NICE TO SEE YOU by Gaetano Pesce

Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana – Milan, April 19^th – April 23^rd 2024

This gorgeous exhibition has to be considered his testament. Below what Gaetano Pesce wrote a few weeks before his passing. He was an international architect, artist and designer.

Gaetano Pesce –  New York, March 2024

“This exhibition in the illustrious setting of the revered Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan during Design Week 2024, allows me to reiterate some principles of the future of the Art of Design as I see it.

For several years now, I have maintained that the future of objects sees them not only satisfying the qualities of form and  function, but also bearing a message. After about sixty years of attempting to get this cultural enrichment of the concept of Design accepted into the mainstream, I am told that many young designers have now begun to follow what has been described above.

An important observation to consider concerns the art of the past. Historically, art has been made up of two components: function and meaning. An example of this can be found in the art of the portrait. First and foremost it was the job of the portrait to resemble the subject. This was achieved if the creator was a skilled professional. If however the creator was also an artist, then the portrait became art. In other words, initially there is a practical function, in this case resemblance. But beyond this goal, in the case of a creator who is also an artist, the artist infuses their expression of the times info the portrait. Another cIear example of this can be found in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

With the Last Judgment Michelangelo represents those who go to Hell if they do not respect the dictates of the Church, but he also expresses the spirit of his time with his painting, thus transcending the medium and delivering true art. This duality of functional expression formally disappears with the advent of Photography: Photography became responsible for functional representation and Art for semantic representation and meaning. I have long believed that the new way of conceiving of Design must include the full expression of functionality and of meaning:  objects continue to be functional and practical (as is in the case of the portrait) but are also capable of expressing values with their forms that go beyond into the realm of the existential of life and of its meaning. As can be done in variety of contexts, political, philosophical, religious etc.… This long description is simply to suggest a possible future for the language of Design, something that can prevent this important form of expression from fading into mere commodification, into banal repetition, into unpretentious and uninteresting goods. In conclusion, the exhibition during the Design Week in this modest room of the venerated Pinacoteca Ambrosiana is meant to display objects with a double meaning: one that is of use, and one intended to make you think.”