Website title
FURNITURE
happens to be often overlooked, although it is central to human life and my artistic practice. The
FURNITURE
that people own reflect how we view our space and create our domestic worlds. FURNITURE
also phys .............
ically symbolizes our heritage and allows us to present a public sense of taste, flaunt or hide socioeconomic status, and identify ourselves with a particular culture.
I became interested in FURNITURE
design through my grandpa, an eclectic architect who collects gothic saint statues, .............
creates ancestral charts, and evangelizes for hours about his travels to the world's archit .............
ectural landmarks. I spend my summers in Nicaragua, surrounded by his artistry: the bed frame he designed in 1969, the square mirrors juxtaposed with an Italian Renaissance tapestry, the stained glass accents lining the walls, the sculptural ceiling decorations of the stars and moon. His personality radiates through these works, which is why I am drawn to them.
I find myself furiously taking notes as my family tries to push me along to the next room. The name, date, and medium as well as a picture of the work are quickly typed into my phone. Here I am awed and surrounded by the best of the best: a stuffed-animal covered couch by Kaws, a teapot sporting a portrait of Kamala Harris by Roberto Lugo, the layered resin chairs of Gaetano Pesce. These are some of the standout pieces and protagonists from Design Miami, an annual design exhibition that takes place in my home t .............
own. Our rushed departure from the event was due to the next convention my family had planned to attend: Art Basel. Design Miami is usually the side-event because the “real art” is always shown at Basel. Many artists working in a media that could be considered either utilitarian or aesthetic have flirted with this question. The segregation of
FURNITURE
from art merits some exploration.
In my own practice, I contemplate my artistic process while I am immersed in it rather .............
than prior to its commencement. The intention behind the object I am crafting is only revealed once I study my creation. These personal experiences combined with my reflections from a long weekend of gallery gawking resulted in a question I think about deeply: what draws the line between fine art and a useful object? Should there even be a line? Yes, FURNITURE
to me can be appreciated as both, its duality creating a different form of object.
Well — Donald Judd thinks there should be fixed criteria for art, and I guess the father of the American Craft Movement’s words are worth hearing. His essay “It’s Hard to Find a Good Lamp” does a bit of complaining about how it's hard to find a good lamp but it mostly gives insight into his own philosophy of the distinction between
FURNITURE
and art. He denies that mixing the two crafts leads to favorable results because, “A work of art exists as itself; a chair exists as a chair itself. And the idea of a chair isn’t a chair.” He sees the two as separate entities that should not intermingle for fear of creating something pointless: a useful painting, or a useless stool. He fortifies his point: “The intent of art is different from that of [FURNITURE
], which must be functional.”
Opposing him is Wendell Castle, crowned father of the art
FURNITURE
movement. Castle chooses to work in FURNITURE
and says, “I thought of the work as sculpture, not FURNITURE
.” Strangely enough, his art is categorized under the American Craft movement, evidence of the progression in thought since Judd. Critics call Castle’s work neither art nor design, but a composite of both in the most whimsical and wonderful way. I couldn't agree more; his wor .............
k defies these boundaries, imposed by rigid thinking, pushed down to make space for controversial creations, for new ideas, for real progress in art. In this, New York Times critic Joseph Giovanni finds, “The visual presence of a piece now outweighed its function, design outweighed technique, and form was more important than material.”
Exploring the line between art and utility through
FURNITURE
further prompts the consideration of its implications while attempting to define this distinction. The viewer’s intentions are very significant in this exploration, as are the uses of FURNITURE
. One duality of FURNITURE
can be found by analyzing FURNITURE
's role in the home shows that it can be directly related to domesticity all while being a symbol of class status. High-Fashion designers like Gucci, Rick Owens, Louis Vuitton take a dip into FURNITURE
design, exemplifying .............
this point. FURNITURE
can take on other dualities in the outdoors, where it can benefit pedestrian life, while also excluding those vulnerable populations without homes, with spikes or bars added to benches in order to prevent people from sleeping on them. These ideas can be expressed artistically as well, but the functionality of FURNITURE
inherently makes it a physical proponent of these ideas and imposes them onto our reality.
On the other hand, there exists fine art that speaks to these same ideas and makes us think about them, but it does not grant the same corporeal experience as
FURNITURE
.............
FURNITURE
prompts the physical body to be used in its purpose whereas art does not rely on the body as much as the mind. It is hard to physically prevent people from looking at art, but for FURNITURE
a person must be in dialogue with these objects. They must be in constant motion and interaction with these works to fulfill their purpose. Interaction must occur to imbue this piece of FURNITURE
with life. The complexity and engagement with FURNITURE
attest to the complexity of our world.
The marriage of form and function can then create an immersive experience into an idea in which one's full body is engaged as well as one’s mind. In this undefined category of objects there is room for boundless exploration. Imagine a sculpture acting as a chair in one's home. This chair is uncomfortable to sit in, but that's the point. It propels the sitter into a space they would not usually be in in their own h
.............
ome, but in this space they might find a new revelation. These microcosms of ph .............
ysical space are easily portable, visually pleasing, and cater to the same audience looking to experience fine art. Now this compound creation would not cater to someone looking to experience a chair for its utility, but it draws on the most interesting aspects of FURNITURE
to an artist and uses them to create a sensory experience.
Another advantage of a hybrid work focuses more on its usability which is affected by a viewer’s definition of art. Imagine a park bench that has a local artist’s work painted on it. This is a commercialized form of art, similar to when benches are used for advertisement, but it still fits a combination of both principles, form and function. Who’s to say that a bench like this wouldn’t bring someone inspiration? What if the advertisement bench I just mentioned was photographed .............
by a street photographer to make commentary about the city? This bench then becomes a symbol, a protagonist in a new narrative it was not created to join.
If art is simply about the appreciation of beauty, then art can be found in the construction of a simple chair. Maybe the viewer has a keen interest in woodworking, or maybe they were lost in thought between the .............
space of the armrest and seat and had a revelation about the Industrial Revolution and how it was an actor in putting that mass manufactured IKEA chair into their living room.
These different thought experiments reveal the nuance of
FURNITURE
by exploring the fine line between fine art and functionality. My personal engagement with these ideas reveals that my interest in this discussion lies in the liminal space between, a space that I wish to explore. The subjective nature of art allows .............
me to explore FURNITURE
as an object of function and art.