Artist Statement
In my work the boundaries of art and design are porous - creating functional objects, sculptures and drawings - in part inspired by cultural history and natural phenomena. My language and narrative is personal yet universal, filled with contrast, contradiction, mystery and movement, working backwards and forwards, sometimes slyly mischievous other times with serious intent. I create my work as an independent artist as well as design on commission for commercial and private clients.
Rock-n-Thoreau is an example of current ongoing independent work. While under development and supporting my vision, long-term patrons commissioned the project. Turning line into form with a branch-like motif is a recurring theme – a decorative ethereal mapping – an interchange marking the fusion of experience and thingness.
Over the years, I’ve completed a wide variety of commissions, from oversized cast bronze doors – to heavy cast stone benches. For some commissions, I make totally new work and for other projects revisit existing forms that I had created in a different time. Other commissioned projects are shared vision based on my earlier works.
My recent commissions include work on projects created for Peter Marino Architect. These completed commissions include: Long Strider, a cast aluminum bench for La Samaritaine in Paris and My Eames Is True, cast bronze chairs for Louis Vuitton showrooms. One of my most publicized commission is Five, a cast aluminum oval bench designed and reproduced multiple times for various Dior showrooms located in cities around the world.
Clodagh Design presented me with my first major commission in 1991 – to create a double pair of oversized carved glass doors with cast bronze handles for the Dentsu Corporation. In the following years, Clodagh and I developed a close working relationship that has continued to present. Recent projects include: Lounging Bear, cast stone sculpture for The Avery Condos of San Fransisco and Urban Dogs, cast stone benches, for Abington House lobby, New York City.
My notions of integrating art with design first started with creating objects for Rick Kaufmann, founder and owner of the former avant-garde Art et Industrie gallery, New York City 1981. At the time there were only a few galleries in America actively exhibiting and promoting functional art – now the genre has become nearly mainstream. From 1980-83, as Main & Main in a three year joint venture, Laura Drake and I created a body of work including QueenAnne QueenAnne and the MoonDog lamp for exhibition at the gallery.
In my years showing at Art et Industrie, my solo work expanded, involving ever more drawing and carving – I eventually found casting my created forms in metal or stone to be the most rewarding way of expression. While Art et Industrie had bouts of openings and closings, I continued to show my work in each of its reincarnations until the final closing in 1998. From 2006-2016 Magen H Gallery represented a few of the Art et Industrie artists and designers of which I was one and included us along with its own collection.
Now going on four decades, I've been challenging the boundaries between art and design. Considered art before furniture, my objects are sculptures in a form that accommodates the human body, but distinctly declare form before function. My work has been featured in exhibitions at museums and galleries around the world and is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Racine Art Museum. I received my MFA in Design at the Cranbrook Academy of Art 1978.
Creativity has been with me for as long as I can remember, providing solace, entertainment and a way to make a living. It is a way to process and render observation, sensation and imagination.
Selected Commissions
Client: Peter Marino Architect
4th Frond Chair, cast bronze 2022. Commissioned through Magen H Gallery.
Icon Sconces, cast plaster, LED light, 4 designs 2022.
Long Strider, cast aluminum for La Samaritaine, Paris 2021.
My Eames Is True, cast bronze chairs for Louis Vuitton Showrooms 2019 - 2020.
Five, oval bench, cast aluminum for Dior Showrooms in Beijing, Shanghai, Florence, Miami, Las Vegas and other cities worldwide 2011-2016.
Client: Clodagh Design International
Lounging Bear, cast stone for The Avery of San Francisco 2018.
Urban Dogs, cast stone, for entry and lobby at Abington House NYC 2014.
Urban Alligators, cast stone for The W Hotel, FT Lauderdale, Florida 2007.
Urban Guerrillas, cast stone for The Caledonia NYC 2010 and for Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington, PA 1999.
Dentsu Doors, 120 x 43 inches, carved glass and cast bronze for the Dentsu Corporation, Tokyo 1991.
Client: Magen H Gallery
Reflection Table, cast bronze, NYC 2008.
Client: Jeffrey Beers International
7th Frond Chairs, cast aluminum and Guerrillas, cast stone for Rum Jungle, Mandalay Bay Hotel/Casino, Las Vegas, NV 1998.
Client: Michael Palm
Palm Doors, 100 x 74 inches, cast bronze for private residence, NYC 1995. Commissioned through Artet Industrie.
Client: Peter Joseph
Falls Table, cast bronze, NYC 1992.
