Celebrating the Life of Gaetano Pesce, Iconic Italian Artist and Designer
Since the 1960s, Gaetano Pesce has revolutionized design with his fluid creations, radical production techniques, and defiant artistic themes.
Gaetano Pesce, the iconic Italian artist and designer, passed away in New York on April 4, 2024. The artist studied in Venice, where he graduated with a degree in architecture, before moving on to teach in Strasbourg, Pittsburgh, Milan, Hong Kong, São Paulo, and New York.
Many of Pesce's works are currently part of permanent collections in some of the most famous museums in the world, ranging from the MoMa—where he was honored in 1972 with other major artists belonging to the radical Italian design movement in "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape"—to the Metropolitan Museum to the V&A to the Center Pompidou to the Triennale di Milano.
Pesce began experimenting with polyurethane, foam, and resin immediately after graduating, believing it would be absurd to work strictly with contemporary materials. It is these materials—with their bold colors, their particular tactility, and their ability to respond to light—that have acted as a catalyst for his career and identify him in the collective public imagination, even though in his very long career—he was born in La Spezia in 1939, and began exhibiting his work at the age of 18—he has explored an infinite number of different avenues and mediums.
The "UP Series"
Pesce belonged to the school of radical Italian design—an experimental movement that developed in the 1960s—with other major artistic figures including Sottsass, Mendini, and the Superstudio group.
In 1962 he created the famous "UP Series" for C&B—now B&B Italia—which consisted of seven armchair models made of polyurethane foam, which immediately became an icon of industrial design. In particular, the most famous model, "UP5", was created after Pesce found inspiration in the shapes of the votive statues of the traditional goddesses of fertility. "UP5" was a manifesto of political expression on women's role in society in the 1960s, focusing specifically on years in which society relegated women to the margins of political and social life.
In regards to "UP5" and "UP6," which were named "Donna" by the artist, Pesce has said: "In reality, I expressed values that were not happy, maintaining that man's prejudices and His words prevent a woman from being herself," he continued, saying "53 years have passed since I created that object and unfortunately in many countries, women are still victims of violence, of lack of participation in reality... My belief, seeing the poverty of certain politicians in different countries around the world, is that man, after the contributions he has made in history, is tired today. The woman, who until recently was bound by the limits of the private, today opens up to the public aspect of things, with great advantage for the world."
The "UP Series" by Gaetano Pesce revolutionized design by placing political significance on a commonly used object—such as an armchair—but also by utilizing cutting-edge production techniques. Made of vacuum-compressed expanded polyurethane, the armchair underwent a reduction of up to a tenth of its actual volume, taking shape thanks to Pesce's addition of Freon gas to the polyurethane mixture. When unpacked, the armchair took its ordinary shape. Due to the gas ban in 1973, the "UP Series" dropped from the B&B catalog until 2000, when it was reissued using new methods.
Rubber
Gaetano Pesce is known for the highly tactile and emotional nature of his designs. Pesce often used a wide range of materials, ranging from rubber to metal, including polyurethane resin, bronze, wood, PVC, papier-mâché, and fabrics, favoring materials that are easy to shape, soft to the touch, and adaptable. Pesce challenged the repetitiveness of industrial production, resulting in a one-of-a-kind look, applicable even to those that we would define as design.
The radical avant-garde—and its convergence in primary or soft design—finds its experimental nature in the most neglected qualities of the industrial product. The color, the finishes, and the tactile sensations are all immeasurable aesthetic qualities that introduce post-industrial development, as Andrea Branzi, acclaimed Italian architect and designer, once said.
Fashion
"We are all different and this is our distinctive quality, otherwise we are just a copy. We are all original, and this is one of the themes of my design," Pesce famously said. This ideology was especially present in Pesce's designs for Bottega Veneta. For the label's Spring/Summer 2023 show, Gaetano Pesce and his studio created a unique atmosphere by filling an early 20th-century industrial space with a resin catwalk and over 400 seats. Made from fabric immersed in resin, the runway quickly went viral after a video of the space began circulating online.
