In 2007 Gagosian Gallery announced a major exhibition of new limited edition works by Marc Newson to be shown at their New York gallery. This was Marc’s first exhibition both with the gallery and his first solo exhibition in the United States, so he sought to reach new heights of complexity and sophistication with several bodies of related work.

Marc’s design approach has always been one of an experimental exercise in extreme structures and advanced technologies, combined with a highly tactile and exacting exploration of materials, processes, and skills. In the exhibition, Marc chose to explore many new frontiers, transposing materials and techniques from one context to another to create complex, occasionally baffling forms.  

Each work was fashioned in a single, seamless piece from various materials, including marble and nickel. The ribbon-like Extruded Tables, Extruded Chairs, and the web-like Voronoi Shelf were each cut from single block of Carrara marble; Micarta, an early and now obscure sheet laminate made from linen and resin, was worked in an unprecedented way to reveal a surprising range of subtle, honeyed pattern. In the Random Pak series, large meshed metal forms were ‘grown’ using a series of algorithms based on the irregular Voronoi cell; a series of standard light sculptures were produced in vacuum-pressed, coloured glass. On a more playful note was the mirror-like nickel surfboard that Marc designed specifically for perilous tow-in surfing, and a folding knife in sintered bronze and Damascus or ‘watered’ steel.

“Sometimes I start with the material, sometimes the idea. In this case the materials were the inspiration. I began by identifying materials that I had always been interested in but had never used. Often the context of materials strikes me more than the materials themselves. Context is new, not materials.”

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