, and a PhD from Monash University in Melbourne. She is a professor and the head of the Art Department at Chicago’s North Park University. Her work has been featured in several major exhibitions such as “Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary,” at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; “We Face Forward,” at Manchester Art Gallery, U.K., and “Africa Africans,” at Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo.

Marcy Chevali

B. 1982, Cleveland, Ohio. Lives and works in New York.

Venae Cavae, 2022
Marcy Chevali
Aicon Contemporary

Circumference V, 2019
Marcy Chevali
Aicon Contemporary

Instead of renouncing the feminine connotations traditionally assigned to craft techniques, Marcy Chevali embraces the textile practices once dismissed as “women’s work.” By applying processes borrowed from knitting and weaving to lampworking and wire-tying, she creates enthralling, biomorphic-shaped nets that are freestanding or suspended from the ceiling. These illusory glass and wire grids reinterpret delicacy as complexity and fragility as strength. Chevali, like Asawa, is interested in permeability and creating boundaries that visually expand and contract. While her webs define and demarcate space, they don’t obstruct it, making it possible to see through them from every angle. For both artists, freedom is a formal and political ideal.

Marcy Chevali has a BFA from the University of Ohio, and an MFA from the Maine College of Art. Her work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, among others. She won a Ron Desmett Memorial Award for Imagination with Glass from Pittsburgh Glass Center and has received grants from the Queens Council of the Arts and FST Studio Projects.

Gjertrud Hals

B. 1948, Finnøy Island, Norway. Lives and works in Molde, Norway.

Terra 8, 2021
Gjertrud Hals
browngrotta arts

Eir, 2019
Gjertrud Hals
Galerie Maria Wettergren

Inspired by her childhood on a tiny island on the northwest coast of Norway, Gjertrud Hals crafts sculptures that entwine the story of her hometown with the history of the world, braiding personal narratives with social mythologies. Hals’s formal training as a tapestry weaver is evidenced by her signature netted vessels and hanging sculptures that recall crochet lace, traditional basketry, and fishermen’s nets. After transitioning from textiles to fiber in the late 1980s, she began spinning and casting her signature forms from cotton and paper pulp. These womblike, volumetric shapes echo Asawa’s aesthetic vocabulary of transparency and negative space, suggesting a similar ethereal weightlessness.

Hals studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art among other institutions. Her work is in collections such as Zentrum Architektur Zürich; Museum of Decorative Art, Lausanne; the National Museum of Oslo, and the National Museum of Decorative Arts, Trondheim.

Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga

B. 1960, Gacharage, Kenya. Lives and works in San Antonio.

First Fruits, 2011
Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga
October Gallery

Mizigo - Burdens, 2014-2016
Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga
October Gallery

A trip to Mexico at 21 introduced Asawa to basket weaving—an experience that transformed her artistic practice. Kenyan artist Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga, however, learned the craft from watching her grandmother fashion baskets from fibers native to their village. Today, Gakunga blends traditional materials like the rope her grandmother spun from migiyo shrubs with unexpected elements like steel wire and mabati, a galvanized sheet metal used for roofing. Her metallic, crocheted wall-hangings emulate the pliancy and airy lightness most often attributed to textiles. While some recall tapestries and gossamer curtains, others seem to fall like lace or float like the hem of a dancer’s skirt. In her basket-inspired series, Gakunga interlaces wire with patterned fabrics and brilliant yarns to create amorphous vessels with striking, contemporary proportions.

Gakunga studied at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the University of California, Los Angeles. Her work has been included in exhibitions in the U.S., U.K., France, Brazil, and Poland. In 2013, October Gallery presented her first solo exhibition entitled “Ituĩka - Transformation.” In 2021, Gakunga’s sculpture, Wetereire – Waiting (2016), won the Charles Wollaston Award at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

Chiharu Shiota

B. 1972, Osaka. Lives and works in Berlin.

Trauma, 2010
Chiharu Shiota
Curator Style

State of Being, 2023
Chiharu Shiota
KÖNIG GALERIE

Since the mid-’90s Chiharu Shiota has been creating immersive installations that envelop everyday objects and architectural spaces in red, wool yarn and black thread. Her chaotic, cocoon-like environments visualize the invisible interconnections that bind all things. Shiota shares Asawa’s interest in representing absence. However, whereas Asawa uses abstracted forms and geometric shapes, Shiota employs human artifacts—like beds, suitcases, and children’s toys. The similarities between the two artists’ aesthetics are clearest in their illustrations. Both women are preoccupied with radiating spirals, interlocking circles, and complex, quadratic patterns. In Shiota’s densely packed lines, much like her thickets of crisscrossing strings, she suggests the unlimited entangled possibilities that life presents.

