Studio Job Show at Milan's Museum of Science and Technology

The atmospheric Sala del Cenacolo where Studio Job exhibited their new designs for Lensvelt during the Salone del Mobile

One of the most surreal exhibitions at this year’s Milan Design Week was the My Nose, My Stekkerdoos show created by Belgian designers Studio Job, writes Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Additional reporting by Nicolas James. Photographs by Roos Aldershoff

HELD in the spectacular Sala del Cenacolo at the Museum of Science and Technology, designers Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagelare exhibited a collection of new home and office furniture for Dutch company Lensvelt.  The show was presented in a monastic refectory surrounded by 18th-century frescoes and stucco work as part of this year's MOST exhibition.

Studio Job like to play with scale and have a humorous bent that is reflected in their designs. This year a golden nose appeared on pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein as a lead up to the studio’s show in Milan.

The large nose turns out to be a handle for a slim, minimalist desk that looks simple and elegant but completely utilitarian. The oversized key used for the equally Modernist cabinet is the only decoration to break the clean, linear lines of the functional piece.

"Hans Lensvelt is an ingenious product developer who transforms our unconventional designs into functional products yet maintains a sense of wit," explains Job Smeets. "Our collaboration is about the importance of functionality and creating high-quality objects with their own identity and humour."

The new collection is a continuation from the Job Cabinet they presented at the Salone del Mobile two years ago. In 2012 the Job Cabinet won the Wallpaper Design Award and the Elle Decoration International Design Award.

The new Job Desk Lamp created for this year's show was lined up in rows like a Roman battalion in the Sala del Cenacolo. Although it appears to be a standard desk light in powder-coated metal it has a giant gold switch at its base.

Another piece in the Job Office collection for Lensvelt is the Job Buffet, a white powder-coated metal cabinet with two doors and a chrome-plated aluminium key that locks it. Each piece in the collection is available in a range of colours from white, green, grey and black to red, yellow and blue.

Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagelare are masters of creating Alice in Wonderland like pieces that appear to be simple and functional furniture but are given a twist by their scale and ironic detail.


For more information about Studio Job's upcoming exhibitions: http://www.studiojob.be

Click on photographs for full-screen slideshow

The large golden noses used as handles on Studio Job's new desk for Dutch company Lensvelt 

The Job Desk in powder-coated metal with a gold nose you pull to open the long draw

Studio Job's campaign leading up to their show in Milan included showing images of historic figures wearing gold noses

The over sized gold key locking the Job Buffet cabinet (above) for Lensvelt

One of images used by Studio Job with Marilyn Monroe wearing the nose handle used on the Job Desk

The Job Desk Lamp in powder-coated metal with an over sized gold switch

10 Question Column: French Street Artist C215

Christian Guémy photographed by Andreas Romagnoli for DAM in front of one his works inspired by Caravaggio at his new exhibition in Rome. The face in the painting is a self-portrait.

Renowned French Street Artist C215, real name Christian Guémy, answers Jeanne-Marie Cilento’s ten questions about his extraordinary life and evocative work, the latest exhibition at Wunderkammern gallery in Rome and the new book C215 by Sabina de Gregori. Portraits by Andreas Romagnoli

 

Artist Christian Guemy photographed in Rome

CHRISTIAN Guémy is one of the most poetic and successful artists in the world of international street art. His evocative portraits of the lost, the dispossessed and the joyous stare out from walls of cities from Paris to New Delhi and London to Istanbul. And his work has come in from the cold as purely "outsider" art and now hangs in major art galleries in far-flung countries including France, the United States, Spain, Brazil and Russia.The artist finds it a strange anomaly that while he is still arrested by police for creating street art, his work is at the same time sought after by galleries and collectors. But he says his aim with his public artworks is always to choose spaces and walls where his creations add drama and interest to the urban contexts ~ not deface them.

"I use no computer, and cut stencils everyday, in the way other people draw. My process is really basic"

One of Guemy's stencilled street
portraits: Staring (2013)

Guémy himself is no street urchin but a highly-educated artist well aware of his role within the wider art world. He earned a degree in architecture history and theory after having first studied economics, and then went on to receive a PhD in Art History. Beginning his artistic career in 2005, Guémy developed his own style mainly using stencils. While he started in black and white, his current work uses brilliant colour. Guémy likes to depict people on the social fringes in inner urban contexts: both the homeless and disenfranchised and the young and free. He is inspired by Caravaggio's voluptuous expressivity and interested in depicting people's raw emotions. Guémy's exhibition in Rome examines guilt, the necessity of reflecting on the historical past and taking responsibility for our actions.

