Carpenters Workshop Gallery presents “Rust Never Sleeps”, a new exhibition by Rick Owens Furniture, curated by Michèle Lamy. Taking its title from Neil Young’s 1979 anthem, the exhibition transforms the phrase into a manifesto for artistic endurance: it is better to burn out than to fade away.
For Lamy and Owens, rust becomes a metaphor for creative resistance, a material language that rejects the corrosion of time. What appears decayed is, in truth, resilient; what seems eroded reveals unexpected strength. In this alchemy of oxidation, rust is not the mark of decline but a proof of life — evolving, alive, and enduring.
The works in “Rust Never Sleeps” advance Owens’ exploration of primal materiality and architectural form. Among the highlights, the Antler Bed (2025) — shown publicly for the first time — embodies a cycle of renewal. Crafted from recycled elm wood, its organic surface carries the vitality of the material itself: living, flawed, and raw. The piece continues Owens’ legacy from the Pompidou series (2019), building a nest from what has come before.
The dialogue between permanence and impermanence deepens in “Double Bubble” (2025), where rusted steel and graphite crocodile leather engage in a tactile conversation between the elemental and the animal. Similarly, the monumental “K Plug Table” (2022) revisits a form first prototyped by Lamy from Owens’ sketches — a continuous study in balance and bronze. Finally, “Pedalò Rust” (2025), with its distinctive steel patina and camel leather cushions, captures the exhibition’s pulse: each rust pattern a record of time’s passage, every surface a map of transformation.
In “Rust Never Sleeps”, decay is reimagined as persistence. The creeping corrosion of time becomes an act of defiance — an artist’s refusal to fade. Through these works, Owens and Lamy reveal that in rust there is not ruin, but renewal: strength forged through oxidation.
Well-versed in art history, Owens’ influences range from Brutalism to Arte Povera, also covering minimalists like Carl Andre or the experiential art of Joseph Beuys. The multi-facets of modernism are all amalgamated and processed through Owens’ work, resulting in artworks that bridge sculpture and design, always with a confrontational edge.
On view at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Ladbroke Hall, 79 Barlby Road W10 6AZ, London, through February 14, 2026.
Photos: Courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery
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