For Immediate Release: May 17, 2017
TODD MERRILL STUDIO
to Debut Ground-breaking Contemporary Design at Design Miami Basel, 2017 Basel, Switzerland, June 13 โ 18, 2017
At Design Miami Basel 2017, Todd Merrill Studio presents a tightly curated selection of contemporary objects which utilize innovative techniques and that take their inspiration from historic design and natural forms. Works by eight highly distinctive artists (Niamh Barry, Gareth Neal, Marc Fish, Beth Katleman, Shari Mendelson, Sophie Coryndon, Erin Sullivan and Markus Haase); and crafted from a diverse array of media, ranging from wood to metal, ceramics, and stone, share a meticulous attention to craftsmanship. Together, these highly collectible works exemplify how fresh timeless themes remain when rendered inย avant-garde techniques and with playful eyes.
Niamh Barryโs newest unique work, Diving (2017), anchors the exhibition. Inspired by movements of the human body in abstract motion, the interlocking rings of Diving are hand-formed, true bronze, inlaid with opaque glass and LEDs. Soft, mirror-polished bronze surfaces contrast with black patinated bronze planes that are warmed by the LED lineโs perennial glow. The subdued, alabaster-like glass tiles in which the LEDs are encased give an overall effect of delicacy and airiness, even as they create bold, assertive lines. The inherent paradox has earned her international renown.
Barryโs work truly de nes the 21st century: its design is at once materially driven by todayโs technology, while at the same time is hand-made by a studioย sculptor, singular in her production of each work.
Gareth Nealโs two ebonized-oak George LowโจCabinets, titled Certainty I and II pay homageโจto historic design through recent innovations inโจwood carving and sculpting. These unique piecesโจbuild upon the designerโs longstanding interest inโจreferencing Georgian furniture styles as evinced,โจfor example, in his George III, acquired byโจthe Victoria and Albert Museumโs permanentโจcollection in 2013. Across his repertoire, Nealโจcombines the technical modes of 3D computerโจdrawing and CNC processes with the intricacy ofโจprofessional craftsmanship. The exterior structureโจof Certainty I and II have been meticulouslyโจchipped away to reveal an interior design that is reminiscent of eighteenth-century design.
UK-based artist and craftsman Marc Fish creates one-of-a-kind pieces using an incredibly re ned micro-stack-lamination technique that has attracted the attention of designers, architects, and collectors worldwide.
At Design Miami, Todd Merrill Studio features Fishโs One Piece Low Table, made from a single board, cut into nearly 600 thin veneers that have been manipulated into shape, hand-carved, and then sanded until smooth. Alongside the oak, aluminum, and natural squid-ink dye, a nal addition of a silver cerused- nish highlights the woodโs grain. Also being shown is the One Piece Console, the third bronze and oak work created in the โOne Piece Seriesโ, wherein the artist explores the positive and negative space that a single piece of wood can occupy. Evocative of human forms, the work isย simultaneously a unique sculpture and a functional console with a 16-inch deep shelf. This sinuous and delicate object reveals the artistโs hand at work, while exuding a seemingly organic, unprecedented form.
Fish creates only a few select designs per year, making his work highly sought after. Recognized as a new talent, Fish has been awarded four prestigious Guild Marks by The Worshipful Company of Furniture. In 2011 he received the Claxton Stevens prize, the highest honor bestowed by The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers.
Todd Merrill Studio will also exhibitโจBeth Katlemanโs newest work,โจWhite Rabbit, a unique handmadeโจporcelain mirror that offers aโจcontemporary reinterpretation of anโจ18th-century Chinese Chippendaleโจclassic. Inspired by Lewis Carrollโsโจwhimsical books, โAlice inโจWonderlandโ and โAlice ThroughโจThe Looking Glass,โ Katlemanโจcombines Rococo opulence with aโจdose of pop culture, and the traditionโจof luxury porcelain with elementsโจthat are decidedly lowbrow. Theโจporcelain gures are hand-cast fromโจthe artistโs collection of ea-marketโจtrinkets and kitsch toys, bringing their own histories that emphasize a surreal, otherworldly quality. As pastoral scenes dissolve into a dark fairy tale, Katlemanโs signature dark humor comes through; creating a tableau that is seductive, playful, and unsettling.
