Tactile Cartoons
Krzykowski commissioned a set of international designers to contribute limited editions and one-of-a-kind pieces, which are all unconventional interpretations of household items. Photo: Fran Parente
We first learned about Copenhagen based creative studio, Wang & Söderström from a recent visit to an exhibit called Domestic Appeal, at Highline hidden Chamber Gallery.
We had set off on our very own city adventure to confront the question posed by curator Matylda Krzykowski at her third of four Chamber Gallery showcase : how exactly has consumer choice changed in the last half-century?
Rooted in Krzykowskia's research of Pop Art forefather Richard Hamilton and his seminal 1956 collage: Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?, this latest installment examines the gluttonous and yet primal impetus that is desire as interpreted by a selection of one-of-a-kind and limited edition objects destined for the home.
Photo: Fran Parente
Photo: Fran Parente
A collage of the exhibition pays homage to Richard Hamilton's original artwork.Photo: By Wang & Söderström, Courtesy of Chamber Gallery
The exhibit is seductive. Most pieces feel oversized and sensually mysterious with the same "touch-us" quality that a Disney character's cartoon belly managed to feel as it waterfalled over a too-tight belt. The objects push us to confront how our collective condition has evolved the act of consumption. In other words, how do we buy and use products? How have design and material culture responded to augmented desires? How do our temptations and material fantasies manifest themselves with our personal spaces?
In an effort to better understand the talent involved in this exhibit we did a little research and discovered that this time around, the curator worked with Copenhagen-based Wang & Söderstrom to produce the collage of the exhibit (left).
While unrelated to the Chamber Gallery, see Wang & Söderstrom's tactile and surreal digital explorations of objects physics in the videos below.
Domestic Appeal is on show at Chamber, 515 West 23rd Street, until 22 April 2017