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The World’s First Stop for Interior Design
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Left: Cornelia Parker's "Rorschach", 2004, Photograph from the 21c Museum website;
Right: Johnny Swing's "Quarter Lounge" 2008, Photograph from the Johnny Swing website
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) at 2 Columbus Circle in New York City, was once the site of the American Craft Museum and recently reopened as MAD with the intent of broadening their perspective from that of craft to a more wide-ranging program that involves rotating studio space for artisans and artists that are open to the public, classes and the collection and celebration of contemporary art pieces.
One of the inaugural featured exhibitions now on at the gallery is Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary where the show's featured artists have taken found or discarded objects and given them new life by transforming them into a modern art pieces. The exhibition plays on the idea of reuse and recycling but also illustrates how the lines between craft, design and art have been blurred.
Cornelia Parker's piece (above) "Rorschach", 2004 consists of silver plated finery that was flattened with a steamroller and suspended with fishing line to create a symmetrical Rorschach-like pattern below you, thus taking these status driven pieces and changing their usual context and meaning.
For more information on Cornelia Parker visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelia_Parker
Johnny Swing's "Quarter Lounge", 2008 (above), was created by welding together thousands of quarters to create a functional piece of furniture from everyday objects that we deem of little value.
For more information on Johnny Swing visit: http://www.johnnyswing.com/
Photograph from the CubeMe blog
"Spectacle", 2006 was created by Stuart Haygarth with hundreds of pairs of glasses that up close are recognizable as mundane, every day objects but from afar, comprise an elegant and almost delicate looking chandelier.
For more information on Stuart Haygarth visit: http://www.stuarthaygarth.com/default.asp?V_SITE_ID=14
Photograph from the CubeMe blog
Another artist, Paul Villinski, created his piece, "My Back Pages", 2006-2008 out of found records which he cut with a band saw and a scroll saw, filed the edges smooth, folded into shapes with a heat gun and mounted to the wall with wire to allow for movement when a slight breeze passes. The circular pattern creates a sense of movement and life from a once inatimate group of items.
For more information on Paul Villinski visit: http://www.paulvillinski.com/
Other pieces include dresses made from rubber gloves, chandeliers from hypodermic needles, jewelry made with safety pins and painstakingly cut trees from luxury shopping bags. Surprisingly, the latter wasn't a comment on consumer waste, but meant to represent the trees in urban spaces. The time-consuming attention to detail is something worth viewing with your own eyes.
Second Lives will be featured from September 27th, 2008 until February 15th, 2009. For a complete artist list of the show, click here.
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) can be visited in person at: 2 Columbus Circle, between 58th and 59th streets in New York City. For hours of operation and directions to the gallery, visit their site at: http://www.madmuseum.org/VISIT/Directions.aspx
Written by Ehren Seeland |
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