MASTERPIECES AND TULIPS - MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2024
APRIL 2024
This Milan Design Week, BKV Fine Art opens its doors to Masterpieces (and Tulips) - an exhibition combining the worlds of contemporary collectible design and fine art. Collectible design has, for many years, been earmarked as the ‘intersection’ of art and design, however, what that means exactly, is open to interpretation.
“Collectible design blurs the boundaries between art and design” is a phrase we hear all too often on the topic but aren’t both disciplines already a raw expression of creativity, both a reflection of past experiences and culture and ultimately both hold a value that surpasses that of their material components? And if all of that is true, what is keeping collectible design from being considered art first and the result of that art - design?
Perhaps the often-used label of “functional art” gives us some insight into the assumed difference between the two. That function or no function differentiates design and art but if we’re to accept that function is what defines these two spaces then we must concede that art serves no function. In other words, we must accept that beauty, desire, expression do not constitute a function. Which, with the significance we attribute to and the benefits we gain from art in all its forms, is hard to do.
Masterpieces (and Tulips), by bringing together a colourful, textured bouquet of artists and objects, gives us the unique opportunity to examine each of these disciplines through the lens of the other. By setting the comparatively budding world of collectible design against such established artists as the ones present in BKV Fine Art, we allow any discrepancies between the two worlds to challenge the preconceived notions we may already have.
Photography: Marcello Maranzan
