Tell us about your greatest inspirations or influences please. 

For me, traveling and working in different contexts is an exciting way to exchange ideas. I previously worked at architecture firms across the US and abroad in Tokyo and Basel, and these experiences impacted the way I practice and think. I also look closely at the everyday, at things and places that are familiar to distill ideas.

How are the current trends in technology and innovation affecting your work as a creative?

I am interested in how technology has impacted our daily life. For example, I have been writing about our reliance on screens and how screens are found everywhere in and outside our homes. I did a project for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism called “Skeuomorphic Screens” that expands on this idea.

Read the full interview here.

Marta Los Angeles exhibition pays tribute to New Mexico

‘Tino’s White Horses’ by sculptor-designer Ross Hansen at Marta Los Angeles (until 6 August 2022) explore the desert landscapes of Ojo Caliente, New Mexico

With Ross Hansen based between California and New Mexico, his newest pieces are inspired by the equine neighbours dwelling in the remote desert landscape of the latter. The functional pieces, which range from seating, lighting, furniture and vessels, specifically reference the unincorporated Ojo Caliente community, best known for its distinctive geological formations and its mineral hot springs. According to Tewa tradition (a group of Pueblo tribes indigenous to New Mexico), the pools provide access to the underworld and so hover mythically between this world and the next.

Such duality is also present in Hansen’s new pieces, which expressively merge biomorphic and architectonic forms and furniture typologies, with an exquisitely fleeting materiality derived from his use of epoxy resin, faux-leather upholstery and sewn hemp fibreglass. As much evocative of the natural world as a spiritual one, the collection almost resembles an evolved species, cohabiting in a new realm. Read the full piece here.

“What is the texture of scale? Can a surface be eliminated? Can space expand?” Viewers encounter these and other questions, which are printed on a wall, upon encountering the Art Institute of Chicago’s exhibition “Objects in Sculpture” (through Oct. 10), Minnesota-based designer Jonathan Muecke’s first solo presentation in a major museum. For Muecke, a graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art who has worked at the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, objects are vessels through which to explore the connections between spaces, materials, and perception. Through his output—pared-down pieces in evocative forms and tactile mediums—he encourages viewers to think about how objects can shape the ways we interact with our surroundings. Read the full review here.

Volume Gallery is thrilled to announce that three works by Aranda\Lasch and Terrol Dew Johnson have been acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago. Horse Hair and Wood 01, 2018, Horse Hair and Wood 02, 2018, and Corrugated Vase, 2018 exemplify the collaborators’ approach to basket construction as a framework for experimentation and expression.