Architect and Galerie56 founder Lee F. Mindel presents an exhibition in his Church Street design gallery that is a study in the materiality and use of metal in design objects. Heavy Metal, open now through early November, showcases a series of unique artworks spanning the 20th century, and explores modern design’s use of the versatile material.
Metal’s greatest benefit is its ability to easily take on different forms, as seen in the works that line the gallery. From a pair of tables by Tony Duquette to ephemeral bird sculptures by Italian artist Benedetta Mori Ubaldini, Heavy Metal is a celebration of an industrial material used to create iconic designs.
Whether serving as a sinuous thread woven through a Hechizoo Tatami rug, mimicking the natural qualities of cotton, or crafted into solid sheets for Poul Kjaerholm’s chairs, metal adapts to shapes limited only by the artist’s imagination. Jean Prouvé’s S.A.M. Tropique Table expresses rigidity and regularity, while Maria Pergay’s Wave Desk takes on a more dynamic form. Eliot Noyes’ metal IBM telephone tables symbolize a cultural shift to a new technological age, while Margaret Evangeline’s Moonstruck sculpture, crafted out of stainless steel and mirroring the form of the adjacent Anish Kapoor sculpture, concurrently captures the hastiness of a bullet and the permanence of its aftermath.
Though the pieces in this exhibition—curated by Mindel—depict different attitudes and ideas, they all utilize metal as a means of expressing them. The work, by 26 different designers and artists, includes lighting, furniture, and objects.
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