Everything is made in America. The theme for the new design exhibition “Objects: USA 2024” might sound jingoistic. But the assortment of high-concept furniture, décor, jewelry, and fabulous functional design items looks more otherworldly than a stateside curation. What if the “Made in America” stamp stood for cutting-edge design?
The vibrant triennial survey refreshingly doesn’t skimp on color or humor—it’s more Pee-Wee’s Playhouse than Bauhaus or chic and minimal, and runs through January 10, 2025, at the influential Tribeca gallery R & Company. “Everyone identifies as an American,” said Kellie Riggs of the creators selected for the exhibition when we spoke by phone earlier this month. She co-curated the three-floor show with Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy.
Objects: USA 2024 at R & Company. Installation view with works by Dee Clements, Justin Favela, Luam Melake, and Coulter Fussell. Photo: Logan Jackson. Courtesy R & Company.
It’s a multigenerational show featuring living designers, from twenty-somethings to octogenarians, all of whom have an active practice. There’s the colorful and soft two-piece loveseat of Luam Meleke and the entrancing chandelier composed of circuitboards by Brian Oakes. There are amorphous mirrors, a swing for adults, a lamp with human feet, and dynamic fiber art wall hangings galore.
Ryan Decker, Sluggard Waker, 2023, UV-printed aluminum, PLA, acrylic, and lamp parts. Courtesy of the artist.
The exhibition starts off resoundingly. One enters into a Native Americana Futurist fever dream, with rainbow ombre walls and Misha Kahn’s Southwestern-via-another-dimension stainless steel “Windswept” table which is inlaid with turquoise glass. Ryan Decker’s Sluggard Waker lamp is a looming techno-organic totemic jellyfish dreamcatcher sentry in the corner.
Brian Oakes, Vessel 4, 2024, Circuit boards, electronic components, signal cables, power supplies, chain, and hardware. Courtesy of the artist.
“Objects: USA” is divided into 7 thematic sections with titles including “Truthsayers,” “Codebreakers,” and “Doomsdayers.” “We wanted to reject conventional categories,” Vizcarrondo-Laboy said. “Usually, anything that has to do with design or craft, it’s ‘oh this is furniture, this is ceramics, this is glass.’ We wanted to abandon those for something that was more interesting. So, we created these generative, fluid, action-based categories which are more like an approach to how an object is made. When you come into the show, hopefully you are engaged in a way where you’re coming to understand why makers are making what they make and what their approaches are about.”
Objects: USA 2024 at R & Company. Installation view with works by Cammie Staros, Ryan Decker, Liam Lee, and Francesca Dimattio. Photo: Logan Jackson. Courtesy R & Company.
That framework leaves lots of room for creativity, which comes through. “Sometimes that’s about material,” Riggs continued. “Other times it’s more about a response to contemporary times or political issues. And a lot of the artists and designers are in-betweeners. They fall within categories. They’re not solely in one space.”
Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy. Photo: Sigurjon Gudjpnsson/NYC DOT and Kellie Riggs Photo: Lucy Plato Clark. Courtesy of R & Company.
After the pair signed on for the massive undertaking, setting out to assemble an expansive survey in a little over a year, it took a while for their vision to coalesce. “I credit Angelik—she’s a very forward-thinking curator,” Riggs said. “I was trying to find late-career people who never got the attention they deserved, but Angelik was like, ‘No, this needs to be a time capsule of right now. It needs to be forward looking.’ I think that’s what we figured out.”
Objects: USA 2024 at R & Company. Installation view with works by Trey Jones, Nicole McLaughlin, and Kim Mupangilaï. Photo: Logan Jackson. Courtesy R & Company
“Objects: USA 2024” is on view at R & Company, 64 White Street, New York, through January 10, 2025.