Art & Sculpture Archives - Page 10 of 10

Optima Sculpture Spotlight: Duo

Posted on November 11, 2019September 1, 2020 by Nancy

The design of interior space doesn’t end with architecture. A key component to creating engaging environments at Optima is the inclusion of art — particularly sculpture. Optima co-founder David Hovey Sr., FAIA explores new ways of expressing space, form and function through his monumental, three-dimensional sculptures in brilliantly-hued steel, including Duo, ultimately adding a new vibrancy to our carefully curated communities.

Duo at the 7160 Optima Kierland Residence Club, Scottsdale, AZ

Originally created as a large-scale piece, Duo is a striking and abstract silhouette that evokes the image of a man and woman gazing into one another’s eyes. Hovey states that often, he doesn’t approach a piece of steel with the intention of drawing out specific imagery. Rather, he imagines how to explore form and function through the size, shape, voids and shadows, lights and sounds that emanate from the manipulation of the material. With Duo, Hovey sought to craft a study of duality and opposites through curved lines, fierce angles, symmetry and asymmetry. The human-like quality that resulted is part of the intriguing and surprising discovery from the sculpture’s true expression.

Duo now takes many sizes and colors, with one iteration adorning the front desk at Optima Signature in a brilliant pop of red. Not only does the inclusion of sculpture add a new dimension to the spaces that we design, but it allows a new avenue for exploration, discovery and expression.

The Work of Joan Miró

Posted on November 4, 2019May 24, 2024 by Nancy

It’s no secret that we love color. We believe that color, like art, brings a new dimension to the beautiful spaces that we design. That’s why the colorful and surrealist work of the Spanish painter, Joan Miró, is a natural fit to enliven the walls of our communities.

Portrait of Joan Miró. Photo in Public Domain

The Life of Joan Miró

Miró was born in 1893 in the seaside town of Barcelona. He grew up influenced by the beauty and culture of his city, and surrounded by the arts with a watchmaker father and goldsmith mother. His began drawing as a young child, though he diverted from his true calling when he went to business school for college. After school, Miró worked as a clerk, but quickly found his way back to art, evolving through several styles and artists’ circles and leaving an influential mark in his wake.

The Art of Joan Miró

Miró’s early work was inspired by Vincent van Goh and Paul Cezanne. By 1919 and his first trip to Paris, Miró began to dabble in geometric, patterned art inspired by the Cubists. In the early 1920s, Miró began to draw inspiration from Sigmund Freud and the Marxists, joining the ranks of the groundbreaking surrealists with work marked by lines, organic shapes and color. Miró himself once said, “I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.”

The Red Sun, 1950, Joan Miró at Optima Sonoran Village

We are proud to enliven our interior spaces with the art of Joan Miró, and are deeply moved by the power of his works and words. Miró’s work adorns the walls of a handful of units at Optima Sonoran Village, playing off the lively interiors and lush outside landscape. Like Miró, we too, try to apply colors, and art, to shape the beautiful spaces that we design.

Isamu Noguchi Spotlight

Posted on October 2, 2019September 1, 2020 by Nancy

For our projects, design doesn’t stop on the outside of our buildings. We carefully curate each and every interior to be an activating space that is at once beautiful and inviting. As part of that careful curation, many of our spaces feature furniture designed by Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese American artist, landscape architect, sculptor and furniture designer.

The Mid-century Modern “Airplane” Bimorphic Coffee Table, designed by Isamu Noguchi, at 7120 Optima Kierland.

The Style of Isamu Noguchi

Born in 1904, Isamu Noguchi became one of the 20th century’s most critically acclaimed and important sculptors. His sculptural work covered a wide range of creations, spanning from sculptures, gardens, furniture and lighting designs, ceramics, architecture and set designs. Midway through his career, Noguchi became inspired by the idea of a more reduced form, focusing on an abstract and Modernist approach to create intriguing designs that elicited emotional reactions.

