Studio DB, a Manhattan-based architecture and interiors firm headed by Britt and Damian Zunino, is inspired by contextual design and eclecticism—the resulting work embraces the juxtaposition of and tension between polished and playful, modern and traditional. Their projects incorporate a mix of materials, sculptural forms, and whimsical pattern and color, all anchored by a contemporary desire for domestic ease. Design details distinguish their work, with tactile materials interpreted in fresh ways. Examples include exquisite de Gournay wallpaper paired with suspended lamps in a variety of geometric forms and the terrazzo floor of a city foyer, incorporating massive chunks of stone slabs and smaller rocks from the client’s climbing adventures.
Inspired by her previous experience as an art dealer, Webb designs beautifully composed spaces. She believes in the power of light, and shadow, in creating atmosphere; a pale, luminous wallcovering may be balanced by the presence of antiques, or a chapel-like white bedroom may segue into a deep gray sitting room. As important is a sense of hand: the feeling of glazed earthenware, a worn oak farm table, the softness of fine linen. Webb is also motivated by the pursuit of joy and the power of beauty she makes sure these are rooms for living, for gathering with family, for refuge.
An encounter with Gerhard Richter, the German artist who widened horizons in the relationship between painting and reality. From early photographic paintings, along with his famous RAF cycle, to late abstract paintings, experiencing Richter’s work always offers us the unexpected and unseen. Where he once set out to liberate the medium from ideological ballast, today, faced with the overwhelming presence of digital images, he shows us the unsurpassed impact and intensity of painting. A definitive introduction to one of the greatest artists of our time spanning not only his entire career, but also 50 years of cultural, economic, and political events.