Dig into these CHAIRS!!!

1. Take a Seat with
Nari Ward
Construct a chair-like art object
that is composed of found
materials and ideas and issues from
your community.
Savior
1996
Shopping cart, plastic garbage bags,
cloth, bottles, metal fence, earth, wheel,
mirror, chair, and clocks

2. “Using the materials that I
chose to work with allowed
me to deal with my own
experiences with that world;
the reality that I was having
to negotiate as a person. I
definitely wouldn’t be the
artist I am now if I hadn’t
moved to Harlem in the
1990s.”
- Nari Ward

3. Final Thoughts on Nari Ward???
Dom: it’s cool how people can come together to make his
work.
Rose: I like how much meaning his work has...and how he’s
able to bring people together to make the work.
Nate:It’s a great idea to get youth involved in making art...it
gets the message out. The work he creates is personal to him
but also personal to EVERYONE. It’s like he’s trying to make
the stories of Harlem available to everyone. He tries to make
the past relevant to today.
Eli: I like the ideas behind his artwork, he uses his
surroundings to make connections...he was also learning
more connections as he moved and made his work.
Alicja: I don’t know how I feel about the fact that his work is
supposed to evoke a specific feeling or idea. It’s more like a
commentary than art. It’s hard to shift around his meaning.
Sam: I really like him, but aesthetically and visually he’s
inconsistent. His thing about leaving the work up to
interpretation is kind of a cop out.

4. Final Thoughts on Nari Ward???
Lauren: I like his work. Each piece is really unique, and it has
a different style to it. Artists should be allowed to make new
and different work. That’s their job.
Alex:I appreciate him for the work he does and the messages
behind the pieces, but it’s all hard to interpret without
background information.
Britt:Agreed, but I really like him. He’s a cool guy. He’s aware
of his cultural mix between Jamaica and NYC.
NK: I feel like we haven’t gotten to see enough of her
personality (moar videos!!) I think his work is particularly
tough to understand though.
Miles: To appreciate it you need to witness it in person. It’s
for you to BE there.
Araceli: I like his work…..idk.
JOV!: I like his work a lot, it’s different from most other things
I’ve seen in art before. He takes it back to his community and
most artists don’t do that.

5. Previous times we’ve talked about chairs...
Table
Model B19
ca. 1928
Collection of the
Brooklyn Museum
Club Chair
(model B3)
1927-28
Part of MoMA’s
design collection
Long Chair
ca. 1935–36
Collection of the
Brooklyn Museum
Robinson House
ca. 1935–36
Williamstown,
Massachusetts, USA

6. Kevin Beasley
Chair of the Ministers
of Defense
2016
Mixed media
Location: Vault
Gallery Installation,
Hammer Museum,
Los Angeles
Previous times we’ve talked about chairs...

7. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Chair of Saint Peter
1666
Gilt Bronze and gold
Previous times we’ve talked about chairs...

8. The Black Panter Party
Dr. Huey P. Newton
1968, Lithographic ink on paper
Location: National Museum of African
American History and Culture, Washington
A poster of Huey Newton sitting in a rattan (palm)
throne chair wearing a beret and a black leather
jacket while holding a rifle in his right hand and a
spear in his left hand. Leaning against the wall on
either side of the chair is a leaf-shaped, Zulu style
shield with designs of horizontal line markings
across the front. Beneath the chair is a zebra print
rug.
Along the bottom of the print is the text [The racist
dog policemen must withdraw immediately from our
communities, cease their wanton murder and
brutality and torture of black people, or face the
wrath of the armed people].
Previous times we’ve talked about chairs...

9. Nick Kozak
Opposition Position
2018-19
school desks
Student Collaborators: Katelyn Baez, Abdul
Balde, Benzion Balmin, Brynne Bennett, Aisha
Bueno, Raquel Garcia, Sadiya Hussain, Chrisalis
Irizarry, Georgina Martinez, Breana Ngamaleu
Kemta, and Lauren Simmons.

