Where Art Meets Design
Moss Joins the Art Crowd With a Gallery of Its Own
By CHRIS SCHMIDT
Moss, that elite purveyor of downtown design chic, just got a little artier. Owners Murray Moss and Franklin Getchell have thrown open the doors to a Moss Gallery annex in the newly constructed Soho 25 building -- next door to their original shop on Greene Street.
If you're familiar with Moss, you know that the SoHo emporium sells everything from minimalist objets (a gold Philippe Starck lemon juicer resembling an arachnoid Brancusi sculpture) to outre one-offs (a dresser made of strapped-together suitcases) in a space that's as bright, white, and spotless as your doctor's office. (Actually, we all wish our PCP's office were as pristine as this space.)
The gallery, designed with Asfour Guzy Architects, gives Moss an even more visible presence on busy Houston Street. "The window wall creates a proscenium through which you see 'the stage' from the street," Mr. Getchell said. (Messrs. Moss and Getchell met while studying theater in London, which might explain the theatrical metaphor.) More to the point, the gallery gives Moss an opportunity to expand its focus on one-of-akind and prototype design. And it offers Mr. Moss, the store's creative visionary, free rein in his curating.
"There's probably nothing that will appear in the gallery that wouldn't fit comfortably in the store," explained Mr. Getchell."But we will be able to do entire exhibitions dedicated to a single designer, or a single idea, and shape the installation in ways that we would need to empty most of the store in order to achieve." While the gallery is geared to highlight one-off and high-end pieces, more accessibly priced production objects will also be included in most collections as well.
Moss Gallery's current show, "The End," features the work of Dutch designer Tord Boontje, the man behind the cut-out flower silhouette lamps omnipresent in design magazines and art museum boutiques (a metallic version here costs $75).The exhibit gives a deeper sense of this young designer's vision. Granted, many of Mr. Boontje's creations incorporate similarly reticulated fabrics, but there are some surprises here as well. Outsize copper garlands hung from the ceiling make a stunning statement, somewhat reminiscent of 1960s modernism (think Brasilia). "Doll" dining room chairs, featuring removable "dresses" -- i.e., slipcovers shaped like an actual woman's slip -- are cleverly executed ($1,525).And a line of jewelry made of cherry pits Mr. Boontje culled from his grandmother's farm is both perverse and eerily beautiful (from $490-$690).
Perhaps more interesting, and indicative of the boundary-breaking direction the gallery might take with future shows, was Moss Gallery's inaugural exhibit, "Hooked Up," which featured rugs from Creative Growth Art Center in San Francisco, an independent visual arts studio and gallery for physically and developmentally disabled artists. The handmade tapestries, often illustrating issues challenging the artists, brilliantly lit up the space with their exuberant styles and colors. "It did exactly what we'd hoped, which was start a conversation about what 'design' was, what 'art' was, and where they met," said Mr. Getchell.
The gallery's next show will feature special works by Gaetano Pesce, the Italian-born architect and design legend whose work is by turns pop and baroque. But as in the main Moss store, the delights in the gallery are as much in the owners' scrupulous attention to the pitch-perfect presentation as in the work itself. At the opening of "The End," for example, Mr. Moss enlisted a young opera singer to entertain the crowd. "It felt absolutely right," Mr. Getchell declared.
The design of the gallery itself is no exception to the famous Moss fastidiousness. A "shantytown" favela wall made from crosshatched maple wood scraps by Fernando and Humberto Campana decorates the store's eastern side. Less showy are the store's functional components: movable Corian platforms for presenting the work and a theater-quality lighting grid. "We are very demanding," said Mr. Getchell of their collaboration with architect Peter Guzy. Design connoisseurs have come to expect nothing less."The End: By Tord Boontje" through March 20 at Moss Gallery, 146 Greene St., 212-204-7100. "Gaetano Pesce for Fish Design" will open March 29 and remain through May 8.
"The End: By Tord Boontje" through March 20 at Moss Gallery, 146 Greene St., 212-204-7100. "Gaetano Pesce for Fish Design" will open March 29 and remain through May 8.