Ryan Schneider’s contribution to the Normann x Brask Art Collection is based on his piece ’Pipes Canyon Peepers’ from 2016, inspired by the dark nights and picturesque surroundings of his Joshua Tree home. This dreamy landscape, where colorful trees and owls light up in the starry night sky, unfolds in a vibrant bedspread made of cotton quilt.
“I’ve always wanted to do a blanket, and I really like the idea that you can wrap yourself up in this particular piece. Pipes Canyon at nighttime is something special. The temperature drops from hot to cold, and the scenery is so beautiful, quiet and peaceful. It makes you sleep well. To have this nocturnal image as a bedspread just feels right. Everything is so well connected.” – Ryan Schneider
There is something calming and fitting about snuggling up in Schneider’s serene Californian night image. The motif is strangely hypnotic and supernaturally peaceful. A half-moon shines from behind bare treetops. Owls, sluggish and curious at the same time, peek out from their perches on twisted branches, while a dark backdrop – not quite black, but a deep, infinite dark blue – makes trees and owls pop out with fluorescent colors in a magical and mythical scene.
Ryan Schneider’s contribution to the Normann x Brask Art Collection is based on his piece ’Pipes Canyon Peepers’ from 2016, inspired by the dark nights and picturesque surroundings of his Joshua Tree home. This dreamy landscape, where colorful trees and owls light up in the starry night sky, unfolds in a vibrant bedspread made of cotton quilt.
“I’ve always wanted to do a blanket, and I really like the idea that you can wrap yourself up in this particular piece. Pipes Canyon at nighttime is something special. The temperature drops from hot to cold, and the scenery is so beautiful, quiet and peaceful. It makes you sleep well. To have this nocturnal image as a bedspread just feels right. Everything is so well connected.” – Ryan Schneider
There is something calming and fitting about snuggling up in Schneider’s serene Californian night image. The motif is strangely hypnotic and supernaturally peaceful. A half-moon shines from behind bare treetops. Owls, sluggish and curious at the same time, peek out from their perches on twisted branches, while a dark backdrop – not quite black, but a deep, infinite dark blue – makes trees and owls pop out with fluorescent colors in a magical and mythical scene.
Tony Matelli’s three throw blankets for the Normann x Brask Art Collection express the feelings of an artist in distress. The woolen throws are woven enlargements of personal fax messages sent to some of his art dealers in 2003 and made into a series of prints for a solo show in Stockholm in 2008. Although written in a polite manner, the messages convey a strong sense of frustration and desperation: of unreserved artist panic.
In a mix of machine writing, drawings and handwritten notes, the faxes revolve around artistic doldrums, money troubles, and the distorted reality of worrying about unpaid bills whilst being confronted with the excessive wealth of art buyers who shop with extravagant ease. All satirically served up on a backdrop of cheery pastels.
Matelli perpetuates this humorous approach by turning these frantic messages of the struggling artist into a comforting and cozy object. Every little detail, from the ink residues of the printer to the redactions and acts of censorship, are reproduced in the felting, allowing you to comfortably wrap yourself up in a marriage of soft wool and artist’s despair.
Graham Collins has taken his later work as a point of departure and created a sculptural table for the Normann x Brask Art Collection. With its textural composition of woodworking, glass and automotive window tinting, the side table utilizes the same materials as his ’tinted monochromes’ series, reconfigured into a functional piece of furniture.
“In addition to making artwork, I also build furniture for myself, so it was very natural for me to design a table. Ordinarily, I am obsessively hands-on when making my work so this was an interesting exercise in just thinking about the design process. Art and design both influence each other a great deal; to me, they seem to have slightly different, though not mutually exclusive purposes. Both fields generate technical and critical dialogues, which are useful to the other.” – Graham Collins
Collins’ table features an irregular angular frame of solid oak, while legs galore give the impression of a creature about to wander off. Sheets of window tinting are layered in between a double plated glass tabletop, creating random creases and bubbles of air which add a free sense of texture to the visually sharp composition. The vinyl is placed in various arrangements between the glass plates, making every piece unique.
Loud minimalist expressions and electric colors fuse in Greg Bogin’s abstract mirrors for the Normann x Brask Art Collection, creating objects that straddle the boundary between painting and functional object. His raison d’être is to contribute to the creation of a happy reflection that can be carried back into our daily lives.
As augmented versions of Bogin’s distinctive bright outlines, colored aluminum tubes frame the mirrors halfway, forming a glossy rounded nook for the mirror glass. The three mirrors embrace the same bubbly mode of expression, but are unique in shape, size and color. Their playful silhouettes brim with happiness, whilst their references to visual communication give them an elusive familiarity.
Alongside his fluorescent lines and gradients, Bogin’s works often feature large expanses of uncluttered white space. Here, the mirror takes the place of the empty space, changing its character from blank space to living surface, and leaving it up to the user to fill in the blank. Bogin expands the experience of his work and quite literally reflects that experience back at the world.
Loud minimalist expressions and electric colors fuse in Greg Bogin’s abstract mirrors for the Normann x Brask Art Collection, creating objects that straddle the boundary between painting and functional object. His raison d’être is to contribute to the creation of a happy reflection that can be carried back into our daily lives.