10. Due Dates:
Fri, 5/24 - Materials Collected
Wed, 5/29 - in-class Sketch Review
Construct a chair-like art object
that is composed of found
materials and ideas and issues from
your community.
Savior
1996
Shopping cart, plastic garbage bags,
cloth, bottles, metal fence, earth, wheel,
mirror, chair, and clocks

11. Recipe for Good Artmaking….
1. Sentiment: Begin with a feeling or
idea that you have and think others
need to have.
2. Audience: Think of who else needs to
feel or know that idea.
3. Location: Think of places where that
audience could encounter the idea or
feeling.
4. The Artwork: Think of what it is that
the audience will encounter in that
place to produce that feeling or idea.
5. Y? During the making process, be
sure to always ask yourself WHY
you’re making this...and make sure
you have a good answer...
S.A.L.T.Y.

12. New Materials??

13. What do you notice with this work? What
materials do you see? What do the
materials make you think of?
Sums: Is that cloth? Like merged together.
Maybe resin (like with Kevin Beasley?). The
materials is merged together into one solid
shape.
Imani: It shiny. It reminds me of leather I guess?
IDK, it’s kinda rolled up? Or unraveling.
Nate: It reminds of of a table cloth or shower
curtain...just what the material seems to be. It
looks wrapped up.
Alicja: Agreed with Nate.
Freddie: Agree with Imani, it reminds me of
leather, how the sides are black and brown. I’m
not sure if you can interact with it...it seems
specific in how it’s hanging, it feels fragile. If you
touch it it would fall down.
Elly: It looks like an installation, like something
you can interact with. It reminds me of Nari
Ward’s pieces.

14. What do you notice with this work? What
materials do you see? What do the
materials make you think of?
Miles: It looks like obsidian, an igneous
rock in minecraft.
NK: Chair leather?
Eric: Upholstery
Chris: it reminds me of a tarp. Or when you
pull the inside of a cassette out, the way it
piles up.
Mena: the black parts remind me of cakes
that have fondant (Wicka: it tastes really bad)
Eric: Like when you trash a place or clean
something up, this is the residue of what’s
left.
Jov! The other day I was in the fabric store
and i saw something like this on the wall. My
mom is redoing the chairs in the house, and

15. This sculpture was created from disassembled chairs. The chairs were owned by a
man named Robert McNamara, who worked with former Presidents John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson to make important decisions about our country in the 1960s.
In Lot 20, two Kennedy Administration Cabinet Room Chairs, a historical object is
used as unexpected art material. Vo completely transforms two leather chairs by
disassembling them and using the pieces of leather upholstery to create a work that
is confounding and sculptural.

16. How does the artist transform and display the chairs?
How does this knowledge affect how you see the work?
● Chris: it might be controversial, like why would you ruin something that
holds that much history? Like some hardcore american history people
would be like “whutttt, what are you doing???”
● Sara: It makes the artwork more significant...this is no random piece of
leather….it came from a place. It’s not random. It’s purposeful.
● Ryder: It makes it not normal. It’s SPECIAL. UNIQUE. It could have
importance, because of the people who sat in it.
● NK: this reminds me of when people meet their idol and shake their
hand, making physical contact with this person connect people to it. Or
when you see an important document that changed people’s lives.
● Araceli: DAAAAAMN, the president’s butt was in that art. That’s just
crazy to me.
● NK: Wait...he’s Vietnamese??? So these presidents have a background
with the war in Vietnam.

17. How does the artist transform and display the chairs?
How does this knowledge affect how you see the work?
● Elly: I think now that i know that it came from chairs, this seems way more complex to me. It
seemed too simple before.
● Imani: I disagree. It still looks the same, and the information doesn’t change anything for
me. Chairs are chairs, they could have come from anywhere. It’s just weird that you’re
putting these objects in such high regard because of who sat in them.
● Nate: Agree with Imani. I’m not sure if it changes anything.
● Elly:It’s cool what he CHANGED in the object, not necessarily where the object came from.
● Freddie: It does change how i look at it...it gives it more meaning and depth...he didn’t just
take random chairs, he thought about it. I still don’t think those chairs are more important
than others. I like how Nari Ward chooses objects that could have belong to anyone...they’re
universal.
● Imani: It does change the meaning, it’s just a stupid meaning. He’s putting something on a
pedestal that he shouldn’t. It gives it depth, and lets us interpret it more.
● Sums: Before I knew it was a chair...I thought it was a bunch of cloth...knowing who sat on it
doesn’t change the meaning for me...I’m more interested in the process of the materials.
● Elly: Maybe we are reacting negatively due to bad connotations with politicians.

