Studio Job MAD HOUSE Exhibition at Museum of Arts and Design in NYC

Tue, Mar 22 - Sun, Aug 21  2016

From March 22 to August 21, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) presents “Studio Job MAD HOUSE.” This will be the first solo museum exhibition in the US to explore the creative vision of design collaborators Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel, who established their atelier Studio Job in 2000. 

The Museum of Arts and Design feels like a castle, as the floors and walls complement the “MADHOUSE” objects in a surreal, medieval look. In a collaboration between the Dutch wallpaper designers of NLXL, large-format printing company Exposize, and Studio Job, printed panels contribute to the stylistic atmosphere of the spaces. 

For the exhibition, Studio Job will transform two of the museum floors into an immersive design experience created expressly for MAD. The installation will include sculpture, lighting, furniture, floor coverings, wallpaper, drawings, and other objects designed over the past 16 years. Referencing the history of arts patronage, collecting, and display, the featured works will be presented as if in a collector’s home—organized according not to chronology, but rather to imagined narratives that fuse elements of history, fantasy, irony, and autobiography.

“Studio Job stands as one of the most distinctive contemporary design studios today,” said Ronald T. Labaco, MAD’s Marcia Docter Senior Curator. “Their exhibition concept organizes their work in loose, sometimes contradictory groupings around ideas such as ‘love/lust,’ ‘agrarian/preindustrial,’ and ‘church/religion.’ These fluid categories underscore Studio Job’s desire for visitors to bring their own interpretation and personal experience to the artwork on view, in effect creating a metamodern dialogue rooted in engagement and storytelling.”

Since 2000, Smeets and Tynagel have developed a distinctive body of highly expressive and opulent work that incorporates pattern, ornament, irony, monumentality, and provocation, as well as personal, historic, and sociocultural narrative. Their commitment to craftsmanship reflects an ongoing interest in the revival of traditional applied-arts practices, such as bronze casting, gilding, marquetry, stained glass, and faience, but with a contemporary perspective. The atelier operates in the manner of a traditional Old Master studio, engaging the skills of the most talented artisans in the production of their work.

“Unlike most designers working today, we’re not coming from modernism,” said Smeets. “Our contribution is that we’ve recovered a lost path. Is that design? Is that art? I’m not sure. For us, creation is more important than discipline, and with purpose and precision, we’re situating decorative arts within the twenty-first century.” To extend the theme of arts patronage and collecting within Studio Job MAD HOUSE, the designers will also be creating a sound piece exclusive to the exhibition made in the spirit of an audio tour for a private art collection. In this piece, the designers will play fictional collectors who have acquired these opulent works, recounting real and fictional narratives behind each acquisition and object grouping that speculate on the artists’ possible intent.

Related programming

Tuesday, March 22, 2016, 7:00 PM – In Conversation: Studio Job

Join the design duo for an evening exploring their provocative body of work together with Dennis Freedman, Creative Director and Executive Vice President of Barneys New York. Smeets and Tynagel will discuss the vision that sets them apart from other contemporary design studios, their collaborative relationship, the transdisciplinary space they occupy between art and design, and their Belgian atelier where they utilize traditional applied-arts techniques such as bronze casting, stained glass, and marquetry to create works that reflect on the contemporary human condition.

A book signing of Studio Job: Monkey Business will follow the talk.

About Studio Job

Since 2000, Smeets and Tynagel have developed a distinctive body of highly expressive and opulent work that incorporates pattern, ornament, irony, monumentality, and provocation, as well as personal, historic, and sociocultural narrative. Their commitment to craftsmanship reflects an ongoing interest in the revival of traditional applied-arts practices, such as bronze casting, gilding, marquetry, stained glass, and faience, but with a contemporary perspective. The atelier operates in the manner of a traditional Old Master studio, engaging the skills of the most talented artisans in the production of their work.

About NLXL

Founded in 2010, NLXL is know for Scrapwood Wallpaper, brainchild of designer Piet Hein Eeek and NLXL founders Rick and Esther Vintage. NLXL Wallpapers have no repeat – this is what makes NLXL wallpapers unique. It is the firm’s goal to become the world’s smallest global company.  Current wallpaper collections comprise Brooklyn Tins for Paris based concept store Merci, Concrete by Piet Boon, and Archives by Studio Job. The Cooper Hewitt has added Scrapwood, Archives and Remixed Wallpaper to their permanent collection. In 2014, the Archives Wallpaper by Studio Job was featured in all windows of Saks 5th Avenue for the Alexander McQueen fashion collection introduction, as well as the Paul Smith store windows on 5th. 

About Exposize

Based on its broad, up-to-date knowledge and a great deal of experience, Exposize wants to advise clients on the many possibilities of large format printing. As all-round partner for all XXL wishes, Exposize has access to the necessary, very advanced and specialized knowledge in the field of materials, printing techniques, finishing and assembly. Their specialization will wrap any commission into a graphic, all inclusive dressing. 

About the Museum of Arts and Design

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) champions contemporary makers across creative fields, presenting artists, designers, and artisans who apply the highest level of ingenuity and skill to their work. Since the Museum’s founding in 1956 by philanthropist and visionary Aileen Osborn Webb, MAD has celebrated all facets of making and the creative processes by which materials are transformed, from traditional techniques to cutting-edge technologies. Today, the Museum’s curatorial program builds upon a rich history of exhibitions that emphasize a cross-disciplinary approach to art and design, and reveals the workmanship behind the objects and environments that shape our everyday lives.