FOG Design + Art 2018, Booth 304
January 11–14, 2018
2 Marina Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94123
USA
Edward Cella Art & Architecture is proud to present the work of two visionaries in the fields of architecture and urban planning: R. Buckminster Fuller and Hans Hollein, at the FOG Design + Art Fair in San Francisco. Recognizing the fair’s pioneering spirit and bold hybrid approach as a platform of contemporary design on the West Coast; ECAA’s fifth year at the fair highlights it’s unique interdisciplinary position with an exclusive presentation of historic architectural drawings and objects. Gathering several new architectural estates for this curated project, ECAA is honored to debut drawings by Hans Hollein among its deep roster of celebrated architects and designers.
Mapping a transformation from postwar to postmodern sensibilities in 20th century architecture, ECAA’s exhibit at FOG will include the work of Fuller and Hollein within context of work by Tadao Ando, Douglas Darden, Jiminez Lai (of Bureau Spectacular), Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Paolo Soleri, Sergei Tchoban, and Lebbeus Woods, among others. Together, the collection of rare original drawings, models and objects presents ideas for systems of habitation and patterns of development that suggest new urban models made possible through innovative technologies and design.
The inspiration for the exhibit is the work of R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) who was a widely recognized architect, systems theorist, and inventor; who popularized terms such as “Spaceship Earth” in his effort to transform deeply ingrained patterns of development and building forms. ECAA will present prints from a limited-edition portfolio entitled Inventions: Twelve Around One, which offers graphic representation of his innovative building systems and patented inventions for housing and transportation and is considered an overview of his life-work. Accompanying these will be two small-format, stainless steel sculptures which model the development of his Tensegrity structures.
ECAA is also proud to present, for the first time, a collection of early drawings of Stadtstrukturen (City Structures) by the Pritzker Prize winning architect Hans Hollein (1934-2014). Born in Vienna, Austria, Hollein came to the United States and was transformed through his studies at Illinois Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley. Of additional influence were personal encounters with Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, and his travels across the United States (most famously visiting all of the American towns named “Vienna”).
Hollein created a series of proposals for new typologies of urban structures in the early 1960s that offered an advancement of Le Corbusier’s concept of architecture as an object in the landscape. Trained first as an artist, Hollein assimilated the nascent aesthetic investigations of Pop Art and Land Art into his futuristic city structures, consequently documenting his earliest engagements with the vast American landscape. In relation to Austria, Hollein described California as “a fascinating phenomenon, a realization of a new approach, of a new spirit.” Returning to Vienna in 1964, Hollein emerged as an architect, artist, educator, and urban planner, garnering international recognition for his inventive use of materials and a unique, contemporary sense of Viennese opulence.
Hollein’s work has been exhibited globally, and is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Fondación Miró, Barcelona, Spain; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; The Art Institute Chicago; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; The National Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan; and the Getty Research Institute.
About Edward Cella Art & Architecture
Edward Cella Art & Architecture is committed to supporting significant established, mid-career, and emerging artists, architects, and designers. Nurturing this hybridity, the gallery uniquely exhibits photography, painting, sculpture, architectural drawings, models, and design objects with an emphasis on the intersection of these disciplines. ECAA was founded in 2006, building on Cella’s background as an architectural historian with a decade of experience in art advisory and collection management and a passion for collecting architectural drawings and ephemera, as well as contemporary art. The gallery sustains a curatorial emphasis on discourses surrounding issues of cultural and conceptual significance, and has represented historical and under-recognized estates and collections.