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Neon Parc acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung as the Traditional Owners and sovereign custodians of the Country on which we operate. We pay our deepest respects to their Elders past and present. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

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Gaetano Pesce
‘Melbourne Design Fair’
Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre
18 May.–21 May.
2023

Neon Parc is delighted to announce a solo presentation by renowned architect, artist and designer Gaetano Pesce (b. Italy, 1939) at the Melbourne Design Fair, from 18–21 May, 2023.

Comprising key works never before seen in Australia, the presentation features a suite of the artist’s iconic ‘Pratt Chairs’, ‘Nobody’s Perfect Chairs’, the ‘Medusa Dining Table’, ‘Senzafine Baskets’ and a selection of recent vases and objects.

Gaetano Pesce emerged from the radical Italian design movement known as ‘Radical Design’ or ‘Anti-Design’ of the late 1960s. The Florence-based group of designers and architects produced era-defining furnishings and products that looked to youth culture and the personality-driven ethos of the art world at the time. It was a forward-looking rebellion against the consumer-oriented industrial perfection of 20th-century Modernism.

This movement sought to question the established norms of design and consumerism, and Pesce’s designs from this period often featured unconventional materials like resin, foam, and rubber, and were characterized by their non-standardized and customizable nature.

One of Pesce’s most famous works is the ‘Up’ series, which he created in 1969. The series consists of a collection of armchairs and sofas that are intentionally distorted and misshapen, challenging the notion of standardized furniture. The ‘Up’ series exemplified Pesce’s belief in the individuality and uniqueness of each person, rejecting the idea of mass production and uniformity.

Over the course of his 60 year career he has collaborated with various renowned design companies and manufacturers, including Cassina, B&B Italia, and Vitra.

Exhibitions (2)
Biography Gaetano Pesce

Gaetano Pesce’s works have been celebrated in exhibitions of outstanding importance, such as ‘Italy: The New Domestic Landscape’ held at the MoMA in 1972; the retrospective ‘Gaetano Pesce: Le temps des questions’, organised in 1996 in the Centre Pompidou; ‘Pushing the limits’, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2005; ‘Gaetano Pesce: Il Rumore Del Tempo’, at the Milan Triennale, also in 2005; a retrospective ‘Il tempo della diversitá’, at the MAXXI in Rome in 2014; ‘Gaetano Pesce : architettura e fugurazione’. Complesso Museale di Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy in 2017 and ‘Gaetano Pesce: Nobody’s Perfect’ at Sea World Arts and Culture Center, Shenzhen, 2021 and UCCA Lab, Shanghai in 2022.

Gaetano Pesce’s work is featured in over 30 permanent collections in the most important museums in the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Vitra Design Museum, Germany; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Musee des Arts Décoratifs, Louvre, Paris.

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