Dear Diary... The Shape of Silence

By taking pictures of romantic landscapes that have been tainted with rainbow coloured clouds, Filippo Minelli gives silence a physical shape. When we first look at these works, we presume the clouds are digitally imposed across a photographed landscape. On closer inspection, the  bright puffs of smoke that accost the serene quiet of Minelli's neutrally hued environments, are actually humanly wrought smoke-bombs. These bombs are set off by the artist himself. The visual clash is a self-conscious attempt to stain these environments with political comments. A visual discord that unsettles the viewer, making us aware that something deeper than aesthetic manipulation, is at stake. Smoke-bombs are associated with violence, protest and their ensuing chaos. Minelli's use of the smoke-bomb across European landscapes is a striking alteration of the original setting. This manipulation of nature becomes a defacing of an original context - a form of graffiti. The inherent message: to give presence to invisible thoughts or unheard voices, gives the work a transcendental quality. The image is powerful, stunning and surreal - nature's beauty enhanced as if by magic.

Filippo Minelli has created these works across various locations in Europe since 2009.

Filippo Minelli (b. 1983) is a contemporary artist from Italy who, since the second half of the nineties has worked with subversive forms of art such as Graffiti. Coming out of the nineties, Minelli started to look at more experimental forms of street art and explored actions of urban communication to become a pioneer of the Street Art movement in Italy.  Between the years 2000 and 2004 he produced numerous public performances and urban installations with the aim of subverting the aesthetical order of his hometown, Brescia, Italy by creating a parallel city visible only to discerning eyes. The more he has experimented the more his work has moved further away from what is understood as traditional Graffiti-art and into site-specific interventions. The fact that all of his interventions were realized without former permission or administrative authorisation has enabled him to continue his politically subversive quest through art.

Dear Diary... Canary Yellow

We spent last Thursday evening in Shoreditch sipping cold drinks as the summer slipped away to night and looking at... well... dead animals. Pitfield London were hosting the private view of their latest summer show - a taxidermy showcase by Kim Zoe Wagner.

Enclosed in symmetrical, square frames and mounted against brightly patterned backdrops, an array of birds create a stunning and entrancing wall display. The contrasting shades of zingy yellow and orange canaries, stuffed and pinned against comparatively muted floral prints, is an amusing context for taxidermy display. Continuing the bird-life theme of the last installation, artist Louise West’s ‘Common Birds’, Kim's birds are caged and protected in their frames as if to prevent them from taking flight. The little sculptural, wall pieces work in combination with larger free-standing, ornamental birds who perch on chairs and cushions, surveying the show.

Kim is a trained taxidermist who works to order and is one of few certified taxidermists who create cruelty-free taxidermy - none of the animals Kim uses have been killed for the purpose of taxidermy. Working to her own, ethical concerns with a technically precise hand and an added touch of humour has allowed her to develop an individual and intriguing practice. 

All work is for sale exclusively from Pitfield London. 

 

 

 All images courtesty of Pitfield.

Dear Diary... Birds of Paradise

It's summer! The Curiosity Cabinet has been on holiday but we thought we would send some exotic, faraway inspiration your way. While we're currently enjoying sizzling beaches and golden sands, we're still looking to the past for inspiration and the great voyages of the Enlightenment came to mind. When exotic birds and unknown flora & fauna were first discovered and documented by artists and explorers in 17th and 18th centuries, a lush language of printed imagery evolved.  Our pick of antique natural history prints below, are testament to the rich visual history that recorded and brought the natural world to life in European homes hundreds of years ago.

 

 

Inspired by Art Nouveau design, the Parisian entomologist and designer Eugène Séguy created lurid illustrations inspired by antique natural history prints which were later transformed into textile designs. His scientifically accurate drawings of butterflies and insects are magnified into spectacular creations. While they represent the sublime beauty of nature, they are rendered as such that they become abstract patterns of bold colours and forms.

Curiosity Shop #16

Masterpiece

The Curiosity Cabinet is very excited that Masterpiece opens tonight! Here's a little sneak peak from Apter Fredericks of just one fascinating object we'll be eyeing up at  London's best art, antiques and design fair. Our top five picks of the fair on Art Wednesday are to follow....

A Regency Gilt & Patinated Bronze & Cut Glass Spirit Cask Celebrating Nelson’s Victory at the Nile. Numerous pieces of furniture, silver and other forms of decorative art were made at this time to commemorate Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile. This example bears the crocodile so closely linked with Nelson; his captains were referred to as the ‘Crocodile Club’, and along with the numerous nautical motifs, the armorial plates and the quality of this cask, it is tempting to believe it might have been made for the Crocodile Club or perhaps Horatio Nelson himself. 

