Projections of an artist’s own insanity can all be found in the latest book of Canadian born Marcel Dzama: ‘The Infidels’.
A savagely elegant ironic staging of ballet recitals of crude battles, burlesque performances of decapitation and virtuous exhibits of sodomy in ink and watercolor or mixed media .
P.S.: Coincidentally, in stock.
By Seyna Van Der Linden
As we like to explore the realm of the unusual here at obsolete, we are proud to present a piece on the cusp of the uncanny. A fantastic 1930’s light fixture just arrived at our gallery this week (all assembled parts date from this period): a combination of an early dental wall mounted xray unit together with a quack carbon arc lamp used for light therapy.
Even though this fixture could have been a prop for a SI FI movie, it is so aesthetically pleasing that it would blend in perfectly with the decor of any cutting edge modern design home.
By Seyna Van Der Linden
Metamorphic innocents, connected to the anthropomorphic dreams of youth, the beauty and horror of child hood, through the eyes of an adult. Christina Bothwell’s visions in glass have arrived!!!!
You find the perfect chair, but the lining is not quite right. You find the perfect sofa, but the color fails to match the rest of your furniture.
Obsolete owns a broad selection of unique raw antique chairs, beautiful left in the grace of their original features or ready to be personalized to match your interior just the way you would want it. Here is a preview of our current collection.
By Seyna Van Der Linden
Stills covered in a mysterious glaze of glass, adorned with notes of brass and delicate carvings, so accurate they could almost breathe, these are Sibylle Peretti’s “silent children”. A portrayal of the importance of nature while childhood is fleeting.
By Seyna Van Der Linden
Obsolete was lucky enough to obtain a few copies of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison’s “The Architect’s Brother”, a recently re-issued limited edition of which only 2000 copies have been released.
Stills of performance art reminiscent of German expressionism raise topics such as immigration, industrialization and mankind’s urge to control nature in a collection of 42 exceptional photogravure prints.
ParkeHarrison’s images are a reflection of our struggle to mold, own and reinvent the ground we were given and our urge to find ways to dominate it. It is no coincidence that the artist has a background in set design, since a striking feature in his oeuvre is the contrast between the natural and the supernatural, congruent with the contrast between what is drawn/created and what is “(a)live”.
The work of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison blends in perfectly with the ethos of Obsolete for adapting an early 20th century photographic technique alongside bringing up important socio-economical and ecological thematics of the era, ever so present today: “seeing the future through the past.”
By Seyna Van Der Linden
The rebirth of nature’s playground isn’t a mere rejoicing of ties between the hibernating and the countryside, it is equally a nostalgic return to seasonal bound rituals and objects.
Here at Obsolete we have lost our hearts to an amazing antique French metal garden table crafted in the early 20th century. A beautifully weathered top still showing the original burnt orange paint (pantone 159 to be precise), is supported by the most elegantly curled framework, in a piece that would make the Queen of England’s afternoon tea look uneventful.
If it is true that objects are made up out of energy, they are bound to be carriers of the past and therefor narrators of the future.
By Seyna Van Der Linden
In a city marked by its extensive landscape, one cannot help but notice the vast amount of strip malls while whizzing by on the streets of Los Angeles. Intrigued by photography through the notion of panorama, documentary photographer Catherine Opie began taking pictures of architectural recurrences that caught her eye. Not only are they a characteristic architectural “first” of the West, they are also carriers of identity and blue prints of a particular community, specific for each neighborhood of the never ending City of Angels. By capturing the various mini malls in different towns of the City, Opie started to notice how the urban landscapes can reveal important cultural curiosities. Different towns come with different mall structures and different identities: the assimilation of foreign culture, gay and lesbian identity, wealth, poverty and so forth.
The Getty Museum exhibits “Urban Panoramas” through the lens of three different artists, Opie, Liao, Kim, representing three (very) different cities.
The viewing runs until the 6th of June.
With an impact so boundless to have become almost imperceptible, the works of Edward Hopper have definitely influenced the creative streams of many present day artists including Robert Adams, Diane Arbus, Harry Callahan and us at Obsolete. The masterful capturing of light and volume in the oeuvre of Hopper intrigued photographers into dissecting his technique to challenge their own.
In honor of the late painter, San Francisco art collector Jeffrey Fraenkel assembled an impressive show of photography inspired by Hopper’s masterpieces which have been put together in quite a remarkable book.
We are proud to present a refreshing addition to the Obsolete library.
By Seyna Van Der Linden
While we are still recovering from a phenomenal Ethan Murrow opening last Saturday, we are delighted to post yet another masterpiece by this young polymath. The short film “Dust” is a peerless collaboration between the artist Ethan Murrow, director Baker Smith and co-founder/ executive producer Bonnie Goldfarb.
Murrow’s characters reside in Stark wasteland, a nomadic culture competitive by nature, filling their days cultivating the land’s final resource: dust. A brilliant story that captures “something so intensely demented that only the insane can embrace and the geniuses lament”. It is truly unique to be able to view this filmic gathering of creative souls and the world of Murrow’s characters before they where drawn onto paper to continue their life in graphite.
By Seyna Van Der Linden
