Meeting Barry McGee is the exact opposite of experiencing his art exhibitions.

In person, he’s quiet, attentive and acutely focused on the conversation. He notices small details and often compliments you on the simplest things. His humble nature and youthful charm make you wonder how someone so effortlessly relaxed can make such visually jarring art.

Unlike his easy-going demeanor, his exhibitions engulf their settings with a myriad of objects. One doesn’t see a McGee show so much as experience it. The viewer is left to consider a lot; surfboards stacked ninety high, shelves and pedestals lined with ceramic plates and vessels, and countless patterns and faces painted in all sizes on panels arranged into boil-like shapes that appear to burst at the seams. Everything seems to come together and fall apart at once, much like the world in which we live.

— Chris Perez, Ratio 3,
San Francisco, California 2018

Excerpt from the interview

Recently, we sat down with the mercurial McGee at his studio in San Francisco to find out more about his own personal creative process, his love-hate relationship with deadlines and the importance of his daily surfing ritual.

Scott A. Sant’Angelo (SAS) — Your recent solo show at New York’s Cheim & Read Gallery looked great. How much time does it take you to pull together the work for a gallery show of this magnitude? How did it go? What was the response?

Barry McGee (BM) — I think around three to four months or so and I used some things from other shows that I lumped in there to try and make sure it felt full enough. I like the show and how it looked in the space and it was special with the weather that evening. There was a snow storm that affected the city and made getting around difficult but people still showed up despite that.

SAS — In the studio, what’s your personal creative process? Do you come in with new ideas to try? Or, do you just play around until you come up with a creative direction?

BM — I layer out a lot of work that I have in the studio then things start to take shape organically little by little with what I have in front of me. The pressure of deadlines and timing helps push through the process. It can be loose to start and then get refined as timing becomes an issue.

Apparatus is a Manhattan-based design studio whose reputation is on the rise for a very good reason.

We find their work to be superb, majestic, and decadently resplendent. We were lucky enough to interview 36-year-old Co-Founder and Creative Director Gabriel Hendifar about his latest offering, ACT III which just debuted at Fuorisalone 2018. Hendifar’s parents left Tehran for Los Angeles as political refugees in 1979, two years before he was born. He’s had a longtime urge to re-connect with his Iranian roots through his design and ACT III is where he explores these personal connections for the very first time. A box brought from Iran by Hendifar’s grandmother, done in a Persian Marquetry style called Khatam, influenced Khatam the collaboration between Apparatus and Iranian artist, Shirin Ehya. Talisman finds its influence from the statues from the ancient city of Persepolis, and Drum references the tombak, an essential instrument to Persian music. These influences are beautifully melded with Hendifar’s own modern and even art deco references throughout the collection.

Tortelli con Baccalà ed Emulsione di Baccalà

Preparation

Pasta: On the pastry board sift the flour, forming the classic fountain. In the center create a dimple, introduce the whole eggs, beat them with a fork and enter them, little by little, to the flour. Then knead with your hands until you get a homogeneous, elastic mixture; wrap it in the kitchen foil and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Filling: Take the already desalted baccalà, skin it, debone it and then cut it into cubes. Take the spring onion and let it stew in a little oil until browned. Dip the baccalà and let it cook until the water that appears evaporates. Then mix with the mixer adding the olive oil.

Sauce: Fry the carrot and celery in oil, add the bones and the discarded baccalà skin, together with milk and water and reduce by 2/3. Finally, add a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf. Filter everything.

After the rest, with a rolling pin, roll out the dough as thin as possible: make strips of 8 cm width and with a smooth pastry ring, with a diameter of equal size, cut out of the discs. At the center of each one, with a little pastry with a fine opening, place a walnut stuffed with baccalà. Rest on top of the other disc, seal well and add the ends forming tortelli. As soon as they are made, cook them immediately for a few moments in boiling salted water. Spread them on a plate and use a spoon to pour over each tortello the emulsion of hot baccalà and drops of extra virgin olive oil.