Design maverick Gaetano Pesce explores diversity in a retrospective at the Maxxi Museum, Rome
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Gaetano Pesce has always straddled the realms of design, art and architecture, and nowhere is this more evident than in a major exhibition at the Maxxi Museum in Rome, which traces his oeuvre over the past 50 years.
Industrial production has been a means of reaching a wider audience for the designer and artist. Through his use of resin, PVC packaging and organic shapes, Pesce has created over the years - with manufacturers such as Cassina, B&B Italia and Zerodisegno - some of the most meaningful pieces of Italian design.
'My work is based on supporting diversity and differences,' explains Pesce referring to the exhibition’s title, Il tempo della diversità (the time of diversity). 'Equality brings boredom and lack of colour in life. I work to promote the diversity of places, cultures, languages and identity.'
For many, Pesce is the maverick designer-architect that turned chairs into colourful, cartoonish characters. From the playful 'Greene Street Chair' produced by Vitra in 1984 - with a distinguishible face in the backrest holes and eight spidery legs - to the curvaceous 'UP' chair, his designs are both a joyous, non-conventional take on seating and, more subversively, a political stance.
The anthropomorphic 'UP 5&6' chair and ottoman, depicting a female body chained to a ball, was created in the 1969 to denounce sexism. Also known as 'Donna' and 'Mamma' (woman and mother), it incorporates many of the themes in Pesce’s production, where the female body is a main concern and inspiration.
'Pesce has always been a pioneer,' says the show's co-curator Domitilla Dardi. 'Not only did he bring art and craftsmanship into industrial production, he also permeated all his work with a strong message of reflection. His objects aren’t merely functional, they provoke thinking, ideas, doubts and sometimes even uncertainties.'
Outside in the piazza of the museum, looms a gargantuan seven metre-high site-specific installation of the 'UP 5&6' chair and ottoman, which includes a hologram of Pakistani rights activist Malala Yousafzai speaking at the UN on one side, and a series of small screens on the other, broadcasting such politically charged messages as: 'Do you know in which country women cannot drive?' As Pesce himself states, 'The oversize installation is intentional so that viewers are inevitably faced with the message about the lack of freedom that women have in many parts of the world.'
It’s a far cry from a sterile design installation, and in pure Pesce tradition, one that begs the viewer to think and ponder beyond aesthetics.
Spread out across 40 mobile panels, Pesce's models, sketches, original maquettes and life-size objects are divided into seven thematic paths, each of which tell a story about the history of his work
Historic resin artworks from Pesce's 'Industrial Skins' series are displayed alongside more recent additions. From left: 'Who's the Cat', 2013; 'Friend' lamp 1995; and 'Il Piede', Industrial Skin, 2014
'Sansone' table, 1980, for Cassina. 'My work is based on supporting diversity and differences,' explains Pesce referring to the exhibition’s title
In the foreground is Pesce's 'Lustre for Lille', 1997, and behind it, the 'Wan Chai' chair and drawing, 1986
Industrial production has been a means of reaching a wider audience for the designer and artist, with his works often taking a political stance, such as in the 'Cloud' lamp, 2013
From left: 'Senza Fine Unica' for Meritalia, 2011; and a project plan for the renovation of Lingotto, 1983
The seemingly haphazard layout of the work is designed to express the exhibition's underlying theme of diversity. From left: 'I Feltri chair' prototype, 1986; 'Sofa for Massage', 2002, for Meritalia; and 'Greene Street' chair and drawing, 1984
'Fragrance of work', 2014. 'Pesce has always been a pioneer,' says the show's co-curator Domitilla Dardi. 'Not only did he bring art and craftsmanship into industrial production, he also permeated all his work with a strong message of reflection'
'L'abbraccio' cabinet, 2010
The anthropomorphic 'UP 5&6' chair and ottoman (right), depicting a female body chained to a ball, was created in the 1969 to denounce sexism. Also known as 'Donna' and 'Mamma' (woman and mother), it incorporates many of the themes in Pesce’s production, where the female body is a main concern and inspiration
A seven metre-high, site-specific installation of Pesce's 1969 'UP 5 and 6' armchair and ottoman, standing proud outside of the museum, was created especially for the exhibition
Occupying its own gallery and kept at a frigid temperature, the 'Ice Room' showcases a video installation in which Pesce explores the concept of time
From left: 'Medusa Vase', 2010; the 'Golgotha' chairs for Bracciodiferro, 1971; and a 1972 model of 'Habitat for 2 People'
ADDRESS
Fondazione Maxxi
Via Guido Reni, 4/A
Rome
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