Lightbox work called Untitled VI (2013)

1. What inspired the themes of your new exhibition Mea Culpa in Rome? I based my show on Catholic iconography looked at through the work of Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi ~ homeless people that I turned into modern icons and cats related to Rome but also to superstition.

 

There is also a section about power and megalomania, with a few comments on dictatorship linked to guilt and religion. When preparing the show six months ago, I had no idea the pope would resign a few days before the opening of my show in Rome. Being an artist involves making decisions every day. Some decisions effect your career, some artworks make a big impact on you.
 

2. What role do portraits of people play in your art work?

I get commissions, even if I don't consider myself only as a portraitist, but rather a contemporary artist working on identity. My portraits, when placed in the streets, aim at catching attention and raising emotion. I hope the viewer questions himself to ask "who is that person?". Anonymous faces leave the possibility for identification.

3. How did the moniker “C215” become your famous signature? This moniker came by accident, and despite giving many different explanations for it, it has no real meaning. I used it the first time as a poet, for my first poetry book. I wanted a modern nickname, abstract and industrial, corresponding to our period.
 

"I consider studio work and the streets as very different. The street art being more spontaneous, while studio works need more time"

Spraypaint work Frutta (2013)

 

4. How has Caravaggio influenced your work and do you see parallels in his life and work to your own? He's a real master of chiaroscuro and I've been compared to him in that way.

We both turned anonymous and marginal people into icons, and he was a wanderer as I am, leaving artworks behind him as I do. Maybe we are crazy, but as a real painting genius, I wonder how skilled Caravaggio would have been with a spray can.

 

5. Do you do sketches first or directly paint outdoors for your street art? I use no computer, and cut stencils everyday, in the way other people draw. My process is really basic.

 

6. When you began your artistic path in 2005 you began with stencils and working in black and white and now you use a lot of vivid colour. What inspires you for your recent works? I like to evolve and make my work more and more complex. Maybe I have an easier life now, and less concerns, so it became natural to use more colours year after year, in the same way my subjects became less heavy. Colour, as well as the subject, always have to be contextual, and what I do is mainly self-expression.

 

One of C215's famous stencils
of thoughtful cats

7. Is there a street art community here in Rome and will you collaborate again with NUfactory?The street art community in Rome is quite new, so it will take time to speak about a proper scene. Sten and Lex are I think the main representatives of the movement in Rome: they do original art and began a long time ago. I am happy they get the full credit for the birth of street art in Roma.When I painted here for the first time in 2008 they were the only street artists we could find in the city. It was beautiful to find such an ancient and artistic city ~ almost virgin of any street art. Street art became more fashionable and then more people did it, especially after 2010. I worked for the first time with NUfactory in 2010 for the poster festival Outdoor in Garbatella. Collaborating again with them on a wall in Rome was really easy.

"Colour, as well as the subject, always have to be contextual, and what I do is mainly self-expression"

 

 

8. How did Sabina de Gregori’s new book C215 come to fruition?This book came as a conclusion to the five years I spent back and forth to paint in Italy, especially in Rome and Milan.                 

9. Do you think you will continue as a street artist or create more works in a studio? I am getting older, but I will continue to paint in the streets as long as my legs allow me to do it. I consider studio work and the streets as very different. The street art being more spontaneous, while studio works need more time. Basically both sides are equally important, the first part being ephemeral while studio works are made to last "forever". What is important is to do quality artworks, in the studio or outside.

10. Are you happy your daughter Nina is interested in creating Street Art too? My daughter is ten years old, but she is already able to cut a stencil and paint. But it's hard to say she is an artist now: she can become whatever she wants. I decided to paint portraits in the streets for her and I wanted to paint her portrait next to her house and school when her mother and myself got separated. I guess she's rather proud and conscious of what I do now. 

