 |
| one of the two pieces outside that could be sat in! |
Practically every time I visit New York, I wind up in
the gorgeous gift shop of the Museum of Arts and Design, at Columbus Circle.
And at no point have I been tempted to visit the museum. Until now. I figured
if there were ever a reason to go, it was to see an exhibit of Rochester’s own
Wendell Castle. Even though I’ve only lived in Rochester four years, and even
though I’ve never met Castle (but I have heard him speak twice), I still feel a
sense of pride in a shared city of residence. So I convinced my husband and my
long-time city friend Theresa to join me for what I thought would be a
dollar-a-minute breeze through the exhibits.
 |
| High Hopes in the middle-ground "exemplifies Castle's new motto 'go big or go home'" |
We were all pleasantly surprised by the museum, which
occupies four floors in the renovated “Lollipop Building” just south of the
Time Warner Center. We had the two floors of Castle’s furniture almost to
ourselves, and it was minor torture to obey the “do not touch” signs (it made
me glad for the bench in the Memorial Art Gallery with a sign that actually
invites you to sit and enjoy the functional sculpture, and for the various
pieces of his around the city that are incorporated into regular living). It
was wonderful to see so much of his work on display at one time, and the two
short films were extremely informative – not just about his early development,
and his process of stack lamination, but about his recent incorporation of
computer modeling to achieve even larger and more intricate designs than he
would be able to realize otherwise.  |
| models of various larger works |
 |
| drawing for High Hopes |
The exhibit describes his work as organic (“stack
lamination gave Castle the ability to realize the voluptuous shapes that he so
admired in sculpture”) and whimsical (“many of his works entail a degree of
playful risk, in which elements such as furniture legs are not where they
normally appear and thus create a seemingly precarious cantilever”). And it
explains that the legs and bases of his furniture are hollow, so they are lighter
than they appear. It was also fascinating to see Castle’s drawings and models
side by side with their actualized counterparts, and to get a tiny glimpse into
his incredible creative process.
 |
| Double Chair, "a sense of separateness; however their ergonomic design and slightly slouching posture create an intimate atmosphere" |
The Castle exhibit runs through the end of February, so
if you’re in the city, I’d definitely recommend going (the two other concurrent
exhibits are a bit strange for my taste…), and check out the restaurant Robert
on the 9th floor, for great food and atmosphere, and an awesome view
of Central Park. Oh, and did I mention the museum shop? We ended up purchasing
enough things for ourselves and others that it made sense to get a membership
for the discount.
 |
| beautiful goblets displayed in the stairwell! |
 |
| Serpentine Floor Lamp, a "product of Castle's playing with a paper-clip" |
No comments:
Post a Comment