Dries Van Noten is honored to announce his invitation to Misha Kahn to exhibit his new work at The Little House, 451 N. La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles. Available to the public April 1st until May 6th.
“Watermelon Party” includes a domestic setting featuring Kahn’s VR-created Claymation furniture. Table lamps in a diverse range of materials, from auto-painted resin to ceramic, will also be on view. Dries Van Noten and Misha Kahn have collaborated on a limited-edition printed silk bomber jacket and t-shirt. Kahn has lent his imagination with an original motif for these garments, designed by Van Noten.
The show’s title, ‘Watermelon Party,’ reflects Kahn’s take on a curious last year. A few months into quarantine, from his parents’ house in Duluth, Minnesota, their neighbors invited his family over for a watermelon party. For weeks leading up to the event, starved for socialization, they speculated what might happen at the watermelon party.
Says Kahn: “In my scatterbrained, depressed stupor of a year, this watermelon party suggested purpose. It gave a bunch of random people, grouped together by proximity, an antidote to isolation. In a way, that’s what I’m always striving for in my work: an irreverent, all-ages serving of mystery with a big spoonful of why. In my practice, I’m constantly throwing around new materials and processes, forever looking for a binding force, something to explain the why of it all to the outside world. And maybe it’s simpler than I thought. Maybe it’s just a watermelon party two Tuesdays from now.”
About Misha Kahn
Misha Kahn has emerged as one of the leading creative voices of his generation. Through a wildly imaginative approach that embraces spontaneity and non-conformity, Kahn allows the illogical and the irreverent to take over his entire process. He employs everything from lo-fi and ad hoc techniques—such as improvisational molds and collage—to virtual reality and other high-tech tools.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1989, Kahn graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Furniture Design. Soon after, he gained recognition when he was featured in the Museum of Arts and Design’s Biennial (2014).
Unafraid to push boundaries, Kahn is determined to question the accepted way of doing things, driving him to self-invent, adapt, and further processes in a myriad of mediums including metalwork, glass, wood, textiles, ceramic, bronze casting, fiberglass, and cement. Voracious to upend traditional techniques, he embraces the opportunity to learn from masters in their respective crafts. Kahn’s acclaimed woven Scrappy series (since 2015), is the result of a collaboration with Gone Rural, a female group of traditional weavers based in Swaziland.
His work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collection of museums such as the Corning Museum of Glass, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, KY. Kahn lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