Click on pictures for full-screen slideshow of Christian Guemy's work:

 Untitled VI 2013 Lightbox, neon, wood, glass, stained glass, lead strips and spray paint 59.5x68.5cm

Christian Guémy working on a stencil at the Wunderkammern Gallery in Rome

 Untitled III 2013 Lightbox, neon, wood, stained glass, lead and spray paint 59.5x68.5cm 

The artist reading from the new book C215 by Sabina di Gregori 

Untitled IV 2013 Lightbox neon, wood, stained glass, traditional lead strips, spray paint 68.5x59.5cm

Untitled VII 2013  Lightbox, neon, wood, stained glass, traditional lead strips and spray paint 59.5x68.5cm 

Untitled VIII 2103 Lightbox neon, wood, stained glass, traditional lead strips and spray paint 59.5x68.5cm

Untitled 2013 Lightbox, neon, wood, stained glass, lead and spray paint 68.5 x 59.5cm

 C215 sits next to his work inspired by Caravaggio's Judith and Holofernes

Davide 2013  Spray paint on wood 68x96cm

Frutta 2013 Spray paint on original Italian mail box 52x8 x27cm

C215's show Mea Culpa in Rome

Touch Faith 2013 Spray paint on metal can (framed) 25.4x30.5x8.5 

The opening night of C215's exhibition in Rome

Gatto II 2013 spray paint on an original Italian mail box 48x64x27cm 

Gatto III 2013 Spray paint on plastic sheet (framed) 39.3x34.2cm

C215 created this work on a wall in Rome on the night before his show opened in Via Gabbrio Serbelloni at the Wunderkammern Gallery

C215's works exhibited at his new show in Rome

Staring 2013 Spray paint on wood 75.2x166.5cm

Bacchus 2013 Spray paint on metal 59.5x100cm

Favelo 2013 Spray paint on wooden door 106 x100cm

Ten Questions: Italian Artist and Designer Benedetta Borrometi

Home acrylic on canvas and collage with glitter 2012. One of Benedetta Borrometi's paintings for her new exhibition in Rome: "The painting shows how Tokyo is my inspiration - a magical place, where you can see the newest technology next to tradition. The contrasts and sense of elegance, the smells and sounds - everything there makes me drunk with ideas and dreams." 

Artist and designer Benedetta Borrometi tells Jeanne-Marie Cilento what drives her creative work and her new exhibition. Borrometi has a law degree but moved to London to study fine art at Central Saint Martins College of Art. Her career has encompassed working as a designer at Italian television network Mediaset to collaborating with textile designer Tsumori Chisato in Tokyo and illustrating the French magazine Plume Voyage. Today, she lives between Italy and Japan and is married to Japanese photographer Horikiri Kentaro.

1. What are you currently working on?

At the moment I am very focused on my next collaboration with a ceramic brand from Puglia called Ceramiche Enza Fasano. For a long time I dreamt of doing a project like this and giving people the chance to buy my work easily. We are making a collection of different designs and prints for various pieces of pottery. I am also working on another project in Azerbaijan for a music and art fair there.

2. What inpires you for your creative work now?

Travelling gives me a great deal of inspiration - I have so many sketches I did when I was in Japan. I also take inspiration from my dreams: I see my painting in front of me like a vision - so I run and draw it before I forget the image!

3. How did you choose painting as your creative metier?

Painting is a way for me to talk without words. It is something that I cannot control. I can't live without painting now. My goal is to leave a part of me in my work and for the paintings to create a special atmosphere and give positive vibrations and feelings. I am always very happy when I visit a collector's house and see my paintings with their new owner. I feel like a part of me is still there in the canvas.

4. Can you describe the experience, person or training that has had the greatest impact on your painting and design career?

I truly believe in destiny. In my life I've met so many people that helped me and that gave me something to keep close to my heart. I admire many artists and designers and I've been lucky to be a friends with some of them. Collaborating with Tsumori Chisato, I learnt to draw a dream and translate it into fashion.

Aya Takano was one of my favourite artists in Japan and I had the chance to meet her and now we are very close friends. I think she is a very special person, someone that seems to come from another planet, an amazing artist full of creativity and power. From her I learnt that nothing is really impossible and that dreams can come true - those are the titles of two of my early works. I really believe that life can offer opportunity if you are ready to catch it. I think it is true that creativity is a kind of gift. If you have a gift you can improve it and that is the magical meaning of being an artist for me.

