Walter Raes at London Design Festival
19th & 20th September 2011
Walter Raes will be exhibiting his new installation, ‘DUN ROAMIN’ at Oratory House, adjacent to the V&A museum in the heart of London Design Festival this September.
Raes was born in Belgium, and though he has lived and worked in London since 1989, he is steeped in the Belgian surrealist tradition that includes René Magritte & his soul mate, E.L.T. Mesens, the Brussels Surrealists, the Hainaut Group, Pol Bury and Marcel Broodthaers.
Best known for transforming ‘trash’ into art, and a witty use of surprising materials, Raes has released a succession of eye-popping works through WALTERWORKs.
His ‘wearable art’, such as the Cassette Tape Boogie Dress, highly praised by the late Isabella Blow, and has been making headlines for some years.
Raes takes the drudge out of ‘Make do & Mend’ and injects a pinch of wild wit and intoxicating fun into recycling. His exotic mirrors and workstations at Hari’s Hairdressing Salon in the King’s Road, Chelsea, which opened in August 2010, were described as ‘So cool it hurts’ by Grazia Magazine.
During last year’s Design Festival 2010, Raes’ work was exhibited alongside Barnaba Fornasetti and Debra Frances-Bean at Milk Concept Boutique in Shoreditch High Street.
Now for London Design Festival 2011, Raes has scaled-up to an ambitious size. The DUN ROAMIN’ installation is a meticulously worked vintage room, where every design piece has been transmogrified from household detritus.
The title refers to the archetypal British suburban interior, the familiar parlour where three ceramic ducks might fly above the mantelpiece, which Raes conceives as a sharp comment on waste, wrapped in deliciously witty retro sweetness.
Raes’ draws further inspiration from conceptual artists Marcel Duchamp and Yves Klein. His is a surreal form of alchemy, transforming an unwanted Mini Cooper hood into a lady’s vanity table, and three metal shoetrees into a classic table lamp.
“I’m really happy to be showing this large-scale piece at London Design Festival, which has become enormously important internationally” says Walter Raes. “And I’m also delighted to set up my stall right next to the Victoria & Albert Museum, the heart of the festival, to welcome you all to DUN ROAMIN’. ”
Raes grows serious when describing how important it is to retain a child-like imagination and sense of fun. “So many adults have had the joy repressed out of them” he says.
And behind his wit and visual punning is a serious message. “There’s so much waste, it makes me cringe. I want people to know how much effort goes into manufacturing everyday things.” he says, rummaging among stacks of material in his south London workshop. “Look here, bits from an engine - really pretty! And, they took such a long time to make. To me there’s more beauty in pieces of an old washing machine, as jewellery, than a specially-made gold ring.”
New design pieces at the show will include the Fresh Comfy Chair, Back Home Chest, Sole Fruit Bowl, Frying-Time Clock, Fish Lamp, Deb’s Delight Vase, Safety Light Helmet, A ‘Light’ Serving, and a Gilded Pallet Table.
The exhibition at Oratory House will open with a private drinks reception featuring models dressed in some of Raes’ latest ‘wearable art’ designs.
Diarmuid Gavin will host the invitation-only reception on the evening of Monday 19th September, and thereafter the exhibition will welcome all visitors on the 20th September.
http://www.walterworks.co.uk/
DUN ROAMIN’ at WALTERWORKs, 19th & 20th September
Brompton Oratory
227 Brompton Road
London SW7 2RP
WALTERWORKs 104A Holland Road London W14 8BD T: 02076035529
M: 07738478757
WALTERWORKs
Twitter: @WALTERWORKs
London Design Festival
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