Timothy Taylor Gallery Presents a New Work by Ron Arad
LONDON.- Timothy Taylor Gallery presents a new work by Ron Arad, created to benefit Barbican Art Gallery in conjunction with their forthcoming major survey: “Ron Arad: Restless”.
In 1986, Ron Arad designed “Well Tempered Chair”, bolting sheets of steel together to form a chair full of tension. Using the archetypal club chair as its model, its design is simple – four pieces of tempered steel form the shape – two for the arms, one for the seat, and one for the back. The engineering of the piece is plain to see and according to Arad ‘what you see is what you get – there is no illusion’.
Ron Arad, ‘Well Transparent Chair’, 2010. Polycarbonate and wing nuts, 31.5 x 31.5 x 39 3/8 in. / 80 x 80 x 100 cm. Edition of 100. ©Ron Arad Assosciates
“Well Transparent Chair”, 2010 is a contemporary re-interpretation of the original. The basic architecture of the chair remains the same, but it has been re-imagined by Arad in transparent polycarbonate, radically altering the personality of the piece.
Both ‘tempered’ chairs subvert our expectation of how a chair should behave. The chair’s apparent immateriality induces an anxiety about its ability to support us – it is, in fact, comfortable and sound – unexpectedly so. This playful duplicity between how a work looks and how it feels is one of the reasons why the original “Well Tempered Chair” has proved such an enduring work. This new pieceembodies much of what makes Arad such an important figure – for all of its modernity and technical sophistication there is something very human about it.
Produced in an edition of 100 signed and numbered pieces, the “Well Transparent Chair” will be available exclusively from the Timothy Taylor Gallery and at Barbican Art Gallery priced at £5,000. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each chair will benefit the Barbican Art Gallery.
“Ron Arad: Restless” is the first major exhibition of Arad’s work in the UK. It opens at Barbican Art Gallery on 18 February and runs until May 16th, 2012. Spanning three decades, the show traces the development of Arad’s designs from his early post- punk approach, assembling works from readymade parts to his technologically-advanced sculptural objects made of highly polished metals. “Well Transparent Chair” is one of over 150 works in the exhibition.
Timothy Taylor Gallery represents Ron Arad in the UK and mounted a critically acclaimed exhibition of his recent work in 2009.
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