Masks

"When you know how to look, you see." An artist's inspiration can be found in places both exotic and ordinary. The words of great poets, a great lavender field, or a household kitchen sink have all been starting points for some of the world's greatest known works of art. In Thierry Despont's Masks, weird and discarded objects, old tools abandoned in the dark corners of foreign shops, hétéroclite bric-a-brac, and wondrous rejects of our blind civilization are the medium through which...
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"When you know how to look, you see." An artist's inspiration can be found in places both exotic and ordinary. The words of great poets, a great lavender field, or a household kitchen sink have all been starting points for some of the world's greatest known works of art. In Thierry Despont's Masks, weird and discarded objects, old tools abandoned in the dark corners of foreign shops, hétéroclite bric-a-brac, and wondrous rejects of our blind civilization are the medium through which the artist uncovers phantoms and strange beings from a poetic universe. As he lays his findings on old cutting boards found in Parisian flea markets, suddenly a mask appears. Brushes, brooms, cleavers and scissors are among the quotidian objects transformed by the artist into the mysterious sculptures featured in this striking volume. And each expression is a small poem, a smile, an emotionâe¦. Based in New York, Thierry Despont is an architect, designer, and artist who ranks as one of North Americas and Europe's top residential designers. He was Associate Architect for the Centennial Restoration of the Statue of Liberty, restored the Frick family mansion in Pittsburgh, renovated Claridge's in London, and designed the interiors of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, among many other projects and solo exhibitions. Most recently, Assouline published Planets, a monograph of his paintings on wood panel or on copper mounted on wood panel that depict nebulas and celestial bodies, and reflect Despont's three lifelong interests of abstract painting, formalism, and astronomy. 150 colour illustrations