Bush Form Sculpture by Harry Bertoia

The recent Important Design auction at Wright included this highly detailed and labor-intensive Bush series sculpture illustrating a mastery of welded metal sculpture by Harry Bertoia. Initially growing out of an exploration of natural forms using wire or brass-coated iron, the Bush forms became more refined throughout the 1960s. Executed in copper and bronze which garners a rich green patina over time, the Bush sculptures culminate in purified shapes that are defined by the undulating surfaces of metal points. Bertoia’s best works from this series display a scale and density of material that distinguish them in his oeuvre.

Untitled (monumental Bush form), by Harry Bertoia c. 1962, welded copper and bronze, Estimate: $300,000–500,000 (unsold), auction at Wright

Exhibition: Tokujin Yoshioka for Sensing Nature

Winter turns to spring, summer turns to autumn. We sense the shifts not just by the changes in the temperature and the scenery, but in the smells carried on the breeze and the quality of the sunlight. Over two thirds of Japan’s population lives in its cities, which make up just a small fraction of its landmass. And yet we are still able to read nature with our bodies.

Japan’s temperate climate and its mountainous topography gave birth to a unique natural environment, which in turn fostered an ancient cosmology and spirituality which have greatly influenced our culture and arts. In “Sensing Nature: Yoshioka Tokujin, Shinoda Taro, Kuribayashi Takashi” we think about how the innate human ability to perceive nature (to sense nature) and the Japanese view of nature exist in our urbanized and modernized world. We also ask how those views are reflected in contemporary art and design practices.

Sensing Nature: Tokujin Yoshioka, Takashi Kuribayashi, Taro Shinoda, Mori Art Museum, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, Japan, July 24 – November 7

PixCell-Elk#2 by Kohei Nawa

“By covering surface of an object with transparent glass beads, the existence of the object itself is replaced by “a husk of light”, and the new vision “the cell of an image” (PixCell) is shown. Most of the motifs, like stuffed animals are found through the internet. I search some auction sites and choose from the images which appear on a monitor as pixel. However, the stuffed animals which actually have been purchased and sent have real flesh feel and smell, and have a discrepancy with images on the monitor. I then transpose them to PixCell in turn.” – Kohei Nawa

PixCell-Elk#2, PixCell-Deer#23, by Kohei Nawa, More:Sandwich

Film: Efdemin: There Will Be Singing (Chicago)

AD pointed us to the new video by Berlin based experimental musician Efdemin. The video includes fleeting images of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

Efdemin: There Will Be Singing, from the album Chicago on Dial Records, video by Jutojo

Exhibition: Geometric Study by Ann Van Hoey

Ann Van Hoey was an industrial engineer before she discovered ceramics. “Étude Géométrique” (“Geometric Study”) is the name for a series of five bowls which impressively embody the quintessence of her artistry in a contemporary manner. The basis for these pieces, i.e. thinly rolled pieces of clay cut into semicircles, are first joined and shaped into perfectly hemispherical bowls on the potter’s wheel. When the clay has dried so as to be leather-hard, Van Hoey uses a pair of scissors to cut triangular segments from it and joins the ends so as to overlap, thus opening up the path towards new three-dimensional shapes whose logic and clarity do not only fascinate minimalists alone. Without any décor, the clay’s colour and material characteristics are displayed to perfection. The combination of lines and surfaces makes for charming sculptural effects. Inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, Van Hoey’s crafting technique results in unusual creations that trigger new chains of associations.

Exhibition: Ann Van Hoey and Carine Neutjens, at Cultuurcentrum Mechelen,
Mechelen, Belgium, 7 May – 20 June, via: Art Aurea

Exhibition: Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance at Galerie BSL

Architect and designer, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance designed the gallery space for BSL. He also designed the displays for jewelry which include four models in white resin which are at the confluence of paleontology and design.

Opening Exhibition, May 7 – July 24, by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, for Galerie BSL, Paris

Exhibition: Fiona Banner at Tate Britain

“I remember long sublime walks in the Welsh mountains with my father, when suddenly a fighter plane would rip through the sky, and shatter everything. It was so exciting, loud and overwhelming; it would literally take our breath away. The sound would arrive from nowhere, all you would see was a shadow and then the plane was gone.
At the time harrier jump jets were at the cutting edge of technology but to me they were like dinosaurs, prehistoric, from a time before words.”
– Fiona Banner

Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2010, by Fiona Banner,
at Tate Britain, 28 June 2010 – 3 January 2011

Kulango Pounder Spoon at Sotheby’s Auction

The recent Oceanic and African Art Auction at Sotheby’s in Paris included this Kulango Pounder Spoon from Côte d’Ivoire.

Kulango Pounder Spoon, Hammer Price: € 78,750, Oceanic and African Art Auction,
Sale PF1017, Sotheby’s, Paris

Marc Newson Works at Phillips de Pury Auction

The upcoming Design auction at Phillips de Pury in New York includes some important early works by Marc Newson as well as some more recent prototypes.

Top to Bottom:
Pod of Drawers, 1987, by Marc Newson
Fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin core, blind-riveted sheet aluminum, paint. Produced by Basecraft for Pod, Australia. From the edition of ten plus two artist’s proofs and one prototype. Estimate $300,000-500,000

Prototype Micarta desk, 2006, by Marc Newson
Linen phenolic composite. Prototype for the edition of ten plus two artist’s proofs.
Estimate $150,000-200,000

Prototype Voronoi Shelf, 2006, by Marc Newson
Bardiglio marble. Prototype for the edition of eight plus two artist’s proofs.
Estimate $100,000-150,000

Event Horizon Table, 1992, by Marc Newson
Enameled aluminum, polished aluminum. Produced by Pod Edition, UK. Artist’s proof for the edition of ten. only example produced with a yellow body. Estimate $250,000-350,000

Marc Newson Works, Design Auction at Phillips de Pury & Company,
June 9, 2010, New York

Unstable Variables by Kjell Varvin

“Frequent manipulations of insignificant objects in a naked corner of my studio for digital documentation and publication on the internet as temporary installations in the context of art.”

Unstable Variables, by Kjell Varvin, Installart