Ron Arad's Shifting Paradigms: Form and Function Redefined

Opera Gallery is delighted to present Ron-Arad's solo exhibition ‘Don’t Ya Tell Henri’ in New York from May 17- June 14, 2023. In his second solo show with Opera Gallery, Arad explores the duality between structure and absence within the material world.

Widely recognised as one of the most innovative and influential designers of our time, Ron Arad’s work transcends the traditional spheres of art, design, and architecture. Through his use of bold colour and fluid forms, the British-Israeli industrial designer succinctly captures the essence of movement and energy, while conceptually exploring the marriage between beauty and utility.

The title of the exhibition is both, a homage to Bob Dylan’s 1971 song performed with The Band (Don't Ya Tell Henry) and Henri Matisse’s lingering thematic influence on Arad’s diverse body of work. The exhibition features an array of new crystalline resin pieces, centred around ‘Don’t Ya Tell Henri,’ the eponymously titled bookshelf crafted as a three-dimensional reincarnation of Henri Matisse’s 1953 collage, ‘The Snail.’

Using the framework of a bookshelf, Arad’s work revisits and builds upon the striking and dynamic interplay of Matisse’s cut-out collage series through new means and modalities.

Founded by Gilles Dyan in 1994 and internationally established with galleries and locations worldwide, Opera Gallery is one of the leading dealers in Modern and Contemporary European, American and Asian art, placing works in major private collections and leading public institutions. New iterations of Arad’s iconic ‘Big Easy’ and ‘Little Albert’ chairs, ‘Tube Sofa,’ and ‘Two Legs and a Table’ tables will also be on display.

Ron Arad: Master of Innovative Design

The founder of Ron Arad Associates is acclaimed for his aesthetic and conceptual explorations of form, structure, and technology through the diverse nature of his work’s materiality and categorisations, from industrial design to sculpture to mixed media installations and beyond.

The first major retrospective of his work titled ‘No Discipline,’ debuted in 2008 at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, followed by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2009.

As an architectural designer, Arad has also designed a number of public art pieces, including works for the Kesher Sculpture placed at the Tel Aviv University, and the 'Vortext,' displayed in Seoul, Korea.

He has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Samsung, Kenzo, Fiat, and many more. Arad’s work graces private and public collections all over the world at institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Montreal.