For her fourth New York City gallery show, British artist Lucy Williams rolled out a primer on the 1951 Festival of Britain, a national exhibition staged to salve post-war dreariness with a preview of the efficient, comfortable lifestyle promised by scientific achievement and modernist design. With "Festival," Williams set out to convey the colorful, utopian-leaning creations of architects and designers like Leslie Martin and Sir Basil Spence by illustrating them with a mixed-media potpourri of balsa wood, Plexiglas, wool embroidery, acrylic paint, cork, and paper. Lots of paper.
The amount of detail Williams is able to convey (in collage, no less) is pretty astounding. When starting on a piece, she often begins with black-and-white archival photos of her subject, but what she comes up with is a kind of timeless, formal ideal of each building, something perfectly suited for a self-consciously forward-looking architectural style focused on clean, straight lines. Head this way for her take on the Purfina Petrol Station and Mies' Farnsworth House.
· I Want To Live In These Incredibly Detailed Scenes Made of Paper [Gizmodo]
· Artistry archives [Curbed National]