Nacho Carbonell's Palm Tree Green Table Lamp (236/2023) takes centre stage as a manifestation of the artist's imagination and exceptional craftsmanship. With a dreamlike aesthetic, the artwork seamlessly weaves together memory and fantasy, beckoning viewers to delve into an envisioned landscape. Carbonell's fascination with the assertive nature of plants, as they colonise their surroundings, is palpable in his work, inviting contemplation on our intricate relationship with the surrounding natural world.
The DC1906 bench, from Vincenzo de Cotiis’ Éternel collection, shifts in line with a viewer’s perspective. Its combination of sand-cast texture and iridescent patina creates a fragmented illusion. The work becomes a 3D example of the painterly sfumato technique, as texture, colour and form are blurred together. Light, captured in colour, is moulded around its organic form, creating a “skin” around the bench.
Also on view is Frederik Molenschot’s wall light, CL The Wall 2 from The City Light series, inspired by the innumerable lines of streetlights the artist saw layered on top of each other throughout Shanghai, which he envisaged physically seizing and bending to his will. The layers and convolutions of this light sculpture serve as an abstract map of the city, inviting viewers to unravel the city's narrative through a mesmerizing interplay of light and shadow.
The Verhoven Twins’ hanging sculpture, Ca' d'Oro #5 pushes modern technological limits to combine the fantastical with the practical. The bubble motif pays homage to Soap Bubbles (1734), a painting by the 18th century French artist Chardin. Maarten Baas combines theatre, film and design in his Grandfather Clock – The Son, a 12-hour film performance illuminated through the face of the clock and embodied in a childlike construction made from planks of wood in the manner of a tree house.
