At The Luss House Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM and Object & Thing: Group Exhibition

 

 

The Second Iteration of a Collaborative Exhibition within an Architect’s Own Home — Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM, and Object & Thing Exhibit Works by Lucas Arruda, Cecily Brown,  Matt Connors, Green River Project LLC, Tony Lewis, Eddie Martinez, Ritsue Mishima,  Paulo Monteiro, Johnny Ortiz, and Marina Perez Simão, among others.

 

An influential designer and architect, Luss is best known for his influence on large-scale corporate projects during the post–World War II building boom in Manhattan, although his work can be found around the world. He is particularly noted for the innovations he developed for the 350,000 square feet of interiors for the famed Time-Life office building (1959) on Avenue of the Americas in midtown Manhattan – the epitome of midcentury modern skyscraper design, commonly recognized today as the backdrop to AMC’s Mad Men series. His home in Ossining, commuting distance from New York City, was Luss’s first freestanding architectural project and where he lived during the three years he spent working on the Time-Life project. The home was used for many planning meetings between Luss and Time-Life staff and employs a similar connection between interior and exterior environments as well as shared materials and color schemes. At 94 years old, Luss is a collaborative partner in the exhibition, lending examples of his furniture and designs.

 

The exhibition features works from 18 international artists in response to the house’s environment, including Alma Allen, Lucas Arruda, Cecily Brown, Green River Project LLC, Eddie Martinez, Ritsue Mishima, Johnny Ortiz, Frances Palmer, Paulo Monteiro, and Marina Perez Simão among others. In addition to the organizing galleries, Blum & Poe and Mendes Wood DM, Object & Thing is presenting works contributed by Alison Bradley Projects (New York City) and GALLERY crossing (Minokamo, Japan).

 

Abby Bangser, Founder and Creative Director of Object & Thing commented, “After having worked with Blum & Poe and Mendes Wood DM on last fall’s exhibition at the Eliot Noyes House in New Canaan, Connecticut we wanted to find another opportunity to bring together contemporary art and design in an architecturally significant setting with a story that we could share.” Matt Bangser, a partner at Blum & Poe, added “the warmth of materials and connection with nature at the Luss House resonates with much of the work we are all featuring,” and Pedro Mendes, co-founder of Mendes Wood DM, commented that “the collaboration continues our gallery’s interest in creating meaningful artistic conversations between the past and present.”

 

Gerald Luss commented, “It is satisfying to have this exhibition infuse new life in the home I designed for my family at the onset of my career and to see new generations of artists and designers bring their contemporary perspective into the space. In my own life and work, I find it essential not only to create work daily, but to also live among the objects and work of other artists, expanding my vision of the world. I look forward to experiencing how this exhibition casts a light on my former home and sharing in the inspirations for us all.”

 

Blum & Poe was founded by Timothy Blum and Jeffrey Poe in Los Angeles in 1994 as a space to show local and international contemporary art in all media. Throughout a twenty-six-year history, Blum & Poe has shaped the trajectory of contemporary art by championing artists at all stages of their careers—cultivating the lineages that run between emerging and established practices, and working with artist estates to generate new discourse surrounding historical work. Now spanning three locations in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo, Blum & Poe has collaborated with celebrated curators to stage museum-caliber surveys, examining the historical work of such movements as the Japanese Mono-ha school; the Korean Dansaekhwa monochrome painters; the European postwar movement CoBrA; a rereading of Brazilian Modernism (2019); and more.

 

Mendes Wood DM was founded in 2010 by partners Felipe Dmab, Matthew Wood and Pedro Mendes with the intent to exhibit international and Brazilian artists in a context conducive to critical dialogue and cross-pollination. Central to the gallery’s program is a concern for regional difference and individuation while fostering cosmopolitanism and collaboration. Inspired by a belief that artistic practices broaden the scope of human agency and have the power to both touch and change the world, Mendes Wood DM cultivates a program premised on conceptualism, political resistance and intellectual rigor.

 

Object & Thing reimagines the art and design fair concept, by bringing together both disciplines through a focus on the object. Launched in 2019 as an exhibition in New York City, as well as through a corresponding e-commerce site, Object & Thing presents object-based 20th and 21st century works, collaborating with artists’ studios and leading international art and design galleries. Founded and directed by Abby Bangser, former Artistic Director of Frieze Art Fairs for the Americas and Asia, it is organized in coordination with artistic director Rafael de Cárdenas.