Ron Arad
More works from ‘Pressed Flowers’ series
Pressed Flower (PETROL BLUE), 2013
Steel, glass, leather, plastic and vinyl
220 × 370 × 20 cm
‘Fiat 500 is a national symbol for Italy and our generation, and it’s a very endearing vehicle. Everyone has stories about their first ever sex in a Fiat, or first kiss. We’re not destroying the cars, we’re immortalising them.’
— Ron Arad
Cars from this series have been flattened, by a 500-ton press in the Netherlands, to a cartoonish perfection. So objects made for motion are now still, cars built for the road now hang on a wall, their three dimensions compressed almost entirely to two.
“Pressed Flowers” series is inspired by the fear and rupture of an incident—during Arad’s childhood, his father had a severe car crash while driving a Fiat Topolino, which was made from a mix of wood and metal. The car was completely flattened yet his father survived. Arad Says: ‘I will never forget my father’s words to us: “Had my car not been made out of wood I wouldn’t be alive now”.’
Exhibitions:
Ron Arad. Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow, Russia. 18 November 2016 – 1 February 2017
Ron Arad: “in Reverse“. Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, USA. 12 February – 14 March 2015
Ron Arad: “in Reverse“. Pinacoteca, Turin, Italy. 20 December 2013 – 30 March 2014
Ron Arad: “in Reverse“. Design Museum, Holon, Israel. 19 June – 19 October 2013
Catalogue:
Ron Arad. Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow, 2017. p. 69-73, 83.
“In Reverse”. Design Museum Holon, Israel, 2013. p. 47, 54-55, 57.
