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EAMON O'KANE

 

E-1027 + Le Cabanon, Seeline gallery, Los Angeles, USA Feb. 18th - April 30th, 2010 E-1027 + Interior, acrylic on paper, 8.5 x11 inches, 2009 Installation views, See Line Gallery, LA, USA   E-1027 Le Corbusier Colour Blinds, oil on canvas, 100 x 100cm, 2010 (click to enlarge)   The title for this exhibition is taken from the name of a famous house designed by Eileen Gray. Irish by birth, Eileen Gray spent the better part of her life in France, dying in 1976 at the age of 98 largely unrecognized for contribution she made to modern architecture. But in recent years new enthusiasm and interest has grown around Gray’s work, which included only two realized architectural projects but many studies, as well as furniture and rug designs. Nonetheless, examples of Gray’s work remain scarce. In 1924 Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici began work on their vacation house, E-1027 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, in southern France (near Monaco). L-shaped and flat-roofed with floor-to-ceiling windows and a spiral stairway to the guest room, E-1027 was both open and compact. This is considered to be Gray's first major work, making indistinct the border between architecture and decoration, and highly personalized to be in accord with the lifestyle of its intended occupants. The name of the house, E-1027, is a code of Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici, 'E' standing for Eileen, '10' Jean, '2' Badovici, '7' Gray. The encoded name was Eileen Gray's way of showing their relationship as lovers at the time when built. A friend of Badovici's, Le Corbusier visited E-1027 on numerous occasions and admired it very much, so much so that he was moved to add his own touch to the clean white villa, painting a series of murals on its walls between 1937-39. This intrusion onto her design infuriated Gray, who considered the murals outright vandalism. Whether he painted these murals out of admiration for her work or jealousy of her accomplishment, Le Corbusier became intricately tied with the future of the house. Failing to purchase it himself, he eventually bought a piece of properly just east of E.1027, where he built a small, rustic cabin, "Le Cabanon." Here he would go for work and quiet contemplation, taking daily swims on the beach outside the house. After he died in those very waters, the whole area was declared a "Site Moderne," or "Modern Site," and deemed an area of cultural and historical importance and international interest. Today E-1027 is recognized as the founding element of this site. O’Kane’s exhibition will examine Gray’s legacy to Architecture and Design and the connection to Le Corbusier through constructing a large installation comprising of wall paintings, screens, works on paper, models and sculptures. The Pacific Design Center is an ideal location for this exhibition in that it provides a context for a reevaluation of Grays influence on subsequent generations of architects and designers. The exhibition will have the feeling of an architect/designers studio where fact and fiction collide illustrating that history is contingent and how it can be distorted. O’Kane’s installation will involve wood and paper screens based on Gray’s and Le Corbusier’s designs. The exhibition is supported by Culture Ireland. Click here for a review of the show in 'The Los Angeles Times' Click here to download press release as pdf file scroll down for more images E-1027 Plan, acrylic on paper, 8.5 x11 inches, 2009 E-1027 From above, acrylic on paper, 8.5 x11 inches, 2009   E-1027, 2010, Acrylic on canvas, 15.75 x 15.75” 2010   Le Cabanon, 2010, Acrylic on canvas, 15.75 x 15.75” 2010           Eileen Gray, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Eileen Gray Rugs, Acrylic on paper, 3 x (8.5 x11.75 inches), 2009   Le Corbusier Chair I, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Le Corbusier Chair II + III, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Le Corbusier Chair, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Le Corbusier Chairs, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Le Cabanon, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Installation views, See Line Gallery, LA, USA Machine for Living IV, V, VI, 2010, Ink on tracing paper, 8.5 x 11.5”       Le Corbusier Mural I + II, 2010, Acrylic on paper, 8.5 x 11.5”

Installation views, See Line Gallery, LA, USA     Hang it all II + Eames Chair II, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Aalto stool, Mixed media on paper,8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Side Table and Building, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches ( x 2), 2009   Hang it all, Mixed media on paper,8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Eames House, acrylic on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009 Splint, Mixed media on paper, 8.5 x11.75 inches, 2009

© Eamon O'Kane 2010