As augmented versions of Bogin’s distinctive bright outlines, colored aluminum tubes frame the mirrors halfway, forming a glossy rounded nook for the mirror glass. The three mirrors embrace the same bubbly mode of expression, but are unique in shape, size and color. Their playful silhouettes brim with happiness, whilst their references to visual communication give them an elusive familiarity.
Alongside his fluorescent lines and gradients, Bogin’s works often feature large expanses of uncluttered white space. Here, the mirror takes the place of the empty space, changing its character from blank space to living surface, and leaving it up to the user to fill in the blank. Bogin expands the experience of his work and quite literally reflects that experience back at the world.
Loud minimalist expressions and electric colors fuse in Greg Bogin’s abstract mirrors for the Normann x Brask Art Collection, creating objects that straddle the boundary between painting and functional object. His raison d’être is to contribute to the creation of a happy reflection that can be carried back into our daily lives.
As augmented versions of Bogin’s distinctive bright outlines, colored aluminum tubes frame the mirrors halfway, forming a glossy rounded nook for the mirror glass. The three mirrors embrace the same bubbly mode of expression, but are unique in shape, size and color. Their playful silhouettes brim with happiness, whilst their references to visual communication give them an elusive familiarity.
Alongside his fluorescent lines and gradients, Bogin’s works often feature large expanses of uncluttered white space. Here, the mirror takes the place of the empty space, changing its character from blank space to living surface, and leaving it up to the user to fill in the blank. Bogin expands the experience of his work and quite literally reflects that experience back at the world.
In response to the notion that the world is too serious and short on humor, Roma Manikhin gives us a dose of satire with his saucy deck of playing cards and provocative candlesticks created for the Normann x Brask Art Collection.
A burlesque circus of 54 seductive acts adorns the playing cards, inspired by burlesque shows, sailor tattoos, erotic postcards and a late 18th century mood. Although the cards provide us with an unpleasant reminder of the stereotyped sexual portrayals of women, one cannot help but smile when presented with this bizarre and enticing world.
Drawing on the styles of 20th century Italian design, Manikhin’s two candlesticks for the collection emerge as three-dimensional representations of his artistic universe. One depicts a female head, her plump lips holding the candle in place, while the other is a full nude figure, balancing a total of three candles across both her hands and her head. The pieces are made from hand-painted concrete and untreated resin respectively; their voluptuous designs charged with humor and sexual desire.
In response to the notion that the world is too serious and short on humor, Roma Manikhin gives us a dose of satire with his saucy deck of playing cards and provocative candlesticks created for the Normann x Brask Art Collection.
A burlesque circus of 54 seductive acts adorns the playing cards, inspired by burlesque shows, sailor tattoos, erotic postcards and a late 18th century mood. Although the cards provide us with an unpleasant reminder of the stereotyped sexual portrayals of women, one cannot help but smile when presented with this bizarre and enticing world.
Drawing on the styles of 20th century Italian design, Manikhin’s two candlesticks for the collection emerge as three-dimensional representations of his artistic universe. One depicts a female head, her plump lips holding the candle in place, while the other is a full nude figure, balancing a total of three candles across both her hands and her head. The pieces are made from hand-painted concrete and untreated resin respectively; their voluptuous designs charged with humor and sexual desire.
In response to the notion that the world is too serious and short on humor, Roma Manikhin gives us a dose of satire with his saucy deck of playing cards and provocative candlesticks created for the Normann x Brask Art Collection.
A burlesque circus of 54 seductive acts adorns the playing cards, inspired by burlesque shows, sailor tattoos, erotic postcards and a late 18th century mood. Although the cards provide us with an unpleasant reminder of the stereotyped sexual portrayals of women, one cannot help but smile when presented with this bizarre and enticing world.
Drawing on the styles of 20th century Italian design, Manikhin’s two candlesticks for the collection emerge as three-dimensional representations of his artistic universe. One depicts a female head, her plump lips holding the candle in place, while the other is a full nude figure, balancing a total of three candles across both her hands and her head. The pieces are made from hand-painted concrete and untreated resin respectively; their voluptuous designs charged with humor and sexual desire.
Two delicate pieces of glassware, a carafe and a glass, with an inscription that reads ‘kep it insade, tring not to brick’. With her contribution to the Normann x Brask Art Collection, Gudrun Hasle exposes, and plays on, her diagnosed dyslexia. Even if we are able to read the caption and comprehend the intended words, the obvious misspelling goes against the grain of our conception, making us oddly uneasy.
Appearing almost like a scar that disrupts the smooth surface of the glass, the invasive nature of the sandblast inscription relates back to Hasle’s youth, when she went through a dark period as a cutter. Thus, Hasle’s pieces feed on narratives: her own personal stories, as well as the ones you read into them.
The pieces play on dualities: the delicate container that holds its liquid and the individual trying to hold it together and not succumb to the pressures of society. By means of materiality and immateriality, Hasle draws our attention to fragility – in both glass and in people.