Friday Favorites 3/9/2012

March 9, 2012

Kara Lashley, Associate Editor
If winter has left you feeling starved for color, you may be contemplating a few new throw pillows for the sofa or perhaps some fresh paint colors. But for those who need color therapy on a grander scale, a visit to Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art could be just the thing.

At the ICA’s latest exhibition, Figuring Color, you will see weird, wonderful and decidedly colorful works in four different mediums–outlandish ceramics by Kathy Butterly, off-kilter furniture by Ray McMakin, thought-provoking installations by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and (my personal favorite) exuberant paintings by Sue Williams. But be warned: it’s a far cry from daffodils and Marimekko prints. The artists use color and form as vehicles to explore ideas about the body, some of which aren’t so bright and cheery. (Just take a close look at Williams’s painting below.)

Sue Williams, American Enterprise (2009). Photos courtesy of the ICA

A more lighthearted work by Sue Williams, Color Pile (2002)

You can get your Color fix through May 20.

By Stacy Kunstel, Homes Editor
While poking around in J. SeitzÂ & Company in New Preston, Connecticut, a few weeks ago I did a complete double-take when I saw this cast composite bowl. It was amazingly similar to a petrified wood bowl seen in the article “Graying Gracefully,” in the New England Home’s Connecticut winter issue. Called the Antwerp Bowl it retails for $350 and is much lighter than the one I attempted to move during the shoot!

Jared Ainscough, Assistant Art Director
In our office in Boston, we share a floor with a glass company and, as a result, our office space is divided and subdivided by giant glass walls. These glass walls got me to thinking about the function of a wall, and what it contains and why. A great play on this same concept is the Atunis Screen from the Morson Collection in Boston. More than a room divider, this screen is a standing art object. It defines the actual dimensions of a space while also defining the feel and style of the spaces as well.