Ceramics included in “Graham Marks: For Joy and Grieving” at HB381.
Photo: Joe Kramm
9 Collectible Design Shows to See in March
From clean-lined furniture gleaming with resin-applied raindrops to painterly candelabras that resemble doodles frozen in time
March heralds a season of rebirth, renewal, and new beginnings. As temperatures start to rise and flowers bloom again, there’s no better time to rekindle one’s passion for fine art and collectible design. To set the mood for the season, we rounded up an itinerary of stellar exhibitions that will sate one’s appetite for impeccably made objects of desire. We gaze at Nel Verbeke’s dusky luminaires on the Upper East Side, head out to the Hamptons for a clever pairing of two unsung Brazilian luminaries, and journey across the pond to learn about Max Lamb and Tim Vranken’s divergent yet scintillating approaches to wood furniture.
Installation view of “Quentin Vuong: After the Rain” at Galerie Yves Gastou. Photo: Edouard Auffray
Installation view of “Quentin Vuong: After the Rain” at Galerie Yves Gastou. Photo: Edouard Auffray
1. “Quentin Vuong: After the Rain” at Galerie Yves Gastou | Paris
Quentin Vuong considers himself both an artist and designer—and it takes one close glance at his highly detailed furniture to understand why. What initially appear to be drops of rain frozen on his meticulously made creations are actually delicate applications of gleaming resin, which cascade across the surface of his clean-lined darkened wood pieces, which he hand-sculpts and carves with precision using a gouge. A series of ethereal mirrors, meanwhile, are delicately gilded with white gold leaf, revealing misty images reminiscent of portals.
On view through March 15
Installation view of “Nel Verbeke: Mirror at Dusk” at Emma Scully Gallery. Photo: Joe Kramm
2. “Nel Verbeke: Mirror at Dusk” at Emma Scully Gallery | New York City
Dusk, a mystical time when light diminishes and darkness begins, has always fascinated Nel Verbeke, the Belgian conceptual designer whose practice zeroes in on the emotional potency of shape and space. A breathtaking new series of hand-blown glass luminaires makes tangible this transitional time of day, primarily through wall-mounted circular pieces whose shimmering glass surface is slightly tarnished with silver coating, imparting a coppery glow. “The dome-like shape and luminescence of this mirror could be interpreted as a lens: an optical instrument that magnifies what so often goes unseen,” Verbeke says. Her show is a fitting choice to inaugurate Emma Scully Gallery’s new “viewing room,” located upstairs from its previous home on the Upper East Side.
On view through March 29
Installation view of “Simon Manoha: Sauvage” at Daguet-Bresson. Photo: Courtesy of Dauguet-Bresson
3. “Simon Manoha: Sauvage” at Daguet-Bresson | Paris
As a clay hunter, Simon Manoha digs with his hands to extract his favored material from the ground in the mountainous landscapes of Ardèche, France. His rough-hewn vessels echo these earthy surroundings, often emulating rocks worn by erosion yet coated with splashes of pop-colored glazes. Each ends up straddling the lines between nature and artifice—and despite being made with great sensitivity, intentionally eschews softness.
On view through March 17
Installation view of “Tim Vranken: Moving Fragments” at Objects With Narratives. Photo: Tijs Vervecken
“Tim Vranken: Moving Fragments” at Objects With Narratives. Photo: Tijs Vervecken
4. “Tim Vranken: Moving Fragments” at Objects With Narratives | Brussels
Tim Vranken’s signature style is as distinct as it gets, gracefully imbuing furniture with stepped elements that poetically toe the line between fragility and solidity. Following successful outings at Design Miami, Collectible, and BRAFA, the Belgian designer now unveils a solo show pairing six new pieces alongside earlier works that offer a compelling glimpse inside his exploration of materials and geometric forms. One example is a burned ashwood table with a terrazzo base crafted using his own formula with North Sea shells. There’s also a bar cabinet featuring a four-panel design made from pictorial root veneer, concealing a tapered storage space. Don’t miss Vranken’s first daybed—it’s set on a monolithic grid of square wooden legs.
