In 1994, the Australian designer Marc Newson was commissioned to create a sculpture for the Olympics, to be held in Atlanta in 1996. \u201cThere was a whole group of us: me, Ron Arad, Alessandro Mendini,\u201d Newson says, \u201call briefed to make something with a small footprint and high visibility.\u201d Newson designed a 6m-tall column, with two lobes at the top. \u201cIt\u2019s like a giant tuning fork,\u201d he says of the piece called Electra. \u201cIt was beautifully produced by the aluminium foundry in Newport Pagnell in England, who I\u2019ve worked with from the beginning, from the 1980s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The works were never installed in Atlanta, nor in Sydney, where they were optimistically transported for the following games. But now, over 30 years later, Electra has been taken out of its crates and will greet visitors to Ch\u00e2teau La Coste, near to Aix-en-Provence, from now until 21 June. \u201cIt\u2019s been all over the world,\u201d Newson says. \u201cI eventually tracked it down and had it completely restored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Electra heralds an exhibition of Newson\u2019s work that is taking place in the glazed pavilion designed by Oscar Niemeyer in Ch\u00e2teau La Coste\u2019s grounds, and was the Brazilian architect\u2019s final building. Newson had been discussing a show for several years with Paddy McKillen, Ch\u00e2teau La Coste\u2019s Irish owner, who is a keen design collector, as well as a major art collector, and owns a number of Newson\u2019s works. \u201cI chose pieces that border on design and sculpture for the exhibition, which are relevant both culturally and physically in the context of Ch\u00e2teau La Coste, with its landscape full of contemporary sculpture,\u201d Newson says. \u201cSo, it amounts toa highly curated survey of 40 years of my work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lockheed Lounge, shown here, dates from 1988 and is the earliest design on show. \u201cThere are 15 in total,\u201d Newson says, \u201cand most are in museum collections. This one came from a private collector who was happy to lend it.\u201d A green-and-translucent glass armchair, created in 2017 with a specialist in the Czech Republic, was the most complex to achieve.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Electra has been acquired by the Los Angeles-based collector Philip Serafim, who has a particular passion for concept cars and owns the one that Newson designed for Ford in 1999. \u201cElectra was made by guys who had worked at Aston Martin,\u201d Newson says. \u201cWith Philip, it\u2019s definitely ended up with the right owner.\u201d <\/p>\n