A jagged edged bookshelf and a series of modular armchairs are among the rare and limited-edition furniture designs by Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce on show at New York gallery Friedman Benda.
Pesce's work embraces flaws and mistakes and disregards many of the modernist techniques and styles that were popular at the time he designed much of the work on display
Age of Contaminations brings together prototypes and realised designs that the 79-year-old created between 1968 to 1995.
"Age of Contaminations looks back on Pesce's legacy as a provocateur, rule-breaker, and an essential influence on the evolution of contemporary design," Friedman Benda said.
Presented for the first time is Carenza bookcase, a jagged black and red epoxy resin shelving unit Pesce created for the residence of Italian professor Alberto Carenza Its title is a reference to a 1972 installation at the Museum of Modern Art that featured the architect's work "Project for an Underground City in the Age of Great Contaminations," a fictionalised archeological discovery in 3000 BCE of an underground habitat from 2000 BCE.
The selected works are intended to show Pesce's "radical experimentation" with materiality and production methods. Featuring rough and jagged edges, and playful shapes, he refused to conform to the traditional modern style popular at the time of their making.
Stacked glass bricks form the legs of Golgotha Table, which is topped with a painterly, red ...