Jean Prouvé and Henri Prouvé, Long bench, from the Sterenden Moor villa, Saint Briac, 1950. Dan Levenson, SKZ A3 Format Student Painting Storage Box, Room 8723, 2022. FREESTYLE: Living with Art & Design.
Design
Benjamin Green, Head of Sale and Associate Specialist
I would describe my design sensibility as minimalist, and I’m often drawn to geometric forms, simple lines, and bold colors. There are several works in the sale that meet this criteria but the one piece that stands out the most to me is the Jean and Henri Prouvé long bench. I’m absolutely obsessed with it. The bench measures over 17 feet long and is absolutely stunning in person! The red color of the steel legs is striking and nicely balanced by the cold ceramic tiles that line the top. I can't help but imagine placing it in a future home of mine with Dan Levinson's paintings hanging above it. I wasn’t previously familiar with Levinson’s work but I’m attracted by the almost Constructivist nature of the designs and also the tactile quality of the paintings, which looks like they could be decades-old but were actually executed in 2022.
Modern & Contemporary Art
Patrizia Koenig, Specialist, Associate Vice President
Seth Becker, Coconut Crab, 2022. Terence Main, "Golden Boy" armchair, 1989. FREESTYLE: Living with Art & Design.
My collecting interests are fairly eclectic — I own a few unique and editioned works by emerging artists, such as Armig Santos and Jordan Nasser, but recently also started exploring ceramics (and admit to being an avid rock collector!). There are many pieces I’d love to own from Freestyle, but perhaps first and foremost it would have to be Felipe Baeza’s Déjate Caer. Born in Mexico and based in NY, Baeza is an incredible artist, and this work specifically caught my eye during the artist’s Public Fund exhibition this past fall. I’d pair it with the Brook Hsu, a tiny oil on panel the Taiwanese-American artist exhibited in a 9th century church in Rome. Another painting I’d vie for is Seth Becker’s Coconut Crab. I was taken by his show at Castle Gallery in LA last year and should have gotten on the bandwagon sooner (his Venus over Manhattan show fully sold out)!
I’m not one to overhang my walls, so with this trio of paintings in hand I’d shift focus. I’m drawn to Heidi Lau’s ceramic sculpture not just aesthetically, but also for the way in which Lau, drawing on her upbringing in Macau, conceptually explores diasporic identity and colonial histories. I also love the sculptural quality of Minjae Kim’s pieces. Born in Seoul, Kim is a multi-disciplinary NY-based designer whose work redefines the boundaries between art and design. His chair, alongside that of Terence Main’s 1988 “Golden Boy”, might just be the start of my new chair collection!
Photographs
Chris Mahoney, Senior International Specialist
André Bloc, "Boomerang" desk and chair, designed for the Villa Bellevue, Meudon, France, circa 1951. Hugo França, "Tafui" bench, circa 2008. André Borderie, Large bowl, 1950s. FREESTYLE: Living with Art & Design.
I’m a photography specialist, so my expertise is confined to artists who convey their ideas within a two-dimensional plane. But I can’t deny the allure of the three-dimensional object, and Andre Bloc’s Boomerang desk explores space in a way that I find thrilling. The graceful curve of its polished wood surface is elegantly balanced on three bent-wood legs; it combines an entirely modern shape with the eternally appealing material of wood. I would gladly empty my home office to make this fit!
I’m always interested in how artists work with their chosen materials. Indeed, a huge part of the creative process is coming to terms with the physicality of one’s medium. I love Hugo Franca’s unique "Tafui" bench because he’s embraced the essence of a massive hunk of pequi wood, making you believe that this tree always wanted to be a bench and was just waiting for Franca to come along and make it happen.
Borderie’s Large bowl appeals to me for a number of reasons, one quite personal. My grandmother worked as a ceramist in the 1950s, and I spent a lot of time in her studio learning about clays, slip, glazes, and to keep my hands away from the kilns (!). Borderie’s platter is a perfect distillation of the 1950s aesthetic I would see occasionally in a diluted form in my grandmother’s studio (which was otherwise populated by garden gnomes and other cutesy figures). Using only red and black against a gray background, Borderie has created a design and shape that is deeply satisfying in every respect.
Dropshop
Christine Miele, Retail Sales Director, E-Commerce
José Zanine Caldas, Wall-mounted shelf, 1970s. Axel Salto, Vase in the "Sprouting" style, model no. 20817, designed 1946, produced 1956. Sean Scully, 6.18.91, 1981. FREESTYLE: Living with Art & Design.
My approach to decorating has always been to find a synergy or balance between materials, shapes, colors, and textures. The pieces featured here all seem to be in conversation with one another.
The Lincoln log style bookshelf anchors the wall with a warm, nostalgic feeling while the lighter, more linear and graphic elements embellish the vignette with an air of sophistication.
Editions
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond, Specialist, Head of Sale
Pierre Chapo, Sideboard, model no. R28, circa 1985. Robert Gober, Untitled, 2017. André Borderie, Vase, 1950s. FREESTYLE: Living with Art & Design.
Rhythmic and evocative, these works conjure a wind that whistles across the top of Broderie’s bottle, past the bars of Gober’s chest, and undulates through the winding openings of Chapo’s sideboard, before being blocked by Prouvé’s paravent. I love that each piece feels solid, heavily weighted and rooted, but somehow suspended and airy, leaving cracks and spaces through which we slip and slither.
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