New York, New York – Emma Scully Gallery is proud to announce the opening of Framed: An Unjustifiable Collection of Shattered Self-reflection, a group exhibition in collaboration with Friedman Benda Gallery, opening October 8th, 2025. The show features new work from Dana Arbib, Simone Bodmer-Turner, Rafael Prieto, Paul Cocksedge, and Marcel Wanders and is curated by Emma Scully and Erica Boginsky of Friedman Benda.
At its core, Framed prompts viewers to reconceptualize the mirror – not merely as a reflective object, but as a symbol of absence, identity, and authorship. The exhibition shifts the focus from the mirror itself to its frame – the element traditionally overlooked – elevating it to a central position of artistic and conceptual inquiry.
Scully and Boginsky encouraged the designers to explore the tension between form and absence – design that encloses nothing, ornament that surrounds emptiness, and structure that questions identity. The exhibition presents each frame as both an object of focus and a point of disruption. Framed challenges viewers to engage directly with the idea of the frame as the artwork itself, and the reflection as something more elusive.
The exhibition explores themes of creativity, tradition, and transformation through material and form. Each participating designer interprets the frame as a space of expression – where design becomes the artwork and reflection becomes the ghost.
Dana Arbib (Emma Scully Gallery) – Continuing to work in her principal medium, Arbib’s design is of hand-blown Muranese glass. Entitled, PORTA D’ACQUA, this mirror serves as a beautiful homage to the rich tapestry of Venetian culture and craftsmanship. Its design pays tribute to the Port de Aqua, capturing the essence of the intricate artistry that adorns the city's historic doorways. The green glass, reminiscent of the tranquil waters of the canals, evokes a sense of serenity and nostalgia, drawing inspiration from the mint hues that grace the façades of many Venetian buildings. The glass head perched atop the mirror is a striking feature, echoing the expressive stone carvings of faces that embellish the archways and entrances throughout Venice. These carvings tell stories of the past, capturing the emotions and experiences of those who have walked through these portals over the centuries. By incorporating this element, the mirror not only reflects your image but also the rich history and artistry of Venice itself. Furthermore, the shape of the mirror is inspired by a tiny Cartier picture frame from her mother that Arbib has cherished since childhood.
In essence, the mirror is a work of art that encapsulates the spirit of Venice. It invites the beholder to reflect not only on their own image but also on the stories, traditions, and artistry that define this enchanting city. With each glance, one is reminded of the elegance and timelessness of Venetian design, making it a revered addition to any home.
Simone Bodmer-Turner (Emma Scully Gallery) – After ‘A Year Without a Kiln,’ Bodmer-Turner brings a sculptor’s hand to the exhibition with mirror frames formed in her original medium of clay. Having spent the last two years translating her forms into bronze, she returns to ceramics with those patinas in mind, developing a metallic glaze that carries the depth and warmth of aged bronze. For this presentation she shows three mirrors – one standing alone and two conceived as a pair whose shapes reflect one another when hung side by side. Their organic silhouettes recall metalwork and gilded ornamentation, while exploring the tension between formality and playfulness.
Rafael Prieto (Emma Scully Gallery): Prieto’s work, Luring Time, explores the dual nature of time. On one hand, people fish for it – seeking, catching, and shaping fleeting moments. On the other, people wait for the right moment, letting time reveal itself. The two mirrored sides reflect this tension: pursuit and patience, action and stillness, presence and expectation. Time is both sought and given, fleeting and eternal, like a silver flash beneath quiet waters.
Paul Cocksedge (Friedman Benda): Cocksedge takes the traditional, ornate frame one might find in a fine art museum and distorts and exaggerates the form. As he sketched the outline of a Louis XIV frame, it felt natural to let the horizontal line extend beyond the edge; with this simple continuation, the flowing line transformed into a shelf. Called Louiiiis, a playful extension of the name itself, it echoes the way the line of the frame stretches outward into something new. It is a subtle subversion of the strict rules of frame-making, and with the smallest, cheekiest adjustment, the frame gains an added layer of function while still holding on to its original purpose.
Marcel Wanders (Friedman Benda): In Prism Collapse, Wanders reimagines the mirror not as a passive reflector, but as a gemstone in revolt, a diamond mid-shatter, held in tension by four golden spheres that echo the prongs of a ring. These spheres do not merely support the mirror; they contain its collapse, dramatizing the moment where beauty refuses to be static. The mirror itself is shaped like a reversed standing egg, a form rich in symbolism. The egg, often seen as a vessel of life and potential, here becomes a portrait framed, a metaphor for the human face, the self, the soul held together by illusion. In its mirrored surface, the viewer sees their own image, but fractured, scattered, and held captive. It is a portrait of impermanence, a reflection of identity in flux.
Drawing from the language of jewelry, where value is framed and protected, the piece challenges the notion of containment. The golden spheres act as both guardians and captors, holding the mirror in a suspended act of rebellion. The work evokes the Japanese concept of hakanai, the beauty of the ephemeral, and contrasts it with the Western obsession with permanence and perfection. Prism Collapse bridges these philosophies, asking: What if the most beautiful moment is not in symmetry, but in the instant it begins to fall apart. It is a piece that invites viewers to confront their own reflection, not as a fixed image, but as a shattered truth held delicately in place. “Mirrors do to truth what bias does to knowledge,” says Wanders.
Together, these five artists and designers offer a powerful meditation on what it means to look, to frame, and to be seen. The body of work celebrates not just the craftsmanship of the object, but the psychological and emotional layers embedded in its structure. The mirror, once a passive surface, becomes charged with presence. The frame, once a boundary, becomes the focal point.
Exhibition Dates: October 9th 2025 – December 13th 2025
Location: Emma Scully Gallery, 16 East 79th Suite 21 Gallery Hours: 11-5 Fridays and Saturdays
About Emma Scully Gallery
Located in a 19th-century townhouse on the Upper East Side, Emma Scully Gallery presents thought-provoking contemporary works that explore how design can meaningfully evolve in a world grappling with ecological crisis, material excess, and digital abstraction. With a mix of established voices, emerging talents, and experimental commissions, the gallery’s conceptual programming is academically curated by Emma Scully, a design professional deeply rooted in the worlds of art history and material culture.
@emma_scully_gallery
About Friedman Benda
Friedman Benda identifies and advances key narratives that intersect contemporary design, craft, architecture, fine art, and cutting-edge technological research. The gallery promotes synthesis between leading creative thinkers and makers by creating opportunities to advance new connections within the global design community. Friedman Benda is committed to a critical view of design history. It aims to expand the design dialogue from its established sources, exploring perspectives that have previously been marginalized. Spanning five continents and four generations, Friedman Benda represents a roster of seminal established and emerging designers, as well as historically significant estates. With locations in New York and Los Angeles, the gallery’s exhibitions, publications and collaborations with institutions have played a vital role in the development of the contemporary design market and scholarship since 2007.
@friedman_benda