Width 12 ¼” 3l cm Depth 10 ½” 27cm Height 11” 28cm

Dear Diary... Queen of Style

Contemporary gallerist and designer Muriel Grateau's pieces are as effortlessly chic as her personal style. Her minimalist tableware in vibrant colours are designed to complement and not compete with their surroundings - enabling interior decoration to become a simple pleasure. Just as the noir-clad gallerist can be paired with any artwork, these pared-back pieces could work with complex and varied setttings.

Muriel Grateau's style is as chic, smart and intelligent as her gallery and design concepts. The display in her gallery, which was newly refurbished in September last year, is a purist approach to minimalism: Grateau deletes absolutely everything that is not the focal point.

The new space has avant-garde materials to match: white mineral resin, powdered paint, white lacquered steel plate and LED lighting.

The pieces are innovative also. Working with a small French artisanal porcelain producer, the style queen herself has created a new porcelain technique. The plates are tinted with colour while they're being made, rather than being painted on after, which is entirely different to traditional porcelain decoration.

She also designs sculptural Art Deco jewellery, that when worn articulates the body like little pieces of living architecture. Very CC we thought!

Muriel Grateau gold enamelled brooch in glittered black & white stripes and set with diamonds.

Muriel Grateau rock crystal bangle with black sapphires and matching  rock crystal ring encircled with black diamonds.

Dear Diary.... brand, spanking new!

It's always exciting to discover new design initiatives in your own neighbourhood so we were very happy to meet Christina Moss, one half of the Dalston duo responsible for the brand, spanking new furniture company Poridge. In their infancy Poridge already has big ideas and slick designs. They want furniture to be a philosophy and not just a design feature or functional necessity: 'we don't think furniture is the end, it is merely just the beginning of something much bigger.' With an aim to hold monthly events to showcase their work and network with likeminded people, their project is bigger than simply putting furniture into homes. Unashamedly aware of the pretensions this may imply, they wish to start a new, effortless and cool lifestyle. With acid colours sprayed onto vintage finds they certainly wet The Curiosity Cabinet's appetite for fresh innovation.

Poridge restore and enliven used furniture as well as make bespoke pieces. Fresh, minty hues and a zesty orange combined with the light tones of stained beech or the inflections of oak Poridge is a vacation for the interior and an escape for the mind. Philosophical. 

 

 Tiffany blue and orange tropical stools

Tiffany blue dipped stools  

 

1970's chest of drawers, tiffany blue legs

Dear Diary... Empirical

 

Christie's Interiors sales are a brilliant way to decorate an interior with a unique piece at an affordable price. You never know what curiosity or treasure might surface at auction. The lots for sale range from quality antique furniture and decorative objects to Old Master paintings,  contemporary prints and Asian and Islamic art and design. At more affordable prices than specialised sales, you may just bag yourself a bargain while finding a truly special piece.

These late 19^th century gilt and patinated bronze three-light wall-appliques are fantastic things. In empire style, the dull black patination of the snakes is at contrast with the bright, shiny eagles heads in gilt - providing a depth of field which would not be present should the whole piece be gilded. The sinew of a serpents head and tail moulds together three candleholders cast with scales in seamless formation. The pair are amongst the higher quality and priced pieces from the Interiors sales and sold at auction in March this year for £5,625 including buyer's premium, against an estimate of £1,500-2,000 (Sale 8524, lot 182).

The clean design is typical of the French Empire style, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Empire style employed the Directoire movement's early 19th century Neo-classical simplicity. Taking the virtues of balance and harmony from the Roman Empire, which had been rediscovered a hundred years earlier, the ostentation of Rococo was left behind. As Rococo came to be associated with monarchical excess, the Empire style became the style of the people: an aesthetic liberated from ornamentation found harmony and sobriety is its designs. 

Reflecting the political shift in 19th century France from Monarchical rule to a Republic, this style of simple classicism took its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire. 

Another pair of Empire style wall-appliques that sold in a Christie's Interiors auction are the lovely duo pictured above. Again a patinated serpent is the central feature. This time the snakes entwine a slender stem, spiralling upward to greet a pineapple finial from which twin garlands unfurl. Such a lovely pair of lighting were a steal at £625 in May last year (sale 6027).

For the same price, a fabulous twin-light wall applique, also early 20th century and Empire style, sold at the European Furniture, Works of Arts, Tapestries and Carpets sale at Christie's South Kensington in September 2006. A precursor to the Interiors auction model, these sales included some very nice objects without the pictures, Asian art and contextualised interior sale view. We would do anything to get our hands on a gilt peacock such as this beauty (sale 4960). With proud feathers, shimmering gold and fine modelling she was well worth the £600 paid for her. We'll be keeping our eye on the South Kensington sales this year. Christie's hold around 10 a year so hopefully a peacock or serpent will strut and shimmy their way into through the glass doors of the Curiosity Cabinet.