18. All objects have a history and cultural baggage,
whether or not we consider them “valuable”

19. Danh Vo
Lot 20. Two Kennedy Administration
Cabinet Room Chairs
2013
“History is important
because it is about the
present and shapes the
future. Those who
control history also
control the present. I
mistrust history because
it is mostly the product
of someone’s
contemporary Agenda.”
– Danh Vo

20. Danh Vo
Lot 20. Two Kennedy Administration
Cabinet Room Chairs
2013
“History is important
because it is about
the present and
shapes the future.
Those who control
history also control
the present. I mistrust
history because it is
mostly the product of
someone’s
contemporary
Agenda.”
– Danh Vo
Elly: I guess in a way he’s agreeing with
me. He’s not idolizing American
history...he’s using it as a material in his
art.
Nate: I agree. He’s talking about how
governments will change history and let
their citizens know only what they want to
know. Our perception of the world’s history
depends on where we grow up.
Freddie: I really agree with him. History is
important and I like how he uses that in his
art and acknowledges that. The past
shapes us. We also shape the past in the
history we write and how we interpret it.
Elly: We’re learning about communism in
US history right now..and how the media
filters a lot of communist ideas
Eli: Honestly, I just don’t care about the
present, or future, or past. Just live.
#Nihilism

21. Danh Vo
Lot 20. Two Kennedy Administration
Cabinet Room Chairs
2013
“History is important
because it is about
the present and
shapes the future.
Those who control
history also control
the present. I mistrust
history because it is
mostly the product of
someone’s
contemporary
Agenda.”
– Danh Vo
Sara: AGREE!! It’s kind of relevant to what
we’re doing in Global right now...how the
connotations of the Slave Trade in the
“New” World were written and
recorded...and how it was different from
how it was.
Araceli: When you learn history they
exclude certain narratives...you don’t get
all the sides of the stories. Like Zinn. He’s
not afraid to badmouth historians.
Miles: It true! A lot of the history we find
doesn’t tell the whole truth...which is kind
of like lying...If we use the past to push
present day agendas to develop
nationalism or keep order and the status
quo.
.
.

22. Notetaking / Prep / Sketching / Planning
● What are the everyday objects in your community?
● How can you completely transform an everyday
object?
● Before transforming your objects, sketch out your
ideas.
● What tools will you need to disassemble and
reassemble these objects?
● What would be an ideal place to display this work?
● Why have you chosen this particular way of altering
the object?
● How might that alteration change its meaning, and
how do you see their objects differently now?
SKETCHES DUE on WED!
→ multiple angles to show how it will be
constructed
→ descriptions of concepts, materials, etc.
→ MEASUREMENTS!

23. Due Dates:
Fri, 5/24 - Materials Collected
Wed, 5/29 - in-class Sketch Review
Construct a chair-like art object
that is composed of found
materials and ideas and issues from
your community.
Savior
1996
Shopping cart, plastic garbage bags,
cloth, bottles, metal fence, earth, wheel,
mirror, chair, and clocks

24. Recipe for Good Artmaking….
1. Sentiment: Begin with a feeling or
idea that you have and think others
need to have.
2. Audience: Think of who else needs to
feel or know that idea.
3. Location: Think of places where that
audience could encounter the idea or
feeling.
4. The Artwork: Think of what it is that
the audience will encounter in that
place to produce that feeling or idea.
5. Y? During the making process, be
sure to always ask yourself WHY
you’re making this...and make sure
you have a good answer...
S.A.L.T.Y.

25. Peer Review of Sketches
(8 days to finish project!)
Do Now:
1. Take out sketch and
materials related to
your project.
2. Get a small stack of
post-its from Kozak
SKETCHES REQUIREMENTS
→ multiple angles to show how it will
be constructed
→ descriptions of concepts,
materials, etc.
→ MEASUREMENTS!

