Incollect Magazine - Issue 2

HAPPENINGS Dear Joe Colombo, You Taught Us About The Future GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan Through September 4, 2022 How wonderful is it to see a retrospective exhibition devoted to the brilliant, maverick career of artist/designer Joe Colombo (1930–1971), on view through the summer at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan. Colombo trained as an artist and throughout his short life applied his creative artistic sensibility to design, constantly experimenting with new technologies and materials. He envisioned design objects in a range of unusual, original shapes and forms that pointed towards ways of living in the future, and earned him a reputation as the “prophet of Italian design.” Ignazia Favata, curator of the Milan exhibition and a former assistant to Colombo, explains the premise of the show in this way: “Joe Colombo taught us how important it is to know change, look forward with optimism, and transform continuously. For us, but also for the furnishings and objects that accompany us every day.” Colombo conducted studies in ergonomics and psychology to inform his designs and proposed several complete ‘habitats’ for future living. He’s best known for his Elda chair, from 1963, made of fiberglass, the Boby trolley from the 1970s, the famous and futuristic Tube lounge chair from 1969, and his Acrilica lamp from 1962 for Oluce, produced in collaboration with his brother Gianni, and famous for its curved shape and use of plexiglass. Colombo won many awards and his designs are held in museum collections all over the world. Issue 2 62 www.incollect.com Named after his wife, the Elda chair’s fiberglass base was inspired by the boat hulls designer Joe Colombo saw when visiting a shipyard. It captured 1960s space-age sensibility and became an icon, with its appealing and commanding mix of plastic futurism and lush channel upholstery. Joe Colombo, Elda for Longhi spa, 1963. Codice 0129 Courtesy Longhi spa 210 Post Street #901 San Francisco, CA 94108 510-499-7633 www.gallery925.com rachel@gallery925.com Pair of Georg Jensen Sterling "Pomegranate" Candelabra, Design #324 Handmade in Copenhagen, Denmark Hallmarked post-45 By appointment only: 30 Dalton Street, Boston Ma 02115 (646) 245 4772 • brendataylorgallery.com • IG: brendataylorgallery When Mirrors Become Windows, 2017, 72 x 60 B R E N D A T A Y L O R J E A N N E G E N T R Y K E C K G A L L E R Y A R T I S T VETTED SELLER ON 1STDIBS.COM AND INCOLLECT.COM