A Strong Wave of Delicate Design

Chicago hosted its 2015 Annual International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art and showcased the artworks of 146 galleries from around the world. While countless artists were featured in the Chicago Expo, an installation from a local artist seemed to be most eye-catching. The artist, Sung Jang was a graduate and now Assistant Professor and Director at the Art Institute in Chicago. His installation presented new design possibilities in the world of industrial design that lent elegance and beauty to the medium art form. Jang featured a collection of suspended whale installations that measured 8 meters long and each made up of 10,000 individual polypropylene units.

The affect of using thousands of parts to form a large object lends to the balance of elegance in motion and a sense of extravagance. According to the artist’s website,

“It is based on the notion of efficiency…An elegant woman does not seem to try hard to look beautiful but somehow she is able to command culture, aesthetics, and other values effortlessly.”

These whales were the first projects in a series of polypropylene pieces debuted in 2014, collectively entitled mobi. Suspended in space, these floating whales convey both mass and simplicity, drawing attention to the importance of beauty in abstract form.

Other pieces in the mobi collection include low tables, a suspended chandelier, and an open chamber. The sum creations of these units prove themselves to be masterpieces of complex yet elegant industrial design that we hope to see more of from Sung Jang in the future.