It was just a hole in the wall when Patti and Juan Navarrete flew in from Taos, N.M. They are a husband-wife team of traveling artists who were hired by a North Shore resident to create what is possibly the most spectacular and unique contemporary bas-relief plaster fireplace in Chicago.
The Navarretes also have done their one-of-a-kind fireplaces in Maui, Hawaii, and Phoenix.
They recently finished this one, after a week of work, in a Northbrook home (the owners of which wish to remain anonymous).
”This is the first one in the North (meaning the Midwest) we`ve done,”
Patti Navarrete said. ”We`ve also done the clients` mother`s house in California. Mostly we work in the Southwest, and our imagery is very Southwestern.
”This house is very contemporary, very modern, so what we`ve done here fits in with the environment of the house. We never repeat anything,” she added adamantly.
The Navarretes have been upscale plasterers for eight years, artists who merge sculpture with the interior decoration and the existing architecture,
”in the tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright, bringing in architectural detail in a whole different way.”
Patti Navarrete said that ”this particular house was built in the `50s, so the imagery we used sort of fits. Forms explode throughout the wall. (The fireplace) is very Cubistic, very Dada period, very eclectic, with the feeling of the `50s and the Bauhaus.
”We put all kinds of imagery together and exploded it on the side of the wall. Lots of different ideas were part of the inspiration. We worked from a straight wall on out. We`ve integrated the whole thing as a work of art. We think it`s a feast for the eyes.”
An idea that really smokes.
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The Navarettes` phone number in New Mexico is 505-776-2942.