Beyond function to art

What should a chair or sconce look like?  Should its use be obvious or something to decipher and discover?

Today, I want to write about furniture and lighting that interact with and enliven their surroundings.   I'm talking about design that goes beyond function to become art, objects that have a distinctive personality and point of view.   They evoke humor and emotion; they offer innovation without over-complication.

Scott Burton, who died in 1989 at the age of 50, is best known for creating public sculpture that walks a fine line between art and furniture.  Purchased by museums, corporations and collectors, these sculptures offer places to sit, to engage in social exchange.  Yet, these benches and chairs are made not of soft wood but cold and hard steel, marble, granite or aluminum.  They cross from simple design into contemporary art.

Ingo Maurer, born in 1932, is many things - artist, designer, entrepreneur, manufacturer, and innovator.  He creates light fixtures that are functional but also playful, active and odd.  They raise questions about color, brightness and luminosity.  They use unexpected materials such as paper, feathers and found objects to create simple, well-executed works that are beautiful, unique and useful.  They bring art world aesthetics into a tradition of utility. 

Their achievements are celebrated, dissolving the boundaries between fine art and decorative arts.  Aware of 20^th century art movements, from surrealism to minimalism, they understand that art is integrated into the experience of space and that innovation can be about simplification as well as complexity.  Clarity of thought and coherent choices are important along with an understanding about balancing purpose and whimsy.

There are several other artists and designers who enhance the user's experience by being both provocative and fun.  They realize that art is not separate from everyday life; in bringing sculpture to function, some emphasize the relationships between parts, some exaggerate scale and some reduce objects to their essence.

Here are some names and sites to look at for ideas and inspiration:

• Isamu Noguchi 
George Nakashima 
• Virgil Marti 
• Latvian based Stanislav Katz and Dmitry Holomyov  
• Battery Park City projects such as Sitting/Stance, 1988 by Richard Artschwager and The Upper Room, 1987 by Ned Smyth