Shiota studied painting at Kyoto Seika University, Japan. She moved to Germany in 1996 and continued her studies in Braunschweig, then later in Berlin, where she lives today. She has received notable prizes, including the Philip Morris K.K. Art Award and the Audience Choice Award at The First Kyiv International Biennale of Contemporary Art. Her museum exhibitions include MoMA PS1, National Museum of Art in Osaka, and the private foundation La Maison Rouge in Paris, among others.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/jHlN1L0

11 Iconic Design Works That Art Collectors Love https://ift.tt/BS6xuUZ

Furniture, decor, and signs of life are what make a house a home. In particular, design works, when paired with art and tasteful, understated furnishings, can transform a room into a personalized statement on art and taste.

Art lovers, from artists, to collectors, to designers, often select iconic design works to make an impact in their space. For those interested in delving into the world of design objects, here are 11 of the most iconic pieces. From the minimalism of Bauhaus pioneers, to the clean lines of mid-century modernism, to the playful designs of the Space Age movement and Memphis Group, you’ll find inspiration to get started.

Charles and Ray Eames, Lounge Chair and Ottoman, 1956

Armchair and ottoman Eames, Hermann Miller edition circa 1970, ca. 1970
Charles and Ray Eames
Galerie Stanislas Kolli

Armchair and ottoman by Eames, Hermann Miller esition, ca. 1970
Charles and Ray Eames
Galerie Stanislas Kolli

American designers Charles and Ray Eames revolutionized what furniture could be with their innovative use of materials like fiberglass, plywood, and aluminum. The married couple were pioneers of mid-century modernism, blending functionality with style. One of their most iconic designs—the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, first made in 1956—was their first foray into high-end furniture, and it remains a symbol of sophistication today.

Inspired by the well-worn feel of a baseball mitt, the chair is made primarily of molded wood and leather upholstery with a swivel base. For decades, it has been recognized by art and design lovers for its luxurious comfort, sleek aesthetic, and ergonomic design. “It’s really comfortable to sit in and look at paintings,” said the artist Rindon Johnson, in an interview with Artsy, whose widely published artist portrait shows him sitting in a replica of the iconic chair. “And since I make paintings, it is, hilariously enough, a necessity in my studio. Being photographed in the chair was also a way of suggesting a kind of lineage with Charles and Ray Eames and thinking about what the purpose of art is and what it means to be sitting in a symbol.”

Florence Knoll, Lounge Collection, 1954

American architect and designer Florence Knoll—cofounder of the renowned manufacturer Knoll International—played a crucial role in shaping modern, corporate interiors, even if she didn’t see her own work that way. “People ask me if I am a furniture designer,” she once said. “I am not. I never really sat down and designed furniture. I designed the fill-in pieces that no one else was doing. I designed sofas because no one was designing sofas.”

Knoll’s Lounge Collection, designed in 1954, features a lounge chair and two different sofas with clean, geometric forms atop sleek, metal frames. These design works embody the Bauhaus tenets of rational design—values she inherited while studying under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Eliel Saarinen (father of Eero) in Illinois. They appear architectural in form, echoing the favored international style of the 1950s, and soon began appearing in the homes of prominent figures, including fashion designer Tom Ford’s Paris apartment. Originally, she intended her pieces to support the attention-grabbing works by the likes of Eero Saarinen and van der Rohe (even referring to her own work as the basic “meat and potatoes”). However, today, they have become timeless icons perfectly suited for both the home and office.