“Everything is sculpture,” Isamu Noguchi once said. “Any material, any idea without hindrance born into space, I consider sculpture.” Noguchi believed that as a sculptor, he could shape space to give it order and meaning, contextualized by the surroundings in which it existed.

It was only natural that furniture fell into his wheelhouse. Perhaps his most popular work, Noguchi designed a glass-topped table in 1947 to be produced by Herman Miller. The base of the table is made up of two identical wooden pieces, reversed and connected, and topped with a heavy plate glass top. When first sold, the table was marketed in the Herman Miller catalogue as “sculpture-for-use” and “design for production.” Noguchi strongly believed in producing his designs for mass market in order to bring fine art into the home.

At Optima, we are proud to showcase Noguchi’s furniture within our own spaces, designs which serve to amplify and activate the evocative Modernist exteriors and interiors of our buildings.

The Playful Work of Alexander Calder

Posted on September 25, 2019May 20, 2024 by Nancy

It’s no secret that we love color at Optima, and we carefully curate our interior furniture, textures and designs to reflect the vibrancy of our spaces. Our curated artwork is no exception, and throughout the halls of projects such as Optima Signature, Alexander Calder’s bright works greet residents with bold tones and distinct shape. A multimedia artist whose influence spans across decades, Calder’s work creates a meaningful connection to a rich piece of art history.

Calder’s Past

Born in Pennsylvania in 1898, Calder came from a family of artists; his grandfather and father both had rich careers as sculptors and his mother was a professional portrait artist. Though his family had artistic roots, they supposedly did not want him to follow in their footsteps. Calder began studying mechanical engineering in New Jersey, bouncing between jobs all while still being inspired by create. By the 1920s, Calder had moved back to New York to pursue a career as an artist.

Calder’s Artistic Career

After studying in New York, Calder moved to Paris where he studied, established a studio and met his future wife. While living in Paris, Calder joined the ever-growing network of avant-garde artists, including Fernand Léger, Jean Arp and Marcel Duchamp. Throughout his life, Calder maintained a strong connection to France, naming many of his works in French regardless of their location. After a lifetime of impactful creativity and exploration, Calder died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1976, leaving behind an expansive and far-reaching legacy.

Calder’s Legacy

Over his career, Calder produced a wide range of work, spanning from sculpture, to stage sets, paintings, prints and jewelry. Like previous generations of Calders, he was also a recognized large-scale sculptor. Flamingo, one of his more notable works in Chicago, adorns the Federal Plaza with beautiful form and the famous “Calder Red” color. We’re thrilled and honored to have the works of Alexander Calder throughout our buildings, and hope they bring a bright source of inspiration to those who view and enjoy them.

Optima Sculpture Spotlight: Kiwi

Posted on September 9, 2019September 1, 2020 by Nancy

A subtle but enhancing feature of many Optima projects, our sculptures adorn courtyards, amenity floors and common spaces. David Hovey Sr’s devotion to space and form translates from architecture to three-dimensional pieces, which are placed throughout our buildings to add a distinct aesthetic flair to our Modernist spaces.

Greeting both residents and visitors at the entrance of Optima Signature, the sculpture Kiwi was named after the same bird native to New Zealand, where David Hovey Sr was born. Although the sculpture is reminiscent of an animal, Hovey’s vision was something much more abstract. Starting out as a handful of freehand drawings, the sculpture was layered until it formed a tall, stacked piece. Set against the bold red of Optima Signature, Kiwi’s bright yellow color pops amidst the neutral-toned buildings within downtown Chicago.

The finishing touch on Kiwi’s Optima Signature location was installation; the base was carefully cemented into the ground to protect it from the bustle of downtown and the intense Chicago weather. Aside from its prominent location at Optima Signature, Kiwi is also featured at Relic Rock and Whale Bay House.

David Hovey Sr’s passion for sculpture reflects our collective passion for enhancing the spaces we build and exploring new interpretations of form, color and design. Stay tuned for more features on our other sculpture pieces.

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Blog type: Art & Sculpture