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Tuleste Factory’s latest exposition is a saturation of the colour blue
The Blue Room at Tuleste Factory
Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory
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Tuleste Factory’s latest exposition is a saturation of the colour blue

Washed in a calming hue, the New York based gallery elicits excitement, passion and intrigue.

by Almas Sadique
Published on : Aug 15, 2022

Perennially associated with doomsday, the colour blue often finds itself contrasting between emotions—one that offers calm and the other, peril. While ruminating under a clear, blue sky offers perspective and inspiration, balancing one's emotional and mental stress, its saturated spectrum focused in an enclosed space is sure to elicit a myriad range of emotions. US based art and design gallery Tuleste Factory, in their latest exposition The Blue Room lit up their display space with a vibrant blue. Washed in this electric colour, the showcases, ranging from sculpture art pieces to photographs, channel a unique congruous character. The immersive exhibition, one of the three latest showcases at the gallery themed on colour, will remain on display from 17th May to 30th September 2022.

“We want to provide something more experiential and fun than the traditional white wall gallery. This philosophy has allowed us to take more creative freedom with our process and how we put our space together. The challenge of curating the blue room is the limitation of colour,” explain Celeste Greenberg and Satu Greenberg, sisters and founders of Tuleste Factory.

Abi Polinsky's photograph, Kelsie Rudolph's Side Table and Yonathan Moore's lamp Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

Based in New York, the Tuleste Factory was founded in 2018 as a creative space that could house the works of both emerging and established artists and designers who work in the realm of furniture design, photography and fine arts, amongst other things. “From resin to acrylic, wool to velvet to Mongolian lamb, The Blue Room gives visitors a jolt of life upon entering,” share the duo. The multi-room space, split between indoor and outdoor quarters, presents itself as an arena for exhibitions and cultural events focused on art and design.

Exhibition view of The Blue Room Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory
Yonathan Moore's lamp against Brandi Howe's Biomorphic Mirror Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

‘The Blue Room’ exhibition, washed in the cool colour from ceiling to floor, is housed in a unique skylight room that adds another dimension to an already layered and diversely populated showcase. Some of the artists whose debut works are on display at the gallery include lighting artist Yonathan Moore, ceramic artist Kelsie Rudolph, fine art photographer Abi Polinsky, and interior designer Brandi Howe. Their works, stationed next to the gallery’s long-running collaborators Ian Alistair Cochran and Jt. Pfeiffer, come together to form a series of creations that are artistic, experimental and ethereal.

“The majority of our Factory artists are people we’ve either known for years or met organically. Whether it’s helping see their vision come to life, facilitating collaboration or curating their pieces, they’ve all been really phenomenal to work with,” the Greenbergs assert.

Kelsie Rudolph's ceramic vessel Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

American ceramist Kelsie Rudolph’s pieces are an attractive combination of unique textures and shapes. Crafted by carefully pinching malleable clay into geometric forms with sharp angled edges, her side table and vase are an attempt to explore deeper colour palettes. On being asked about her design philosophy, Rudolph is quick to ascertain, “My whole artistic practice exists in some kind of balance between hard and soft. The hard clay with its crisp edges and geometric forms contrast the soft fingerprint textures and running patterned glazes. It's also important to me that the works are highly utilitarian and straightforward in design. I believe the works I have in The Blue Room fall right into this philosophy.”

Blue Gradient console by Facture Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory
Facture Studio's resin table Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

Facture Studio’s resin works, appearing in congruence with Rudolph’s softly designed ceramics, serve as examples of the limits to which the material can be pushed and the possibilities that it poses in terms of colour, gradients and transparency. Standing in heavy contrast against the physically evocative pieces by Rudolph and Facture Studio are Abi Polinsky’s photographs that derive inspiration from both European art and fashion photography. They are also more expressive in the Blue Room, amongst other abstract objects. Adding to the various layers and wings of design on display at the gallery is furniture designer Brandi Howe with her ‘Biomorphic Mirror’. The mirror stands out with its velvet fabric and bold colours.

Abi Polinsky's photograph Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory
Biomorphic Mirror by Brandi Howe Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

While most pieces on display at the gallery are washed in the blue hue, architect and lighting designer Yonathan Moore’s latest collection emits a personality of its own. Touted ‘Optical Monuments’, the French artist's light sculptures are the culmination of his long drawn exploration into the qualities of acrylic and the sculptural possibilities that they pose. Additionally, this lighting design collection is also an active attempt at probing into oneself through design and narratives. “The inspiration for the Optical Monuments collection comes from many moments and places that exist in our collective imaginations: From the mythical ruins of ancient civilisations, which communicate their universal forms beyond time. Through the obelisks and columns dotting the maps of cities, symbolising the power and conquest of the past, yet acting as familiar urban markers and beacons in the present. To the architectural forms that have been evolving and repeating since humans started building, from Ancient Greek to neoclassical architecture, and from Art-Deco and Post-Modernism,” Moore beautifully narrates.

Yonathan Moore's lamp Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory
Ian Alistair Cochran's Plump Console Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

Another work at the gallery includes the Tibetan Lambswool ‘Hudson Ottoman’ by Moses Nadel, The ottoman seat, hand-filled with compressed foam and finished with leather and lace, is an abstract furniture piece that adds personality to the space it inhabits.

Hudson Ottoman by Moses Nadel Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

Product designer Ian Alistair Cochran’s ‘Echo Series’ and ‘Plump Series’ are furniture and other homeware items crafted out of resin. The former is an extension of the designer’s exploration of solid transparent shapes bending light. “This comes in the form of curved lenses which fold and layer the imagery of the surroundings and mix it with the color I have cast in. The design of each piece in the series are inspired by harmonies and the feeling of equilibrium that come with them,” Cochran explains. His Plumo Series, on the other hand, is a simple puzzle-like furniture series where parts of a whole can be affixed against each other without the use of tools. Instead, they can be interlocked like a toy to form a cohesive whole. “I am very much inspired by materials and the abilities each has. I let the material show me what is worth exploring or showcasing in the work and that's where my designs extend from,” says Cochran.

Pendant lamp by Yonathan Moore Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory
Blue Ripple table by Facture on display at the gallery Image: Courtesy of Tuleste Factory

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