For the past decade, Mariah Nielson has been working to preserve the heritage and work of her father, the late sculptor JB Blunk. Having based herself at the Inverness, California, studio for her projects, she has not only been looking at Blunk’s past work, but also explored how his legacy can inspire curations of current and future pieces, through exhibitions and special commissions inspired by the artist’s processes and collaborations.
‘100 Hooks’ at JB Blunk Estate
‘Nervous Hook’ by Wilkinson & Rivera. 'The “Nervous Hook” is strategically sculpted from timber off-cuts [...] achieved with a carving style that allows for minimal wood waste. The hook is made from a reclaimed ash tree felled in Wiltshire, UK, which succumbed to ash dieback, a fungus running rampant across Europe. It is estimated that 80 per cent of British ash will need to be felled due to the disease.'
In 2023, the Blunk Space was the background to a series of exhibitions exploring a variety of aesthetics and craft techniques, often shown in conversation with the artist’s work. The latest project (what Nielson admits is the most ambitious to date) is an exhibition featuring 100 hooks, chosen as an example of a utilitarian object with myriad possibilities, between functionality and craft, and made by an eclectic roster of designers that includes industry veterans such as Jasper Morrison, Ilse Crawford and Martino Gamper, and emerging designers, as well as artists from different disciplines, from Minjae Kim to Ido Yoshimoto.
‘Frilly XXX Shape’ by Bethan Laura Wood. 'A light-hearted tongue in cheek set of hooks, reworked from the ornate decorations that traditionally adorn Venetian mirrors,' she describes. Working with artisans Barbini Specchi Veneziani from the island of Murano, she has created pop-coloured spotted hooks with a mix of sizes, balls or no balls, fully frilled and partially frilled edges.
The exhibition nods to a 1981 project by Blunk, dubbed ‘100 Plates’ and shown at Inverness’ David Cole Gallery. ‘The restriction of this one type of object was a chance for him to play around with different modes of expression,’ Nielson says. ‘And even the essential idea of that form: some of the plates were functional and some were sculptural. We're excited to invite such a wide range of artists to participate, continuing JB's legacy through this expanding community.’
‘100 Hooks’ will be on display until 11 February 2024
Blunk Space
11101 CA-1 #105
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
Hook by Jesse Schlesinger
‘Gold Peg’ by Commune and Van Cronenburg. 'At Commune we love all things Shaker for their purity and sense of purpose, but what if luxury and decoration were added to the mix? What if the simplest peg was made in Belgium and covered in 24ct gold by one of the finest hardware makers in the world? Why not?'
Hook by Green River Project
Hook by Minjae Kim
‘Walnut Wall Hook’ by Ido Yoshimoto, 'inspired both by childhood trips to Mayan ruins with JB and family and recent trips to Japan and the traditional hooks for hearth cooking'
‘From The Trees’ by Carolina Jiménez. 'When diving deeper into the context of Blunk’s work, I was struck by the dance between his functional objects and aesthetic explorations,' she says. 'Through his oeuvre, he creates a space for the “semi-functional” object. It is because of his dedication to the stewardship of materials and to the craft of his works – pots, cups, chairs – that Blunk’s work seems to engender a specific esteem in his audience: perhaps function shouldn’t be feared. If you look at his “Redwood Scrap Wall” at the Blunk house, the care and respect for his material are clear – carefully assembled offcuts are orchestrated into a sublime meditation on the wood itself. It was this work that I responded to.'
‘Untitled - Water Flow Days’ by Ava Woo Kaufman. 'These shaped works came out of working with watercolour the past two seasons – investigations that I've been referring to as “water flow days”,' Kaufman says. 'The paper is made of cotton and feels closely linked to my work with textiles. I wet the paper and it becomes a soft material which I can then pigment with the watercolour paint, much like a dye to cloth. When the paper dries, its sizing allows it to hold shape and the material is again transformed into its original, hardened state. The resulting forms retain a fragility that allows me to ask questions about what they could hold, how much weight can be endured, and for how long,'
‘Sheep Hook’, in merino and local wool felt, by Studio Ahead. 'The shape of the hook is inspired by the smooth lines of stones found on Muir Beach that have been washed by a current over time.'
Hook by Jochen Holz
Hook by Shio Kusaka
Cut Out (Hook) by Rachel Kaye. 'I started playing with cardboard, cutting out shapes that exist in my paintings and drawings,' she says. 'Instead of adding a classic hook shape I thought, what if the shapes folded in certain ways to become a hook itself. I then worked with a local steel fabricator to cut out the shapes and I painted them in my studio. Now I’m hooked (ha!) and hope to make a whole series of them.'
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