The LOEWE FOUNDATION presents the third exhibition in its Chance Encounters series, bringing together artists from various disciplines in order to explore unexpected conversations. This year, Sara Flynn, Richard Smith and Lionel Wendt present their works at the LOEWE Miami District store, which was designed around a monumental 18th century granary. “Art and craft are at the centre of my creative process and these exhibitions are an exciting way of exploring artists that are important to me”, says Jonathan Anderson, LOEWE’s Creative Director.
For this edition, Irish ceramist Sara Flynn has been commissioned to produce a new body of ceramic work inspired by the space and materiality of the granary, which was brought over from Portugal and rebuilt stone by stone. Despite using a wheel to throw her pots, her subsequent interventions result in complex and irregular shapes that challenge our reading of the vessels, bringing them into closer dialogue with the language of sculpture. Flynn was one of the 26 finalists of the first LOEWE Craft Prize.
Richard Smith was one of the most original artists of his generation. He emerged in the late 1950s and became known for works that challenged the accepted traditions of painting. His 1975 work Shuttle will be exhibited soaring above the LOEWE store granary. Specially commissioned for the Tate that same year, the installation is comprised of a series of coloured canvases stretched across aluminium rods reminiscent of tent structures. Smith’s work ‘Both Halves (A)’ was acquired by LOEWE in 2016 and is currently displayed in the firm’s Madrid flagship store.
The renowned photographer Lionel Wendt, who was originally trained as a concert pianist, took up photography later in life after studying in the UK. He created a ground-breaking body of work documenting life in his home country of Ceylon as well as homoerotic portraits that were considered radical at the time. After his premature death in 1944, most of his negatives were destroyed. However, his prints were rediscovered in the 1990s and he is now considered one of the key proponents of modernist photography. His work was presented as part of the setting for the LOEWE Fall 2017 collection at the Unesco building in Paris.
Chance Encounters III. From 4th December 2017 to 4th February 2018. LOEWE Miami Design District, 110NE 39th Street, Suite #102. Miami, Florida (USA).
Photo Captions: Chance Encounters III © Naho Kubota
