The London-based Italian artist Martino Gamper has a history of blurring the lines between design and visual art. After training as a furniture apprentice, studying sculpture, and completing a masters under Ron Arad, he made his name internationally with his 2006 project, 100 Chairs in 100 Days, where he reconfigured 100 discarded chairs in as many days.
Now, a major solo exhibition of his work, Endgrained, has opened at Objectspace in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland; an edited show will then move on to Ōtautahi Christchurch. This project features a new body of work, and it also exhibits another ongoing theme in his work: site-specific making.
With 100 Chairs, he made a new chair in a single day in each place it went to. With Endgrained, he and a team of helpers constructed the whole exhibition inside Objectspace’s main gallery inside a week. It’s a furious, but fun, approach to exhibition making.
Objectspace, naturally, is pumped. “His furniture practice is world-renowned not only for its singular design,” says director Kim Paton, “but for the resourcefulness and craftsmanship he brings to his work that imbues the objects of daily life with a sense of care and purpose.”
Here, Gamper presents new objects and furniture, mainly chairs and tables, while completely reconfiguring the gallery space into a hub for interaction. Visitors are encouraged to use the furniture for work, rest or play. Objectspace will host a busy schedule of events, and the public can even book the space for their own purposes, turning the gallery into a temporary community centre.
Not content with mere plywood, Gamper developed a new type of timber in collaboration with the Italian company ALPI, using the waste stream from industrial veneer production. By dyeing, pressing and compressing this waste, they created a new material that possesses a unique language of grain and colour not found in natural wood, and which is explored by the organic shapes of the furniture.
The show also includes an accompanying exhibition that explores the history, politics and influence of timber here in Aotearoa, created by Gamper with designers James Goggin and Shan James, of Practise. Combined, it’s a thoughtful way to highlight the enduring qualities of timber.
Objectspace
13 Rose Road, Grey Lynn, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
65 Cambridge Terrace, Ōtautahi Christchurch
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