Chair is the smallest unit of architecture. It is about function and yet has so many forms (from a big leather lounger to a small stool and everything in between). It is about comfort yet about making an artistic statement. A chair can make or break a room.Think of some of your favorite spaces. Do they have beautiful chairs?

I think chairs are art but not as ephemeral as painting. Even a person who does not recognize art in a chair might still enjoy it as such or at least have it for its function. When I think of ancient artifacts in art museums, they are often spoons and bowls or something else practical from daily life. But when we look on it through centuries we see art in it more than we see teh function. I wonder if the people making those artifacts saw art in them. And I would like to see art in what is around me in a daily life already now, not when it ends up in a museum in a few hundred years.

Above are some stools from a modern Mexican Chair Design Exhibit in Denver Art Museum. The Exhibit is called “Have a Seat” because you can sit on all the chairs. The white stools are surprisingly comfortable.

Below is a bench from the same exhibit. It wouldn’t think of it as a bench if it wasn’t at a chair exhibit. I like how it illustrates how far the artistic essence of the chair can be pushed. and it doesn’t have to be serious.

Do you think chairs can be art?