By Joseph Rosa
From tattooed and perforated surfaces to milled forms, the recent movement toward using figurative characteristics in the design arts is redefining the parameters of contemporary beauty in design. This innovative catalogue, reflecting and expanding upon the exhibition it accompanies, features an essay by Art Institute curator Joseph Rosa that maps the evolution of this figuratively aesthetic modern movement and considers its precedents, including the writings and work of the architects Victor Horta, Gottfried Semper, and Louis Sullivan, all of whom embraced ornamental subjectivity in design. Rosa also addresses the influence of Adolf Loos's early 20th-century critique of ornamentation and the subsequent development of a minimal modern aesthetic.
Contemporary designers espousing figurative ideology merge the disparate histories of these supporters and critics of ornamentation, reflecting the hybridization of today's digitally literate design culture. Designers and studios highlighted in this publication include: Fernando and Humberto Campana, Demakersvan, Foreign Office Architects, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, Hella Jongerius, KOL/MAC Studio, Greg Lynn, Abbott Miller, ROY, 2x4, Marcel Wanders, and many others.
Exhibition: December 13, 2007–June 8, 2008
The Art Institute of Chicago 2007
5 5/16 x 8 1/2 in.; 96 pages; 80 color illustrations
Softcover $16.95 ISBN 978-0-0300-013675-3
Order online from the Art Institute Museum Shop or call 1-800-905-8537.
Available to booksellers at wholesale prices from Yale University Press.
Related exhibition: Figuration in Contemporary Design.
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