Structure et Surface
28 Nov - 22 Dec 2007
STRUCTURE ET SURFACE
JIM COLE, HOWARD MEISTER, TERENCE MAIN, FORREST MYERS
Harris Lieberman, in collaboration with Magen H Gallery, XX Century Design, is pleased to present Structure et Surface, an exhibition of current and selected past works from four master innovators of modern design. Jim Cole, Howard Meister, Terence Main and Forrest Myers were seminal members of the Art et Industrie movement; merging craft and concept into singular works of art while creating a new platform for the decorative arts. J im Cole's recent work continues a long tradition of personal expression using an established language of form. Each work is a unique investigation of a particular idiom. Cole considers his works to be, in the simplest terms, poetic statements. He deliberately limits his formal choices through process, interested in the range of expression within his chosen parameters. The highly expressive surfaces reflect Cole's personal history without dictating emotion, engendering a new response for each viewer. Jim Cole's work is included in the permanent collections of institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the The American Craft Museum. T erence Main's work redefines the boundaries between art and design. The biomorphic elements of his works recall the fossilized remains of ancient creatures and vegetation. Overall, they often have the look and feel of natural phenomena rather than crafted objects. Looking outside the boundaries of classicism, Main responds to the rich material of primitive art with furniture that intimates the power of animist belief throughout human culture. A graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Main's work is now in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, among others, and has been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions worldwide, including: Modern Furniture, The Metropolitan Museum; Art and Application, Turbulence, NY. H oward Meister is a fifth generation furniture maker. For this exhibition he has created four new works using metal and silicone, a process that he began in 1991. In these current works he plays with our expectations of common objects. Though Meister rarely deviates from the iconic form of a chair or table, he challenges the idea of solidity and clearly defined surfaces, boundaries and borders through his use of materials. Referencing Gerhard Richter's “Abstract Paintings”, Meister's layers of silicone disassemble decorative expectations, evoking visceral reactions from the most commonplace of objects. Meister’s work has been exhibited and collected by many museums including The Art Museum at the Rhode Island School of Design, The American Craft Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Art Institute of Chicago. A side from their obvious conceptual inventiveness, Forrest Myers' works have an inherent integrity of form and clarity of statement. They hold their own space in a dichotomous combination of rigidity and looseness. The result is not "art that is about something", but "art that is something". His early influences - jazz and Calder's wire sculptures - can be seen in his recent works of densely woven anodized wire. A master metalworker, whose attention to detail is readily apparent, Myers achieves an incredible depth of color in his painted surfaces by manipulating the inherent properties (iron and copper oxides, cobalt, etc.) of the metal itself. Forrest Myers' sculpture was recently made part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art’s sculpture garden. Myers is
JIM COLE, HOWARD MEISTER, TERENCE MAIN, FORREST MYERS
Harris Lieberman, in collaboration with Magen H Gallery, XX Century Design, is pleased to present Structure et Surface, an exhibition of current and selected past works from four master innovators of modern design. Jim Cole, Howard Meister, Terence Main and Forrest Myers were seminal members of the Art et Industrie movement; merging craft and concept into singular works of art while creating a new platform for the decorative arts. J im Cole's recent work continues a long tradition of personal expression using an established language of form. Each work is a unique investigation of a particular idiom. Cole considers his works to be, in the simplest terms, poetic statements. He deliberately limits his formal choices through process, interested in the range of expression within his chosen parameters. The highly expressive surfaces reflect Cole's personal history without dictating emotion, engendering a new response for each viewer. Jim Cole's work is included in the permanent collections of institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the The American Craft Museum. T erence Main's work redefines the boundaries between art and design. The biomorphic elements of his works recall the fossilized remains of ancient creatures and vegetation. Overall, they often have the look and feel of natural phenomena rather than crafted objects. Looking outside the boundaries of classicism, Main responds to the rich material of primitive art with furniture that intimates the power of animist belief throughout human culture. A graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Main's work is now in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, among others, and has been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions worldwide, including: Modern Furniture, The Metropolitan Museum; Art and Application, Turbulence, NY. H oward Meister is a fifth generation furniture maker. For this exhibition he has created four new works using metal and silicone, a process that he began in 1991. In these current works he plays with our expectations of common objects. Though Meister rarely deviates from the iconic form of a chair or table, he challenges the idea of solidity and clearly defined surfaces, boundaries and borders through his use of materials. Referencing Gerhard Richter's “Abstract Paintings”, Meister's layers of silicone disassemble decorative expectations, evoking visceral reactions from the most commonplace of objects. Meister’s work has been exhibited and collected by many museums including The Art Museum at the Rhode Island School of Design, The American Craft Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Art Institute of Chicago. A side from their obvious conceptual inventiveness, Forrest Myers' works have an inherent integrity of form and clarity of statement. They hold their own space in a dichotomous combination of rigidity and looseness. The result is not "art that is about something", but "art that is something". His early influences - jazz and Calder's wire sculptures - can be seen in his recent works of densely woven anodized wire. A master metalworker, whose attention to detail is readily apparent, Myers achieves an incredible depth of color in his painted surfaces by manipulating the inherent properties (iron and copper oxides, cobalt, etc.) of the metal itself. Forrest Myers' sculpture was recently made part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art’s sculpture garden. Myers is