From Ping Pong to intelligent chandeliers, the UK's first major retrospective of the Tel Aviv-born, London-based, iconoclastic designer opened on 18th February at the Barbican. With the emphasis on the interactive and the movable, the pieces are displayed thematically, along conceptual lines such as, 'Scavenging', 'Tinkering', and 'Voiding'.
The exhibition starts on the top-floor with Arad’s studio-designed and unique and limited edition pieces. ‘Scavenging’ contains some of his earliest pieces from his shop, ‘One Off’, which opened in Covent Garden in 1981. Combining ‘found objects’ in a way similar to that of the ‘assemblages’ popularized in the 1960s by the French Nouveaux Realistes such as Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) and Daniel Spoerri (1930-present), he creates unique pieces that are still unexpected today.
Concrete stereo, 1981; The Quick Fox and Lazy Dog,
‘Tinkering’, includes early, experimental work from Arad’s Covent Garden studio, created before he had much experience with welding and metalwork. Developed in an ad lib manner, these pieces have a home-made, hand-beaten look very much in tune with the DIY punk aesthetic of the times. However, with their emphasis on the hand-wrought, these early pieces may also been seen as heirs to the perennially popular Arts & Crafts movement, a fact which may account for their popularity in the sale rooms in the UK. Last year ‘Wrinkly Fish’, 1988, a piece produced in a similar manner, though with not as rough a finish as these Tinker pieces, achieved £97,250 against pre-sale estimates of £35-45,000.
Tinker chair, 1988
‘Gomling’, contains one of the most sculptural of Arad pieces included in this exhibition. ‘Gomli’ (2009), is a figurative piece taken from the imprint of an upside-down reclining figure, created with reference to Arad’s friend, the sculpture Anthony Gormley, well known for fashioning sculpture from his own body. Made in a specialist workshop in Italy, each individual metal rod was bent by hand and took nine months to complete. Merging sculpture and design, this object single-handedly exemplifies the ‘design art’ debate of the noughties.
Gomli, 2009
‘Voiding’, consists of work made in collaboration with gallerist, Ernest Mourmans. Started in 2003 when the first series was produced in composite carbon fibre, the ‘Voids’ series has allowed experimentation with material, such as Corian whilst remaining consistent in form – the rocking chaise longue. In 2006, Arad was able to put these into industrial production with the Italian company Magis, creating ‘Voido’.
Voids
Downstairs, the pieces are mass-produced allowing for greater audience participation,
Modular building blocks and wellington boots
