EXHIBITION: STUART HAYGARTH AT HAUNCH OF VENISON, MAYFAIR
Mayfair gallery, Haunch of Venison, is staging its first exhibition of British artist and designer Stuart Haygarth with an exhibition called ‘Found.’ The show examines his ongoing relationship with abandoned objects and his fascination with taxonomy through a series of new furniture works, lamps and chandeliers.
FOUND, open 1st December 2009-30th January 2010
HAUNCH OF VENISON
6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET (020 7495 5050)
Haygarth has spent many years gathering seemingly insignificant, discarded items such as ceramic figurines, spectacles, glassware, and plastic objects whilst beachcombing, cycling and on excursions to markets and car boot sales. These are then sorted and graded, methodically stored by colour, material and subject.
The found materials often inspire the final work through their form, previous use, tactile qualities and their relationship to light. They are then painstakingly compiled to create lamps and furniture, giving otherwise banal and overlooked objects a new significance.
For his new work at the show, Haygarth has been gathering smashed car wing mirrors from narrow roads and ‘hot spots’ in London, such as Rotherhithe Tunnel, using them to create several new objects including a revolving mirror-ball with 350 smashed wing mirrors attached to a mirrored sphere, and a series of wing-mirror shaped tables complete with smashed glass surfaces.
Haygarth has also continued to explore his fascination with spectacles, creating a series of urchin lights for the exhibition – shaggy cascades of frame parts lit from within, and an optical chandelier made from tinted lenses (top image).
Haygarth sees his years of collecting and studying our unwanted items as an opportunity to investigate our social behaviour and habits. He finds beauty in the everyday discarded items, and through his work he challenges perceived notions of precious and beautiful.
Images courtesy of Haunch of Venison: from top – OPTICAL (2007); TIDE (2004); RAFT (2009); DISPOSABLE (date unknown)
EDITOR’S COMMENTS:
Haygarth’s first major show in the UK is housed within truly spectacular space at the Haunch of Venison gallery in Mayfair. One can’t help but be mesmerised by the painstaking care and attention that goes into each piece of work here. Many pieces in the show are new (the images we have here are mainly older pieces) and have taken several years to complete, based on the fact that the found objects from which they are assembled must be collected over time.
And it is the patience of such an undertaking that adds to the awe of his work. TIDE (shown above) is made up of the plastic objects that washed up on the Dungeness coastline in Kent over several years. The obsessive nature of such an undertaking instills as much fascination in the viewer as the beauty of the object itself.
However, at the opening party, I heard several attendees say that Haygarth’s working practice is changing. The giant Mirror Ball made from smashed car wing mirrors has apparently been falsified. These aren’t real smashed wing mirrors but, in fact, new ones that have been smashed in the studio. Er, what? Several pieces are also said to be made by an external fabricator.
I know Haygarth has always flirted between being an artist and designer (handmade vs fabricated) but the charm of his work is led by the idea that he himself collected and assembled each piece. The thought that some of his designs are essentially ‘get the look’ items totally strips him of integrity. I very much hope these were rumours and that I can be proved wrong.
EXHIBITION: STUART HAYGARTH AT HAUNCH OF VENISON, MAYFAIR
Mayfair gallery, Haunch of Venison, is staging its first exhibition of British artist and designer Stuart Haygarth with an exhibition called ‘Found.’ The show examines his ongoing relationship with abandoned objects and his fascination with taxonomy through a series of new furniture works, lamps and chandeliers.
FOUND, open 1st December 2009-30th January 2010
HAUNCH OF VENISON
6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET (020 7495 5050)
Haygarth has spent many years gathering seemingly insignificant, discarded items such as ceramic figurines, spectacles, glassware, and plastic objects whilst beachcombing, cycling and on excursions to markets and car boot sales. These are then sorted and graded, methodically stored by colour, material and subject.
The found materials often inspire the final work through their form, previous use, tactile qualities and their relationship to light. They are then painstakingly compiled to create lamps and furniture, giving otherwise banal and overlooked objects a new significance.
For his new work at the show, Haygarth has been gathering smashed car wing mirrors from narrow roads and ‘hot spots’ in London, such as Rotherhithe Tunnel, using them to create several new objects including a revolving mirror-ball with 350 smashed wing mirrors attached to a mirrored sphere, and a series of wing-mirror shaped tables complete with smashed glass surfaces.
Haygarth has also continued to explore his fascination with spectacles, creating a series of urchin lights for the exhibition – shaggy cascades of frame parts lit from within, and an optical chandelier made from tinted lenses (top image).
Haygarth sees his years of collecting and studying our unwanted items as an opportunity to investigate our social behaviour and habits. He finds beauty in the everyday discarded items, and through his work he challenges perceived notions of precious and beautiful.
Images courtesy of Haunch of Venison: from top – OPTICAL (2007); TIDE (2004); RAFT (2009); DISPOSABLE (date unknown)
EDITOR’S COMMENTS:
Haygarth’s first major show in the UK is housed within truly spectacular space at the Haunch of Venison gallery in Mayfair. One can’t help but be mesmerised by the painstaking care and attention that goes into each piece of work here. Many pieces in the show are new (the images we have here are mainly older pieces) and have taken several years to complete, based on the fact that the found objects from which they are assembled must be collected over time.
And it is the patience of such an undertaking that adds to the awe of his work. TIDE (shown above) is made up of the plastic objects that washed up on the Dungeness coastline in Kent over several years. The obsessive nature of such an undertaking instills as much fascination in the viewer as the beauty of the object itself.
However, at the opening party, I heard several attendees say that Haygarth’s working practice is changing. The giant Mirror Ball made from smashed car wing mirrors has apparently been falsified. These aren’t real smashed wing mirrors but, in fact, new ones that have been smashed in the studio. Er, what? Several pieces are also said to be made by an external fabricator.
I know Haygarth has always flirted between being an artist and designer (handmade vs fabricated) but the charm of his work is led by the idea that he himself collected and assembled each piece. The thought that some of his designs are essentially ‘get the look’ items totally strips him of integrity. I very much hope these were rumours and that I can be proved wrong.
Tags Found | haunch of venison | Stuart Haygarth
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 10:13 AM and is filed under Design, Editor's Comments, Exhibitions, Furniture, Lighting, Limited Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.