A short walk from our home is a little design complex called Le Bain. Devoted to the well-appointed bath, it contains a boutique featuring boudoir-related goods, two gallery spaces and, fronting the street, a marvelous, wagashi sweets shop (blogworthy in its own right). Flanked by two penthouse-like apartments upstairs, a courtyard unites the ground floor's disparate pieces. Downstairs is a showroom for the most elegant tubs, basins, showers and commodes on the planet. Heaven on earth for those prone to composing ideal bathrooms in our heads.
Lured by a poster for their current exhibitions, I wandered into Le Bain's galleries yesterday. Changing every fortnight or so, the avant garde displays tend to feature glass, ceramics, textiles, lacquer and, my personal favorite, wearable works of art.
At the moment twin installations of jewelry by Tomomi Matsunaga are being shown. One side features a collection of mostly brooches made from gold and silver-plated (or at least painted) fabric strips. Not usually my thing but the jury is still out. The other side is showing wonderful pieces made of bamboo. I particularly like the bracelets but they could be hard (impossible) to wear. Uniting the two spaces, the artifacts on both sides are fittingly displayed in oblong, wedge-shaped frames made of colored cloth. Suspended from the ceiling with invisible guidelines, they practically float. Very architectural and consistent with the jewelry's strong geometric character.
But the highlight of the exhibition is not meant for bodily adornment. An ikebana piece, it consists of an assortment of round blossoms contained in a boat-shaped vessel. Authored by the artist, the vase is made of laminated strips of cloth or vinyl held together with metal rivets. This technique is reminiscent of the jewelry, albeit on a larger scale and in a different color scheme. Dramatically lit from above, the spectacular arrangement is unexpectedly beautiful.
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