Material Intent: Color and Form

Material Intent is a summer exhibition of design pieces united by warm, luminous and joyful sensibilities, pairing contemporary and historic works that embrace brightness and openness and invite an interplay between object, space and time.

The presentation centers on lighting sculptures by French artist Léa Mestres, whose work challenges the conventions of an often overly serious design world. Her lamps, made with a custom plaster she calls lélélite, use organic shapes, tactile surfaces and vivid paint; more recent mosaic works such as 4-6 Ciutat Vella draw on the tiling of the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.

Works from the gallery’s wider roster continue the theme: a hanging sculpture from DRIFT’s Fragile Future series, Roger Herman’s paintings and ceramics, the Campana Brothers’ wool-covered Bolotas seating, Zanine Caldas’ pequi wood chairs from his Denuncia protest furniture, George Nakashima’s black walnut coffee table and Vincenzo De Cotiis’ cast brass and lacquered wood.