Design is, as they say in politics, a big tent, and the three exhibitions at the Museum of Design Atlanta illustrate its broad purview.
"AIDS Memorial Quilt"
Conceived nearly 25 years ago and still growing by a panel a day, the AIDS Memorial Quilt is composed of blocks honoring the lives of 91,000 AIDS victims. Inspired perhaps by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which revealed the profound effect of both the recitation of individual names and the experience of their aggregate, the quilt, which is exhibited frequently, is a model of participatory public art.
The NAMES Project Foundation, headquartered in Atlanta, will exhibit a different group of quilt blocks at MODA each month. In October, the squares were folk art of a sort, homemade by friends and family. The November selection focuses on panels that professional designers created for colleagues, among them such familiar names as Halston and Donghia. They are, in contrast, sophisticated and often more abstract.
"Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Posters"
The posters are a form of public art as well. Their function, however, is not to mourn and remember, but to disseminate information. Messages extend beyond safe sex. In developing countries and those with male-dominated cultures, the posters might encourage female empowerment ( say no!, speak up).
Most revelatory for me was that, globalization notwithstanding, the message and the imagery change from continent to continent, even from country to country. Indian designers draw on their country's tradition of miniature paintings. The palette and patterns of aboriginal art are used in Australian pieces. Most posters from African countries were simple and straightforward, often like comic books, perhaps so that those who don't read could get the message visually.
The European and American designers felt free to employ humor, puns and nudity, none of which would play or communicate well in countries in which sex is not a part of public discussion.
Sometimes the designs are too clever: A viewer admiring the swarm of naked bodies in a French poster might never notice that they are positioned to create a skull. Sometimes, posters from other places read like kitsch to us. Mostly, however, they exhibit an amazing array of creative solutions to the same problem.
"The Opulent Object in Wood, Metal and Fiber"
The exquisite craftsmanship and sumptuous materials that characterize the art of Jon Eric Riis and Richard Mafong, longtime Atlanta artists and MODA founders, offer a respite from the woes of the world.
Mafong, a metalsmith and jewelry designer, shows his command of those crafts in a pair of elegant silver vessels, witty trompe l'oeil silver trays and a smattering of artful pins. The tabletop and large-scale vessel-shaped sculptures made in collaboration with wood-turner Mike Harrison are, however, the main event.
In the large, lathe-turned wood forms, the metal elements are an embellishment, often with an art deco sensibility. The materials are more integrated in the bowl, which feature more complex compositions of interlocking shapes. Large or small, they are all bijoux of a sort: decorative objects for visual pleasure.
Riis, a master weaver, mixes naturalistic imagery and stylized patterning in mixed-media tapestries of metallic threads, horsehair, crystals, pearls and other beads to create his dazzling (literally and figuratively) works.
Asian art and culture are abiding references, evident in striking kimono-shaped sculptures, allusions to Tibetan flags and motifs such as stylized clouds and animals.
The work ranges from the whimsical, such as the images of splints and such taken from an old Tibetan medical manual, to the political, represented here by an oversize sculpture of a toxic Chinese candy.
Botanical tapestries are among the most recent works. The strikingly composed close-ups of leaves and vines exemplify his command of both scale and detail: check out how he uses beads to create the three-dimensional caterpillar crawling on a leaf.
Catherine Fox is chief visual arts critic of www.ArtsCriticATL.com.
Review
“Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Posters.” “AIDS Memorial Quilt.” “The Opulent Object in Wood, Metal and Fiber: Richard Mafong, Mike Harrison and Jon Eric Riis.”
Through Jan. 1. $10, adults; $8, seniors and military; $5, children and students; members free. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, until 8 p.m. Thursdays; noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Museum of Design Atlanta, 1315 Peachtree St. 404-979-6455, www.museumofdesign.org.
The bottom line: A trio of engaging experiences.
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