Art, Architecture + Abstraction [Stages by Barbara Kasten]
A favorite exhibition from last year's Chicago Architecture Biennial recently opened at MOCA Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, and we're looking forward to revisiting Barbara Kasten's Stages, a beautifully curated retrospective of the artist's work and corresponding exploration of spatial form, architectural experience and representation.
madlener house interior / graham foundation
architectural site 17, 1988
As part of the inaugural architecture event taking place across the city, the retrospective was supported by the Graham Foundation and housed at the organization's historic Madlener House, located in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.
seated forms, 1972
The collection spans a variety of media, from early explorations in modernist textiles to Kasten's well-known postmodern architectural photography produced in the 1980s and 90s- and culminating in a large-scale site-specific video projection installation entitled Scenario.
scenario, 2015
props
Stages explores relationships among architecture, art, photography, and abstraction, through various forms of representation and analysis- making for an intriguing visual juxtaposition within the setting of the early 20th century residential building.
The collection is characterized by an experimental and bold use of color, geometry, props, light, shadow and materiality as a means to examine experience and perception spatially.
Spanning her nearly five-decade engagement with abstraction, light, and architectonic form, this exhibition situates Kasten’s practice within current conversations around sculpture and photography. (via)
triptych II, 1983
Find more information on Barbara Kasten or the Graham Foundation online, and get details on the ongoing exhibition at MOCA Pacific Design Center here.
[also, for more highlights from our visit to the Chicago Architecture Biennial, revisit a previous post]