Barry Friedman and Marc Benda will launch Friedman Benda gallery on the ground floor of a new space at 515 West 26th Street this September. The gallery will be a venue for established and emerging designers and artists who push the boundaries of their mediums. Few creators have fulfilled this dictum more radically than pioneering architect and designer Ettore Sottssass, the subject of the gallery's inaugural exhibition. Celebrating his 90th birthday the same month the gallery opens, Sottsass is also contributing, along with Ron Arad, to the design of the gallery space itself.
Friedman Benda's opening exhibition of an entirely new collection by Ettore Sottsass marks the culmination of two years of work by the most recognized post-war Italian architect and designer. Several recent designs, never before seen publicly, are currently included in a major exhibition of Sottsass' work at the Design Museum in London. Just last year the legendary designer was the focus of an equally impressive retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
In addition to Sottsass, Friedman Benda will feature a program of rotating exhibitions of contemporary work by cutting edge designers and artists, including Ron Arad, Droog, Wang Jin, Joris Laarman, Forrest Myers, Gaetano Pesce, Lin Tianmao, and Shiro Kuramata, among others.
Barry Friedman has been an important presence in the international art market for over 40 years, bringing important 20th century European fine art and design to an American audience. Swiss-born Marc Benda has worked with Barry Friedman for the last five years, serving as a director of the gallery since 2004. Their collaboration thus far has resulted in such landmark exhibitions as Smart Deco (in collaboration with Droog), Ron Arad: A Retrospective Exhibition 1981-2004, Paved with Good Intentions, Arad's first site-specific installation in the U.S., and the now iconic Sketch Furniture series by Swedish design group FRONT.
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