Frieda is a lovely coffee shop and lunch spot in Old City Philadelphia. I have been going there since it opened more than a decade ago. From the beginning they have hosted events and art installations. I stopped at Frieda on my way home from the Brigade 76 reunion in Colorado Springs.
Hanging across the entire back wall and the part of the east wall of the restaurant is 40 wire sculptures. It is the first the first solo exhibit New Zealand-born designer and multidimensional artist Michael Rex.
As it happened Michael was having lunch at Frieda with his husband Hodi Poorsoltan and two friends. I took a picture of the exhibit and one of the friends said with a big laugh, "Would you like to meet the artist?" I said I would. And I did.
Michael and Hodi have lived in Philadelphia since 2012 moving from NYC. Michael's website describes the origin of this bright wire sculptures:
Michael’s pieces are created by hand , mostly with 20 gage wire looped in continuous forms. Some are executed in annealed wire and others are in insulated copper to preserve the color of the wire. Michael has also created copper pieces in uninsulated wire that can be hung out of doors and will develop the greenish-blue patina seen on older copper pieces.
The inspiration for Michael’s work is twofold. As a young child he was mesmerized by the mechanics of knitting and recalls many moments looking over the shoulder of his mother and grandmother as they crafted pieces from yarn. The mechanical memory of this was triggered at a 2017 exhibition in Chelsea, when he had the chance to view the work of the late Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa. Interestingly, she attributed her fascination with making wire sculptures to her own childhood experiences of tracing shapes as she worked a plow on her parents’ farm. Michael was inspired to begin experimenting with wire and in three years of intense work has perfected his process.
Michael and I talked about handling wire. I told him I was just returning from and reunion of my tank unit from the 1970s. I told him back then when we set up and outpost or headquarters we often connect the forward troops with wire-connected phones. Wire is more reliable than radio. We had to be careful with stringing wire hundreds of meters to support and keep it from breaking. Michael's sculptures are hundreds of meters of woven 16- and 20-gauge wire.
For those who want a lunch spot for conversation, Frieda has no internet. For those who want to use screens, Frieda has seating outdoors and in the northwest corner of the dining area. It is an excellent place for conversation--possibly about the art on display!
A Forest of Color will be on display at Frieda until August 30.
