Blurring the Line for the Best
MIAMI BEACH — Perhaps lost in the shuffle of the many satellite fairs taking place during Art Basel Miami Beach is Design Miami. Counting 26 of the world's leading design galleries specializing in museum-quality historical and contemporary work, this overlooked gem of a fair is equivalent in stature and importance, as well as in sales prices, to the main Basel Miami fair, and it is fast becoming one of the most important events for the international design world.
Considering the art world's current fascination with how design objects have increasingly been finding ways to blur the line between decoration, architecture, and fine art in surprising, fresh ways — without falling into kitsch, or, worse, vacant irony — it is a shame more artists will not make it to Design Miami. If they did, they would begin to see the real conceptual and visual flaws dogging a lot of the work dealing with these ideas at the other fairs.
The usual suspects of early to mid-century design were on display, such as Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Tapio Wirkkala, Poul Kjaerholm, Gio Ponti and Joaquim Tenreiro. Galerie Patrick Seguin had a large display of pieces by Jean Royère, including a stumpy-leg free-form low table from 1959 with straw marquetry. Most of the works on view, however, were new pieces, mostly in limited edition or prototype form, created by some of the most exciting contemporary designers working today.
New York favorite and design world guru Murray Moss had on display a limited-edition suite of functional objects by the Belgian design group known as Studio Job. Titled "Robber Baron: Tales of Power, Corruption, Art and Industry" (2007), these five pieces were the highlight of the fair. With lessons obviously learned from the radical, whimsical spirit of Memphis design, as seen in work by Ettore Sottsass or Gaetano Pesce, Studio Job weaves a subversive narrative with a subtle but precise visual touch. The Robber Baron Cabinet is an otherwise unassuming cabinet that has had a large black hole shot through its center. Both mesmerizing and shocking, this hole is not only seductive as an unexpected design element; it also initiates an entire sequence of references related to the idea of the Robber Baron, such as power, aggression, sex, and dominance. The face of the cabinet is covered in a barely perceptible low relief of iconic images pertaining to these concepts: Warplanes, tanks, oil rigs, wrenches, and wheels swirl together like the chips used to construct plywood sheets.
Another prominent New York gallery, Demisch Denant, features work by pioneering German designers from the 1980s. Among the works was Stefan Zwicky's "Domage à Corbu, grand confort, sans confort," (1980). Replicating Le Corbusier's iconic black chair from 1928 in reinforced concrete and reinforced iron, Zwicky's stoic piece not only embodies the frustration of Cold War politics; its crisp lines and straightforward materials also provide a surprisingly pleasurable experience.
Other highlights of Design Miami included the limited edition "Backpack Sofa" (2007) by renowned ceramicist Hella Jongerius, on display at Paris-based Galerie Kreo, and Stephen Burks's Missoni patchwork vases at Christina Grajales, New York. Arik Levy's "Fractal Cloud" (2007), at Kenny Schachter/ROVE Projects in London, appears as frantic sketches of light suspended in the air.
Also on display was a special exhibit devoted to the 2007 Designer of the Year, Japanese-born Tokujin Yoshioka. Though the installation was slightly hackneyed — a pillowing, pseudo-Zen arrangement of white straws cascading around displays of his objects — his designs are interesting gestures of conceptual art. His "Chair that disappears in the rain" (2007) is a simple block of ground glass mounted on a wood block. As the title indicates, the glass seems to disappear as if in a rainstorm, creating a soothing optical illusion hinting at the impermanence of man and man-made things.
