Designer Allison Eden got her start over 25 years ago designing custom glass mosaics for private clients ( you can see an example of her beautiful work on the far left in the above photo). Eden then began applying her colorful, pop art aesthetic to a variety of interior finishes including textiles, wallpapers and carpets to develop one of the most fun and recognizable brands in the industry.
While the current big ticket item at the Brooklyn Museum has to be the Christian Dior retrospective, which opened in September, there’s another must-see exhibit tucked way on the museum’s 4th floor: Baseera Khan’s wildly engaging I Am an Archive. On view here are rich and multilayered sculptures, installations, collages, drawings, photographs, an original music soundtrack, and a video. Khan’s cross-media practice investigates othering, surveillance, cultural exploitation, anti-blackness, and xenophobia within our public and private spaces — and proposes avenues for protection and liberation. Her work is extremely timely and a real eye-opener.
For designer Jun Takahashi’s Undercover2015 spring/summer ready-to-wear collection, he presented a series of dresses in textiles printed with phantasmagoric iconography from Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, collaged in a manner that heightens the painting’s proto-Surrealism.
Arguably Bosch’s most complex and enigmatic creation, the triptych’s overall theme is the fate of humanity — more specifically, the concept of sin, which starts in the Garden of Eden on the left panel and ends in Hell, on the right.
The collection also features matching footwear in the Bosch textile, and jewelry/accessories inspired by flowers in the background of the famous painting.
Wedge Shoes, Detail
Photographed at the Cloisters as Part of the Exhibit, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, On View Through October 8th, 2018 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (at both the Fifth Avenue and Cloisters Locations) in NYC.
Photographed By Gail in the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum
In the mid-to-late 20th century, an atmosphere of innovation and a desire to question the tenets of modernism led some designers to explore a variety of ways in which to shape space. American Architect and Designer Alexander Hayden Girard utilized color and pattern in textiles, particularly in this colorful abstract, or folk art-inspired work for Herman Miller.
When artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois passed away in 2010 at the age of 98, she left behind a staggeringly rich legacy of art created in a multitude of mediums. Geoffrey and I were fortunate to be able to attend the Guggenheim Museum’s ambitious and highly successful 2008 Retrospective of her life’s work, which was possibly the most comprehensive and impressive retrospective I’ve yet seen. I mean, the woman did everything. What an amazing talent and what a huge loss to the art world, but how lucky were we to have her for 98 years? So lucky. Continue reading Louise Bourgeois: The Fabric Works at Cheim & Read→