Mattia Bonetti, the Paris-based artist and designer known for his bold blend of surrealism, modernism, art deco, and futurism in his furniture, was welcomed to the Paul Kasmin Gallery last Wednesday night, as he launched an enormous two-volume set of books: Mattia Bonetti Volume I and II. The evening featured an intimate cocktail reception, exclusive book signing, and a display of some of his famed pieces, including an entire wall of his Meander wallpaper at PK Shop. Also on view at the shop is Bonetti’s Boy Scout Mirror (20 editions) and Boy Scout Frame (50 editions), a pair of aluminum home accessories that were cast from actual tree branches, found in his hometown woods of Lugano, Switzerland.
Other works on display throughout the evening were a select group of his whimsical, futuristic furniture pieces, such as: the Meander armchair—a gold-plated bronze chair with ruby red upholstery; the Crystal Candies lamp—a lampshade made up of rock crystals with a supporting base of nickel brass; the Clouds coffee table—a gapped, swirling bronze low-seat table, pieced together with a table top of off kilter, oval-shaped glass; the Poppy chair—a carved wood and red-orange upholstery chair; the Cloud 9 side table—an small, eccentric piece of gilded wrought iron seemingly woven strict into amalgamate glass, and the Meander standard lamp—a tall gold-plated bronze and acrylic beauty of a lamp that stands among only seven others in its collection of eight.
