Sir David Adjaye - Contemporary Art Evening Sale London Friday, October 17, 2008 | Phillips

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  • Catalogue Essay

    The Size+Matter programme, currently on view at the Southbank Centre during the 2008 London Design Festival, is concerned with the manner in which artists experiment with materials and scale. David Adjaye’s Sclera pavilion is constructed entirely of American tulipwood, an underappreciated, utilitarian wood. After meeting with the American Hardwood Export Council, Adjaye chose tulipwood (also known as Yellow Poplar) in part for its unique colour. Sclera is an elliptical structure, approximately 12 x 8 meters, divided internally by two chambers. The energetic arrangement of boards is formed by varying lengths of timber alternating with open air, through which sky and city are visible. Sclera, Adjaye explains, refers to the dense, fibrous external membrane covering the human eye. Bearing that definition in mind, the pavilion’s two rooms suggest the eye’s anterior chamber and adjacent vitreous humour. The whole structure, punctuated by many apertures, becomes an approximation of the eye and its ability to admit light.
     
    Sclera is being sold to benefit the London Design Festival.
     

PROPERTY SOLD TO BENEFIT THE LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL

360

Unique ‘Sclera’ pavilion

2008
American tulipwood.  For the Size + Matter Project, part of the London Design Festival,
Approximately 800 x 1200 cm. (315 x 472 1/2 in).

Estimate
£80,000 - 120,000 ≠♠†

Sold for £145,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

18 Oct 2008, 7pm
London