WHAT’S NEW IN ART ARCHITECTURE, AND DESIGN

A LOOK AT THE GROWING POPULARITY OF ARTWORK FROM CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ARTISTS, SCULPTURAL AQUARIUMS, AND FLUTING IN INTERIOR DESIGN

Clockwise, from top: RedFin Aquarium Design’s curved aquarium for a Dubai penthouse; Beatrice Wanjiku’s Aches of Ceaseless Divining; Chad Dorsey Design’s fluted fireplace. Collectors are snapping up works by contemporary African artists, sculptural aquariums are the latest architectural amenity, and fluting is bringing depth to interior design.

Here are the latest trends in art, architecture, and design.

ART Works by contemporary African artists such as Beatrice Wanjiku are gaining international attention, as collectors, auction houses, galleries, and arts institutions turn their areas of concentration to that continent.

In her paintings and drawings, Wanjiku, who lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya, where she is a key player in the art scene, focuses on the human form, primarily the head and torso.

“The work is figurative and abstracted,” she says. “I abstract the figure so as not to contain it. I look at the human form as a vessel limited in its nature, but when abstracted it is free to move unencumbered beyond its frame.”

Wanjiku was listed among the Top 10 “artists to watch out for” at New York’s 1-54, the international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, and her works are in the Sina Jina Collection owned by Robert Devereux and the collection of the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Her introspective images, raw and stripped to the bone, invite the viewer to gaze inward in a bid to explore the definition of being human.

“The figure I portray is neither male nor female,” she says. “Though executed from a female gaze, it’s a reflection of how I navigate the world that is predominantly patriarchal. It’s an exploration of a shared world—the feminine and the masculine world—and how I navigate and negotiate in this space, therefore rendering the world amorphous.”

ARCHITECTURE Sculptural and high-tech, large-scale aquariums are the latest architectural amenity in luxury abodes around the world.

Designed to merge indoor and outdoor spaces via a relaxing water element, in many cases they are not merely part of the room, but also serve as key recreational spaces in the residence.

“Advances in filtration and lighting technology mean you can accurately recreate underwater environments, from the Amazon River to a coral reef, in your home,” says James Bruce, managing director of RedFin Aquarium Design, which has offices in Dubai, Hong Kong, and the U.K. “Using materials such as acrylic means they can be built on a large scale and more safely than glass. It also avoids the green tint seen in glass examples.”

These uber-aquariums, which generally are stocked with high-priced farmed fishes that are bred for unusual colors and shapes, are run by computer-controlled systems that do everything from adjusting the color of the LED lights to feeding the fish on a regular schedule.

RedFin Aquarium Design, which is known for over-the-top projects, is building a curved acrylic aquarium for a Dubai penthouse that wraps around the room and has arches and circular seats cut through its walls.

“It will be one of the largest home reef aquariums in the world,” Bruce says, “and as far as we know, the first of this unusual, curved-wall design.”

Bruce notes that aquariums bring in a relaxation factor. “You can stare at them for hours, and there always seems to be some new interaction from the occupants.”

DESIGN To create detail and depth in interiors, designers are embracing gorgeous grooves that display an intricate interplay between shadows and light.

These fluted elements, which range from the doors of kitchen cabinetry to the mantels of fireplaces, represent “a natural step away from the more minimalist architecture and interiors we have seen over the past decade,” says interior designer Chad Dorsey, whose namesake studio is based in Dallas.

Fluting, which is executed in a variety of materials, including glass, stone, and wood, is an ancient technique that is showing up in virtually every room of the house.

In a San Francisco residence, for instance, Dorsey designed a fluted marble fireplace for the listening room and a coordinating, fluted floating vanity in an adjacent bathroom. “It’s a fan favorite,” he says. “We have received many inquiries about it.”