Mina Loy : Strangeness Is Inevitable
The Arts Club of Chicago
2024
This exhibition was the first monographic presentation of the art of Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Lowy, 1882–1966), one of the most inscrutable artists and poets of the twentieth century. More than 80 paintings, drawings, and constructions made by Loy through the course of her life, are united to reveal her omnivorous creativity as an image-maker, author, and cultural arbiter. These works, drawn from a dozen institutional and private lenders, are complemented by extensive, never-before assembled, archival materials that will contextualize her art within the arc of her life.
These biographical archives became the organizing principle for the exhibition. As such I designed a family of tables that served a dual purpose of displays and spatial devices. Drawing references from the artist's formal language, combined with 19th and early 20th century furniture design, the design for the tables strikes a note of oddly familiar.
The legs of the tables are spun out of composite blocks of poplar, finished with a light white stain. The combination of the straight vertical layering of the material with the conically undulating profile of the legs generates a look and finish that give this centuries old technique a contemporary feel.
These biographical archives became the organizing principle for the exhibition. As such I designed a family of tables that served a dual purpose of displays and spatial devices. Drawing references from the artist's formal language, combined with 19th and early 20th century furniture design, the design for the tables strikes a note of oddly familiar.
The legs of the tables are spun out of composite blocks of poplar, finished with a light white stain. The combination of the straight vertical layering of the material with the conically undulating profile of the legs generates a look and finish that give this centuries old technique a contemporary feel.