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Lot Essay
Ron Arad’s work as an internationally acclaimed artist, designer and architect defies categorisation. Ron Arad understands each of
these territories but has continuously refused to limit the range of his inspirations and references to one over another. After studying art in Jerusalem he moved to London and studied architecture in London before, in 1981, founding a cross-category studio/workshop/office for the production and sale of his creative output. From starting out re-purposing pre-existing components, most famously in his Rover Chair of 1981, Arad is noted for his creative versatility and the experimental way he fuses technology, manufacturing processes and a daring array of materials into architecture, studio-made objects and industrially produced design. A champion of creative freedom, carbon fibre, acrylic, concrete, glass, plywood, steel, aluminium and polyamide are just some of the mediums of his expression, artfully shaped into forms that range from the pared down and organic, to the extreme, mercurial and complex, showcasing the artist's constant experimentation with the boundaries and possibilities of materials. Following on from his use of Kee-Klamps and scaffolding poles as structural elements, Arad’s first industrially-produced chair was Well Tempered Chair, designed in 1986 for Vitra. This exploration into the properties and uses of steel developed in the late 1980s into the Volume series, in which welded seams and constructional details were clearly visible. Over time the welding and craftsmanship of his work became more precise and the by now highly polished surfaces became increasingly reflective that created dematerialising effects that distorted and contradicted their volumes, a theme clearly probed in the present lot. In the late 1990s Arad began to work with inflated aluminium. He had previously used a technology that used a vacuum process to form parts for the aircraft and automotive industries. Arad then discovered that the machinery could be used to inflate aluminium through thick steel stencils, using a process whereby an aluminium sheet is heated in an oven and inflated under air pressure into a cavity, rather than against a mould. From this process in 1998 he created the B.O.O.P. (Blown Out Of Proportion) collection of unique objects in inflated polished superplastic aluminium, and the current works are from this series. Later he would go on to use this technique again in the Blo-Void, Bodyguards and Southern Hemipshere series (2007). Deyan Sudjic (op.cit., p. 201) aptly described them as ‘Virtual Fireplaces’, as each is clearly an echo of this form, yet by removing their functionality they are subverted under Arad’s wield into a nuanced exploration of positive and negative. With one concave, the other matching but convex, they resonate contrasts: of male and female, inside and outside, reflection and reality, apparent and actual, and the interplay of these contrasting forces remains permanently in tension. Not only are the works in a fixed state of perpetual oscillation, but the reflected space in which they are located are given a resonating quality. Their fluid forms condense the work of Ron Arad, neatly highlighting his creativity and tireless exploration of form and his advanced use of technological opportunities, to create a seemingly effortlessly executed study of inherent dichotomies.
these territories but has continuously refused to limit the range of his inspirations and references to one over another. After studying art in Jerusalem he moved to London and studied architecture in London before, in 1981, founding a cross-category studio/workshop/office for the production and sale of his creative output. From starting out re-purposing pre-existing components, most famously in his Rover Chair of 1981, Arad is noted for his creative versatility and the experimental way he fuses technology, manufacturing processes and a daring array of materials into architecture, studio-made objects and industrially produced design. A champion of creative freedom, carbon fibre, acrylic, concrete, glass, plywood, steel, aluminium and polyamide are just some of the mediums of his expression, artfully shaped into forms that range from the pared down and organic, to the extreme, mercurial and complex, showcasing the artist's constant experimentation with the boundaries and possibilities of materials. Following on from his use of Kee-Klamps and scaffolding poles as structural elements, Arad’s first industrially-produced chair was Well Tempered Chair, designed in 1986 for Vitra. This exploration into the properties and uses of steel developed in the late 1980s into the Volume series, in which welded seams and constructional details were clearly visible. Over time the welding and craftsmanship of his work became more precise and the by now highly polished surfaces became increasingly reflective that created dematerialising effects that distorted and contradicted their volumes, a theme clearly probed in the present lot. In the late 1990s Arad began to work with inflated aluminium. He had previously used a technology that used a vacuum process to form parts for the aircraft and automotive industries. Arad then discovered that the machinery could be used to inflate aluminium through thick steel stencils, using a process whereby an aluminium sheet is heated in an oven and inflated under air pressure into a cavity, rather than against a mould. From this process in 1998 he created the B.O.O.P. (Blown Out Of Proportion) collection of unique objects in inflated polished superplastic aluminium, and the current works are from this series. Later he would go on to use this technique again in the Blo-Void, Bodyguards and Southern Hemipshere series (2007). Deyan Sudjic (op.cit., p. 201) aptly described them as ‘Virtual Fireplaces’, as each is clearly an echo of this form, yet by removing their functionality they are subverted under Arad’s wield into a nuanced exploration of positive and negative. With one concave, the other matching but convex, they resonate contrasts: of male and female, inside and outside, reflection and reality, apparent and actual, and the interplay of these contrasting forces remains permanently in tension. Not only are the works in a fixed state of perpetual oscillation, but the reflected space in which they are located are given a resonating quality. Their fluid forms condense the work of Ron Arad, neatly highlighting his creativity and tireless exploration of form and his advanced use of technological opportunities, to create a seemingly effortlessly executed study of inherent dichotomies.