Katlemanโs work has been exhibited and resides in prestigious private and public collections worldwide, including the M.H. De Young Museum (San Francisco, CA), The Museum of Art and Design (New York, NY), The House of Christian Dior (Hong Kong and London Flagships), and The Nike Collection (Portland, OR), among others.
Sophie Coryndonโs work is inspired by elements of the natural world and rooted in historical aesthetics. Imaginative and innovative, Coryndon has forged a successful career combining traditional craft skills and specialist nishing techniques in a ne art realm. Often material and process driven, employing multiple disciplines such as bronze casting, painting, embroidery, and sculpture, her work has found a large audience with collectors and designers internationally.
Debuting at the exhibition, Primavera, a large triptych measuring 48 x 96 inches, takes its inspiration from 16th- century tapestries and intricate gold-work embroidery. This magni cent piece details a swathe of wild owers and is adorned with hand-tooled ower appliquรฉs that are cast and gilded in yellow gold and white gold before being worked into their nal composition on a smoked gesso background.
Honeymoon, a cast bronze sphere with a faceted honeycomb texture, is the rst in a series based on 18th- century witch balls. Spinning like a ballroom mirror ball, Honeymoon is suspended and lit from within using LEDs. It rotates on a vertical axis creating a pattern of lights from its internal LED light source while simultaneously re ecting its intricate facets when lit externally.
Todd Merrill Studioโs booth will also present textured and tactile solid bronze cast works by Erin Sullivan. Transforming an alligator into a rotating, multi- layered, three-footed stool sculpture (Alligator Stool), Sullivan creates hyper-interpretations of naturalistic surfaces and textures. Her sculptural shelves, stools, and tables are made with the absolute highest quality and labor-intensive process of lost wax casting techniques known today. They present hand-carved, hyper-realistic interpretations of organic subject matter.
Following a successful exhibition at Todd MerrillโจStudio, the gallery will exhibit recent works of Brooklynโจbased artist Shari Mendelson. Using recycled plastic,โจMendelson creates sculptural works of art thatโจreference the legacy of past civilizations while addressing modern issues of sustainability. By transcending their original utilitarian form to appear as fragile glass, the works express a timeless continuum of what we, as a culture, leave behind. Mendelson spends countless hours studying ancient glass and ceramic vessels; then, with equal parts reverence and play, she reinterprets these in plastic. Conceptually, Mendelson is interested in
the relationship between the rare, ancient works that we value in museums and our contemporary throwaway plastic culture. Formally, her interest is in the exploration of structure, form, scale, texture, color, and translucency. The resulting vases and pitchers are whimsical, diaphanous, rough-hewn, and surprisingly elegant.
Mendelsonโs work resides in several public collections, includingย The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (New York, NY), The Hood Museum, of Art (Hanover, NH), The Museum of Old and New Art (Tasmania, AU). Her works can be found on permanent exhibition at The Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA) and The RISD Museum (Providence, RI), and she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2017.
On view for the rst time will be Markus Haaseโs recent foray into creating unique sculptural lighting, fusing bronze and marble. The Bronze and Alabaster Sculptural Sconce features an asymmetrical โbutter yโ form cast in polished bronze that extends elegantly into space. Much like Haaseโs previous sculptural works that combined wood and marble, this hand- carved work retains its luminescent quality even when unlit.
Combining a mastery of traditional sculpting techniques with a contemporary approach to material-driven art and design, Markus Haase creates unique, bespoke, sculptural furniture and lighting pieces exclusively for Todd Merrill Studio Contemporary. For over a decade, Haase trained with Europeโs most prestigious master stone carvers while restoring centuries- old Gothic cathedrals across Northern Germany, including St. Johannis in Gรถttingenm, St. Michaelis in Hildesheimm, and Beate Mariae Virginis in Woldenbรผttel. These diverse experiences combined with a fresh and impressive sense of design allow Haase to realize some of the most intriguing and unique forms in sculptural furniture art today.
For further information please contact:
Dallas DunnโจTodd Merrill Studio, Gallery Director 212-673-0531 info@toddmerrillstudio.com
Barbara DixonโจMedia Relations barbara@barbaraldixon.com 212.933.1879 | 646.709.1536
