Carpenters Workshop Gallery, in partnership with the Lombard Odier Group, are proud to present DYSFUNCTIONAL at Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro Palazzo on the Grand Canal during Biennale Arte 2019.

The exhibition will present works by established and rising artists seeking to break the thin boundaries between art, architecture and design. The site-specific works combine extraordinary craftsmanship with strong artistic and emotional expression.

17 artists from the Carpenters Workshop roster have been invited to create a dialogue between the jaw dropping architecture of Ca’ d’Oro, its impressive collection of Italian masters and the best of contemporary collectible design. To name a few, Atelier Van Lieshout, Studio Drift, Maarten Baas, Nacho Carbonell, Vincent Dubourg, Verhoeven Twins and Virgil Abloh, who recently joined the gallery.

Their works will draw on the artistic heritage of the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti, which features masterpieces such as Andrea Mantegna’s St Sebastian, Jan van Eyck’s Crucifixion and Bernini’s Rio della Plata, a terracotta model for his Fountain of the Four Rivers.

The works in the exhibition resonate with Venice’s rich heritage of craftsmanship and artistic expression. Virgil Abloh, who recently joined the gallery’s roster of international artists, will create his first ever functional sculpture collection which is inspired by the lagoon city and its acqua alta (high tide). Nacho Carbonell’s tree-like organic sculptures will transform the Monumental Courtyard of 15^th century mosaics into a forest of light. Their shimmering texture will reference the gilt and polychrome decorations which once adorned the palazzo’s façade and their cocoon metal mesh shapes will echo the quatrefoils that decorate the windows of ‘the golden house’.
 

DYSFUNCTIONAL seeks to forget function whilst celebrating the power of artistic expression. The idea of dysfunction, defined as ‘the disruption of normal social relations’, invites visitors to rethink the conventional relationship between form and function, art and design, the historical and the modern.

Julien Lombrail and Loic le Gaillard, co-founders of the Carpenters Workshop Gallery, comment: “We purposely decided to stage DYSFUNCTIONAL during the world’s most important art exhibition, the Venice Art Biennale, to question what defines an artwork, why can artworks not be functional and when does design become art? All works are an expression or application of tremendous creative skill, to be appreciated for their beauty, imaginative or emotional power. By creating this dialogue, we want to follow the spirit of Baron Giorgio Franchetti, who rejuvenated Ca’d’Oro in 1894 and was an avant-garde collector for his time. In partnership with Lombard Odier, with whom we share the same vision, we want to invite visitors to go on an immersive journey in time and explore the blurred lines between art and design in the context of the rich Venetian heritage.

Frédéric Rochat, Managing Partner and Co-Head of Private Clients at Lombard Odier, commented, “The Carpenters Workshop Gallery partnership is a natural collaboration for Lombard Odier, given our shared approach as true “Rethinkers”. This exhibition successfully fuses art and design, displaying bespoke works of unique savoir-faire. Innovation and customisation are part of Lombard Odier’s identity, having consistently reinvented our business over seven generations and two centuries, to provide innovative and tailored advice to our clients in times of change.”