Ross Lovegrove - Endless
Curated by Cristina Didero
Curated by Cristina Didero
Meeting Ross Lovegrove implies being transported through a sensory and aesthetic universe that draws on the origins of life and, as a bridge, anchors itself to history passing through time and takes us on the path to the future.
Ross Lovegrove's creative universe develops as an organic structure. The artist defines himself as an evolutionary biologist, in love with nature and its forms; he creates using modern technology, pushing it to the limits of the impossible. Lovegrove, who wanted to become a scientist, applies his multidisciplinary knowledge to imagination and creativity. In all activities – design, art, and architecture – his source of inspiration comes from the perfect balance between economical logics and nature's pure beauty. Just as nature transforms and species evolve, Lovegrove adopts the same strategy, which he defines 'organic essentialism' in removing the superfluous. He uses only what is strictly necessary, nothing more than the bare essentials, for the production of all his work. This operation is structured as an exercise of conceptual subtraction that successively materializes.
Free from the demands of the mass market, in the project for Cardi Black Box, Ross Lovegrove exhibits a series of autonomously conceived works. The freedom of expression and the possibility of moving in an area closer to sculpture to arrive at functional design, restores an atmosphere of emotional involvement that gives the author the chance to produce objects with a strong sensual connotation, surrounded by a mark of mystery, that should be interpreted through his aesthetic manifesto. The benches, tables and seats, of this series are produced in milled polished aluminium with unusual primitive forms. They are bearers of a profound mystic tension, but at the same concrete and tangible: a spiral staircase by Lovegrove talks about DNA, life, primordial energies catapulted in the future and ancestral tensions that instinctively fight the power of evolution.
ENDLESS is made up of a series of objects in aluminium with a strong physical and scenic presence which seems to be amplified by their esoteric powers, alive thanks to an intrinsic dynamic energy. This anthropomorphic presence, suggested by their aesthetics, has the capacity of touching our primitive unconscious. The material seems to have morphed autonomously in the objects' outlines that relate to the aesthetics of the liquid form, harmoniously bending to the author's dreams. The sinuous and organic forms, emblematic of Lovegrove's design codes, are enhanced and further refined in the completion of his Liquid Collection. These self produced works collected in the Endless exhibition reflect and emanate peacefulness, a unique formal elegance, synthesising with the specific innovative technology of one of the major protagonists of the international contemporary design.
Born in Cardiff in 1958, Lovegrove studied industrial design at the Manchester Polytechnic institute and the Royal College of Art in London, where he opened his studio in 1986. Characterised by his tall physical presence and thoughtful gaze he commands an authority that is reinforced by the uniqueness of his work and both instantly recognisable and otherworldly. In the early 80s together with the leading German Studio, Frog Design Lovegrove collaborated on the evolution of the Walkman and the original design language for Apple Computers, then moving on to Paris to design for Knoll International. For the past 20 years or so, this Industrial Contemporary Design hero has become one of the most celebrated winning most prestigious awards including the coveted G MARK in Japan for his Design of Japan Airlines and The World Technology Prize in San Francisco for his approach to Design (previous recipients being Jonathan Ive and Paola Antonelli of MoMa NY). He studies and conceives objects of the future, whilst however, never omitting the most important historical theoreticians.
Ross Lovegrove's objective is to transcend the limits of science, technology, architecture and design with a unique and coherent imprint to stimulate a profound change in three-dimensional space while inventing the world of tomorrow. For Lovegrove the future is closer to the origins of life than to the decorative forms of the past centuries.
Ross Lovegrove's creative universe develops as an organic structure. The artist defines himself as an evolutionary biologist, in love with nature and its forms; he creates using modern technology, pushing it to the limits of the impossible. Lovegrove, who wanted to become a scientist, applies his multidisciplinary knowledge to imagination and creativity. In all activities – design, art, and architecture – his source of inspiration comes from the perfect balance between economical logics and nature's pure beauty. Just as nature transforms and species evolve, Lovegrove adopts the same strategy, which he defines 'organic essentialism' in removing the superfluous. He uses only what is strictly necessary, nothing more than the bare essentials, for the production of all his work. This operation is structured as an exercise of conceptual subtraction that successively materializes.
Free from the demands of the mass market, in the project for Cardi Black Box, Ross Lovegrove exhibits a series of autonomously conceived works. The freedom of expression and the possibility of moving in an area closer to sculpture to arrive at functional design, restores an atmosphere of emotional involvement that gives the author the chance to produce objects with a strong sensual connotation, surrounded by a mark of mystery, that should be interpreted through his aesthetic manifesto. The benches, tables and seats, of this series are produced in milled polished aluminium with unusual primitive forms. They are bearers of a profound mystic tension, but at the same concrete and tangible: a spiral staircase by Lovegrove talks about DNA, life, primordial energies catapulted in the future and ancestral tensions that instinctively fight the power of evolution.
ENDLESS is made up of a series of objects in aluminium with a strong physical and scenic presence which seems to be amplified by their esoteric powers, alive thanks to an intrinsic dynamic energy. This anthropomorphic presence, suggested by their aesthetics, has the capacity of touching our primitive unconscious. The material seems to have morphed autonomously in the objects' outlines that relate to the aesthetics of the liquid form, harmoniously bending to the author's dreams. The sinuous and organic forms, emblematic of Lovegrove's design codes, are enhanced and further refined in the completion of his Liquid Collection. These self produced works collected in the Endless exhibition reflect and emanate peacefulness, a unique formal elegance, synthesising with the specific innovative technology of one of the major protagonists of the international contemporary design.
Born in Cardiff in 1958, Lovegrove studied industrial design at the Manchester Polytechnic institute and the Royal College of Art in London, where he opened his studio in 1986. Characterised by his tall physical presence and thoughtful gaze he commands an authority that is reinforced by the uniqueness of his work and both instantly recognisable and otherworldly. In the early 80s together with the leading German Studio, Frog Design Lovegrove collaborated on the evolution of the Walkman and the original design language for Apple Computers, then moving on to Paris to design for Knoll International. For the past 20 years or so, this Industrial Contemporary Design hero has become one of the most celebrated winning most prestigious awards including the coveted G MARK in Japan for his Design of Japan Airlines and The World Technology Prize in San Francisco for his approach to Design (previous recipients being Jonathan Ive and Paola Antonelli of MoMa NY). He studies and conceives objects of the future, whilst however, never omitting the most important historical theoreticians.
Ross Lovegrove's objective is to transcend the limits of science, technology, architecture and design with a unique and coherent imprint to stimulate a profound change in three-dimensional space while inventing the world of tomorrow. For Lovegrove the future is closer to the origins of life than to the decorative forms of the past centuries.
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