New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) celebrated the opening of two highly anticipated exhibitions for Spring. Surfacing a little-known chapter in design history, “Generation Paper: A Fashion Phenom of the 1960s” (on view through August 27) showcases dozens of rare paper garments and accessories. Combining bold graphic design with the era’s space-age experimentation, this enormously popular fashion trend ushered in a new wave of material innovation. With a focus on the use of clay as a tool for critique and satire, “Funk You Too! Humor and Irreverence in Ceramic Sculpture” (on view through August 27) brings together historical Funk ceramics with the work of contemporary artists who are expanding on Funk’s legacy of humor, subversion and expressive figuration.
MAD’s Chair Michele Cohen and Nanette L. Laitman and Director Tim Rogers were joined by MAD Curators Elissa Auther, Barbara Paris Gifford and Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy to welcome guests including Jennifer and Dory Altmann, Joann Blecker, Erik Bottcher, Bruce Gifford, John Kern, Barb Rosenberg, Sally and Peter Saul, Maryn Schiffmiller, Barbara Tober (MAD chair emerita), and artists Genesis Belanger, Almendra Bertoni, Elizabeth Glaessner, Nikki Maloof, Yvette Mayorga and Didi Rojas.
MAD Director of Education Lydia Brawner introduced a curator-moderated conversation with some of the artists from “Funk You Too!,” including Natalia Arbelaez, Sharif Farrag, Salvador Jimenez-Flores and Alake Shilling.
