Property from an Important American Collection
143. Ron Arad
b. 1951
‘No Solution No Problem’ 2006 Silicone, steel. 65.5 x 59 x 115.5 cm (25 3/4 x 23 1/4 x 45 1/2 in.) Produced by The Gallery Mourmans, Maastricht, the Netherlands. From the edition of 6 plus 2 artist’s proofs. Estimate £20,000-30,000 $25,800-38,700 €23,800-35,800 ‡
Provenance Barry Friedman Ltd., New York Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2006 Literature Ron Arad: The Dogs Barked, exh. cat., de Pury & Luxembourg, Zurich, 2006, n.p. Marie-Laure Jousset, Sir Christopher Frayling and Jonathan Safran Foer, et al., Ron Arad No Discipline, exh. cat., Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2008, p. 125 Phillips wishes to thank Caroline Thorman from Ron Arad Associates for her assistance cataloguing the present lot.
plus Buyers Premium and VAT*
In an interview with Interiors magazine, Ron Arad said, ‘I’m solving problems that don’t exist’. Throughout his career, Arad has proven this statement true by producing works that explore novel materials and forms in unprecedented ways and that, by extension, explore new ways of living. His designs are often solutions to the problems that we do not even know exist. The present lot interrogates this concern. The chair appears light and airy, as it is made from silicone with only an internal spiralshaped steel beam supporting the structure, though it still maintains a sculptural presence. Incised on the steel skeleton is a quote originally uttered by French conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp: ‘Il n’y a pas de solution parce qu’il n’y a pas de problème’. The English translation (‘There is no solution because there is no problem’) echoes on the reverse. As an artist often working within the Dadaist tradition, Arad responds to this paradox through the present lot—both literally, with his allusion to Duchamp, and tacitly, by stretching the material possibilities of furniture making.
Beginning in 2003, Arad created a range of futuristic rocking chairs, collectively known as the Voids, that all assume the same general form but vary in their patterns, textures, materials, proportions and colours. The present lot is an example of one of Arad’s Oh-Void chairs, the frst subgroup within this larger category. Typical of Arad’s playful style, the Oh-Void title is a play on words. The chairs look like two ovoids joined together like an infnity symbol, and their form relies on voids in space or colour. Arad’s initial Oh-Void chairs were made with carbon fber, but he later created limited edition chairs in steel, enameled aluminium, acrylic, Corian and, as seen in the present lot, silicone. The chair exists almost as a ghost of a chair; it is foating in space as a ‘void’. The chair’s existence seems nearly impossible, yet Arad has found a solution. Or has he? Perhaps that’s the point: the chair may be a solution to a problem that does not exist, but is it a solution if the problem did not exist in the frst place? Duchamp might say so. But Duchamp also said, ‘I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste’, so maybe it is just a matter of perspective.
*The amount of Buyer’s Premium, VAT and, if applicable, Artist’s Resale Right payable is dependent on the sale outcome. For full details see Calculating the Purchase Price in the Buyer’s Guide online or in this catalogue. Buyer’s Premium is payable at a maximum of 25%. VAT, where applicable, is payable at 20% on the Buyer’s Premium.