Volume Gallery will be debuting new weavings by Los Angeles-based artist and activist Tanya Aguiñiga and new lighting by New York artist Sam Stewart at Zut! Paris from October 18 – 23.
Colorful, corporeal, and hirsute braided textiles, Tanya Aguiñiga’s new pieces combine technicolor ice-dyed cotton and synthetic hair. The increasingly anthropomorphic pieces have a variety of referents from neon signage to plants and animals. The bright colors of Aguiñiga’s recent weavings are meant as a respite from current turmoil. Aguiñiga began working in craft to embrace significant and fundamental maker traditions, many of which are passed down generationally. Her weavings and other objects are craftivist gestures, using both traditional and experimental techniques to uplift these essential practices. Her object-making practice works in tandem with her activist and performance practice which strives to build solidarity among border communities.
New York based Sam Stewart is known for his considered and witty referential objects. His new ruffled cotton lamps based on Elizabethan collars are connected to the artist’s ongoing interest in the symbolism of dress and aspirational, ostentatious ornamentation throughout history. The ruffled collar began in Elizabethan times as a fashionable symbol of wealth and excess for the wearer. In the modern era it’s more likely to be associated with the humiliated look of our pets, post surgery, peering out from the clear plastic cone adorning their necks—a symbol of forced restraint and prevention for the animal, and a new signifier of wealth for the pet owner. The glowing, disembodied ‘E-Collar’ lamps will be displayed in small but variable human-height groupings. The randomness of the composition is suggestive of the way people naturally form into conversation at a party or opening.
Zut! is a collaborative exhibition which celebrates the intersection of art and design. Occupying an 18th century mansion on 72 rue de l’Université in the 7th arrondissement, this immersive exhibition is the brainchild of 7 international galleries: A1043 (Paris, France), Deli Gallery (New York, USA), Friedman/Johnson (New York/Miami, USA), Galerie Mitterrand (Paris, France), Salon 94 Design (New York, USA), The Breeder (Athens, Greece), and Volume Gallery (Chicago, USA).
Built in 1728 as the Hôtel de Guise, this once opulent hotel particulier has been known under many names including Hôtel du président Chauvelin, Hôtel de Rougé, Hôtel de Mme de Lurcy and finally, L’Hôtel Chauvelin de Crisenoy. While its former grandeur eventually fell into romantic decay, it has more recently become inspiration for artists and curators alike who have breathed new life into its derelict shell. Zut! embraces the building’s storied past, and responds with different visions of how contemporary art and design can synergistically co-exist. Installed in this modern ruin, each installation triggers the imagination with a sense of possibility, impermanence, and play.
