shit is horrifying/

Tell your friend to learn how to photoshop people into their renderings.

my eyes hurt! 

Art Nouveau was exciting in its time, expressive of nature and of new material possibilities. That time was a hundred years ago.

The renderings have a lot of detail. Too much detail; it's hard to separate what is important from what is filler. 

it's not even the amount of detail, it's the fact that the materials are shit.

No GI interiors = shit don't work.

Sorry, this is horrifying on many levels.

I would agree the over the top detail is a problem.  The way it is rendered is also an issue.  There is no hierarchy.  As Wood Guy is alluding to, everything is treated the same.

Most importantly, the design is weirdly out of place and consequently lacking in authenticity.  If your friend is interested in Art Nouveau, he/she shoud study the style and develop a contemporary interpretation.

I like it.

I like it too...  Gets the concept across without being too photorealistic.

not looking at the design, but the rendering quality is not good.  No depth.  if nothing else, use photoshop to add some quick shadows.  

Photoshop is also good for entourage, what you have there is distracting

Yeah the shadows people make are not usually round blobs centripedally emanating from the centre of their feet.