The Intervalist's Chair 1986

Douglas Abdell made this sculpture, ‘The Intervalist’s Chair’ from welded steel, and it looks like it could have been made at any point in the last one hundred years. It's got this timeless quality, right? The welded joins, the way the steel has been shaped and assembled, you can see the hand of the artist in every curve and angle. What is intriguing is how the hardness of the material is in tension with the playfulness of the shapes. The chair is made of severe geometric shapes, but there are also flourishes, curls, and loops. Look at the shapes in the base of the chair. The steel is almost like ribbons. That push and pull between form and material gives the piece a lively energy. It reminds me a little of the work of David Smith, who also worked with steel in an improvisational way. Like Smith, Abdell seems less interested in the chair being a chair, and more in exploring sculpture as a form which embraces ambiguity. You can sit on it, but that isn’t really the point.