A startlingly original voice, Porky Hefer, having recently represented South Africa at the inaugural London Design Biennale, is set to confound audiences with his first solo exhibition in New York, at the prestigious design gallery R & Company.
An exploration into perception and natural instinct, Porky’s Heart of Lightness will invoke a new discourse around the sensibilities of handmade design, the joy of child-like reception and the transformative effects of meditation. With drama and intrigue, Porky’s pieces challenge us to shed what is learned for what is inherently and unconsciously known – to examine our responses, preconceptions and limitations. Here lies an opportunity to reconnect the senses, embrace visceral reactions and to welcome an innocent, open-hearted awe.
Porky Hefer was born in 1968, in the era where Radical Design emerged with futurist-designed environments and objects that were more than a chair or a table – pieces that would assault your eyes and also your spirit. It was during this time that Wendell Castle and Joe Colombo made units of self-sufficiency to isolate and change experiences completely. It opened up horizons and possibilities that fulfilled more than simply a basic need to sit.
In this same vein, to inhabit Porky’s hanging mask seat, drape yourself over his projecting leopard branch, climb inside his leather-lined human-scale hermit crab shell is not only to use a piece of furniture, but to assault your senses. While your eyes delight and then focus inward, you are intoxicated by the smell of hide and sheepskin. Cocooned from the world, your hearing is muted, as the hanging pods rock you to a distant memory of embryonic safety. To interact with this work is a completely transformative experience.
‘Porky creates immersive environments that allow people to escape into a different world,’ says R & Company principal Zesty Meyers. ‘They’re beautifully made and seemingly weightless objects that make people think about installation, performance and design in a new way.’
By presenting his show in a New York context, Porky makes an important statement about Africa. He tells a story of a continent embracing a strong artisanal spirit, rather than relying on mass-production from ‘the mothership’ global economy. He urges us to interrogate why we are so removed from our natural environments. With passionate focus on the magic of the hand, Porky executes his pieces intuitively, rather than according to learned design thinking, and, with age-old techniques and skills, he works alongside local craftsmen at the historic leather merchant Woodheads and The Cape Town Society for the Blind.
‘More and more animals are losing their basic instincts,’ he explains. ‘Humans lost theirs a long time ago with the advent of the societal norm. So we are tuned to do the right thing, and objects and items are designed to guide you to do the right thing. Can we create objects that inspire a more instinctual behaviour that don’t make you stop and think “will I look ok when I do this; is it the right way to sit when someone is watching?”.’
‘Porky has a viewpoint unlike any other designer,’ says Southern Guild co-founder Julian McGowan. ‘The apparent playfulness of the work belies the depth of thinking, research and evolution that underpins every piece. His is a rigorous study of civilization, humanity and the natural world.’
Southern Guild, the most respected design platform in South Africa, and R & Company, a gallery distinguished for groundbreaking artists, exhibitions and its preservation of design, have collaborated closely since 2012, taking some of the most exciting names in African design to New York City. Just one year after his first solo show at Southern Guild’s Cape Town gallery, and two years since he participated in the group show Grains of Paradise at R & Company, Porky has undergone a creative explosion and Heart of Lightness continues the designer’s dynamic trajectory in the international arena.
Heart of Lightness runs from 17 January to 23 February 2017.
For press enquiries, please contact:
Tracy Lynn Chemaly at Southern Guild
+27 21 461 2856
About R & Company
R & Company represents a distinguished group of historical and contemporary designers whose work is among the most innovative and finely crafted of their time. Zesty Meyers and Evan Snyderman founded R & Company in 1997 to realize their combined goal of promoting a closer study, appreciation and preservation of 20th and 21st century design.
Meyers and Snyderman have garnered international acclaim for their groundbreaking exhibitions and publications and for their commitment to preserving history through their extensive archives, library and private collection. Consistently, Meyers and Snyderman exhibit an extraordinary acumen for discovering and bringing designers to the forefront of the rapidly escalating design market.
R & Company is currently developing exhibitions and publications on the designers it represents — a diverse program that includes work from North America, South America, Europe and Asia produced between 1945 and today. In addition to the exhibition program and showroom in New York, Meyers and Snyderman offer the work of R & Company designers internationally, contribute widely to publications, and lecture frequently about design.
R & Company, 82 Franklin St, New York City, NY 10013
About Southern Guild:
Southern Guild is recognised as the most significant platform for collectible, limited-edition South African design. Exhibiting at the best design fairs around the world, and collaborating with leading global galleries and institutions, Southern Guild has spearheaded the high-end design category in Africa.
Cape Town Johannesburg
10 Lewin Street Trumpet Building
Woodstock Keyes Art Mile
Rosebank
+27 21 461 2856 +27 10 594 5062
Open Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Open Tues-Fri 10am-5pm
Sat by appointment only Sat 10am-3pm
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