ARCHITECTURE: Dialogues of Art and Architecture Part I
The group exhibition “Dialogues, art and architecture” presents architectural models by Hariri and Hariri Architecture, in juxtaposition to works by gallery artists. The exhibition came about as a result of Nancy Hoffman’s visit to Hariri and Hariri Architecture’s offices, where models, created over the years, are readily viewable. The models are not simply architectural models, practical proposals for projects, residential, commercial, etc (Part II).
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Nancy Hoffman Gallery Archive
Rather than address the topic of Art and Architecture didactically or historically, this exhibition “Dialogues, art and architecture” is a visual celebration of the communality of form as it moves from architecture to painting, from architecture to sculpture, from architecture to drawing. Hariri & Hariri Architecture is a New York based architecture and design firm established in 1986 by Gisue Hariri and Mojgan Hariri. For three decades, they have focused on a holistic approach to design ranging from master planning and architecture to interior design, furniture, lighting, product design and jewelry. The firm’s approach is rooted in the belief that design is fundamental to improving the quality of life. With an integrated, unified approach architecture can become a total work of art. Each of Linda Mieko Allen’s exhibitions focuses around a theme or conceptual framework. “Territories”, the work of the past two years, examines states of transition, transformation and boundaries. The deepest power of Ilans Averbuch’s work is it’s truly convincing monumentality, the product of qualities that we ordinarily consider anti-monumental. Sarah Bridgland’s diminutive paper creations inhabit the territory between sculpture and collage. Delicately fashioned out of second-hand ephemera collected from junk shops and fragments of Bridgland’s own printed media, they create spaces where the real and the imagined co-exist, where fact and fiction collide. Well-known in Seattle and on the West Coast, Mark Calderon’s debut swork provides the viewer with a rich palette of materials in his wall-mounted and free-standing sculpture. Rupert Deese’s new tondo-shaped paintings in plywood, painted in oil are disks with wave-like forms in varying pitch and intensity. They recall the experience of childhood of dropping a pebble in a calm pond and watching the radiating ripples. During the ‘80s Richard Purdy exhibited his realist paintings in the East Village. His work garnered some attention. In 1985 he stopped painting for almost ten years. Purdy says of this period in his life: “What was required was a retooling of my thoughts on what visibilities I wanted to bring into being”. During this decade he immersed himself in motorcycle racing, speed bicycle racing and an in-depth reading program on particle physics, quantum mechanics and cosmology. In 1990 Purdy realized how he could radically alter his technical approach and created what he calls “Prototypes” that were interesting enough for him to resume painting.
Info: Nancy Hoffman Gallery, 520 West 27Street, New York, Duration: 15/12/16-28/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.nancyhoffmangallery.com
