Opening of Jacques Jarrige Exhibition
The opening was a great event to honor the work of Jacques Jarrige mixing other artists and friends.
The feedback so far is good: the work really stands out at a time when people crave for the handmade tactile and spiritual feel.
I visited on Friday the Kips Bay Show house, a yearly event to support the Boys and Girls Club
and I was once again struck with the amazing energy and talent displayed as a number of interior designers take on a room or area of an Upper East Side multi floor townhouse and turn them into jewels. Incredible attention to details in the floor, wall, design is omnipresent. I especially enjoyed the work of the design firm 2Michaels which I thought relayed very much to the work of Jacques Jarrige.
Read this blog post for detailed information about their exhibit
I also liked a lot the work of Nancy Boszhardt who took over a landing and transformed it into a simple, elegant, soulful and beautiful seating room
More on Nancy’s work
Another favorite was the dressing rooms by Darren Henault
The floors and wall covering were remarkable:
It is easy to feel isolated when working from a loft gallery where street traffic is limited so it felt inspiring to go to this event and connect with these brilliant decorators.
More on Jacques Jarrige
Claire le Douaron contacted me from Paris because she had taken pictures of Jacques and his creations at another workshop where he works located in a psychiatric hospital outside of Paris. Jarrige and another artist design and produce pieces with patients, Claire is a doctor at the hospital.
They met when she had a little time between two patients. She got intrigued by a sign she saw downstairs about a creative workshop and decided to investigate. She was fascinated by the rapport between Jacques and the patients and the amazing work that was produced. Jacques had taken the group to a nearby forest and they had collected wood to make sculptures and furniture. Serious design discussion and drawing sessions were taking place.
She got to know Jacques better because she was taken by him first and the work she was discovering, she says
“I was surprised to feel emanating from his creations a soft light, a quiet freedom, a delicateness bordering on fragility even in newer more colorful pieces like the Cloud table series. His work looked and felt just like himself”
Installing the show part 2
Jacques Jarrige tables have arrived and we are installing today:
Cloud is a series of cocktail tables with variations of colors and sizes: White lacquer and Anis, White and Coral, Black and Coral. They work alone or as a group
Osselet (small bones) is a series of 6 hand sculpted stools that are very comfortable in addition to having an irresistible form. They do look like a tooth
The space is coming alive. Hanging are the Fiori chandeliers.
We also installed pairs of wall sconces from the Fiori family in brass and in aluminium.
Jacques sent a box of small objects, small sculptures and models of his work. We will display them on the shelves.
Yesterday I received a call from Claire Le Douaron who has been photographing Jacques and his work. I will post more later in the week but this is a great preview
More to come for the opening this Wednesday.
Installing The Show….
The tension rises: I am preparing for the opening of the Jacques Jarrige exhibition next week at my gallery http://www.valeriegoodmangallery.com . Yesterday Michael Branning helped install the giant poster on the walls that is an image of Jacques’s atelier in Paris. It looks very good. I received some of Jarrige’s work but other pieces are stuck in customs so it looks like we will be installing the show at the last minute. But it’s coming together…
Please join us for the opening reception October 27th from 6 – 9 pm
Recent Exhibition: Eric Schmitt
Valerie Goodman gallery recently had an exhibition of vases by Eric Schmitt: “Bohemian Series” featuring colorful hand blown glass in various combinations and two models with bronze bases that are like large pieces of jewelry
Eric Schmitt is an important French artist who designs classic yet innovative furniture made of durable materials such as bronze and marble. His work was first noted in the US by Suzanne Slesin in a New York Times article.
Since then Eric has been very prolific and is interested in both unique and very limited editions of important pieces and larger editions. He will present a new line of furniture at Ralph Pucci international next May.
I am presenting some of his latest work and will continue to do so over the next months:
The Celeste table is related in design to the Hill vases
The Rocs Dining table is adaptable in various sizes and finishes
The center table is on display at the Mark Hotel in New York
Preparing the Jacques Jarrige Exhibition
I am expecting the shipment carrying the Jarrige furniture I will present in my gallery starting October 27. I have already hung 2 Fiori chandeliers and sconces . Next week we will install on the gallery walls the giant poster of Jacques’ atelier in Paris against which the pieces will be displayed. The idea came to me because Jacques cannot travel and I wanted his presence at the show. For the same reason we will also play a video of him working because this is an artist who actually makes his own pieces as he likes to say he is an artist-artisan.
It was hard to make a selection of his works because every time I saw a new piece I wanted to have it. I want people in the US to discover his work so I had to select a large enough sample of his pieces. The work is addictive, spirited and I am not the only one thinking that. I have met a few French collectors of his pieces who have been living with them for a number of years and feel uplifted every time they look at them or use them as if they had a soul and every time they have a chance, they add to their Jarrige collection. Since his Barbarian days www.barbares.com Jacques has kept a fresh approach to building furniture that are also sculptures
Last week I met 2 French people who live in New York and have brought with them from Paris chairs, tables, lamps and other pieces of Jarrige, they enthusiastically showed them to me and offered to lend them for the exhibition.
The dining table is made of MDF and lacquered http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=452727
The coffee table http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=452742 has a biomorphic feel to it
The bronze table lamp http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=452748 with the handmade shade is pure fantasy
The Armchair http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=450551 is Barbarian.
Other works for Jacques in Parisian apartments
Join us for the opening reception on October 27 at 6pm.
