MAGEN H GALLERY Art et Industrie
MAGEN H GALLERY
XX CENTURY DESIGN
Howard Meister (1953) Born October 31, 1953 in New York City. He is a fifth generation furniture maker. Joined the NYC gallery, Art Et Industrie in SoHo, in 1980, remaining with the gallery until its close in 1997, and was one of five core members who, during the 1980s and 90s, reinvigorated the artist-designed furniture genre in the USA. His furniture has been featured editorially in more than one hundred publications internationally; was selected for the redesign of the executive offices of Rolling Stone Magazine in New York, and was used as set decoration in the seminal 80s Hollywood film, Wall Street. Howard Meister’s art work has been exhibited and collected (as part of their permanent collections) by many museums and corporations worldwide; The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The Art Institute of Chicago, The Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, The Art Museum of Rhode Island School of Design, The American Craft Museum (New York), The Beaux Arts Museum (Montreal, Canada), The Hudson River Museum, The Palm Beach Museum (Florida) as well as museums in North Carolina and Texas. Howard received the Metropolitan Home Design 100 Award in 1990 (Exhibited at the Citicorp Atrium, New York and Elements of Style). Howard has participated in exhibitions both collective and individual in New York City, Tokyo, London, Paris, Detroit, Osaka, Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco, Northampton, and Austin. Since 1997, he has worked primarily in digitally manipulated photographic images and artist’s books. Meister now lives in rural Massachusetts with his wife, Paula Zindler RN. They have a daughter, Caitlin, who is a voice over artist and photographer.
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Howard Meister (1953) Designer Chair c. 1980 Painted and shaped wood MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Howard Meister (1953) Nothing Continues to Happen c. 1980 Carved and painted wood 37 H inches
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Howard Meister (1953) The Lesson c. 1982 Painted bent steel rod and plate 72 H inches MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Terence Main (1954) Terence Main’s work redefines the boundaries between art and design. The biomorphic elements of his works recall the fossilized remains of ancient creatures and vegetation. Overall, they often have the look and feel of natural phenomena rather than crafted objects. Looking outside the boundaries of classicism, Main responds to the rich material of primitive art with furniture that intimates the power of animist belief throughout human culture. One of his sinuous benches suggests a forgotten path or the spine of an extinct animal; the ambiguity of its place in the natural order augmenting the sense of desuetude and revealing the patterns in which this natural order is manifested. Main’s work seems to exist within the generative and destructive cycles of nature.
Main’s work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, among others, and has been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions worldwide, including: Modern Furniture, The Metropolitan Museum; Art and Application, Turbulence, NY.
“My objects have always been about redefining the boundaries between art and design. The process is a personal idea history oriented “gut and soul” exploration in a territory that I have created for myself. I’ve married form and function, fact and fiction and art history with design history. My new objects have evolved to become more sculptural and texture based. Outsider: The idea of redrawing on the pattern remains in this cast white bronze table and chair. The lingering iconic drawings were first carved in and than carved out. One is meant to be drawn in by light flickering off the shiny texture as opposed to the signs and symbols.” - Terence Main Terence Main Pair of Plaster Sconces c. 2006 Plaster 13H x 12W inches MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Forrest Myers (1941) Forrest Myers’ works hold their own space and, aside from their obvious conceptual inventiveness, have an inherent integrity of form and clarity of statement. The result is not “art that is about something”, but “art that is something”. A dichotomous combination of rigidity and looseness pervades his work – from the sensuality of their continuous lines to the folded dimensionality he creates from a single sheet of metal. A master metalworker whose attention to detail is readily apparent, Myers achieves an incredible depth of color in his surface paintings by manipulating the inherent properties (iron and copper oxides, cobalt, etc.) of the metal itself. In 1958 Myers began his studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and was greatly influenced by the work of Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock. A musician himself, Myers found inspiration in jazz, especially the work of Ornette Colman. The two were friends and collaborators, Colman scored one of Myers experimental films and would play at the Park Place Gallery.
Myers moved to New York in 1961 at a time when new concepts in sculpture were rapidly outgrowing the traditional gallery. The solution was what became the most groundbreaking artists’ cooperative of its time: the Park Place Gallery. Robert Grosvenor, Mark de Suvero, Tamara Melcher, Ed Ruda, Leo Valadar, Tony Magan, David Novros, Peter Forakis and Myeres formed core group of artists. After the Park Place Gallery closed, Myers showed at the newly formed Paula Cooper Gallery. Myers also became a member of E.A.T. – Experiments in Art and Technology. Myers and three other E.A.T. artists were commissioned to design the Pepsi Cola Pavilion at Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan.
In 1964, Myers created his first sculpture which transgressed the boundary between aesthetics and utility – a simple stool ‘Tendu’ reconstructed to lean elegantly to one side. Myers returned to furniture in 1980 with an aluminum armchair ‘Cut Out’ and ‘Fold Chairs’, which were originally designed in 1971. The ‘Fold Chair’ led to his first one-man show at the Art et Industrie Gallery in 1981. His early influences – jazz and Calder’s wire sculptures - can be seen in later works made of densely woven anodized wire. In an interview, Myers commented on these pieces: “I made wire sculpture thirty years ago […] But using this medium to support human figures, as sculpture that people can sit on, has only been happening recently. You may think about something for ten years, and then suddenly you find yourself doing it without thinking. Being able to draw so rapidly and then coloring and treating it in so many different ways is such an open thing for me, it’s like free jazz.” MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Forrest Myers Atoll table c. 1990 Metal 29H x 128W x 45.3D inches
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Forrest Myers Set of six dining chairs c. 1969 Aluminum wire base with glass top 34.25H nches MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Forrest Myers Sea Change coffee table c. 2006 Aluminum wire base with glass top 14.75H x 79W x 39.2D inches
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Forrest Myers Sofa in wire sculpture c. 1990 Wire 29H x 80.5W x 35.5D inches
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Forrest Myers Wingback Chair c. 2005 Black, powder coated aluminum 29H x 80.5W x 35.5D inches
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Jim Cole Free standing display piece consisting of four modular blocks c. 2013 Painted metal 29H x 128W x 45.3D inches
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM
Jim Cole Jim Cole’s recent work continues a long tradition of personal expression using an established language of form. Each work is a unique investigation of a particular idiom. Cole considers his works to be, in the simplest terms, poetic statements. He deliberately limits his formal choices through process, interested in the range of expression within his chosen parameters. The highly expressive surfaces reflect Cole’s personal history without dictating emotion, engendering a new response for each viewer. Jim Cole’s work is included in the permanent collections of institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the The American Craft Museum.
“The object with it’s capacity to evoke a response that can be meaningful on many levels has always interested me, so I make objects. Ones that reflect my history, while at the same time establishing a moment of reference for anyone who might encounter them and physically come into contact with them. One need only recall the first time any particular event took place to reflect on the many associated thoughts, feelings and relationships.
Beyond that, I am continuing a long tradition of personal expression using an established language. The language I’ve chosen, or more appropriately, the language that has chosen me, is form. The results are the objects in front of you. Each is a unique investigation of a particular idiom. I have deliberately limited my formal choices through process, being more interested in the range of expression I can achieve in this manner.
MAGEN H GALLERY
54 E 11TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
212.777.8670
www.MAGENXXCENTURY.COM