Inferior Interiors

Moore College of Art and Design's Alumnae exhibition, "Spaces: What Interior Designers Do" sadly answers its own question thus: not with cutting edge design. The exhibition showcases seven design portfolios ranging from hotel rooms to restaurants to hospital waiting rooms. The display attempts to show the conceptual thought process behind finished interiors through blueprints and fabric swatches. Photos show the finished products and each designer describes the "vision" behind their creation -- be it tweedy hospital upholstery or a hotel bedroom's beige color scheme -- akin to the standard Holiday Inn motif. Given the clients who commissioned these works, it's understandable that many of these designers were probably limited in their creative license. But still, where is the spark of innovation? This collection hardly offers a groundbreaking approach to transforming spaces. However, it does show an upper middle-class suburbanite how to re-create boring late '90s casual elegance   la Pottery Barn, with a kiss of Martha Stewart and a sprinkling of Restoration Hardware. This only served to remind me that the world is ruled by dull adult aesthetic sensibilities, where eggshell, ecru, taupe, and off-white rein supreme, and awe-inspiring interiors constitute combining two different sisal carpets. Not all of the rooms appeared in such uniform sepia halftones. Unfortunately, when the designers did venture into crazy color possibilities the results were disappointing. One such design was a student union that had been re-done in teal, red, purple and yellow. The effect was so Saved by the Bell that I was expecting to see Screech wave to me from the picture. In many ways the exhibition seemed geared toward Moore students, assuring them that their Fine Arts degrees could bring them some future employment, albeit uncreative and uniform. Luckily, this was countered by the exhibition's sole suggestion of new ideas: a series of one-of-a-kind lampshades by current Moore students, particularly one covered in pornography snippets. Alas, Martha, that probably wouldn't match the ecru brocade and oatmeal toned wallpaper.