Design Milk

Kennedy Yanko’s Poetic Fusion of Metal and “Paint Skin”

Brooklyn-based artist Kennedy Yanko uses salvaged metal and blanket-like “paint skins” to create incredible artworks that challenge the definition of painting and perfectly balance a range of oppositions. Her current exhibition Humming on Life presents 10 new artworks on view at Jeffery Deitch in New York through April 22^nd.

Metal feels weightless, refuse becomes beautiful, and paint breaks free from canvas. The “paint skins” in Yanko’s work are literally just paint – first created flat and then draped over, between, and within the crushed metal. The fabric-like folds and crushed-metal dents echo each other while both feel organically matched – as if the two elements have somehow grown together.

These new 2023 works add a new layer to her process. On previous works, the color of the paint skins was inspired by an existing color on the found metal: perhaps a lime green from oxidized copper or a burgundy from a small patch of rust. But in these new works, Kennedy has introduced the act of painting onto the metal itself with more colors before pieces are fire-cut and additionally crushed. This process introduces more complex color interactions while maintaining a contrast of time and texture between the elements.

Besides the towering scale (some are over 7 feet wide or 8 feet tall), the play with gravity may be the most surprising element when viewing these in real life. Somehow the large metal chunks feel as if they’re levitating, even the sculptures on the floor feel like they’re about to lift off. Meanwhile the paint skins are fully engaged with gravity, finding their shape through their own weight and scaffolding of the metal. It all contributes a sense of wonder and curiosity.

Kennedy Yanko’s work is a beautiful dance of oppositions: a pairing of past and present, flexible and ridged, color and material, gravity and levitation.

If you want to hear Kennedy’s story in her own words and get a peak at her whole process in her studio, I highly recommend this 7-minute video segment from CBS Mornings. Then run to this current exhibition to be immersed in the magnetism of these works.

What: Kennedy Yanko: Humming on Life
Where: Jeffery Deitch, 18 Wooster Street, NYC
When: March 4 – April 22, 2023

Installation photographs by Genevieve Hanson. Courtesy of the artist and Jeffrey Deitch, New York.
Single artwork photographs by Martin Parsekian.
Detail photographs by author, David Behringer.

Design Milk

Tekla Evelina Severin Drops Color-Blocking “Colour Vibes” at FORMEX

Working with the theme of “Colour Vibes,” color and design phenom Tekla Evelina Severin transformed a 250-square-meter (almost 2,700 square feet) empty space for the FORMEX interior fair last month. The project involved exhibition design, curation, and styling a series of rooms, which resemble either a beautifully staged set for a magazine photo shoot or a perfectly executed interior of a home. Taking inspiration from a labyrinth, hide-and-seek games, and a Rubik’s cube, Dimensions of Colour consists of multiple spaces placed in a zigzag formation, allowing for changes in perspective from every view. No matter the angle, new framed vignettes appear, as do ever-changing color palettes, making the space feel like it’s bouncing back and forth between realism and surrealism.

Immersed in Severin’s color-blocked world are a curated roster of 200 products sourced from 400 exhibitors, resulting in a broad mix of objects that feel like they belong.

Each space features black and white checkered floors with layers of rich, saturated wall colors. Topped off with furnishings – some that match and some that contrast – that give each room a purpose, whether it’s a living room, kitchen, bedroom, kid’s space, atrium, or living room.

Despite the use of so many colors, none of them feel out of place, as each works with the color beside it, across the room, or in the next space.

Photos by Fredrik Bengtsson and Tekla Evelina Severin.

Boing Boing

St. George's Church is home to 30 beautiful ghost sculptures

Kostel Svatého Jiří (St. George's Church) is home to 30 beautiful ghost sculptures. This 14th century church, located in Luková, Czechia, went through many fires and even had part of its roof cave in during a funeral service. — Read the rest

Design Milk

The Volée Installation Reminds Us That Nature Predates Man

Among Woodland, the art and design exhibition at Teatro dei Ragazzi in Turin, was Serena Confalonieri’s site-specific installation, Volée. The project, which was on display during the Nitto ATP Finals tennis tournament, was created for LEA (Lead Exclusive Area), an a space for welcoming international guests at the event. The concept – that nature pre-exists the work of man on Earth – was simple enough, but the execution appears to be anything but. The ultimate goal of the project was to offer visitors the chance to experience a return to nature. A place where humans are free from the effects of civilization and can live a life guided by instincts.

Volée brought this concept to life in LEA’s foyer space. The floral composition, created using both man-made and natural materials, is an explosion of color and texture. Confalonieri used polyurethane panels for the reception, benches, and tables, all milled with a vertical motif reminiscent of classic columns. Meanwhile, dried plants and flowers sprout from these elements in shades of lilac, purple, orange, yellow, and white. This vegetation takes over the polyurethane-built architecture of the installation, creating a sense of being somewhere between fiction and reality.

In its final form, Confalonieri’s Volée was full of lightness and grace. its soft, curved shapes alive and harmonious – just like the movements of the tennis players on the court.

To learn more visit serenaconfalonieri.com.

Photography by Serene Eller.