Anton Alvarez “Wrapsody”
Salon 94 Freemans
This event has ended.
Salon 94 presents the first US exhibition of Anton Alvarez. The Chilean-Swedish designer constructed The Thread-Wrapping Machine as his tool and medium. Used like a DIY sewing machine with pedal control, the “wrapper” joins a mix of wood, plastic, metal, fur, felt, paint and other materials into bright, exuberant furniture. Glue-coated thread holds the various parts together into a solid structure and provides the joinery. Alvarez does not use any other tools or fasteners. Thread is the artist’s construction and composition, a framework as well as shape, pattern, line, and color.
Alvarez will transform the gallery into his studio, using his machine to make new work in the space. Coming in and out as he pleases (during both open and closed gallery hours), Alvarez will produce a variety of furniture pieces – chairs, side tables, benches and lamps – alongside abstract objects and architectural elements including columns, totems and arches in the space. The exhibition will celebrate process, performance and craft, as well as design objects with and without “function.”
Visitors to the gallery are invited to both experience the in flux, in-progress installation as well as contribute raw materials, like recyclables of wood, metal and plastic, that the artist can incorporate as he wishes into his designs. Using thread, Alvarez unites often petite parts of plastic tubing, wood boards and metals, the small construction elements one might find in an architect, model-maker, or furniture designer’s trash can. Incorporating found components into his work is one way in which Alvarez introduces chaos into his order.
The straightforward process of wrapping thread and glue, vibrant colors, is also a joyous and exuberant one. Anton’s background is in cabinet making, interior architecture, hip-hop and graffiti. Critic David Bourdon once described the wrapped objects of Christo as “revelation through concealment.” In a parallel way, Alvarez wraps his materials to reveal their shape, components and structure and focus on the craft of objects.
Alvarez will make work in the space throughout the month of April. The last week of the show May 5 – 9, the worksite environment will be removed, and the objects of one month of production will be on view in the gallery.
In addition to using the space at random hours, Alvarez will work in the gallery at the following confirmed studio times: Thursdays & Fridays 4 – 6 pm and Saturdays 12 – 6 pm.
Anton Alvarez (Sweden, b. 1980) is based in Stockholm. His work focuses on the design of systems and the creation of new tools and processes for production. A recent graduate of the Royal College of Art in Design Products, Alvarez originally studied fine art and cabinetmaking, and completed a degree in Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at Konstfack, Stockholm. Alvarez has been exhibited internationally, including at MUDAC, the Design Museum in Lausanne, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Most recently, he exhibited an “in progress” exhibition similar to this one at Konsthall Gustavbergs in Stockholm.
Media
Schedule
from April 01, 2015 to May 09, 2015
Opening Reception on 2015-04-01 from 18:00 to 20:00