PROGRAM CURATED BY JOAKIM ANDREASSON
DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH CALLE HENZEL

The program was initiated in 2013 by Joakim Andreasson together with Calle and Asa Henzel. In 2014, twelve debut rugs were exhibited at Barneys New York Madison Avenue, in a site-specific installation designed by Dennis Freedman in conjunction with Frieze Art Fair New York. The launch received unparalleled critical acclaim and was hailed as a game-changer in the dynamics between art and design. The program has since traveled globally with dedicated exhibitions at notable venues such as JOYCE Hong Kong, Colette Gallery (Paris), The Edition West Hollywood, Gagosian Store (New York), Twentieth Gallery (Los Angeles), The Goss-Michael Foundation (Dallas), and The Webster (Miami). Pieces have also been featured in museum exhibitions at MOCA Cleveland, Boca Raton Museum of Art, and Katonah Museum of Art.

This exhibition serves as a snapshot of select designs to celebrate and honor our collaborative work to date. It is not intended as a comprehensive survey or retrospective, as we are only scratching the surface of what’s to come.
– Asa Henzel, CEO of Henzel Studio

PROGRAM ETHOS
Henzel Studio Collaborations was conceived with no regard to the past state of art and design. Contrary to common associations with rugs—an object that inherently possesses a strong sense of history and references to defined artistic and aesthetic movements—the purpose of this project is to provide a new and extraordinary channel for art to be made available through an alternate medium. Via a curated lens, a new context is shaped to reflect diverse dynamics of contemporary art and design.

Each phase or stage of the program represents a different visual portrayal that transcends temporal or popular factors in this ongoing initiative. The key factor that informed the concept behind Henzel Studio Collaborations and made it possible is the artistic practice of Calle Henzel, founder and creative director of Henzel Studio. Since 1999, he has created an autodidactic operation where his work as an artist is expressed through the medium of rugs. Early in his artistic career, he turned to rugs via a path of textile experimentation that solidified his commitment to the medium. With uncompromised artistic integrity and a creative methodology, he has created his own independent and commercially viable structure. Over the years, Henzel has mastered the production of his chosen art form, utilizing techniques that have been developed and preserved by local communities in Nepal and India for centuries. Both author and producer of his designs, Henzel has elevated the implementation of art into the medium at hand and further blurred the distinction between disciplines.

The inclusion of the participating artists was, in part, inspired by Calle Henzel’s independent voice and stature in the world of art and design. Each artist was invited and selected to synergize with the next, gravitating toward artists that have each established their own rules in the art world, either by practice or by status. The result is a curation that, when combined, offers an eclectic, aesthetically broad, and authentic grouping, with an overall common denominator of openness to the cross-disciplinary practice at hand, which can also be traced in the artists’ bodies of work.

Art rugs have been around for quite some time in various forms, and some of the most prominent artists—including Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Robert Indiana, Mike Kelley, Ellsworth Kelly, Fernand Léger, Roy Lichtenstein, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol—have all turned to the medium at some point in their oeuvre. However, rather than looking back, we aim to encapsulate facets of contemporary art and work with a curated group of artists who simultaneously express their ethos within a broad yet defined scope. Having now forty leading contemporary artists collaborate in this capacity makes Henzel Studio Collaborations an unprecedented program, even though the artisan practices remind us that the possibility has always been there. The artists are all groundbreaking and leading forces within their respective fields and media, ranging from sculpture, drawing, collage, photography, installations, reliefs, and video art. Their mark has not only been honored and highlighted at leading galleries and institutions worldwide but also widely documented and manifested as a mirror of cultural movements. For example, there’s Scott Campbell’s autonomous voice as both a tattoo and fine artist; Linder’s uncompromising work that helped shape the aesthetic of punk; Robert Knoke’s redefining of portraiture for the 21st century; Richard Prince’s enthralling methods of re-appropriation; Helmut Lang’s sculptural exploration beyond the human form; and Leo Gabin spearheading the immersion of online user-generated content into art. Free to disregard design movements and related principles and rules, the featured artists were invited to freely and seamlessly translate their work and artistic ethos into the medium at hand, exploring shape, volume, and finishings, where practicality was secondary to concept. The creative brief allowed the artists to embrace the outcome as part of their body of work. Whether these rugs are hung on a wall or displayed on the floor, the chosen context will be as subjective as the question of applied versus fine art—a distinction we encourage and hope will remain.
– Joakim Andreasson

GALLERY HOURS

Henzel Studio Collaborations 1st Decade opens February 20, running through April 10.

February 24–April 10:
Fridays: 12-6 PM
Saturdays: 12-4 PM
Sundays: 12-4 PM
And by appointment by emailing or texting Joakim Andreasson at +1 646 436 2156 / jandreasson@culture-edit.com
Book 24 hours in advance at 310-360-6425 or via info@culture-edit.com

Entry via PDC Security at the Blue Building Lobby Info Desk. Press parking validation available with advance notice.

Free admission. We appreciate any donations to the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.

LEARN MORE

John Waters portrait, photo by Greg Gorman