More Than Chairs: “Eames: The Architect and the Painter” Screens at Harkins Valley Art on December 8

Capitalist mass production owes a lot to Charles and Ray Eames. So,

too, do post-Modern design and architecture. Not to mention our fannies,

most all of which have resided occasionally in one of the renowned and

comfortable chairs that this talented duo designed in the Fifties. 
The Eames couple is celebrated in an enlightening new film by

documentarians Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey, screening on December 8 at Harkins Valley Art in Tempe.

Eames: The Architect and the

Painter considers the lives and influences on American culture of Charles

(the architect) and his wife, Ray (the painter, whose name has been obscured

for decades despite her many contributions to the design firm her husband

ran).

Charles forwarded the notion that what you own informs who you are,

and he and Ray set about, in post-World War II America, to prove it with

striking designs in inexpensive furniture, housewares, films, and prefab

housing. 

The Eames are best known as the creators of what became known as “the Eames chair,” a mid-century classic that Time magazine called “the greatest design of the 20th century” and that’s still being manufactured by Herman Miller. 

Like the Eames’ crowded creative lives, the documentary about them is chockablock with imagery–graphics float over film clips; pull- quotes appear above and on top of old photos–and is just clever enough to entertain even those not interested in who these innovators were and how  they impacted contemporary art and culture. 

Eames: The Architect and the Painter was produced and directed by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey; written by Cohn; narrated by James Franco; edited by Don Bernier; music by Michael Bacon; released by First Run Features. 
Tickets for the December 8 event, coordinated by AIGA Arizona, are available online. 

View the trailer below …
 

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