FUTURA2000 / The Noguchi Museum
Futura Akari
Occupying the Museum’s former Shop, this installation presents a group of Akari light sculptures designed by Isamu Noguchi from 1952–86 and hand painted by FUTURA2000 in 2020. It also includes two cosmic paintings in aerosol on canvas, one of which, El Diablo, is a classic work from 1985.
Limited Editions
With the release of two limited edition series of Akari lanterns and hand-painted monoprints by FUTURA2000, ICNCLST/ is delighted to continue a collaboration with the The Noguchi Museum that began in 2020 with the exhibition Futura Akari.
In August 2021, in Isamu Noguchi’s former studio located across the street from The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, Queens, Leonard McGurr (FUTURA2000) hand-painted a series of Akari 1A, all of which feature designs by Noguchi screenprinted in yellow, orange, red, green, and grey colorways; and a series of hand-paintings on screenprints featuring surface designs for Akari. The two Akari print designs were created by Noguchi in different colorways for the Akari 1A beginning around 1954. The Akari prints are screenprinted in Japan on washi paper.
Each lamp and print is hand-painted and unique. A certificate of authenticity is included with each edition. The two limited edition series will be available for purchase through the museum starting Wednesday, September 14, at 12 pm ET.
Milan Design Week Showcase
A new chapter of “Futura Akari”, an ongoing collaboration between the Noguchi Museum and FUTURA2000 was brought to life at Capsule Plaza by Kaleidoscope Media taking place during Milan Design week. Between 1952 and 1986, Japanese artist Isamu Noguchi designed more than 200 Akari lanterns, conceived to function as miniature suns: sources of life and local generators of the environmental situation we call home. In doing so, they have become the most transformative, ubiquitous, and influential sculptures ever devised. This project features a group of Akari light sculptures designed by Noguchi and spray- and hand-painted by action painter FUTURA2000, a seminal figure in the history and culture of New York - and like Noguchi, an open-to-the-world boundary-crosser.
A hybrid between a fair and a collective exhibition, Capsule Plaza brings together designers and companies from various creative fields, bridging industry and culture with a bold and multi-sensory curation that spans interiors and architecture, beauty and technology, innovation and craft.
Editions from the “Futura Akari” Collaboration are available from the Isamu Noguchi Museum, and at the radical design shop powered by GOAT.