Images: Jonathan
Rae
Californian
design; It may inspire thoughts of the Real Housewives clad in Juicy Couture
toting a malnourished dog.
Really it’s more
like the Mamas and the Papas’ California
Dreaming has come alive. The California
Design: Living in a Modern Way exhibition traces the Cali aesthetic from
1930 to 1965 through architecture, fashion and craft. It includes more than 250
objects from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition highlights the
material innovations of this epoch – the introduction of fibreglass, wire mesh
and synthetic resigns. So many of the designs are seminal, still influencing
modern aesthetics. I’m talking about the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Frank
Lloyd-Wright and Levi Strauss. It’s a timeless period.
Curator David
Burnett says the exhibition is about conveying the “unique period of design history in
the United States when art, design, craft and industry were in a creative
dialogue in an effort to infuse everyday life with good design”.
But it’s not all
just about superficial looks. The designs give an insight into the social and
political period. The Cold War’s impact is obvious in all the streamlined
cylindrical designs referencing the Space Race.
David says design
mirrored the industrial advances of the time.
“Many of the items
reflect the austerity of the war years but also the innovations that came out
of the aerospace industries applied to a domestic sphere.
“Certainly the ‘atomic’
age is well profiled while the new leisure of homes and gardens as the centres of
Californian domestic life is clearly shown.”
The exhibition
makes you feel like you’re traversing the streets of Malibu in 1960. The sounds
of the Beach Boys are a nice touch too.
California Design: Living in a Modern Way is on at the Queensland Gallery until
February 9, 2014.
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