In a world drowning in fleeting digital images, where every scroll brings a fresh wave of forgettable pixels, two designers dared to ask a crucial question: What truly lasts? Patrick McGrath and Michael Bargo, longtime friends, embarked on a quest to find objects that transcend trends. Their answer? The very things they've lived with and loved for years.
For McGrath, this meant Roman, Pre-Columbian, and Chinese antiquities – artifacts whispering stories of civilizations past. Bargo, on the other hand, found his timeless treasures in mid-century French design, particularly the works of Jean Prouvé, painstakingly collected over decades. Now, these seemingly disparate collections are united in a captivating exhibition at McGrath's newly opened gallery in downtown New York.
"The pairing felt both timely and inevitable," McGrath explains, highlighting the intriguing juxtapositions within the show. Imagine, for instance, a Pierre Patout bookcase proudly displaying Teotihuacan and Olmec masks. "There’s a tension there – it’s these really rarefied objects from both spectrums," Bargo adds. "Beautiful museum-quality antiquities, and then these raw, industrial pieces of furniture that were designed for the everyday man."
But here's where it gets controversial... the exhibition takes an unexpected turn, introducing a third element: the evocative interior photographs of Bruce Weber. Above a Prouvé daybed, a larger-than-life Weber print captures a Grecian-style statue at Chatsworth, the magnificent English estate of the Duchess of Devonshire. Behind a display of pre-Columbian artifacts, Weber's images from Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s house offer a glimpse into another world. And perhaps most strikingly, a Roman bust stands before a snapshot of Sofia Coppola’s famously cluttered Los Angeles office, representing, as McGrath sees it, the ongoing tension between control and chaos.
Weber himself admits, "I never really did anything like this before." Intrigued by the friends' unusual request to explore his archive of interior shots, he readily agreed. "I said, yeah, sure, that sounds different for me…It's really funny, because I just take pictures inside places that I like, where I want to sit down on the couch or go to sleep on the sofa," which, in his world, means capturing the essence of Cy Twombly’s residence in Gaeta or Jil Sander’s Hamburg home. Imagine stumbling upon these intimate spaces through Weber's lens!
And this is the part most people miss... it's not about perfect staging or flawless design. Weber's approach is refreshingly authentic. Take, for example, his perspective on Coppola's desk. "It was a mess—and I loved it. I don’t want to redecorate the place." He captures the lived-in beauty, the personality etched into the everyday.
"Bruce shoots things in a really raw, romantic way," Bargo emphasizes. "I feel like so frequently, interiors photographers only shoot things in a straightforward, glossy, everything-styled-perfectly way. The beauty of his are that they are of a surfer’s shack in Montauk that on the surface has zero appeal whatsoever." It's the imperfections, the unexpected details, that make his photographs so compelling.
Given complete access to Weber's extensive archive, Bargo and McGrath faced the daunting task of selecting just 20 images. Incredibly, they found themselves independently drawn to the same pieces. "Everything just seemed to make sense," Bargo recalls. "They all seemed cohesive as a body of work."
For McGrath, a clear narrative thread connects the three distinct elements of the exhibition, which runs until December 3rd. "The antiquities are literal, historical icons; the Prouvé furniture started off as very utilitarian, modernist furniture and now has become the premier icon of modernism; and Bruce is one of the most iconic photographers of the 90s," he explains, emphasizing that this particular body of Weber's work remains largely undiscovered. Weber himself adds, "These pictures were of people who were my friends, not just people I worked with," reminiscing about Iman and David Bowie, and fondly remembering visits with the late model Stella Tennant at Chatsworth.
"There’s a beautiful narrative in the sense that it's very personal for us," Bargo concludes.
But perhaps the most powerful statement of all is this: "It's the antithesis of this Instagram age," McGrath declares. "Furniture that has stood the test of time and for the antiquities, these are things that are still so beautiful after tens of thousands of years. There’s something about the permanence." In a world obsessed with fleeting trends, this exhibition celebrates enduring beauty and timeless design.
In the ultimate testament to a successful collaboration, the entire installation process took just two hours, with minimal discussion. "We barely even spoke," McGrath reveals. The pieces simply fell into place, a testament to the intuitive connection between the objects, the photographers, and the designers themselves.
Now, what do you think about the juxtaposition of ancient artifacts and modern design? Do you agree that Weber's raw, romantic style captures the true essence of a space? And in an age of fleeting trends, how important is it to seek out objects that stand the test of time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