Isamu Noguchi, Coffee Table, 1939/44

Coffee Table (IN-50), 1944
Isamu Noguchi
Noguchi Museum

Japanese American artist and designer Isamu Noguchi famously believed that “everything is sculpture.” In 1939, he conceived a coffee table to embody the idea that sculpture and furniture should merge seamlessly. The table was released by the producer Herman Miller (which still produces it today) in 1944; it featured a freeform, glass top resting on two interlocking, wooden supports. The organic shape of the supports was likely influenced by Noguchi’s work with biomorphic and surrealist forms, which can also be seen in his collaborations with artists like Constantin Brancusi.

Eero Saarinen, Tulip Table, 1957

Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and designer known for his pioneering approach to form and structure. The Tulip Table, designed in 1957, was his response to the tradition of four-legged tables: “The undercarriage of chairs and tables in a typical interior makes an ugly, confusing, unrestful world. I wanted to clear up the slum of legs,” he said.

So, Saarinen embarked on designing a single-pedestal base that resembles the shape of paint being poured from a can into a tray. The pedestal is wide at the top and continuously thins before widening out again at the base—a key indicator of Saarinen’s original design over replicas. Made from cast aluminum with a lacquered finish and often paired with a Carrara marble or laminate top, the table had a futuristic aesthetic at the time. Today, it appears sculptural and timelessly elegant. (Bonus fun fact for fans of the Apple TV show Severance: Saarinen designed the New Jersey office building that houses Lumon Industries.)

Marcel Breuer, Wassily Chair, 1925

A key figure of the Bauhaus movement, Hungarian-born architect and designer Marcel Breuer made a massive impact on the production of furniture by using tubular steel, taking inspiration from the lightweight yet sturdy structure of bicycle frames. He most iconically employed this material in what was originally produced as the Model B3 chair. Decades after its initial release, it was renamed the Wassily Chair (the name that has stuck) by an Italian manufacturer, who heard that fellow Bauhausian artist Wassily Kandinsky had admired the prototype and received a handmade version from Breuer.

Breuer, in his deconstructed take on the traditional club chair, distilled the silhouette into an outline. He paired bent, tubular steel with taut strips of fabric—originally Eisengarn, or “iron yarn,” and later leather—for the back, seat, and armrests. The minimal, modern piece remains incredibly comfortable, and it has held the attention of the design world ever since its creation. “What particularly fascinates me is how Breuer continued to evolve the design through several iterations, each refining the logic of the tubular frame and its connections,” German designer Konstantin Grcic told Artsy. “One of my favorites is the folding version, the D4.”

Arne Jacobsen, Egg Chair, 1958

Egg Chair Restored in Zebra Hide and Loro Piana Leather, mid 20th century
Arne Jacobsen
Forsyth

In the early 1950s, Danish designer and architect Arne Jacobsen began using plaster and clay in an experimental design process. Later that decade, like a sculptor, he used these materials to figure out the primary shape of what would become his now-iconic Egg Chair. Designed in 1958, the Egg Chair was made for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, where Jacobsen wanted to create a seat that could provide guests with a sense of privacy and comfort in public spaces.

“I remember the first time we went to a summer cottage…to work on the Egg,” Sandor Perjesi, a model maker in Jacobsen’s studio, once said, according to Jacobsen’s website. “We crammed the plaster model into my car and spent an entire weekend adding and filing off material. Back and forth, like classic sculpting.” The finished product is made from upholstered molded foam and a fiberglass shell, with its curved, organic form enveloping the sitter and offering a cozy, intimate experience, even in a lively space.

Poul Henningsen, PH Lamp series, 1926–58

Danish designer and architect Poul Henningsen dedicated his career to creating lighting that mimicked natural daylight. His PH Lamp, created in 1926 for the brand Louis Poulsen, was one of the first lamp designs to focus on controlling glare and shaping light to create a warm, inviting atmosphere—and two later models, the PH5 and PH Artichoke, remain hallmarks of Danish design today. First released in 1958, the PH5 lamp offered an improvement on the original’s three-shade system to carefully diffuse and direct light downward and outward. That same year, Henningsen designed the PH Artichoke Lamp for the Langelinie Pavilion, an upscale restaurant in Copenhagen. The elaborate form features 12 sets of six bent metal leaves, fanned outward in a shape resembling an artichoke to conceal the light source entirely while beautifully reflecting the light itself in all directions.

