14 architectural pieces stand out in the first exhibition focused on Mexican architect Antonio Attolini Lack’s facet as furniture designer, where other accessories from his collection are also included.
Antonio Attolini Lack (1931-2012) is one of the most interesting examples of the development and evolution of Mexico’s 20th century architectural language. Having dabbled in practically every architectural genre and also having dialogued with modern functionality as well as with the Mexican Neocolonial approach, he knew how to synthetize both currents to develop his own, today unmistakable, style..
My father was an artist in the first place, then an architect. He had another perspective of architecture. He could have been an architect without having studied, he had it in his blood”. – Bosco Attolini, son of the architect, during the opening of the exhibition.
Author of an endless number of works, houses and buildings, the famous Santa Cruz Church in Pedregal de San Ángel, Mexico City, stands out. Started by his teacher José Villagrán, and finished by Attolini after the former’s death, it was one of the first exercises for the architect, where he designed absolutely everything, from the main lamp and the rest of them, to the chairs, carpets, and a long etcetera. Casa Gálvez and the building that houses the Asociación Mexicana de Automovilistas are other works among his creations, but he also designed doorknobs, hinges, jewelry, and textiles.
He conceived architecture as an art. Drawing and creating spaces, generating environments with light was something he felt passionate about. He saw architecture as a passion.
Galería Clásicos Mexicanos rescues in this small sample, part of the pieces designed by the architect (beyond his architecture) along his 60-year long career.
The exhibition’s curator, Aldo Solano, tells how curious it is, that architecture can be better explained when you begin with furniture. In Attolini’s case, you can see perfectly that architecture can be a little more abstract. There are pieces of furniture that are regional and brutal at the same time, they preserve the discourse of traditional material and artisanal work, while inserting them into the Mexican modern movement.
Perfectionist for concepts, he liked for things to stay the way nature left them when it came to specifics, he was not fine detail oriented and this can be seen in a single object; the wholeness of the architect’s thinking.
Through this showing, we can perfectly understand the modern Mexican taste developed by the architect, whose idea is to focus on the core of architecture.
WHERE: Galería Clásicos Mexicanos
WHEN: Through February 1st, 2019