New York’s Friedman Benda gallery plays host to two noteworthy exhibitions this month – ‘Marcel Wanders: Portraits’ and Misha Kahn’s ‘Return of Saturn, Coming of Age in the 21st Century’. The two prove to be quite the bookends: Wanders, the well-established designer whose restrained show is rendered in a dark palette becomes a foil for Kahn, who, at 26, is very much gaining a name of his own, with a very kaleidoscopic show he himself describes as something ‘meant to encourage comfort with one’s own mental chaos’.
The product of Kahn’s imagination is a collection of everyday objects: stools, mirrors, lamps and tables. Each is brightly colored, and his choice of material steers far from convention. He has made a cabinet, for example, from banana leaves, grasses, cactus, bone and lavimisu. And it shows. The Wild One China Cabinet smells like a stable. The show’s pièce de résistance, though, is The Slippery Feel of Inevitability, a hand-woven mohair tapestry that depicts a landscape made of Jell-O molds – again, brightly colored and apparently underwater.
The subtitle, ‘Return of Saturn’, speaks to Kahn’s personal self-reflections. Pointing to astrological tradition, he explains that it takes 27 years for Saturn to return to the same position where it had been at the moment of a person’s birth, making it a fruitful time to consider one’s life, a place he considers himself to be now.
This is not an art-in-a-white-box kind of show. Kahn created an immersive environment, covering the floors in plywood tiles and the walls in a custom-made wallpaper depicting oranges at various stages of having been peeled. The wallpaper itself is also torn and partially peeled. ‘I always thought peeling an orange was like ripping wallpaper,’ he suggests. As for why he chose oranges? ‘I thought they were like cosmic belly buttons. And I kind of liked the connection with the Medicis.’
This equates to a collection of everyday objects: stools, mirrors, lamps, and tables, each brightly coloured and incorporating a range of materials that steer far from convention
The subtitle, ‘Return of Saturn’ points to astrological tradition. Kahn explains that it takes 27 years for Saturn to return to the same position where it had been at the moment of a person’s birth, making it a fruitful time to consider one’s life, a place he considers himself (aged 26) to be now
The show’s pièce de résistance, The Slippery Feel of Inevitability (pictured), is a hand-woven mohair tapestry that depicts a landscape made of Jell-O molds, again brightly colored and apparently underwater
INFORMATION
'Misha Kahn: Return of Saturn, Coming of Age in the 21st Century' is on view until 9 April. For more details, visit Friedman Benda's website
Photography: Andrew Meredith. Courtesy the artist and Friedman Benda
ADDRESS
Friedman Benda
515 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
-
The Wallpaper* gift guide for design devoteesWelcome to the Wallpaper* gift guide for design lovers. Whether you are gifting a design connoisseur or the detailed-obsessed, we have you covered this holiday season with expertly selected gifts from the Wallpaper team
-
Check into a new pocket-sized Tokyo hotelSoil Nihonbashi Hotel brings greenery, warmth and a neighbourhood spirit to a quiet corner near Tokyo Central Station
-
Step inside this Clerkenwell Rooftop, transformed into a minimalist urban abodeA Clerkenwell Rooftop has been transformed by Studio Felicity Bell into a minimalist modern home, featuring airy interiors and long views of London
-
Inside the work of photographer Seydou Keïta, who captured portraits across West Africa‘Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens’, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, celebrates the 20th-century photographer
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the capital this week
-
María Berrío creates fantastical worlds from Japanese-paper collages in New YorkNew York-based Colombian artist María Berrío explores a love of folklore and myth in delicate and colourful works on paper
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekAs we approach Frieze, our editors have been trawling the capital's galleries. Elsewhere: a 'Wineglass' marathon, a must-see film, and a visit to a science museum
-
June Leaf’s New York survey captures a life in motionJune Leaf made art in many forms for over seven decades, with an unstoppable energy and fierce appetite leading her to rationalise life in her own terms.
-
Jamel Shabazz’s photographs are a love letter to Prospect ParkIn a new book, ‘Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025’, Jamel Shabazz discovers a warmer side of human nature
-
The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles launches the seventh iteration of its highly anticipated artist biennialOne of the gallery's flagship exhibitions, Made in LA showcases the breadth and depth of the city's contemporary art scene
-
Inside a Courtney Love-inspired art exhibition in New YorkLiza Jo Eilers looks to the glory days of Hole at an exhibition at Grimm New York
