If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a piece of furniture designed by the iconic Rick Owens, now’s your chance. The latest exhibition presented at Dubai’s ICD Brookfield Place Arts in collaboration with Carpenters Workshop Gallery, titled “Chiaroscuro,” not only showcases the works of 20 artists and designers but also offers the opportunity to bring home a piece of Owens’ cutting-edge work.
Curated by the French fashion legend, and wife and business partner to Owens, Michèle Lamy, the exhibition, which kicked off on Feb. 27, is a captivating exploration of light and dark– “chiaroscuro” is an Italian term which literally means light-dark– featuring a diverse range of artists including Nacho Carbonell, Studio Drift, Latifa Saeed, and Omar Al Gurg, among others. Running until March 15, the showcase coincides with Art Dubai 2024, drawing inspiration from the metropolis’s dynamic landscape as it transitions from day to night.
“I am fighting for a new way of being through these dark and challenging times we are living through and have used (these) works to interpret my vision between light and dark, to envision better times,” Lamy said in a statement. Through “Chiaroscuro,” she invites us to reimagine our world and to embrace the interplay of light and dark as a metaphor for our existence.
Lamy ingeniously divides the exhibition into two states, beginning with “The Darkness,” where visitors are immersed in a mysterious realm where captivating forms emerge from the depths. Among the highlights of this section are Owens’ Gallic Chair, which mesmerizes with its tigré pattern evoking alternating shadows and grounding the artist’s practice in the richness of materials like stone and wood.
“Chiaroscuro” continues to mesmerize as it transitions to “The Light,” celebrating the power of illumination to transform materials and shapes. From objects made out of materials like glass and metals used in the construction of Dubai’s skyline to exquisite objects like Rick Owens’ Pedaló chair, and Vincenzo de Cotiis’ reimagined Renaissance arches, this part of the exhibition is a masterclass in redefining materiality.
Through the masterful manipulation of mediums, colors, and finishes, the exhibition pushes the boundaries of artistic expression. Marble sculptures by Khaled Zaki, abstract geometric forms by Latifa Saeed, and conceptual experiments by Zeinab Alhashemi blur the lines between the natural and the artificial. Lastly, two contrasting works by Nacho Carbonell illustrate the polarities of light and dark, how one cannot exist without the other.
But perhaps the most exciting aspect of “Chiaroscuro” is the opportunity to own a piece of Owens’ furniture, or at least see the objects up close. The designer, who introduced his line of furniture in 2005, uses a blend of high-grade and edgy materials such as raw plywood, marble, and moose antlers, to create unique and functional objects like chairs, benches, and side tables that double as art. Lamy functions as the producer of the furniture collection, working closely with the artisans in the construction process as well as directing the positioning and presentation of the works, including in shows at the Musée d’art Moderne and Le Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and now, in ICD Brookfield Place in Dubai.
