Running up to 9 January 2022 the Villa Croce Museum in Genoa dedicates a large exhibition to Gaetano Pesce, an internationally celebrated master of contemporary design and architecture. Artist, architect, sculptor and designer and born in La Spezia, Pesce now lives permanently in New York. A distinguished, eccentric and eclectic author he is an advocate of the most innovative and radical wing of Italian 1960s Design.
Democracy must protect diversity, says Pesce
Pesce’s works are unique pieces with their own individuality, each one distinct from the other because, according to Pesce "democracy must guarantee and protect diversity, not equality". Variation and multidiscipline are fundamental elements in how this artist approaches and creates art that aims at making a positive change to contemporary society.
From iconic sculptures to lamps, tables and chairs
The exhibition blends historical and revisited works on the two floors of the villa, from the iconic Up5 & 6 armchair with its anthropomorphic forms in the space that welcomes visitors on the ground floor, to the Goddess of Fertility which denounces the condition of women who are still victims of violence, or the 1972 Moloch, a macro version of the famous L1 Table Lamp of 1937. There are also more recent works such as the Pelli (Industrial Skin) in thin resin that looks like a layer of skin hanging from the ceiling of the large decorated room on the first floor, vases that seem to drip like melted coloured wax, tables and chairs - some of which are the Pratt chair series of the 80s - lamps and the Pulcinella and the Woman applique in papier maché covered with polyurethane resin.
Pesce’s works can also be found around the city of Genoa
The project is also on display outdoors, with four oversized sculptures around the center of Genoa. From Piazza Fontane Marose with Betrayed Majesty to Piazza De Ferrari with the Up made of giant rags, to the Picture Frame Chair in Piazza Matteotti. The final exhibit in the Villa Croce park is the Crucifixion of Manual Skills, created by Pesce during the 2020 lockdown and exhibited for the first time at the Genoa exhibition.
In museums around the world: from Milan to New York, London and Montreal
Pesce’s works are in the collections of prestigious national and international museums such as the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, the MoMA in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Center Pompidou in Pargi, the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
