Eamon O’Kane
E-1027 + Le Cabanon
Curated by Janet Levy

February 18 –April 30, 2010
Reception: Thursday March 25, 5-8pm

See Line Gallery presents a solo exhibition E-1027 + Le Cabanon by Irish artist Eamon O’Kane
The title for this exhibition is taken from the name of a famous house designed by Eileen Gray.
Irish by birth, Eileen Gray spent the better part of her life in France, dying in 1976 at the age of 98
largely unrecognized for contribution she made to modern architecture. But in recent years new
enthusiasm and interest has grown around Gray’s work, which included only two realized
architectural projects but many studies, as well as furniture and rug designs.

In 1924 Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici began work on their vacation house, E-1027 in
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, in southern France (near Monaco). L-shaped and
flat-roofed with floor-to-ceiling windows and a spiral stairway to the guest room, E-1027 was both
open and compact. This is considered to be Gray's first major work, making indistinct the border
between architecture and decoration, and highly personalized to be in accord with the lifestyle of
its intended occupants. The name of the house, E-1027, is a code of Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici,
'E' standing for Eileen, '10' Jean, '2' Badovici, '7' Gray. The encoded name was Eileen Gray's way
of showing their relationship as lovers at the time when built.

A friend of Badovici's, Le Corbusier visited E-1027 on numerous occasions and admired it very
much, so much so that he was moved to add his own touch to the clean white villa, painting a series
of murals on its walls between 1937-39. This intrusion onto her design infuriated Gray, who considered
the murals outright vandalism. Whether he painted these murals out of admiration for her work or
jealousy of her accomplishment, Le Corbusier became intricately tied with the future of the house.
Failing to purchase it himself, he eventually bought a piece of property just east of E.1027, where
he built a small, rustic cabin, "Le Cabanon." Here he would go for work and quiet contemplation, taking
daily swims on the beach outside the house. After he died in those very waters, the whole area was
declared a "Site Moderne," or "Modern Site," and deemed an area of cultural and historical importance
and international interest. Today E-1027 is recognized as the founding element of this site.

O’Kane’s exhibition will examine Gray’s legacy to Architecture and Design and the connection to
Le Corbusier through constructing a large installation comprising of wall paintings, screens, works on
paper, models and sculptures. The Pacific Design Center is an ideal location for this exhibition in that it
provides a context for a reevaluation of Grays influence on subsequent generations of architects and
designers. The exhibition will have the feeling of an architect/designers studio where fact and fiction
collide illustrating that history is contingent and how it can be distorted. O’Kane’s installation will involve
wood and paper screens based on Gray’s and Le Corbusier’s designs as well as a large a wall
drawings of "Le Cabanon” and ‘E-1027’.

Eamon O'Kane has exhibited widely and is the recipient of many awards and scholarships