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Nilufar Gallery is currently exhibiting at the FOG Design + Art 2023 from 19 January, 2023 until 22 January, 2023 with a showcase that seamlessly blends mid-century with contemporary creations, conceived by some of the most interesting talents from around the globe. Nina Yashar, founder of Nilufar Gallery, has selected pieces from her rich collection that embody the highest form of avant-garde expression, speaking both about yesterday's and nowaday's design. “We’ve created an enveloping environment and living space that narrates one of the most interesting facets of nowadays’ design: the dialogue between vintage and contemporary pieces. I am delighted to showcase our collection at FOG Design + Art, an ideal stage that understands and values such connections between faraway times,” shares Yashar.
At FOG Design + Art 2023, Milan-based Nilufar Gallery exhibits examples of Brazilian design by pioneering talents from the 1950s and 1980s that still today reflect a contemporary feel: Jose Zanine Caldas, with his Bar cabinet, Lina Bo Bardi, with her Pompéia stool designed for the SECS Pompéia in São Paulo, Giancarlo Palanti, with his Two Zig Zag armchairs used for the foyer of the Teatro Cultura Artística in São Paulo and his Tridente armchair, and Joaquim Tenreiro, with his rare “Three legged” low chair. To accompany them, the designs Mod. LT3 extendible floor lamp by Ignazio Gardella, and two collages by Louise Nevelson.
Nilufar Gallery introduces the avant-garde works of Maximilian Marchesani, the gallery's newest addition, for the first time from the contemporary selection (please see more information below). In addition, the gallery showcases the eclectic and instantly recognisable visions of Lola Montes Schnabel, with her new clay collection Le Castraure (please find additional information below), Martino Gamper, with a selection from his latest collection 'Innesto' and a Nilufar Edition mirror designed in 2020, Osanna Visconti, with a screen designed in 2019, and Bethan Laura Wood, with the Olive and Gherkin mirrors designed in 2019.
Maximilian Marchesani - Unproduced
Marchesani’s work explores how industrial processes distort the natural world to shape them into metropolitan natural ecosystems, wishing to find a new balance between the natural and the artificial. Marchesani’s first collection presents in one language a summary of his numerous passions: fascinated by all that can be built, fixed or broken, by scientific matters, physics and the universe, the light remains his central attraction as the element that gives life and definition to the world, while remaining not fully comprehended.
‘Matrice’ is a wall lamp composed of a limestone and quartz rosette, onto which three suspended light sources are connected. The glass cannulas that include the LED are coated with the tail hair of a female dog, knotted by hand. The three light elements are powered by small conductors coated in silk and connected to the rosette. 'Matrice' embodies Marchesani’s understanding of light as the primary source of life; in the same way mammals’ umbilical cord feeds the embryo, the conductors power the light sources. On the other hand, his suspension lamp ‘Famiglia’ reflects on the passive and active contamination in contemporary environments. The work is composed of branches of Twisted Hazel (Corylus Avellana Contorta) and parrot feathers (Psittacula Krameri, also known as Ring-necked Parakeet) that Marchesani collected in a Milanese public garden; both represent terrestrial creatures that have been altered by environmental changes. The hazel is originally born with a straight stem that over time curls and knots, and it was genetically modified to maintain the same curvatures. The Ring-necked Parakeet is native to the tropical and subtropical areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, but it was imported into Europe in the 1970s and has since been destroying the surrounding ecosystems. The branches stand for synonyms of ‘contaminated’, while the feathers stand for ‘contamination’.
These artistic compositions represent how Marchesani sees the world today: as one in which artificial and natural elements cannot be dissociated. The artificial becomes the skeleton, digested by the raw material while maintaining its technological function and losing its aesthetic one; with the passing of time, organic matter generates shapes and undergoes corruptions in its ever-evolving, changing, and surprising results that weren’t originally intended.
Lola Montes Schnabel - Le Castraure
In these works, candleholders made of clay, Schnabel has followed the steps of traditional Sicilian mastery. During the pandemic, the artist found herself in Sicily where she met, learned from and worked alongside master clay artisans and the tradition that still exists. What began as a personal project to occupy the time spent alone soon evolved into artistic expressions of three-dimensional objects. The relationship between mentor and scholar, teacher and student, has always been a key definition in Schnabel's practice, as the transmission of craft knowledge to future generations.
When visiting her friend Arrigo Cipriani in Torcello, an island lagoon of Venice, Schnabel was taught about artichoke cultivation, which she found to be poetic. The vegetable is itself the reflection of a dichotomy: a sweet core but with a sharp outer shield, it narrates an ambivalent love theme. Its 'castratura' serves as a metaphor for loving, in giving up parts of oneself while risking to pierce the heart.
With Le Castraure, Schnabel recalls a dancing movement in a solid object, giving them a living and breathing semblance, reflecting a double-sided world made of vulnerability and action. The artist wanted to maintain an element of vitality in the pieces as their material, clay is itself organic: a living matter that requires a precise and correct combination of alchemy and colours to reach a desired outcome.
About FOG Design + Art
Celebrating today’s most significant creatives and leading contributors to the worlds of design and visual arts, the fair assembles 45 leading international galleries; prominent 20th-century and contemporary design dealers; a weekend of exciting programs; and 21POP, a special installation created by Stanlee Gatti. FOG has become a focal point for the design and arts communities on the West Coast and further afield. The fair is synonymous with a uniquely pioneering spirit due to its bold hybrid approach and intimate presentation of art and design, dynamic programming on-site and its community-led mission to champion art and design in its historic Fort Mason setting. Building on FOG’s longstanding commitment to cultural institutions, the fair’s Preview Gala is honoured to continue its crucial support of SFMOMA’s exhibitions and education programs. FOG represents a key moment in which the local and global community congregate to engage in critical dialogue, artistic exchanges, and a shared passion for creative pursuits.
Nilufar Gallery will be exhibiting at FOG Design + Art 2023, Fort Mason Festival Pavilion, San Francisco, from 19 January, 2023 until 22 January, 2023.
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