‘Pleasurscape’ installation explores boundaries of art and design

‘Pleasurscape’
installation explores boundaries of art and design
…………………………………………………………………

“Pleasurscape,”
a new installation by award-winning designer Karim Rashid,
will be on view at the Rice Art Gallery Jan. 25 through
Feb. 25.

Rashid is internationally
recognized as one of the most innovative designers working
today. His vision for the future, as reflected in his concept
for the Rice Gallery, is one where furniture and space merge.

“Pleasurscape
is a metaphor for a continuous world,” Rashid said,
“a neutral landscape and an undulating surface that
is reconfigurable and sizable ad infinitum.”
The opening reception Thursday, Jan. 25, from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m., will feature remarks by guest curator Jennifer King
and by Rashid at 6 p.m. Refreshments, including ale handcrafted
by the brew master at Saint Arnold Brewing Co., will be
served. The event is free and open to the public.

“Rashid’s
exhibition will explore the confluence of installation art,
architecture and modern design,” King noted. “Contemporary
artists, architects and designers all are thinking about
ways to integrate the built environment into our daily lives.
The Rice Gallery, a project space dedicated to installation,
is the perfect forum to explore how these forms are more
alike than different.”

Rashid’s
product designs include the best-selling Oh-Chair and Garbo
Can, both produced by Umbra. He also has designed for clients
such as Giorgio Armani, Issey Miyake and Sony. In 1999,
Rashid was recognized as one of the 10 most creative furniture
designers working today as a recipient of the George Nelson
Design Award.

He is the recipient
of numerous other awards, including the Daimler Chrysler
1999 Award, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Collab Award,
1999, and the ID Magazine Annual Review Design Distinction
in 1999. Rashid’s work is represented in the permanent
collections of many major museums, and he has exhibited
work at the Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum
of Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the
Wexner Center for the Arts.

Rashid was born
in Cairo, Egypt, in 1960. In 1993, he opened his design
practice in New York City, where he continues to live and
work.

Guest curator
King graduated from Rice in 1996 with a bachelor’s
of art in art and art history. She served as the visual
arts coordinator at DiverseWorks Artspace in Houston from
1996 to 1997 and worked as a curatorial assistant at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from 1997 to 1999. She currently
is a graduate student in the history of art at Williams
College in Williamstown, Mass.

Visit the Rice
University Art Gallery online at <www.rice.edu/ruag>.
Located on the Rice University campus near Houston’s
Museum District, the Rice Art Gallery encourages the creation
and appreciation of contemporary art. Exhibitions focus
on site-specific installations.

To reach the
gallery, enter the university through campus Entrance 1
at the intersection of Main Street and Sunset Boulevard.
Turn left at the end of the entrance road and proceed straight
ahead into visitor parking. The gallery is nearby on the
ground floor of Sewall Hall.

The Rice Gallery
is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday
until 8 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed
Mondays, university holidays and during the summer months.

Admission is
free. Wheelchair access is on the south side of Sewall Hall,
the left side of the building.

Rice Art Gallery
programs are supported in part by the Rice Gallery patrons
and members, the Brown Foundation, the Kilgore Endowment
and by grants from the city of Houston and Texas Commission
on the Arts through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris
County. Continental Airlines is the official airline of
the Rice Gallery. KUHF, Houston Public Radio and the Saint
Arnold Brewing Co. are sponsors.