From Milan To LACMA - Ettore Sottsass Solos In Us

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

:When the story of Twentieth Century design is finally sorted out, Bauhaus-influenced designs will look like so many dull-hearted companions compared to the adrenalin charged works of Ettore Sottsass.

From "Valentine" - the sexy, red typewriter that made a style statement - to Memphis, the look that rocked the 1980s, and Malpensa 2000, Milan's modern airport, Sottsass has revolutionized the relationship between individuals and design.

His outspoken ideas about colorless, purely functional design and the disposability of Twentieth Century consumer culture have sparked heated controversy. His works have influenced a generation of celebrity designers. Despite all this, Sottsass's contributions have been largely overlooked by American arbiters of taste. Perhaps it is because, as Max Palevsky writes in the exhibition catalog of the recently opened Sottsass exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), "Sottsass does not fit neatly into any aspect of modernism."

True, Sottsass's works play like contenders in the X-games of contemporary design. They are not for the faint of heart nor the aesthetically insecure. But, as Ron Labaco, LACMA's assistant curator of decorative arts, said recently in a phone interview, "They cannot be ignored."

Thanks to Palevsky's sponsorship, LACMA is mounting Sottsass's first solo show in America. "Ettore Sottsass, Designer" runs through June 11.

To do justice to both Sottsass and the public, curator and designer collaborated on the selection of 100 works that survey a career that has spanned more than half a century. Culled from a field of 800 objects that Sottsass believed comprised a full retrospective are furniture, ceramics, glass and metalwork and jewelry.

Adding impact to the show is the exhibit itself, which was designed by Sottsass. At 88 years of age, he is still very much engaged with his art. Viewers will see these works as he himself intends, with the artistry revealed step by step. Not until the final item is viewed will art lovers be able to make an informed judgment about the work.

To accomplish this, Sottsass conceived a field of bright laminated towers - "They look like maquettes for skyscrapers," Labaco said - each embedded with a single piece of art. The towers are laid out so that viewers move through them, seeing only two items at a time from any given period. Large case pieces are similarly grouped by background colors.