“Around the world, the PH Artichoke has inspired many imitators over the years but none remotely as handsome as the original. In its native Denmark, it has achieved heirloom status, proudly passed from one generation to the next,” TF Chan, author of Louis Poulsen: First House of Light (2024), told Artsy. On the other hand, “The more modest PH5 was, at one point, installed in one in five Danish homes—an astounding statistic with few parallels,” Chan continues. “In my mind, this is the quintessential midcentury lamp: functional, versatile, elegant, and made to stand the test of time. It is the ideal entry-level piece, and a perfect gateway to the world of Danish lighting.”

Eero Aarnio, Originals Ball Chair, 1963

Ball Chair, 1963
Eero Aarnio
Gallery Red

Renowned for his pioneering use of plastics and fiberglass in the creation of furniture, Finnish designer Eero Aarnio crafted pieces that combined functionality with artistic expression. The Originals Ball Chair, designed in 1963, is one of his most well-known pieces and has been prominently featured in films like Dazed and Confused (1993) and Men in Black (1997).

The chair, made from fiberglass and upholstered with boldly colored fabrics, embodies the futuristic, space-age design revolution of the 1960s, while its shape offers both comfort and a sense of privacy. Aarnio’s chair features a partially enclosed spherical space (indeed, the shape of a hollowed ball) that acts as a kind of personal retreat, bringing the sitter away from the noise of the room and into their own colorful cocoon.

Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Arco Lamp, 1962

Trained as architects, Italian brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni frequently collaborated on lighting designs—and in 1962, they eliminated the need to decide between an overhead light source or standing lamp. The sturdy Carrara marble base of the Arco Lamp stands on the floor, but it provides overhead lighting via an arched, stainless-steel arm that cantilevers outward. The lamp’s reflector hangs five feet above the floor, while the arched arm extends at the tallest point to 7.9 feet, allowing for movement both around and below it. The designers were acutely aware of fine-tuning the engineering, so much so that the corners of the base are beveled to prevent injury should one fall against it. There’s even a cylindrical hole in the marble to slide a long stick through so that two people can carry it.

The Arco Lamp offered an ideal solution to the changing design needs of the 1960s. As living spaces became more fluid and adaptable, the lamp challenged traditional notions about how lighting should divide domestic areas.

Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand, LC4 Chaise Lounge, 1928

A forefather of the modernist architecture movement, Le Corbusier completed projects around the world, including the master plan for the city of Chandigarh, India. Today, 17 of his projects in seven countries are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Beyond urban development and architecture, he also painted and designed furniture with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, and architect Charlotte Perriand. Among the first pieces the trio released was the Chaise Longue à Réglage Continu, more simply known as the LC4 Chaise Lounge (though Cassina, the brand that produces it today, stopped using this moniker in 2023). The lounger was made of a tubular steel frame, inspired by Breuer’s use of the material. This iconic cowhide reclined seat exemplified the concept of “human-limb objects,” which Le Corbusier outlined in his 1925 book The Decorative Art of Today. Furniture should be “extensions of our limbs and adapted to human functions,” he wrote. In her memoir, Perriand reflected on this further: “While our chair designs were directly related to the position of the human body…they were also determined by the requirements of architecture, setting, and prestige.”

Ettore Sottsass, Carlton Bookcase/Room Divider, 1981

Founder of the Memphis Group, Italian postmodern designer Ettore Sottsass embraced color, whimsicality, and asymmetry. One of his most well-known pieces made with the Memphis Group is the Carlton Bookcase/Room Divider, a totemic work incorporating angular shelves and drawers in vivid color. Open to interpretation, “it may be read variously as a robot greeting the user with open arms, a many-armed Hindu goddess, or even a triumphant man atop a constructed chaos of his own making,” as noted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Despite its statement-making appearance, the piece was crafted from MDF and cheap plastic laminates but designed to be sold to a luxury market—a subversion of high status and low-end materials not often seen at the time.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/X9Lqko7