Reflecting a trendy, renewed interest in Brazilian Modern and African Contemporary design, R & Company (at 82 Franklin Street) presents two concurrent art exhibitions. Lina Bo Bardi + Roberto Burle Marx and Grains of Paradise are on view from March 24 to April 30.
Lina Bo Bardi + Roberto Burle Marx features rare designs of Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) alongside never-before-seen textiles, drawings and prints by Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994). Bardi is one of the few female designers of Brazil’s modernist era. Her magazine Habitat greatly influenced the world around her, as did her furniture, architecture and public space design. Her projects included the São Paulo Museum of Art and the SESC-Pompéia Center in São Paulo. Her work is often beautifully minimal, with details combining modern thinking with Old World elegance.
Marx, a landscape designer is internationally renowned for his tropical gardens and mosaic walks. Responsible for the Copacabana beach promenade, he gained a reputation as the godfather of 20th-century Brazilian landscape design.
Grains of Paradise, meanwhile, features contemporary African design and is curated in collaboration with the Cape Town gallery Southern Guild. It presents new and previously unseen works from South African designer Porky Hefer, as well as Dokter and Misses, Ardmore and Babacar Niang.
The exhibition reflects a renewed interest in African design, and serves as an overview of a range of styles, backgrounds, narrative and materials.
Photos courtesy of R & Company.
