Photo By Gail
Canadian designer and visual artist Mara Minuzzo painted this solitary Pink Horn Chair as part of a marvelous series of Midcentury Chairs, which were on exhibit, along with a selection of her more abstract paintings, in the Lustre Contemporary booth at the recent Affordable Art Fair NYC, Spring Edition. You can see the full series of chairs, and lots more fantastic contemporary Pop art, by clicking on that link!
All Photos By Gail
Robin Day’s prizewinning design for the Royal Festival Hall chair, created for entry into MoMA’s 1948 International Low-Cost Furniture Competition, helped to launch his career as an industrial designer. Day enjoyed a long-term consultancy with Hille, the chair’s manufacturer, as well as the establishment of a studio with his future wife, Lucienne.
Epitomizing the contemporary style and technological innovation of the 1951 Festival of Britain, the chair was featured in the couple’s Home and Gardens pavilion as well as in the lounge of the new Royal Festival. The chair also appeared in that year’s Milan Triennale and was soon put into production for an international market. Robin Day’s radical molded plywood seating design appears on the point of taking flight, as if lifted off its slender steel legs by the surge of energy and hope also expressed in the Festival of Britain that year. The lemon-yellow upholstery and copper-plated legs add to the extraordinary visual vitality of this sculptural piece.
The fabric hung in the background (left) is by Austrian-born textile designer Marian Mahler, a contemporary of Robin and Lucienne Day. The yellow textile on the right is a length of Lucienne’s 1958 design Mezzanine, which was presented to the Museum by Denver-based Lucienne Day collectors Jill A. Wiltse and Kirk H. Brown III.
Photographed as Part of the Exhibit, The Value of Good Design, on View at The Museum of Modern Art Through June 15th, 2019.
All Photos By Gail
Oh, the crazy cool things I find totally by accident that end up on this blog! It was a bright red neon sign, spotted way in the back of a newish indoor shopping emporium on Broadway in Soho that drew me in from the street and, look at this awesome chair! Just look at it!
As part of a custom commission for which he was given complete artistic control, artist Noel (Instagram @Noel_Painted_That) has created this vibrant and utterly delightful collage of famous carton characters which will eventually cover all surfaces of an Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair (is it an original or a knock off? Who knows).
While I recognized popular characters such as Betty Boop, Scooby Doo, Goofy, Toucan Sam and Sponge Bob, Noel admitted that he is having fun with this project, creating mash-ups and taking artist liberties with some characters to totally make over the piece in his own style. I think it looks fantastic!
Noel also custom paints T-Shirts and Hats and even objects such as Guitars. If you’re local, you can visit him in the store, or find him on Instagram at Noel_Painted_That.
Art of Your Mind is Located at 433 Broadway, Soho, NYC.
