San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art Acquires Prototype Chair from Industry Gallery.
| GALLERY NEWS |
Industry Gallery has announced the acquisition by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) of one of Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen’s concrete chair prototypes. The chair was first exhibited in March 2010 as part of Hands On at Industry Gallery, the first solo US exhibition for Dutch designer Tejo Remy, a founding designer at Droog, and René Veenhuizen, his design partner of the past decade. This is the first work by Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen to enter the museum’s collection, and the first US museum acquisition of a work by the Atelier.
The concrete chair is one of four original prototypes – two chairs, a bench and a stool – created for a series of furniture that appears to be made of inflated fabric, but actually is made from poured concrete. Remy & Veenhuizen cast each prototype as a single piece in individual molds created from waterproof PVC or plastic sheeting. Once assembled, the molds are placed upside down and concrete is poured into the feet. The legs are steel reinforced and the concrete itself contains small metal fibers that add stability. Within two days the works are solid enough for the mold to be cut off; and, within two weeks, the furniture is completely dry.
Concrete Chair prototype © Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen, courtesy Industry Gallery
The concrete furniture prototypes stem from designers’ aesthetic that advocates using mundane material. The works follow a lineage established in 1991 when Tejo Remy created “Rag Chair,” “Chest of Drawers (You Can’t Lay Down Your Memories)” and “Milk Bottle Lamp”, limited edition pieces that reused and repurposed basic, discarded and underappreciated materials. Examples of these works are included in major public and private international collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in NY, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Audax Textielmuseum in Tilburg, and other venues.
“The Cement chair prototype by Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen is a welcome addition to SFMOMA’s collection of 20th- and 21st-century experimental furniture. Combining the heaviness of poured concrete with the lightness of inflatable form, this work beautifully articulates the designers’ inventive, nearly alchemical approach to working with modest materials,” said Henry Urbach, SFMOMA Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design.
SFMOMA welcomes more than 650,000 visitors annually, and more than 46,000 students visit each year. Since opening its South of Market building in 1995, SFMOMA has added more than 13,000 works to its collections, 95 percent of which were donated, doubling its holdings to 26,000 works. SFMOMA has mounted a series of exhibitions that have drawn both record attendance and critical praise, including recent exhibitions by Diane Arbus, Olafur Eliasson, Eva Hesse, Frida Kahlo, William Kentridge, Sol LeWitt, Richard Tuttle, and Jeff Wall. The museum celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2010.
Tejo Remy graduated the School of Art in Utrecht, department 3d-Design in 1991. René Veenhuizen graduated from the School of Art in Utrecht, 3d-Design department, in 1993 and is now on their faculty. After several years of collaboration, they formalized their design partnership in 2000.
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