MARC NEWSON in PARIS

Gagosian to Exhibit Groundbreaking Contemporary Designs by Marc Newson in Paris

Design is about improving things and about looking to the future, pushing the technology forward. For me, as a designer, it is a great opportunity to improve on what is already out there, to simplify, beautify, and technologically improve.

—Marc Newson

Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of new and recent limited-edition furniture by Marc Newson, opening January 25 at 9 rue de Castiglione.

Newson has remained at the forefront of contemporary design for four decades. Working across disciplines, he is renowned for his innovative exploration of form and medium. Using advanced fabrication technology to re-envision the possibilities of classical materials, Newson creates iconic designs that resonate with the past and present.

The Paris exhibition features Cloisonné White and Blue Lounge and Cloisonné White and Blue Chair (both 2022), two works that exemplify Newson’s concerns with both shape and surface. The designer ornaments the objects’ copper bodies in white and blue with elaborate allover patterning in his signature circle and molecular “orgone” motifs. Newson’s employment of the ancient technique of cloisonné—typically used to craft small decorative objects—recalls his roots as a jeweler and silversmith. His decision to apply enamelwork to large-scale furniture necessitated the development of new production methods; artisans in Beijing affix cloisons, or partitions of copper wire, to the furniture forms, inlay enamel into the precisely defined designs, and then fire the pieces up to twelve times in vast, custom-made kilns.

Continuing the exploration of blue hues that unites the objects in this exhibition, Blue Glass Chair (2017) is a seat in solid cast glass comprised of quarter-spheres. Its top half rests on the symmetrical lower half of uncolored glass, which absorbs and reflects some of its intense colors. Like the cloisonné works, its production pushes the technical possibilities of its materials, requiring a highly controlled, months-long process in a glass oven of substantial size. Extruded Ribbon Console (2022) is a new work carved from a single piece of Azul Macaubas stone, showing the unique material’s distinctive azure tones. The dynamic piece was conceived as a flat curvilinear shape drawn out into three dimensions to define its “extruded” form. The exhibition includes Clear Surfboard (2017), a high tech design in aluminum that began as a prototype for Garrett McNamara, offering the renowned surfer a stability beyond that of a conventional fiberglass board. In these works, Newson reveals the boldness of his vision, melding function and form to extend the possibilities of contemporary design.