A new, multi-layered exhibit that explores optical illusions and the relationship between art and architecture in wallpaper is coming to the Rodger Mack Gallery in Syracuse University’s Shaffer Art Building.

The free exhibit will open Jan. 21 at 5:15 p.m. and is scheduled to last until mid-February.

Assistant architecture professor Jonathan Louie teamed up with Visual and Performing Arts professor Stephen Zaima to create the exhibit, titled “Big Will and Friends.” The exhibit features a three-room structure made up of patterned wallpaper. The wall adjacent to the structure holds a collage of different design elements.

“(The exhibit is) the chance to take something so dominant in our homes, and find ways to think about it through the lens of architecture,” Louie said.

Louie has been researching wallpaper for the past six months, and developed the idea for the exhibit after reading an article titled “The Wonderful Ways of Wallpaper” in a 1954 edition of House Beautiful Magazine. The article discusses the ways in which the domestic family could liven their home up with wallpaper.

“I’ve been really fascinated with the way wallpaper intersected art, architecture and interior design over the years,” Louie said, who has placed a special emphasis on post-war American homes and the wallpaper in them.

Zaima, on the other hand, finds his architectural inspiration from his father, who was an architect. He also used Charles Burchfield’s work with wallpaper in the 20th century as a historical reference.

“The thing I found most fascinating were the things that (Zaima) used; products that architects design with — like drafting tape — and the way that he re-collaged those into his work,” Louie said in reference to Zaima’s part of the installation.

Zaima said he and Louie met a little over a year ago working on a collaborative project commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, organized by Syracuse’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Both professors said they find joy in taking things that are ordinary or common and “really looking into them and altering them to do something new or something fresh,” Louie said.

“When we collaborate, we come out with something not only different from what we would create on our own, but we create something unexpected,” Zaima said.

The structure itself was designed entirely by Louie, and Zaima created the three collages featured on the adjacent wall. Zaima said the presence of a patterned wall next to the structure, as opposed to a blank white wall, changes the audience’s perception of it.

“It tends to change how we view things,” he said. “If you see the same work in a gallery with a plain white wall, it says something different to you.”

As for the name of the exhibit, “Big Will” is the structure itself and the “Friends” refers to the patrons viewing the exhibit. Louie explained that the name invites interaction between the exhibit and the audience.

Thursday night’s opening will also feature a series of dance performances, planned for 5:45 p.m., choreographed by architecture student Stephanie White.

A number of Louie and Zaima’s previous and current students are planning on attending and are excited and curious to see their professors’ work.

“I’ve seen some of his work that he has showed us during class before and I’m excited to see more of what he has done and is working on,” sophomore architecture student Juliet Domine said. “The work I’ve seen so far is very interesting and I look forward to seeing more.”

Furthermore, Zaima invited students from his online course to attend his opening in order to meet his students in person.

Visitors to the exhibit are also encouraged to try on catalogue suits provided at the opening. Dancers in the scheduled performances will be wearing similar costumes. Louie explains the suits were designed to blend the viewer into the exhibit and make them completely immersed in the space.

“I am looking forward to see how people interact and move through the space,” Louie said.

Overall, this exhibit is a physical representation of Louie’s latest interest in the world of art and architecture.

“As an architect, we don’t necessarily consider wallpaper as an architectural product, even though it’s such a large part in the production of space in our work,” he said.

Similar to how wallpaper manufacturers borrow from art for wallpaper designs, Louie says he is borrowing from the arts for architecture.

Louie received a faculty work grant from the School of Architecture for the gallery. Additional funding came from the MacDowell Colony and the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Published on January 20, 2016 at 9:49 pm

Contact Hanna: hrhorvat@syr.edu