Event: ‘Lazy Hazy’ vintage and classic outdoor furnishings exhibition at Chen Loft
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When it comes to outdoor rooms, most people call it a day with a dining set, loungers and, perhaps, a daybed. So, it’s best to view ‘Lazy Hazy,’ J.F. Chen’s glamorous presentation of designer alfresco furniture, as an inspiring example of what a patio can look like with a sky’s-the-limit budget.
Staged like an art exhibition, ‘Lazy Hazy’ is made up of eye-candy tableaux, including furniture and accessories in a range of styles and periods. There are 19th century carved stone pieces and cast-iron animals, early 20th century antler chairs, post-World War II modern designs by Richard Neutra and Walter Lamb, Architectural Pottery planters, and contemporary work such as the Eslicardo modular enameled aluminum screen, above, by artist Mark Caplan. The works are for sale, but brace yourself for sticker shock.
The show highlights ‘the various directions in which furniture designers have taken outdoor furniture design, from metal to rattan, from complex to simple,’ says Joel Chen, owner of J.F. Chen and curator of the show, which features pieces from Reform Gallery and California Living. The lush greenery on display, including a moss wall, is provided by the local exotic plant store The Tropics.
‘What is so great about outdoor furniture, especially from the middle 20th century period,’ Chen adds, ‘is that it is still an under-explored frontier,’
Among the discoveries in the show, which runs through Aug. 13 at Chen Loft, 941 N. Highland Ave. in Los Angeles: Ceramist David Cressey’s Glyph Wall, right, a mid-1960s set of free-standing stoneware totems that can be used as a wall or room divider indoors or out.
In front of it, Michael Wilson’s 2010 Tarantula table lives up to its name with spidery ebonized wood legs and metal feet.
See a close-up of the Cressey wall and more after the jump
Above: A set of Vladimir Kagan Capricorn chairs sit in front of Mark Caplan’s Eslicardo screen. Below: A close-up view of David Cressey’s Glyph Wall, left, and midcentury modernist metal chairs by the architect Dan Johnson.
Below: At right, a circa 1880 cast iron stag, carved stone mushrooms and Willy Guhl’s 1954 Loop Modern curved chair made from Eternit, a cellulose-infused fiber cement.
Above: In a black-and-white Hollywood Regency space decorated with neo-classical iron furniture by Salterini, a pair of bronze lambs flank a 1950s faux bamboo metal mirror.
-- David A. Keeps
Photo credits: Christina House / For The Times