basilica minore di san simpliciano | piazza s. simpliciano 7
friedman benda and nendo present 50 manga chairs. the installation of polished aluminum chairs will make its european premier at basilica minore di san simpliciano, in conjunction with salone del mobile milano, 12 > 17 april 2016 and its american premier in a solo exhibition at the friedman benda gallery in new york, 8 september 8 > 15 october 2016.
above> manga chair, 2015 | polished aluminum | photography> adam reich /// all others below> polished aluminum | photography> nichi sonehara /// photos courtesy of friedman benda and oki sato, nendo,
with this exhibition, nendo abstracts archetypes of manga comics. the chairs are happy, distressed, embarrassed, surprised; they leap and bound, zoom past, or slowly slink away. each chair has its own personality, allowing it to stand on its own or, when placed next to the others, to become part of a collective narrative. a different configuration creates a different story; the chairs come alive in a symphonious display of nendo’s playful japanese design.
50 manga chairs is friedman benda’s third solo show with nendo and th japanese design group’s most ambitious body of work to date. the group’s 2009 new york debut ghost stories featured the acclaimed cabbage chair, which was initially shown in the groundbreaking exhibition xxist century man at 21_21 design site in tokyo. nendo’s 2011 exhibition scatter shelf toyed with optical illusions and repetitive forms, the idea of structure in space.
[ nendo ] founded in tokyo in 2002, with a second office established in milan in 2005, has received many distinctions, including the iconic design award ‘interior designer of the year’ in 2015, wallpaper* magazine’s ‘designer of the year’ in 2012, and the ‘red dot design award’ in germany in 2008. in 2011, nendo presented visible structures, a solo commission for the high museum of art, atlanta, visible structures was also included in modern by design, a collaborative exhibition between the high museum of art and the museum of modern art, new york.
