After the retrospective organized in 1996 at the Center Pompidou, Le Temps des Questions, Pesce returns to Paris for his own wide-ranging exhibition at Sotheby's France with the support of B&B Italia, presenting over forty unique and never-before-seen-on-the-market pieces that best reflect his versatile talent as an architect, designer and artist.
The curator of the exhibition is Basia Embiricos, who already had the opportunity to organize an exhibition dedicated to her resin jewelery in December 2012.
'I have never hidden my love for Paris, where I lived for several years, and where my children studied' said Gaetano Pesce. 'I've already had the opportunity to present my work here in the past. I now have the pleasure of showing various ensembles of works which, I think, capture the essence of my research and illustrate my thoughts on the infinite versatility of Design. I am honored by Sotheby's invitation to exhibit my work at the Galerie Charpentier. It's the first time I've collaborated with such distinguished art market players, and I'm sure they will be able to showcase my work at its best.'
Cyrille Cohen, vice president of Sotheby's France, thinks that 'dedicating an exhibition to this great Italian designer offers the possibility of showing the work of a living artist whose design represents the spirit of an era. Gaetano Pesce has constantly renewed his language, technologies and culture of materials throughout his life. '
Gaetano Pesce
The versatile Italian designer, architect and artist Gaetano Pesce has always experimented with new ideas, materials and production techniques to create objects projected towards the future. He belongs to a small group of architects who, since the distant sixties, have rejected standardization; the seemingly confused forms reject formal geometry. Throughout his life he has used an industrial material such as resin, working it on one side and letting it act on the other, in unpredictable ways, expressing what he considers a different idea of beauty.
Gaetano Pesce explores both new materials and all the innovations of our time. His work sums up the exuberant creativity of Italian Design. His works are held in numerous international museums, including the MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Center Pompidou in Paris.
Unique Works & Projects
The works on display include furniture, lamps and drawings, many of which are one-of-a-kind. Visitors can see a wooden version of Pesce's "trademark" chair UP-5 Woman , produced by B&B Italia: the first of her works that conveys a political message, commenting on the female condition. Another iconic object is his lamp Moloch from 1970 – a sort of paper clip transformed into a Monster of Light, emphasizing its size. Among the furniture also the famous table Samson and Delilah, which plays on the imperfections related to the production process and has multiple functions. Some pieces illustrate the glass working techniques that Gaetano Pesce experimented at CIRVA (International Center for Research on Glass & the Visual Arts) in Marseille between 1988 and 93: Trastevere, L'Heure de Point e drunk. The exhibition also presents models, preparatory drawings for objects and furniture, architectural projects.
Selling Exhibition
at Sotheby's in Paris
4-15 February 2014
