Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Sonambient (1979)


A beautiful example of interdisciplinary high modernism (apologies, Clement Greenberg). Harry Bertoia is best known for those chairs at mid-century design stores where the prices sure as shit aren't within my reach- which is just fine, 'cause I like my living spaces a little less than clean and spare. Anyhoo, when he wasn't creating iconic furniture, Bertoia made sculptures, a large series of which utilized materials like clusters of thin metal rods and which would be fantastic works even if they didn't also double as sound devices.

Bertoia recorded hiself "playing" his sculptures, creating expansive washes of metallic sound. He released a series of 10 LPs on his own Sonambient label, all featuring highly unified designs; I think you can see his minimalist aesthetic on clear display here. From "Belissima, Belissima, Belissima/ Nova."

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