Non-visual forces: Robert O’Connell at James gallery
Parisian gallery James presents the works of American designer Robert O'Connell in a new exhibition debuting later this month.
‘Standing Objects’ marks the start of a series of explorations on the fundamentals of design, which the gallery founders Paul Viguier and Candice Fauchon intend to carry out through several exhibitions in the coming month. The pair founded the gallery in 2012 at the Puces de Saint-Ouen market, and recently relocated to a new Paris outpost, where they now present a diverse range of modern and contemporary design. (They've a penchant for Brazilian makers but maintain a wide outlook at global creative talent.)
The RISD-educated O’Connell creates archetypal shapes that blur the boundaries between furniture and art through a minimal aesthetic. The designer's capsule collection is a departure from his earlier, more voluminous works, and results from an exploration of structural codes of post-war furniture. His inspiration focusses on the principles of economy of means, an instrumental notion in the definition of modern design, which he pushes to the very limit.
Using half-inch steel rods, O’Connell created forms both abstract and familiar, giving viewers the possibility to complete the visual story. He cites design influences such as Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer and references artists such as Donald Judd (the designer’s background, pre RISD, is in visual arts), whose aesthetics are distilled into these pieces. ‘Form and visual experience are one element of an object,’ he explains, ‘functionality is another. Form and function are not mutually exclusive, one enhances another.’
Playing on the fine line between form and function, ‘Standing Objects’ is the beginning of a larger conversation, both for the designer’s young career and for the gallery’s future design explorations. ‘This is a communicating bridge for the art I saw in design,’ adds O’Connell. ‘My goal for this series was to describe the non-visual forces of the humble phenomena present in the third dimension.’
INFORMATION
’Standing Objects’ is on view from 22 October – 15 November
ADDRESS
James Gallery
18/20, rue de Thorigny
75003 Paris
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series comes to life for Art Basel Paris
In ‘Tales & Tellers’, interdisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga brings Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series for Art Basel Paris to life for the public programme
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Art Basel returns to Paris: here is everything to see and do
Art Basel Paris 2024 (18 - 20 October 2024) returns, opening at the newly renovated Grand Palais
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Elmgreen & Dragset explore contemporary masculinity in Paris
We visit Elmgreen & Dragset at their Berlin studio ahead of new exhibition ‘L’Addition’ at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, a subversive take on the classical form
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Don’t miss Henri Matisse and Ellsworth Kelly at Fondation Louis Vuitton
Fondation Louis Vuitton present a series of works by Matisse and Kelly, celebrating the influence they had on the trajectory of contemporary art
By Tianna Williams Published
-
‘Who has not dreamed of seeing what the eye cannot grasp?’: Rencontres d’Arles comes to the south of France
Les Rencontres d’Arles 2024 presents over 40 exhibitions and nearly 200 artists, and includes the latest iteration of the BMW Art Makers programme
By Sophie Gladstone Published
-
Matthew Barney draws on a sporting horror history with video installation ‘Secondary’
Matthew Barney revisits a haunting memory of violence and spectacle in his first institutional show in Paris in over a decade
By Hili Perlson Published
-
Nicole Eisenman explores the dimensions of sculpture and painting at Hauser & Wirth Paris
Nicole Eisenman presents ‘with, and, of, on Sculpture’, her first retrospective at Hauser & Wirth Paris drawing inspiration from political challengers to ABBA
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Van Gogh Foundation celebrates ten years with a shape-shifting drone display and The Starry Night
The Van Gogh Foundation presents ‘Van Gogh and the Stars’, anchored by La Nuit Etoilée, which explores representations of the night sky, and the 19th-century fascination with the cosmos
By Amy Serafin Published