There’s beauty in the chaos.
Over the years, Lorenz has made uncertainty something to embrace. Whether it’s an errant drip or a smeared elevator door, there’s beauty in the chaos. – Elle Decor Magazine, May 2018 (page 114)
“It’s important to allow incidental marks to happen. If something accidental didn’t happen, the work wouldn’t be so alive.” Nancy Lorenz says during an interview she did for Elle Decor’s May 2018 issue.
If you’re following me on Instagram or this blog, you know that I’m an art aficionado and I visit art museums everywhere I travel, from Tokyo to Florence. A couple of days ago, I was invited by San Diego Museum of Art to attend a private viewing event of a very unique exhibit by artist Nancy Lorenz called Moon Gold. I’m still in awe of the artwork I saw.
Before I start my rant about this exhibit, I want to let you guys know that I have a dual membership from the Museum to giveaway! You’ll have a chance to see this exhibit and other exhibits for a year and a lot of other perks like invitations to members-only events and more. All you have to do is:
- Leave a comment by letting me know what’s your favorite museum you’ve visited so far – anywhere in the world – on this Instagram post.
- Follow SDMA’s Instagram account.
Winner will be announced on my IG stories on June 7, 2018. Learn about what a Dual membership includes HERE.
Before our tour, we were treated by a ceremonial matcha ceremony by the lovely ladies from Holy Matcha. Again, if you’ve been following me for a while now, you know that I’m obsessed with Japanese culture and anything Japanese – especially matcha and mochi! This little intimate Japanese ceremony was a nice touch since the artist was inspired by traditional Japanese art and techniques after growing up in Tokyo.
Jeans: Levi’s 501 Crop Jeans / Straw bag (similar): Ulla Johnson / Shoes (similar): pink version / ring: Rosantica
Similar polka dot tops: off the shoulder / puff sleeve/ cutout dress (LOVE!!!)/ black polka dress
The tour was led by the museum’s Chief Curator Anita Feldman. We explored every single piece – 70 pieces in total, spanning 15 years – with Anita explaining to us how she created each piece and the techniques she used. She also created 2 new pieces for this exhibit, for which she sourced inspiration from pieces from the museum’s Asian collection.
The artist was trained in the conservation of Japanese decorative arts and antiques and employs traditional lacquering and gilding techniques, so it was very interesting for me to learn these techniques and how they were used in each piece. She is also known for her use of exotic and reflective materials, such as mother-of-pearl inlay, lacquer, and gold leaf, and seeing the pieces she created with these materials in real life is pretty fascinating I must say! If you’ve seen the behind the scenes of our tour in my IG stories, you’ll hear Anita explaining more about the artist’s technique. You can still watch them on my IG highlights.
Every artwork in this exhibit, from paintings to panel screens to drawings, sculptures, and gold leaf boxes, is a unique masterpiece. If you’re an art lover me, you’ll probably freak out. My new life goal is owning a piece from this collection for my dream house. I’ll keep you updated if that works out 🙂
While every piece is exquisite, there are 3 pieces that I still dream about. The first is the piece called “Silver Sea and Sky”. I call it Storm though 🙂 It’s so mesmerizing that words don’t even do the justice. See picture below.
My second favorite was a little room that is essentially twelve wood panels and a unique Ikebana sculpture. It’s called ‘Rock Garden Room’ and I felt like I was in one of the rock gardens I’ve been to in Kyoto – an artsy and more colorful version though. In the fancy words of the Elle Decor’s writer, “it’s a monumental installation of bronze tabletop sculptures depicting landscapes.”
And my third favorite is two pieces – can’t pick one of them! They’re both stunning wood panels – called ‘Night Sky Screen’ and ‘Silver Water Screen’. They’re both made with white gold leaf, mother of pearl inlay, glass, gesso, and lacquer. These two pieces definitely look very Japanese. They reminded me of the wood panels used in the ryokans (traditional Japanese guest house) I stayed in Hakone and Kyoto.
Based in New York, Nancy Lorenz has a huge following from the architecture and design world and this is her first solo exhibit! Some of her significant commissions around the world include high-end hotels and fashion houses like The Beverly Hilton Hotel, Soho Grand Hotel, Mandarin Oriental, Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Gucci, Tiffany & Co stores in Paris, Hong Kong, Japan, Dubai and more.
Fun fact: She commissioned custom pieces for names like Elton John, Cameron Diaz, Cindy Crawford, Anna Wintour, Tom Ford and Obama White House. Yes, I read her entire resume ‘cause I’m a geek sometimes 🙂 I also noticed on her resume that she created a selected collection for the United States Consulate in Istanbul, which is my hometown. I’m sure it’s pretty cool and would love to see it one day.
Anyway, I was honored to be one of the three influencers to be a part of this cool event and I hope I was able to give you guys an art lover’s perspective. This exhibit blew my mind and you guys really need to see in person. It will be on view until September 3, 2018. Learn more about this exhibit and how you can visit HERE.
If you want to see even more behind see the scenes from our private viewing, you can watch the IG stories highlight of The San Diego Museum of Art’s IG stories highlight called ‘MoonGoldTeaParty’ and my IG stories as well.
This post is in collaboration with The San Diego Museum of Art. As always all opinions are my own.
