Gump's presents Master Designer, Robert Kuo - March 15-27, 2004
Kuo's new Spring collection includes: furniture, Peking Glass, and decorative objects in jade, copper repousseé and lacquer.
Meet Mr. Kuo on Friday, March 19th noon-2pm
About The Designer:
Robert Kuo was born in Beijing. In 1947, his family to Taiwan. His father, an art professor and Chinese watercolor painter, started a cloisonne atelier where Robert became an apprentice at age fifteen. Mr. Kuo never had formal art studies. However, he gained technical expertise and received "hands on" training in cloisonne from preparing copper bases to enameling and firing the kilns.
In 1973, Mr. Kuo immigrated to the U.S. where he opened a studio for cloisonne in Beverly Hills. His influence in America has "opened up" Chinese tradition. He utilizes the influences of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, introducing new shapes, finishes and objects to cloisonne. In 1985, Kuo shifted his focus from working in cloissone to repousse, the art of hammering decorative relief onto metal. Instead of applying enamel to a copper base, the artist began to experiment with applying different finishes to the hammered base. Today, Mr. Kuo spends 4-6 months of the year in China creating original pieces. These pieces are then brought to Los Angeles for finishing.
Robert Kuo offers a wide variety of decorative objects, from small tabletop pieces to furniture and large landscaping elements.
His work is on permanent display at the National History Museum in Taipei. Goldfish Bowl, one of Kuo’s cloisonné masterpieces, is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s Sackler gallery. The Singapore Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco's Hotel Palomar, and the New York Four Seasons also display his work. Geoffrey Beene, Gianfranco Ferre, and James Galanos have added a number of his pieces to their private collections.
Gump's sells special pieces and holds Kuo exhibitions twice a year.
We look forward to meeting Mr. Kuo on March 19th. A visit to Gump's is always an aesthetic inspiration, as is a visit to Kuo's showroom in Los Angeles (located at: 8686 Melrose Avenue at the corner of San Vicente Blvd.).
Robert Kuo, whose elegant repoussé pieces look like sculpted silver are displayed in a series of gallery spaces on the main floor of Gump's.
Inspire & Be Inspired™
~Jennifer
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