Seat of Judgement 2008

Richard Artschwager made this, “Seat of Judgement,” and, wow, you could be in trouble if you have to sit in it! It’s a very upright chair, made of what looks like dark veneered wood, with a very high back. The seat looks pretty hard, and the back is mostly vertical, like a judge, or maybe a parent. But it is a bit of a trick, this chair, because the blond part of the back looks like it's made of fuzzy Formica, and has got a very, very subtle geometric triangle thing happening. I imagine Artschwager thinking hard about what a chair is, and what it is for. I think he would have been really into early conceptual art and minimalism, but also Pop Art, and maybe even a bit of Dada, since the chair is so... well, it's sort of useless, isn’t it?