For the gallery’s annual presentation at Design Miami/ Basel, Friedman Benda is pleased to present Iconoclasts and Icons, a survey highlighting masterworks and important touchstones in the evolution of contemporary design. Spanning over eight decades, the exhibition focuses on twelve visionary designers who have been core to the gallery’s mission–including Ron Arad, Daniel Arsham, Andrea Branzi, Estudio Campana, Wendell Castle, Misha Kahn, KAWS, Joris Laarman, Gaetano Pesce, Samuel Ross, Ettore Sottsass, and Faye Toogood.
The exhibition aims to reconcile a wide range of creative identities, backgrounds and processes by bringing these influential figures’ seminal works into a dialogue. Through rare prototypes, works from the personal collections of the artists, and the inclusion of preparatory sketches, each work offers a snapshot of a key moment in the individual’s own practice and within the canon of design.
Exploring the breadth and diversity of the field and its capacity to reinvent itself, the setting will reflect on a legacy of cutting-edge innovation and an enduring impact in determining the tenets of design. “Iconoclasts and Icons seeks to represent the chaos of contemporary design, distilling the explosive creative forces unleashed by the unending possibilities in our field,” says Marc Benda.
