Where to Go and What to Read for Your Winter Design Fix
Cut and Paste
Photo courtesy of James Verbicky and DTR Modern
James Verbicky’s mixed-media pieces combine advertisements and text to stunning effect. The California-based artist, whose work was recently featured on the cover of Neiman Marcus’s catalog, has upcoming museum (and gallery) shows in locales from Florida to Bulgaria. He debuts a new series of work at DTR Modern Galleries this December.
12/1–1/2, 167 Newbury St., Boston, 617-424-9700, dtrmodern.com.
A Tale of Tartan
Photo courtesy of Rizzoli.
Jeffrey Banks and Doria de la Chapelle’s luscious hardcover Tartan: Romancing the Plaid, which features a foreword by Burberry CEO Rosemarie Bravo, follows the pattern through its admirers, including Queen Victoria, the Duke of Windsor, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Vivienne Westwood, as well as home-design titans like Ralph Lauren.
Out 2/17, Rizzoli, $30.
A Kinder, Gentler Paris
Photo courtesy of Axelle galerie.
In 1940, Parisian painter Michel Delacroix was seven years old and living in German-occupied Paris. His childhood memories of a city holding its breath under siege linger with the artist to this day. Since then, Delacroix has spent his life depicting a highly romanticized vision of a bygone Paris. Now in his eighties, the unstoppable naif painter brings his most recent acrylic-on-canvas pieces to his 18th solo exhibtion at Axelle Galerie.
12/6–12/31, 91 Newbury St., Boston, 617-450-0700, axelle.com.
Building a Mystery
Photograph by Yana Stoimenova.
Director David Lynch has always imbued his surreal, often eerie cinematic work with a sense of place, from the small town of Twin Peaks to the urban sprawl of L.A. in Mulholland Drive. In The Architecture of David Lynch, writer Richard Martin explores these compelling settings.
Out 12/18, Bloomsbury Publishing, $120.
Peaks and Valleys
Photo courtesy of Galerie d’Orsay
The organic forms found in Cha Jong-Rye’s fluid sculpture—built by gluing layers of wood together and then sanding them down into expressive shapes—are drawn from a childhood spent exploring the outdoors in Daejeon, South Korea. See her work at the Galerie d’Orsay this winter.
12/1–1/1,33 Newbury St., Boston, 617-266-8001, galerie-dorsay.com.
Exhibits
Marilu Swett
The Boston Sculptors Gallery showcases MassArt grad Marilu Swett’s provocative organic creations, which explore biological forms on a large scale.
Runs until 12/14, 486 Harrison Ave., Boston, 617-482-7781, bostonsculptors.com.
John Bonner
Bonner finds beauty in quotidian Boston moments with his paintings of crosswalks, MBTA buses, and bundled-up commuters.
On display at the Soprafina Gallery in February. 2/1–2/28, 55 Thayer St., Boston, 617-728-0770, soprafina.com.
Adriana Varejão
Adriana Varejão takes on the complex issue of racial identity in Brazil through her portraits based on the country’s 1976 census, in which people were asked to describe their own skin tones. Catch her first solo U.S. museum show at the ICA.
Runs until 4/5, 100 Northern Ave., Boston, 617-478-3100, icaboston.org.
Books
Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia
This book dedicated to the work of the former Devo member and prolific composer includes iconic photographs, as well as Mothersbaugh’s prints and paintings.
Princeton Architectural Press, $40.
Design as Future-Making
In this heady volume, the New School design professors Susan Yelavich and Barbara Adams argue that understanding the effects of design on environmental health, education, and political policy is crucial to our future.
Out 11/20, Bloomsbury Academic, $40.
Ming Cho Lee: A Life in Design
Go behind the scenes with stage designer Ming Cho Lee in this tome by Arnold Aronson, who covers Lee’s work in more than 300 theater productions.
Out 12/2, Theatre Communications Group, $75.
Timeless: The Omega Experience
Omega Swiss luxury watches, long the choice of secret agents like James Bond and real-world men of action like Buzz Aldrin (they have been the official watch of NASA and the Olympics), are immortalized in Augusto Veroni’s glossy hardcover monograph.
Out 2/17, Rizzoli, $100.
