Martino Gamper

Recently Martino Gamper has been in a very good mood, making over 700 hooks and vases which form a loose family of functional objects.

This exhibition at Anton Kern is Design in an art gallery. Form follows function is a principle of design which suggests that the shape of an object should primarily relate to its intended purpose. This is not as limiting as it sounds. Gamper has screwed, drilled, cast, carved, sawed, sanded, printed, extruded, chainsawed, blown, welded, flame/laser/water cut, forged, torched, and torn many materials including wood, metal, glass, steel, plastic, crystals, ceramics, bronze, aluminum, brass, stainless glass, cork, marble, stones, and branches. Once formed, these objects were polished, painted, anodised, plated, powder coated, enameled, sanded, sprayed, sandblasted, heated, and vibrated.

This might sound like a fight between materials, technique, and form; but in fact the mood is positive, the feeling exuberant. The sheer number and variety of hooks and vases creates a poetic frenzy of excited chaos. Between a whittled stick and large cast bronze, the materials and techniques run the gamut between low and high. Here, there is an object for everyone.