Design Redefined    Sep 8 - Nov 1, 2008

Contrasts Gallery, No. 133 Middle Sichuan Road, 5/F, Shanghai, China

VERNISSAGE: SEPTEMBER 8, 5-8pm

SHANGHAI – Contrasts Gallery’s Design Consulate group exhibition, Design Redefined, demonstrates how designers in different contexts react to Western or Eastern influences to create or define their works. The exhibition includes several new or never before exhibited works, many by Western artists who have participated in Contrasts’ residency program that allows them to study, and later reinterpret, traditional Chinese craftsmanship in a modern, international context.

Canadian Hong Kong-based designer Scot Laughton’s Flower Power makes use of traditional Chinese methods and styles by reprocessing them to comment on contemporary political concerns. Created as a commentary on China’s aggressive effort, beginning in the early 1990s, to build military power in accordance with the axiom “In times of peace, prepare for war,” Flower Power is a large-scale porcelain “missile” created in the legendary Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen and decorated with a delicate pattern of cherry blossoms inspired by a painting attributed to Sung Dynasty (960-1270) emperor Chao Chi.

Philosophy is at the heart of Philip Michael Wolfson’s Treasures of the Scholar - Crystal Crab series. Constructed from angular planes of steel and glass, the Crystal Crab Table is suggestive of collision and fragmentation; at the same time, it possesses a crystalline delicacy. The juxtaposition of dynamism and delicacy is intended to mimic the curios symbolic of functional/inspirational elements prized by ancient Chinese scholars.

Maarten Baas, who became fascinated with traditional Chinese woodcarving, pushes the boundaries of this time-honored Chinese craft while revealing his playful imagination. Baas’ Transformation experiments with traditional Chinese furniture forms; handcrafted elm and camphor wood furniture look like they are melting into a wooden pool. The installation is inspired by all the contrasts in Shanghai – old/new, fake/real, and traditional/modern.

The exhibition includes work by Chinese designers who react to Eastern and Western viewpoints, but approach this pluralism from the opposite starting point. New work created by Shanghainese designer Danful Yang, the lead designer of XYZ Design, exemplifies this shift in perspective. Her Dongxi Table illustrates how it is possible to combine divergent cultures while still maintaining balance. The word ‘dongxi’ can mean ‘things’ or ‘east-west’ and this literary duality is made tangible through her use of two Western-style table legs and two Chinese-style table legs, which provide equal support to the tabletop. In contrast, Beijing artist Shao Fan has concluded he wants to represent the core of Chinese culture in reaction to the onslaught of Western influences in China. His Ming stool, which seeks to balance past and present, applies traditional Chinese joinery techniques to stainless steel.