ITALY AND "TOTAL INCOHERENCE"
SALONE DEL MOBILE; GAETANO PESCE; BONUS: A DOG TO LOOK FORWARD TO
Dear Snoops,
We are rapidly approaching a week of Italian lunacy. We shall be underslept and overstimulated at “SALONE DEL MOB*LE”, a.k.a. the very most biggest “furniture fair” in the world. VERY BRIEF DETAILS:
Frequency: annual, April (mostly)
Location: Milan (always)
Scale: 300,000 attendees (roughly)
ASIDE:
We are very thankful that the deities of put-it-together-kinda-as-you-like Swiss furniture-ites U.S.M. have given us some $ to fly over. So, in exchange, we’re letting them task us with a theme next week (TBD).
This will all be in (a perhaps misguided) attempt to connect all this “industry” insanity to, like, some version of life that we recognize broadly-culturally.
If décor (as we suggest) IS CULTURE, “SALONE” either: (a) provides some kind of bellwether, via its 1000s of new chairs; or, (b) provides a lens for us to, say, assess a connection or disconnection between décor “INDUSTRY” and décor as it is experienced generally by “us” (you and we).
Suffice it to say that SALONE DEL MOB*LE is wildly incoherent, but in that incoherence is some Truth.
Yet, we shall let it remain incoherent, to some extent. Far too many Reports from Salone are Desperately Reverential, even when they are “critical”.
A note on FOR SCALE reportage:
Frequency: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (just for the week, then back a regular sechedule of Just Mondays)
Location: the physical and astral realms (we’ll be There, but we’ll be dreaming of the world beyond)
Scale: we shall be exploiting all FOR SCALE correspondents for their two cents
ONWARD… R.I.P. GAETANO P., and his totally coherent “INCOHERENCE”
Smart followers of décor know to balance (1) an irreverence to the institution of “CAPITAL-D DESIGN”*
… with (2) some degree of admiration for certain people who manage to really f*ck with things and show us some exciting possibilities.
*(because Capital D Design is art-commerce; and décor is Expression – they overlap in a Venn, but they are not the same. When they are mistaken for the same, décor becomes “Design Showroom”)
One such person in the latter category is Ligurian resin-fiend GAETANO PESCE. Many knew him personally, and we did not, and so we shan’t be attempting to characterize Gaetano, “The Man”. We shall, instead, characterize PERSONAL “FOR SCALE” LESSONS EXTRACTED FROM THE LIFE OF GAETANO P.
First, a collage of images mainly from “FOR SCALE” OFFICIAL PESCE IMAGE FISHER, Mercedes K. (responsible also for the charming Instagr*m “ACE OF VASE”) :
Why Gaetano P. is a partial inspiration to “FOR SCALE” is not only because of the above – which are both really easy and very difficult to categorize, but we’ll call it “functional absurdities” – but also for sh*t like this: a quote that for us reads like a poem, and so we have put it into the form of a poem.
Basically, ‘get the F*CK out of your own head and the societally-imposed expectation that you should be “COHERENT”’. Coherence, we must report, is (generally speaking) the enemy of truly intriguing décor – and similarly, rarely a feature of intriguing people. Very good homescapes and very good personalities are usually a bit hard to pick apart.)
(Gaetano P.’s brand adherence to “incoherence” extends to the publishing world; he has a book called “THE COMPLETE INCOHERENCE”.)
Yet, we refer you back to Mercedes K.’s wonderful Gaetano P. “SELECTED WORKS” above. Kinda feel Gaetano P. found a bit of coherence within himself, to be honest, because can’t you tell those are all from one mind? But EQUALLY,he found a way to force a little “INCOHERENCE” on us.
To us, INCOHERENCE is perhaps how his stuff fits into the existing décorworld (as in, it barely does – even still!). It sits apart, it kind of upsets a Perfect Order Of Things in a way few Megas really manage to do. And, so, incoherence is clearly what he wanted for us, and less a word you’d apply to his OEUVRE if you were to step into his studio or whatever (below). Because he was highly distinguishable.
The man in his studio in New York. He sits on a “BROADWAY CHAIR” which is the thing(s) of his we at “FOR SCALE” HQ wish we had most.
And, some more of those chairs in the radical 1990s CHIAT\DAY offices (also New York):
We have discussed this office before. And, you would expect our DOMESTIC obsession to focus on a Gaetano P. “home” interior, but we simply don’t want to.
There are three “WORK” interiors (aside from individual offices) that matter – coincidentally, they all express a certain “New Openness”. Here in chronological order:
Tati’s PLAYTIME (a 1960s film), which embalms a kind of sexy cubicle, even though he didn’t want to do that (i.e. was very critical of some aspects of modernity) but clearly couldn’t help himself. Interesting décor dimension: modernity kind of hyper rigidity that is very cold, oddly horny, and emerged from a kind of industrial-bureaucratic “control” energy
Gaetano P.’s Chiat\Day, which is the first major example of the kind of “HOT-DESKERY” open-plannage office that “Creative” types and S*licon Valley has since been whacking off to (above). Interesting décor dimension: Pesce-tarian “coherent-incoherence” that can still have a certain totality (WORD OF THE DAY – a happy Total Eclipse to the North Americans who celebrate)
“ALLY McBEAL” and the unisex bathroom, which is perpetually controversial but remains a key example of subtle “vanity” and “exhibitionism” (two very common themes in the homesphere)
The office is a wonderful inspiration for the homesphere simply because its formal button-uppedness so significantly contravenes most humanly desire. The greatest offices, as those abobe, are very domestically compelling because they find ways to let a little humanity seep through, i.e. a little incoherence, i.e. a little tension, and usually these are kind of in quite fetishistic ways. And, sadly, we still exist in a world where Suburban “perfection” influences home décor to be totally sexless.
The seeping in of a little sexy-fetishism is why **ALL**!!!! offices that attempt to mimic the comforts of “home” and/or the silliness of the playground utterly FAIL – they completely ignore any sexiness whatsoever. They are suburban. It’s horrible.
***We hereby seek to consult with a coworking company.***
Anyway, back to Gaetano P.:
Absolutely he managed to be wacky and art-y and still useful-sexy, high-tension, complex but childlike. Etc. Etc.
REST IN PEACE, Gaetano.
PRINT ISSUE TEASER:
One star of the forthcoming “FOR SCALE” print issue is:
Willie gives us a tour of a very high-powered warehouse, and selects eight pieces of very exceptional furniture and we gauge his reaction. It was photographed by DANIEL DORSA (not this above BTS tho) and he did some phenomenal work. It really should become a book.
Available MAY 17th, and we will alert again when it’s there but it will be in the “FOR SCALE” shop.
Ok, next report will be from MILAN.
Alla prossima. Love and good luck (this time ‘GOOD LUCK’ is directed at us),
Playtime is an amazing movie. Next time you watch look for reflections. Also the sound. Nothing will ever beat the restaurant scene…I could go on!