BACK launched their pop up store with an AW at Bonniers Konsthall last thursday, complete with drinks and live act by Penelope Strikes. Pictures by Viktor Grahn.

The Spike chair is unique in shape. The seat and seat back are fashioned from a number of rods, like a bed of nails, which collectively mimic the curve of a body. The base of the chair is made of tubular steel, welded together with a three-millimetre steel base plate. The upper section is made of turned ash components.

Alexander Lervik gained inspiration for his new chair during a trip to the Philippines.”One day it poured with rain. Raining stair rods, as they say, and that’s exactly how it was. The shafts of rain resembled slanted lines and in that rain I suddenly saw the outlines of Spike in front of me,” says Alexander.

He had long intended creating a follow-up to Red Chair (2005) when the image of Spike suggested itself in the rain on the Philippines. Spike, like its predecessor, will only be sold in a limited edition. It is not suited to mass production due to its unique shape, but, as with Red Chair, should be seen as an artistic object for those interested in design.

“There is a sense of freedom in being inspired by the rain, seeing a shape and working from that. Otherwise I have to take into account stackability, weight and other practical elements that are essential in a mass-produced product. I believe that the total freedom of projects like Spike makes me a better designer of commercial products,” says Alexander.

To make the chair ergonomic it was necessary for the rods to be produced in a number of different shapes. The 60 rods vary in length, with 30 different sizes in total.

“I wanted to create a sculptural chair with a strong graphic identity. It was a challenge to make Spike comfortable despite its distinctive appearance,” says Alexander.

Spike is to be sold in a limited edition of ten via Gallerie Pascale. It will be unveiled at Gallerie Pascale on Tuesday 5 February, from 6pm.

Address: Humlegårdsgatan 15

Producer: Gallery Pascale

Art Direction by LOD
Motion Design by Kim Petersen
Sound Design by Joel Hesselgren

The installation is made out of thread, wood and nails attached at either end to blocks of wood. The effect is like a real-world version of computer generated imagery.

Gabriel Dawe’s colorful installation is currently showing at the Dallas Contemporary in Texas.

Thanks to thecoolhunter for sharing this.

Peter Feigenbaum, architect/painter and singer in Brooklyn band Dinowalrus, has found the time to make incredible, hyper-realistic miniature streetscapes, depicting a New York in the ’70s.

He describes his work “as the physical byproduct of teenage suburban daydreams and attempts to live vicariously through an alien post-urban 1980s landscape that was in no way part of my quotidian existence — a landscape that I caught glimpses of through car rides down the Bruckner Expressway, Henry Chalfant’s graffiti photographs, and movies such as The French Connection and Style Wars.”

His art is being shown right now at: Open Source Gallery, 255 17th St., Park Slope, Brooklyn

“Upon invitation to reflect on the notion of transparency, that led me into the forest to envelop the contour of a large stone with fragments of mirror. The large stone, tucked away deep in the woods, became a reflective surface for its surroundings. In this play of splintered radiance, the rock disappears in its reflections. Because it reflects one cannot be mislead by its presence, yet we cannot seize it, rather it is the rock that reflects us.”

Montreal artist Michel de Broin, is known increasingly for his mischievous interventions, deploying materials as diverse as paving asphalt, metal staircases, Plasticine and office furniture. Making strange with the everyday is his stock in trade, and much of what he does takes place outside the traditional confines of the gallery or museum.

Extrait de l’article paru dans le Globe and Mail, by SARAH MILROY