maison bardot | Antiparos

selected historical design
artworks by Brian Rochefort (Courtesy MASSIMODECARLO)

The summer exhibition at maison bardot continues with a new dialogue between Antiqua’s curated selection of historical design and a group of ceramic sculptures by the American artist Brian Rochefort, presented in collaboration with MASSIMODECARLO Gallery.

The presentation brings together a selection of five artworks dating from 2020 to 2024, highlighting different moments in Rochefort’s practice. Renowned for his vibrant colours, richly textured surfaces, and organic, almost volcanic forms, Rochefort develops each work through an intensive process of layering clay and glaze over multiple firings, creating sculptures of extraordinary depth, complexity, and material presence. Alongside three large-scale works, the exhibition includes two smaller artworks from the Paint Can series, inspired by the iconic metal paint cans seen in photographs of Francis Bacon’s studio. Their cylindrical forms become painterly surfaces, referencing artists such as Joan Mitchell, Willem de Kooning, and Albert Oehlen, whose gestural abstraction has profoundly influenced Rochefort’s visual language.

Rochefort’s works enter into dialogue with Antiqua’s selection of twentieth-century furniture and lighting, bringing together iconic pieces by Gae Aulenti, Superstudio, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Ettore Sottsass, Ilmari Tapiovaara, and other leading European designers. Spanning the 1950s to the 1990s, Antiqua’s selection reflects the gallery’s ongoing research into post-war European design, bringing together works distinguished by their sculptural presence, exceptional craftsmanship, historical significance, and enduring collectable value. Rather than establishing a contrast between contemporary art and historical design, the exhibition reveals unexpected affinities through material experimentation, expressive form, colour, and craftsmanship, allowing works from different periods and disciplines to enrich one another.

The dialogue unfolds within the distinctive architecture of maison bardot, conceived by architect Andreas Kostopoulos of MPNYC as a sequence of fluid, interconnected domestic spaces. Characterised by soft curvilinear walls, textured lime-plaster surfaces, and terracotta floors that rise seamlessly into sculptural display plinths, the house dissolves the boundaries between architecture, exhibition, and landscape. More than a backdrop, the space actively shapes the experience of the works, allowing historical design and contemporary sculpture to exist in continuous dialogue with the changing light and atmosphere of the Cycladic environment.

Selected works by: Franco Albini & Franca Helg, Fontana Arte, Gae Aulenti, Osvaldo Borsani, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Bruno Gambone, Bruno Gatta, Gianfranco Frattini, Angelo Mangiarotti, Alessandro Mendini, Sergio Mazza, Carlo Mollino, Ico Parisi, Ettore Sottsass, Stilnovo, Marco Zanuso, alongside a selection of anonymous Italian works from the 1950s to the 1970s.