5. What do you find the most challenging aspect of your work technically?

My technique is a mix of using different materials such as impasto, collages of various fabrics and different glitters. But I can say that a very strong aspect of my art is colour balance. I work on colours to make them dance together. Embroidery drives me crazy but I find it so special. I like researching materials from all over the world. I also use vintage kimonos and glitter that I find in Vietnam and the UK or in a tiny shop in Shibuya in Japan.

6.  Where do you like to draw or create your initial paintings?  

I often see my paintings as a dream, like a vision so I keep a sketch book with me to write the ideas down quickly. Then I start to work on the idea when I wake up in the morning at home.

7. Do you have a set schedule of working creatively everyday or is the process more fluid?

I really love to work without any pressure. For me a fluid process is the best. But it is also true that I must prepare a schedule when I am close to a solo show or I have to give work to a client in a short time. Now work for me is getting more and more planned as I have many things to do and I must be strict with myself.

8. What part of painting gives you the most happiness and do you find your creative process is more rational or instinctive?

I love to finish a drawing and start to find the right colours. I like to study the light and feel the paint alive day after day. Sometimes I cannot go to sleep and leave the canvas alone and not finished!

It's feels natural for me to recreate my ideas in paint. I can say that my process is really instinctive at the beginning and then it gets more rational when I check the materials and make time to finish the work properly.

9. Is there a town or place in the world you consider inspiring?  

I've travelled so much in my life but I can say that there is no other place like Japan for me. The inspiration is Tokyo one hundred percent. A magical place, where you can see the newest technology next to tradition. The contrasts and sense of elegance, the smells and sounds - everything there makes me drunk with ideas and dreams.

I did many of my drawings there. I'm still inspired by my house in Tokyo, my everyday life in the city and the colours - I still feel all of it in my heart everyday even though I am in Italy.

10. In our digital age what does painting give us as an art form and how do you define contemporary art?

I love technology and I think that we are part of a new world full of input from the Internet and all the applications of our phones, social networks and blogs - it is like being in a bubble. But paint is still something that comes from a brush, something that smells and is alive in a way.

I think we can still feel the personality of Picasso just looking at his painting. I can feel the instinctive brushwork of Basquiat and the sadness of Frida Khalo in a way that no digital form can give us. I don't want to define contemporary art, I just want to see a painting and go back home and still feel it inside like a colpo di fulmine.

Artist and designer Benedetta Borrometi working in her studio in Tokyo. "I'm still inspired by my house there, my everyday life in the city and the colours - I still feel all of it in my heart everyday even though I am in Italy."

Fuyu is the Albero acrylic on canvas with embroidered vintage kimonos164x124cm 2012. "My technique is a mix of using different materials such as impasto, collages of various fabrics and different glitters. A very strong aspect of my art is colour balance. I work on colours to make them dance together. Embroidery drives me crazy but I find it so special. I also use vintage kimonos and glitter that I find in Vietnam and the UK or in a tiny shop in Shibuya in Japan."

You are Everything and Everything is Yours, mixed materials, acrylic with collage and embroidery 200x155cm 2013. "This represents me in nature in a deep fog with the owl helping me find my path so I can see in the dark and discover a way out of my problems. I love new technology but paint is still something that comes from a brush, something that smells and is alive in a way." 

We Are Not Afraid of the End of the World acrylic and canvas collage with glitter 200x145cm 2013. "This painting is dedicated to the people of Japan after surviving the tsunami as they are always so strong. The animals such as the fox, the wolf, the salamander and the lucky maneko cat that surround me all symbolise protection."

Let Tell You My Secret acrylic on canvas 80x65cm 2010.The bear is a symbol of nature for me and it represents the hope that man will not destroy our environment, the hope that nature will survive humans." 

Bene To Kuma acrylic on wood with collage of washi paper 110x68cm 2013. "My symbol is the bear that lives in the mountains in Northern Japan, where stars at night can be almost touched. Bears are strong and courageous but also timid and their yearly hibernation represents the victory of life over death. I wish to dedicate my exhibition Hope to the survivors of the tsunami tragedy in Japan.The canvases show the hot line of unity of love and respect for the planet's eco-system so very close to nature and animals, with meanings and symbols."

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