MERGER: new minimal painting in dialogue with contemporary furniture design

About

Rocket/Jonathan Stephenson presents a group show of new minimal painting and contemporary furniture. A European and American line-up of young artists and designers address minimalism and functionality — two areas often overlooked in the current art/design debate. Minimalism should be seen as a timeless and inter-disciplinary category, characterized by a desire for functional and conceptual simplicity and able to apply new aesthetic strategies to art and architecture. Minimalism, Könemann The artists and designers in this show share a common use of geometry, computer plotting, metal fabrication,wood joinery, and paint finishes. All explore a minimalist aesthetic — they pare their works down to the essentials. The artists in this show are not traditional painters. Their paintings are object-based. Many of their methods and materials are associated with product design. Even in the application of paint many of them use spray-guns and industrial paint finishes. The designers could be misread as making minimal sculpture but the fact is that all their pieces have clear functional uses in addition to their aesthetic qualities. One of the artists in this show, Lars Wolter, served a cabinet-making apprenticeship before going to the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Two of the designers, Alexander Kneller and David Restorick, studied fine art before pursuing a design career. Three of the artists — Stefan Eberstadt, Richard Roth and Wolter — contribute both paintings and furniture to the exhibition.