In a new show of the architect François Dallegret’s imaginative design work — soap, cars, nightclubs and more — years’ worth of self-portraits steal the show. Here, “Good God / Nudity for ‘A Home Is Not a House (Art in America, 1965),’” Montreal, 1965.

Dallegret’s portraits help contextualize even the most abstract of his designs, and form a mini-chronology of his work, tracing the evolution of his career as an artist and designer. They reveal an instinct for performance, and also divulge a sense of humor that feels closely linked to a sense of irony: While utopian in ambition, Dallegret’s more fanciful designs show the limits and impediments of our social and technological capabilities. Strangely enough, he persuades us that even his most unlikely proposals can make us better humans and prevent us turning inward on ourselves — precisely by inserting himself into the picture.

Marc Lullier nytimes.com

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