The National Museum of Decorative Art, MNAD, presents “Hybrid Territory”, the exquisite sample of Christian Mohaded (Catamarca, 1980) curated by Wustavo Quiroga, in which master craftsmen participate, whose names are next to each of the exhibited furniture and objects.
The shapes and textures of the more than 20 author’s pieces offer the visitor an experience capable of transferring them to various regions of the Argentina. They reveal the thought of Mohaded who, before exhibiting here at the Errázuriz Palace, went through and continues to go through art and design spaces such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Musée Les Arts Décoratifs de Paris. More here, Mohaded participated in exhibitions at Fundación Proa and at Praxis gallery in 2017. Then he said that “what is not explored cannot be found, it is necessary to travel paths without walking; decontextualize the material, avoid reproductive thinking that pigeonholes solutions ”.
Thus, searching, he traveled more than 32,000 kilometers through Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy. “Christian Mohaded orchestrates the stories of a country and its personal imagination, traditional knowledge and experimentation. From the link with its roots, it generates an authentic story that focuses on regions outside the design scene, such as Catamarca and its different towns, and activates them, ”says Quiroga, president of Fundación IDA, Investigación en Diseño Argentino.
The contrast generated between the Europeanizing environment and the Creole objects enrich both. The halls of the majestic MNDA display various techniques and materials divided into thematic modules. The objects were made with “Handmade weaving on a Creole loom, Creole rope in the work of raw cowhide and seams in fine tientos of foal leather, carpentry work with native woods such as missionary Moorish cedar or fallen cactus cardón, (…) boreal granite and white onyx ” According to the enumeration of the designer, a graduate of the National University of Córdoba, who lives and works between Argentina and Europe.
In the imposing central hall of the mansion you can see the installation “Campo de Torres”, even lit by the afternoon glare that filters through the stained glass windows. The tall columns made in the workshop of the master Lorenzo Reyes in traditional simbol basketry – typical fiber from the Calchaquíes Valleys area of Catamarca – appear as upright monuments that have something that resembles the religious; they impose a certain retreat.
The large dining room presents the “Hybrid Species” setting, a renewed manifestation of the decoration based on a varied realization of furniture, such as the “Kavanagh” library, the “Toribio & Alcira” chairs – made near the Quimili Paso area in the monte de Santiago del Estero-, objects, textiles and lamps of styles that the curator defines as “Creole art deco” and “natural brutalism”. Quality design trumps styles. Side tables, armchairs, folding screens, rugs and tapestries, lighting fixtures, ornaments, coexist wonderfully with the marbles on the wall cladding and shelves, imposing European paintings and sculptures, old ceiling lamps, velvety curtains that frame large windows.
In the next room, “El Encuentro” is presented, a collection of mates worked in silver and other materials and designed by Fernando and Humberto Campana (Brazil), Pablo Reinoso, Marina Molinelli Wells and Celina Saubidet and Roberto Sironi (Italy) under “the tutelage of Mohaded ”. The master goldsmith Pablo Falabella made the mate in silverware, designed by Mohaded himself.
The refined works designed by Mohaded catch the visitor with the topicality of their proposals, innovative vision and recovery of artisan work. In the last room, documents and samples of materials offer a tight synthesis of this collective proposal and the creative process that led him to be today a multi-award-winning artist and designer, a benchmark in Argentine design.
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