Marcel Wanders’ Portraits

 The sho 
Marcel Wanders was one of the founders of the conceptual Dutch design movement of the 1990s as the co-founder of the Droog Design (literary in Dutch: ‘dry’), established in 1993.  Together with such talents as Hella Jongerius, Tejo Remy, Richard Hutten, Jurgen Bey and Joris Laarman, Wanders helped people think differently about design, and quickly came to fame. It has been a long time since he was present at the collectible design market, so I was pleased to hear that Friedman Benda Gallery opens a solo exhibition of new work by Wanders. Entitled ‘Portraits,’ this exhibition explores an intimate side of his personality through a staging of imaginary characters interacting within a distorted fairytale. His total environment are central to the new show, and will include examples of abstract figural mirrors, poetically named Mordrake and Day Dream; steel cabinets; Tempter, an over-sized adult rocking unicorn is cast in bronze with metal chain stirrups; Shiqule Nuhai, ceramic vases refer to Wanders’ Delft Blue collection with a darker sensibility, using black glaze; and his Phoebe video art and hybrid lighting fixtures previously featured at the Stedelijk Museum (above). The show will be on view from February 25 through April 9.