For the second year running, the artist-designers Draga & Aurel took part with Todd Merrill Studio at Salon Art + Design New York, presenting FLARE, a capsule collection that explores the power of color and light refraction and consists of seven variants of a coffee table and a totem-sculpture made entirely of Lucite.
FLARE is the result of an impassioned study of materials and their ability to come “alive” through color and light. Already recognized globally as masters in the artistic use of epoxy resin, Draga & Aurel have continued their experimentation in this project by choosing Lucite, an acrylic material that is processed by hand using an unprecedented technique. To create the coffee tables and totem, Draga & Aurel collaborated with the best artisans on Lake Como, Italy, where the artists’ studio and workshop are located.
Inspired by South Korean artist Jiyong Lee’s study of the three-dimensionality of color and by the complex compositional technique used by Vasa Mihich for his acrylic sculptures, Draga & Aurel have focused on the concept of refraction, which arises from the composition and breakdown of matter. The colored Lucite sheets in different shapes and thicknesses are brought together to obtain interesting hues and then again cut and glued to produce a surprising beam of light on each piece— a kind of epiphany for the viewer. The result is multifaceted objects that change from every angle and thoroughly express the concept of a flare, representing intuition, revelation, and discovery.