26. Don’t forget: next class, notebook checks!
This could include:
1. A list of materials to secure.
2. A schedule for the next two weeks.
3. Or a to-do list specific to your
project.

27. 5th Annual Art Hist Competition!
Artist Names
Artwork Titles
Quotes
Museums/Institutions
Kozak Surprise
Thursday June 13th, 2:30-3pm
P2: Nate, Dom, Sam, Eli,
P3: Sawicka, Miles

28. Ai Weiwei
Fairytale chairs
2007
1001 old chairs, from assorted historical periods

29. For the artwork, Ai arranged sending 1,001 Chinese people from all walks of life -- street
vendors, farmers, police officers, students, engineers -- to the town of Kassel for the duration
of the show. The people will live in dormitories there and have no specific duties except to
wander around Kassel, although Ai has said he hopes they will not all stick together. The only
stipulation is that the visitors, who began arriving Tuesday evening, cannot leave the town. At
a cost of 3.1 million euros ($4.14 million), "Fairytale" takes the prize as the most expensive
project of this year's show. Documenta, which is held every five years, aims to provide a snap
shot of cutting-edge developments in the art world.

30. Past vs. Present
Ai Weiwei puts value on handmade objects, rather than objects made using modern
modes of mass- production. Compare furniture items that have been traditionally
constructed vs. furniture items that have been mass-produced, e.g. a wooden antique
chair vs. a plastic Ikea chair. Which object has more value in our society and why?
Which object do you value more and why?
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31. Add protest part
https://hyperallergic.com/22764/ai-weiwei-protest/

32. Ai Weiwei -
Grapes,
2007

33. One and Three Chairs
Joseph Kosuth
1965
Wood folding chair, mounted
photograph of a chair, and
mounted photographic
enlargement of the dictionary
definition of "chair",

34. In One and Three Chairs, Joseph Kosuth represents one chair three ways: as a manufactured
chair, as a photograph, and as a copy of a dictionary entry for the word “chair.” The installation is
thus composed of an object, an image, and words. Kosuth didn’t make the chair, take the
photograph, or write the definition; he selected and assembled them together. But is this art? And
which representation of the chair is most “accurate”? These open-ended questions are exactly what
Kosuth wanted us to think about when he said that “art is making meaning.” By assembling these
three alternative representations, Kosuth turns a simple wooden chair into an object of debate and
even consternation, a platform for exploring new meanings.

35. Joseph Kosuth Slide - CHAIR
"The art I call conceptual is
such because it is based on
an inquiry into the nature of
art," Kosuth has written.
"Thus, it is . . . a working out, a
thinking out, of all the
implications of all aspects of
the concept 'art,'

36. Thoughts?
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37. Joseph Kosuth
Joseph Kosuth, (born January 31, 1945,
Toledo, Ohio, U.S.), American artist and
theoretician, a founder and leading figure
of the conceptual art movement. He is
known for his interest in the relationship
between words and objects, between
language and meaning in art.
In 1965 he created his first conceptual
work, One and Three Chairs, which
displayed an actual chair, its photograph,
and a text with the definition of the word
chair. This work was a milestone in the
development of Western art, and it started
a trend that favoured the idea or the
concept of a work over a physical object.

38. Doris Salcedo,
Installation at 8th International
Istanbul Biennial,
2003.

39. Isamu Noguchi,
Chair Prototype,
1946
Isamu Noguchi

40. Isamu Noguchi,
Chair Prototype,
1946
Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles, California in
1904 to an American mother and a Japanese father.
Noguchi lived in Japan until the age of thirteen, when
he moved to the United States. While studying pre-
medicine at Columbia University he took evening
sculpture classes but soon left the University to pursue
h(+ /(4# ,+ ,' ,1!(+!6 T2&%-"(*+ B(-racial and bi-cultural
upbringing O his father was a celebrated modernist
poet O ,/3,0+ ),># "() 4##/ ,+ !"2%&" "# 3#1# /(.('& M('-
B#!3##'N !"# j,+! ,'> West, the ancient and modern
times. The balancing of this tension became the
subject of his art.