Studio Job MAD HOUSE

Studio Job MAD HOUSE will be the first American solo museum exhibition of the work of collaborators Job Smeets (Belgian, b. 1970) and Nynke Tynagel (Dutch, b. 1977), who established their atelier, Studio Job, in Antwerp in 2000. Since then, they have developed a distinctive body of highly expressive and opulent work, characterized by pattern, ornament, humor, and historical, sociocultural, and personal narrative.

Smeets and Tynagel draw inspiration from an itinerant education, traveling throughout Europe and studying important historical collections of art and decorative arts. Their commitment to craftsmanship reflects an ongoing interest in the revival of traditional applied arts practices, such as bronze casting, gilding, marquetry, stained glass, and faience, but with a contemporary approach.

The atelier operates in the manner of an Old Master artist studio by engaging the skills of the most talented artisans in the production of their work.The interdisciplinary nature of Studio Job’s oeuvre makes it difficult to categorize. Their work is deliberately provocative and unconventional, giving them the reputation of enfants terribles of the art and design world. This exhibition will feature a variety of media and forms, including art objects, furniture, sculpture, lighting, interiors, and wall and floor coverings in an immersive installation conceived by the artists uniquely for MAD.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Whether you go or not,  Studio Job: Monkey Business will fascinate in the way Studio Job redefines the applied arts for the contemporary age. Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel’s collaboration creates highly expressive work where the physical potential of the materials they use—often bronze or laser-cut marquetry—is pushed to the limit, with an approach more in keeping with that of traditional guilds than industrial design. Studio Job: Monkey Business includes furnishings, sculptures, exhibitions, commissioned interiors. Studio Job draws from the traditional and the topical, the organic and the artificial. With design inspired by illuminated manuscripts and more than 200 sketches, concept renderings, and photographs