Client: Private
Untitled Dining Table, carved glass, cast bronze and 12 cast bronze Nymph Chairs, NYC 1992.
Solo Exhibitions
Turning Line, Herron School of Art & Design, Indianapolis IN 2015. Image: Moon Lily, sconce, cast resin LED lighting. Exhibition included 29 ink drawings, a plaster sconce. Exhibition coincided with receiving Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Terra Incognita, Pop-up Alessi Gallery, New York City 2002. Image: Yucca, cast bronze. Exhibition also included, cast bronze chairs, Terrestrial Tale bench/sculpture, drawings, carved wood patterns and Ink drawings.
Guerrillas, Art et Industrie, New York City 1997. Image: 800 pound Guerrilla, cast bronze on wooden platform. Exhibition also included multiple series of paintings, drawings, a large 3 tiered wooden outdoor sculpture, seating made of cast stone, various models of wood, wax, and suspended cardboard sculptures all exploring the same titled theme.
Terrestrial Tale, Art et Industrie, New York City 1996. Image: Cast bronze sculpture/bench (9 segments), cast bronze heads (background) and small cast bronze figure of animal-human form.
Inflorescence, Art et Industrie, New York City 1991. Image: A series of 9 different Frond chairs, cast bronze.
Exhibition Evolution: From New York, Manufactory Gallery, Tokyo 1990. Sponsored by Gallery 91, NYC. Image: Volution Vase, blown glass. Exhibition also included small blown glass tumblers and small ink drawings mounted behind carved glass.
Apparitions, Art et Industrie, New York City 1989. Image: Seduction (from a series of 9) cast bronze, carved slumped glass, halogen lamp. Exhibition also included multiple carved glass panels.
Hellbenders, Art et Industrie, New York City 1988. Image: Installation view of 9 carved bent wood chairs, each with silk screened upholstery. Exhibition also included 9 paintings, oil on vellum framed behind carved glass.
The Future Isn't What It Used To Be at the International Design Conference, Aspen, CO 1983. Main & Main (co-created with Laura Drake) Image: Networks, hand knotted wire by Laura Drake, dipped coated nylon and steel. Exhibition also included, Queen Anne, Queen Anne, Side Steps, MoonDog lamps, all created in various materials.
Third Stream, Main & Main (co-created with Laura Drake), Art et Industrie, New York City 1982. Image: Queen Anne, Queen Anne, painted wood, mohair. Exhibition also included Ribbon Chaise, Cloud Prop table, MondriAnne chair, Side Steps, Triatron lamps, MoonDog lamps, Cootie File, Wave table, Subway table all created in various materials ranging from cast aluminum, cast concrete, cast ceramics, glass, fiberglass and laminates.
Selected Group Exhibitions
Return to Downtown Superhouse and Magen H Gallery, NYC 2022.
SIZED / Industrialism UrbanZen, West Village NYC 2022.
With Eyes Opened Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI 2021.
Game Of Thrones Contemporary Art Furniture, The William Benton Museum Of Art 2019.
The Chair Show Arts Westchester, NY 2019.
Art et Industrie Magen H Gallery, NYC 2016.
Highlights from the Modern Design Collection, 1900 To the Present, Part II
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC 2011-2012.
The Object of Sculpture Magen H Gallery, NYC 2012.
Thinking Big: Recent Design Acquisitions Brooklyn Museum of Art 2011.
Magen H Gallery Opens New Space! Magen H Gallery NYC 2009.
Design Miami/New York Magen H Gallery 2008.
Art Basel Magen H Gallery, Switzerland 2008.
Design Miami/Basel Magen H Gallery, Miami Beach 2008.
Design London Magen H Gallery, Berkeley Square, London 2007.
Structure Et Surface Harris Lieberman Gallery, NYC 2007.
Design Miami/Basel Miami Beach 2006.
Modernism 7th Regiment Armory, NYC 2005.
Design Miami/Basel Magen H Gallery Miami Preview, Miami Beach 2005.
Significant Objects from the Modern Design Collection
Metropolitan Museum of Art 2003.
Group Exhibition Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC 2003.
The Sculpted Seat Leo Kaplan Modern, NYC 2003.
Magnet Yassine Art Gallery, Dakar, Senegal 2002.
A Century of Design Part IV: 1975-2000 Metropolitan Museum of Art 2001.
Important Postwar and Contemporary Design Icon20, NYC 2000.
Summer Group Show Leo Kaplan Modern 1999.
Magic in the Mind's Eye, Meadowbrook Art Gallery, Rochester, MI 1998.