On view through March 29
Installation view of “The Restlessness of Imagination: Paintings by Chico da Silva and Ceramics by Francisco Brennand” at Jeff Lincoln Art + Design. Photo: Joe Kramm
5. “The Restlessness of Imagination: Paintings by Chico da Silva and Ceramics by Francisco Brennand” at Jeff Lincoln Art + Design | Southampton, NY
Despite being overlooked during his life, Chico da Silva was undoubtedly a visionary now recognized for his contribution to Brazilian modernist art. His vivid paintings of surrealist and mythological animals and flora both reflect his affinity for the Amazon and helped usher in a reexamination of the role of Indigenous art within art history. Occupying an equally outsized position in 20th-century Brazilian modernism is Francisco Brennand, who began as a painter but soon embraced ceramics depicting animals and flora in bright colors that plumb the enigmas of existence. The commonalities of both artists come to light in this incisive show, which sets the works within their decorative context alongside coveted midcentury design pieces by the likes of Joaquim Tenreiro and Sergio Rodrigues.
On view through April 30
Ceramics included in “Graham Marks: For Joy and Grieving” at HB381. Photo: Joe Kramm
6. “Graham Marks: For Joy and Grieving” at HB381 | New York City
Throughout the 1980s and early ‘90s, the artist Graham Marks routinely made monumental ceramics whose rough-hewn surfaces recalled geodes or seed pods, but on a breathtaking scale comparable to a human body. After taking a three-decade hiatus to pursue acupuncture, he returns with nearly four dozen painterly candelabras that resemble dancing doodles frozen in mid-air. Many are riotous with rainbow glazes pooled atop one another—a visual cornucopia of color, line, and form that he likens to the spontaneous rhythms of jazz. Marks, the former head of ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art, credits his reengagement with the medium to the pandemic’s immense toll on human health. “We’re living in a time where joy is a necessity and grieving a part of our lies as well,” he says. “I intend for the candelabras to be a kind of ‘functional sculpture’ in that sense.”
On view March 7 through April 19
Installation view of “Luck Carpentry” at Seventh House. Photo: David William Baum
Installation view of “Luck Carpentry” at Seventh House. Photo: David William Baum
7. Luck Carpentry at Seventh House | Los Angeles
Andrew Luck’s thoughtful and exploratory approach to woodworking makes a perfect match for Seventh House, the freewheeling design gallery housed inside the storied Danziger Studio & Residence Complex in Los Angeles. A series of nine new pieces demonstrate how Luck wields disparate materials such as hard maple, white oak, black walnut, anodized aluminum, and cross-reed glass to create graceful sectionals, folding screens, and desks imbued with material discovery and reverence for craft. They also honor his Santa Cruz roots and the region’s rich woodworking traditions—one is even named after a coffee shop there.
On view through March 31
Installation view of “Max Lamb: My Grandfather’s Tree: Ten Years On” at Gallery Fumi. Photo: Thomas Joseph Wright/Penguins Egg for Gallery Fumi
8. “Max Lamb: My Grandfather’s Tree: Ten Years On” at Gallery Fumi | London
When an enormous two-century-old ash tree that stood beside the Yorkshire cottage of Max Lamb’s grandfather was felled in 2009, the British designer decided to salvage it and extend its life, but in another form. The tree held personal significance for Lamb—he spent countless hours of his childhood at his grandfather’s farm developing his knowledge of materials and craftsmanship. He divided its towering structure into 130 logs resembling functional sculpture, processing each minimally to maintain a timeworn appearance. The full batch initially debuted in 2015 at Somerset House—one decade on, 13 pieces from the original group reappear here in a poetic meditation on material legacy and connection to the land.
On view through March 22
“Cypress Chair” (1973–4) by JB Blunk. Photo: Angus Mill, courtesy of the JB Blunk Estate
“Closed Form” (2010) by Toshiko Takaezu. Photo: Izzy Leung, courtesy of the Toshiko Takaezu Foundation. Artwork © Family of Toshiko Takaezu
9. “Wild Earth: JB Blunk and Toshiko Takaezu” at Columbus Museum of Art | Columbus, OH
Linked through their connections to the Mingei movement, a revival of Japanese craft traditions, both JB Blunk and Toshiko Takaezu drew striking parallels through their lives and work. The virtuosic artists’ experiments across a range of handcrafted media, starting with clay, yielded some of the postwar studio craft movement’s most enduring hallmarks. Through more than 200 examples ranging in scale from monumental ceramics and woodcarvings to delicate jewelry and tea bowls, the first museum show to pair these artists highlights their devotion to handmade arts and an environmental consciousness rooted in the land.
On view March 7 through Aug. 3
Cover: Ceramics included in “Graham Marks: For Joy and Grieving” at HB381.
Photo: Joe Kramm
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