Side Chair c. 1936

Lawrence Phillips made this drawing of a side chair, sometime in the 20th century, using ink on paper. It's a study of line, a blueprint for something to be made. The drawing presents the chair in three views, almost like a mechanical rendering. But the lines aren't perfect; they waver and thicken, giving the piece a human touch. I find myself drawn to the legs of the chair in the main view, those bulbous forms stacked one on top of the other. There's a playful quality to their repetition, an almost cartoonish exaggeration of classical form. The lines create a sense of depth, of the chair existing in space, but the overall flatness of the image reminds me that it’s just a representation. This piece reminds me of some of David Hockney’s early graphic works, where line is used to describe form and space in an almost diagrammatic way. There's a tension between the utilitarian function of the drawing and its inherent artistic qualities. Ultimately, it's this ambiguity that makes the piece so compelling.