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Shiro Kuramata 'Cabinet de Curiosité' designed 1988 Acrylic. 190 x 46 x 46 cm (74 3/4 x 18 1/8 x 18 1/8 in.) Manufactured by Ishimaru Co., Tokyo, Japan. Number 28 from the edition of 40. Together with a certificate of authenticity from Meiko Kuramata.
Provenance More Gallery, Giswil, Switzerland Acquired from the above by the present owner Literature Shiro Kuramata 1934-1991, exh. cat., Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1996, p. 30, p. 67, fig. 23, p. 192, fig. 3 Yasuko Seki, ed., Shiro Kuramata and Ettore Sottsass exh. cat., 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo, 2001, p. 201 Deyan Sudjic Shiro Kuramata: Essays & Writings, London, 2013, pp. 76, 99 Deyan Sudjic Shiro Kuramata: Catalogue of Works, London, 2013, p. 369 Catalogue Essay The ‘Cabinet de Curiosité’ was among a group of coloured acrylic furniture and objects exhibited at the Galerie Yves Gastou in Paris during 1988. It is one of Shiro Kuramata’s many explorations into concepts of colour and transparency that culminated in his late-career use of acrylic. These designs invite unlimited visual contemplation, testing spatial and temporal boundaries as they contort colour, line and form. This effect is achieved through a number of optical contrasts: the borders are simultaneously discrete and interactive, the minimal physical footprint is disputed by the broad expanse of coloured light reflected onto the cabinet’s surroundings. The name itself, ‘Cabinet de Curiosité’, poses a comprehensive challenge as it evokes a repository of tangible historic objects rather than the acute sense of negative space suggested by its actual material presence. This cognitive contrast of historicism versus timelessness was a post-modernist tool often employed by Kuramata and revealed with subtle mastery in the present lot. Read More Artist Bio Shiro Kuramata Japanese • 1934 - 1991 Shiro Kuramata is widely admired for his ability to free his designs from gravity and use materials in ways that defied convention. After a restless childhood, his ideas of being an illustrator having been discouraged, Kuramata discovered design during his time at the Teikoku Kizai Furniture Factory in Arakawa-ku in 1954. The next year he started formal training at the Department of Interior Design at the Kuwasawa Design Institute. His early work centered on commercial interiors and window displays. In 1965, at the age of 31, he opened his own firm: Kuramata Design Office. Throughout his career he found inspiration in many places, including the work of Italian designers (particularly those embodying the Memphis style) and American conceptual artists like Donald Judd and combined such inspirations with his own ingenuity and creativity. His dynamic use of materials, particularly those that were transparent, combination of surfaces and awareness of the potential of light in design led him to create objects that stretched structural boundaries and were also visually captivating. These qualities are embodied in his famous Glass Chair (1976). View More Works