New Exposure for Esto

Art and scultpre abound at architecture firms across the country.

Annie Block, Mark McMenamin, and Meghan Edwards. -- Interior Design, 8/1/2011 4:50:00 PM

Many know Erica Stoller as the director of Esto Photographics, the agency launched in 1965 to handle architectural images taken by her father, Ezra. Few may be aware, however, that she's an artist in her own right, with paintings in the collections of Sony Corporation, Texaco, and Viacom. To that venerable list she can now add FXFowle, which is exhibiting 26 of her wall sculptures for staff and the general public through October 14.

The sculptures represent a departure for the artist, who transitioned from flat paintings to these pieces made from "domestic and commercial leftovers," as she calls them-namely cardboard and wrapping materials found in Dumpsters or, in the case of one site-specific work in the show, in waste bins at FXFowle. An entire area at the New York office is devoted to an art program in place since Bruce Fowle instituted it in 1981. Other architecture firms, such as Gensler and Lehrer Architects, have similar programs.