Colour in Architecture, solo exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts Gallery London

Colour In Architecture:

Kate Maestri is an architectural glass artist who is widely respected for her ambitious made-to-commission, site-specific public and private art projects. Often working at large scale, she has frequently collaborated with architects and engineers to create artworks which are integral to a building. Maestri is also known for her use of intense and glowing colour.

Colour in Architecture highlights her growing interest in smaller interior works. This solo show at Contemporary Applied Arts – where she is a long-standing maker member – also celebrates twenty years of her artistic practice and nods to the fusion of art, design and craftsmanship in her work.

Maestri employs modern technology, while using traditional, mouth-blown stained glass, together with screen-printed ceramic enamels, to produce a palette of the jewel-like colours which characterise her signature pieces.

Colour in Architecture shines a light on Maestri’s three-dimensional glass wall sculptures. These small- scale abstract pieces which are inspired by modernist 20th century architecture also serve as maquettes – or experimental three dimensional sketches – for her large-scale commissions. Cantilevered from the wall, the minimal structures create an illusion of floating colour.

The exhibition includes works of art inspired by architectural landmarks such as her response to the National Theatre, The Barbican and Kelmscott Manor, the summer home of William Morris, alongside a new series of wall sculptures for interiors.

Collaboration is a hallmark of Maestri’s artistic practice and for this exhibition she has partnered with a specialist design company whose work complements the glass sculptures on show: People Will Always Need Plates, who are best known for their architecturally-inspired homeware, have re-created the interior of the Isokon penthouse with illustrations, drawn to real life scale, on the gallery walls. They provide a context to Maestri’s glowing, three-dimensional glass wall sculptures.

Contemporary Applied Arts Gallery, London 2020

Photo credit @joshuamowll

Photo credit @philipvile