Agitating Utopia Cranbrook Academy of Art 1998.
Get Out John Elder Gallery, NYC 1997.
Form Function or Metaphor Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester, NY 1997.
Sit On This The Chair as Art, PBCC Museum of Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, FL 1997.
Art in the Dark City Without Walls, Newark, NJ 1997.
Form Over Function Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA 1996.
Young Curators Choose Chairs Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum 1996.
Eclectic Electric Gallery Function Art, New Pontiac, MI 1996.
Building the Collection Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum 1995.
Back from Vacation Art et Industrie, NYC 1995.
Modern Furniture The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1994.
Art and Design for Living Reidelbach Gallery, Troy, MI 1994.
Modern Metalwork The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1993.
Art and Application Turbulence, NYC 1993.
Lamp Edge Leo Kaplan Modern NYC 1992.
Mailbox Auction Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Southfield, MI 1992.
Cranbrook Design:The New Discourse Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum 1991.
The Chair: From Artifact to Object Weatherspoon Gallery, Greensboro, NC. 1991.
The Humanist Icon Edwin Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS; Bayly Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA;
New York Academy of Art, NYC. 1990.
Functional Art, New York Brutus Gallery, Osaka, Japan 1990.
Mondrian auf der Tube Foundation for Constructivist and Concrete Art, Zurich 1990.
New, Used & Improved: Art for the ‘80’s Bass Art Museum, Miami, FL.1989.
La Salon Ironique Pompeii Gallery, NYC 1986.
Work on Papers Pompeii Gallery, NYC 1984.
Ornamentalism Huntington Museum, Austin TX and Hudson River Museum NY 1983.
The Future Isn't What It Used To Be International Design Conference Aspen, CO 1983.
New York City Renaissance Seibu Corporation, Tokyo, Japan 1982.
Selected Publications
'See Touch...Smell': The Next Generation of Design Gallerists Invites you Inside, Superhouse, nytimes.com 2022.
'We Weren't Afraid to Fall on Our Face.' Superhouse, Curbed News, 2022.
ARTISAN DESIGN Collectible Furniture in the Digital Age Judith Gura: Thames & Hudson 2021.
Art et Industrie Magen H Gallery 2015.
Limited edition: Prototypes One-Offs and Design Art Furniture, A Birkhäuser book 2009.
Please Sit On the Art: New Cachet for Design The New York Times 2006.
The Bronze Door Man Lifestyle & Travel for Physicians 2003.
Form, Function...Furniture Fine Furnishing International 2002.
The Bronze Door Man Departures Magazine 2002.
With All Those Chairs, Who Stood In The 80's The New York Times 2001.
Second To None Colorado Homes & Life Style Magazine 2001.
Important Postwar and Contemporary Design Icon20.com NYC 2000.
Guerrillas at Art et Industrie Art Guide, The New York Times, Art In Review, NY Arts Magazine, Gallery Guide NYC. Art Now 1997.
Terence Main (catalogue) Rick Kaufmann, John Ash: Art et Industrie, NYC 1996.
Recent Acquisitions: A Selection Metropolitan Museum of Art Fall Bulletin 1992.
Form Over Function (catalogue) Marsh Art Gallery, University of Richmond, VA 1992.
Mailbox Auction (catalogue) Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, MI 1992.
The Chair: From Artifact to Object University of North Carolina, Greensboro NC 1991.
Cranbrook Design: The New Discourse Aldersey-Williams; Lorraine Wild, NY: Rizzoli 1990.
Mondrian auf der Tube (catalogue) Weinberg-Staber. Zurich: Pro Litteris 1990.
Modern Furniture Classics Stimpson, New York: Whitney Library of Design 1987.
New, Used & Improved: Art for the ‘80’s Frank and McKenzie, New York: Abbeville 1987.
High Touch Janjigian New York: Dutton 1987.
Light Szenasy, Philadelphia, PA: Running Press 1986.
Artists Design Furniture Denise Domergue, New York: Abrams 1984.
The Future Isn't What It Used To Be: A Conference for Tomorrow and Today, The 33rd International Design Conference In Aspen,1983.
Japan Interior Design Interior Objects at (Art et Industrie),1982.
Progressive Architecture Interior design: An archaeological dig into the present, 1981.
Ribbon Chaise 1981
Museum Collections
Metropolitan Museum Of Art
Denver Art Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Racine Art Museum
Education
Cranbrook Academy of Art MFA 1978.
Herron School of Art & Design BFA 1976.
Received Distinguished Alumni Award 2015.
Red Twiddler 1988