Description
The thesis project Coalesce is a material exploration on the convergence of cultural hierarchies that have been commonly described as highbrow, middlebrow and lowbrow. As a designer and maker of objects, I have utilized the language of furniture to communicate this intersection of social and economic classes. While highbrow and lowbrow themes are often in contradiction with one another, my work arranges a setting where they are able to cohesively exist. I am interested in the subculture that arises when such diversity is combined, lending itself to a separate hierarchical order. In effort to shift objects back and forth between high and low, I re-contextualize known materials, forms and processes within the work. By presenting the familiar in unfamiliar ways, the furniture solicits the viewer to reconsider the role of objects and materials within their environment and to see the banal presented otherwise. The materials that I choose to use are common, but are not commonly used to create furniture. For example, I have sheathed a sofa in asphalt shingles, upholstered a lounge in carpet, and formed cushions from concrete. The work is peculiar -- it has a sense of duality and tension that invites the viewer/user to question the function and purpose. Is it art or furniture? Indoor or outdoor? Functional or non-functional? The body of work consists of six individual pieces. Coalesce was exhibited in the Everette [sic] Gee Jackson Gallery, San Diego State University, April 7 through 12, 2012.
