Rick Owens Five Easy Pieces

Taking place at Carpenters in Paris, the exhibition showcases five new editions of iconic functional artworks that advance Owens and Lamy’s explorations of primal materiality and architectural form. Many of the works feature steel in a state of rust, which the creative pair sees as a metaphor for creative resistance, while the use of wood also invites reflection on the profound effects of nature and time.

The title of the exhibition refers to the 1970 movie Five Easy Pieces, which Lamy have long admired. The film became an important work of New Hollywood, acclaimed for its exploration of alienation, new aesthetics, emotional isolation and the rejection of conventional ideas of success. In the context of the exhibition, the title is intentionally ironic, as these are by no means ‘easy pieces’ – instead, they are among the most elaborate and technically complex creations in the duo’s oeuvre.

The monumental K Plug Steel Rust revisits a form first prototyped by Lamy from Owens’ sketches, forming a continuous study in balance and materiality. While previously made of alabaster and bronze, the latest model of the work is crafted in rusted steel. Three models of the Pedalò seating sculpture also feature rusted steel patinas, with cylindrical leather cushions placed in the concave seat.

Tomb Chair and Stag Chair are presented for the first time in swamp wood (bois de marais), which acquires its distinctive dark grey-green colour after thousands of years submerged in swamp water, imbuing the works with an aged yet timeless quality. Conversely, a new rusted steel version model of the Double Bubble sofa – in which the metal engages in a tactile dialogue with graphite crocodile leather – marks an evolution from the work’s earlier bois de marais version.

Displayed its own dedicated space at the upper level of the gallery, Antler Bed embodies the notion of cyclical renewal that guides Owens and Lamy’s material language. Crafted from recycled elm wood, the organic surfaces of the work carry the compelling quality of the material itself, which is imbued with raw, imperfect vitality.

Owens’ sculptures will be accompanied by a selection of works curated by Lamy from her and Owens’ personal art collection, including pieces by Barry X Ball, Giovanni Leonardo Bassan, Marilyn Minter, Youssef Nabil, Arnaud Kalos and Scarlett Rouge. Placing these iconic modern and contemporary artworks in dialogue with their own functional design pieces, Lamy and Owens create an inhabited environment in which art and design are symbiotic practices, breathing life into each other through shared creative inquiry, space and materiality.