Close up of the hight reliefs projecting out from the display wall/architectural scaffold
Detail: center bay with the reliefs and the identifying laser-cut plaque
Study sketch, elevation, plan and section detail. Prismacolor on sepia
Display Wall for a Collector of Bronze Plaques
Rye, New York 1995
Judith DiMaio
Description and approach
The client is a contemporary art collector. Upon acquisition of a series of high reliefs telling a story about the environment, by the sculptor, Peter Gourfain, the client’s art consultant contacted DiMaio, and she was commissioned to design, in effect, an outdoor display wall that could be viewed from the client’s large garden.
The exterior elevation designated for hanging the bronze reliefs afforded an opportunity to create a ‘scaffold,’ or architectural framework for the display of figural material, the bronzes. DiMaio, to that end, balanced the programmatic requirements and relief sequence in such a way that the story was told without diminishing the power of the architectural scaffold, if you will, in favor of the bronzes, but rather their coexistence was choreographed in such a way as to heighten the ‘dialogue’ between frame and figural material creating a unified whole.
Furthermore, because the limbs of the figures in the high reliefs were so pronounced, the juxtaposition between the tautness of the surface, or frame, and the projections of the reliefs provided counterpoint and exaggeration one to the other. This project was yet another opportunity to apply her design-based research where the tectonics of architectural form are composed in conjunction with figural material.
Color palette and scheme
The color scheme developed by DiMaio, and the renowned artist and muralist Richard J Haas, was purposeful in its choices, as it highlighted and picked out the patina of the bronzes and, in turn, the white painted framework or 'display case.' Haas and his team executed the painted scheme. The gridded armature is painted mahogany—the wall is 17’ - 0” x 8’ - 8”.
Exterior photos: © Chun Lai Photography
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