Ettore Sottsass, "Shapes, Colors, And Symbols"

Raisonné is pleased to present Ettore Sottsass: Shapes, Colors, and Symbols, a survey of work by the revolutionary Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007). Comprising some 75 pieces spanning five decades, the exhibition gives a glimpse of the impressive range of the maestro, who revolted against sterile modernism, creating objects that had a vibrational, almost human presence, characterized by electric colors. “You don't save your soul just painting everything white,” he once wrote, in his famous all-caps script.Through rare glass works, ceramics, industrial designs, prototypes, and one-of-a-kind furniture commissions, this exhibition shows Sottsass’ unique ability to elevate household objects into talismans, imbued with a spiritual or even medicinal quality. Design could—or should, in his view—function like “an aspirin for a headache”.