by the future perfect exposes five decades gaetano pesce
Radical Italian artist Gaetano Pesce exhibits five decades of design in his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, ‘Dear Future’. The show is presented by The Future Perfect and opened just in time for LA Art Week on the ground floor of the gallery’s new flagship in the Hollywood Hills. A comprehensive overview of the designer’s experimental works from 1969 to 2022 includes rarely presented histories furniture pieces alongside modern variations of his iconic designs as well as new and overlooked works. “Dear Future” is on view at The Future Perfect gallery in Los Angeles from February 16 to March 31, 2023.
Gaetano Pesce, Dear Future at Goldwyn House, exhibition exhibition
image by Rich Stapleton © The Future Perfect
Italian design in Los Angeles
Now appearing in The Future Perfect’s LA gallery, Gaetano Pesce is known for his provocative and experimental style, radical processes and combinations of art, design and architecture. Much of his work expresses social commentary with explorations of new materials and technologies. The designerHis ideas have been largely shaped by his early involvement with Radical Design, an artistic movement that began amid civil unrest and economic crisis in Italy and was strongly influenced by a group of Italian architects who challenged hyperrationalism, functionalism and industrial precision of 20th century modernism.
Gaetano Pesce, Dear Future at Goldwyn House, exhibition exhibition
image by Rich Stapleton © The Future Perfect
‘If modernist architecture and design ignored the individual and sought to standardize the human spirit, Pesce’s life was to overturn prescriptive ways of thinking – a form of counter-design that favors inconsistency, unpredictability, eccentricity and originality,’ says Gallery founder David Alhadeff.
‘His future is not a myth – it is an achievable reality without war, inequality and uniformity, where human individualism is expressed in objects and styles.’
Gaetano Pesce, Dear Future at Goldwyn House, ‘Leaf Shelf — Yellow’
image by Elizabeth Carababas © The Future Perfect
social commentary through experimental form
Going back to his first furniture series, the Up series, launched with B&B Italia in 1969, Gaetano Pesce has incorporated social criticism into his work through expressive forms and non-traditional materials. His most famous piece from the series is definitely UP5_6, commonly referred to as La Mamma. This curved armchair with its voluptuous, feminine proportions is said to be reminiscent of the Venus of Willendorf.
La Mamma also comes with an attached ottoman to symbolize the “ball and chain” of societal expectations women have. For Dear Future, B&B Italia created a special version of the chair from recycled bottle corks from Italy. one of only two ever made and released in 2021.
Gaetano Pesce, Dear Future at Goldwyn House, view of the ‘UP 5&6 in Cork’ exhibition
image by Rich Stapleton © The Future Perfect
‘Ever since I was young, I discovered that I have a special attraction to everything that had to happen. In other words, for everything new that comes from the Future. As a result, not content with what had already taken shape, I began to wonder what the future held for us.,’ Pesce reflects.
‘Specifically, what was going to happen to the so-called “culture” of Design and Architecture. At the beautiful exhibition in Los Angeles there will be some examples of what I have just expressed. Enjoy your visit.’
