FURNISH

Curated by Charles McHale

Thursday, August 5 - Friday, October 1, 2004

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 5, 2004, 8pm - 10pm

FURNISH explores the philosophical tectonics of domestic space and
accouterments for contemporary living - icon, environment, material, and
fashion - through the work of seven local artists: Erk Run, Anne Mathern,
Megan Szczecko, Robin Winters, Chris Engman, Jason Wood, and Charles McHale .

The arena of art has opened into everyday life. Artists and works included
in FURNISH point to ideas and encourage inquiries about the place of art,
design and architecture. This is not a rehashing of the debate of the Arts
and Crafts movement or the influx of non- western ideas of craft and
performance, nor the challenge of new design from the revolutionary Atelier
Van Lieshout to our own Roy McMakin. The inquiry is based on a
consideration of them.

Placement of furniture in the gallery is questioned as much as the idea of
gallery itself. Essentially, any work is what it is. Objects that rise and
engage our curiosities, in spite of, or in congruence with their being are
considered "art". They do not blur the boundaries of art and craft/design,
but encompass both and uniquely change a small part of our world. The works
presented in FURNISH remain "arte tipica", framed or pedestaled in line with
tradition. Each is a meditation on art, design and architecture and more
importantly the place in which we live.

The Artists:

Erk Run creates objects with slavish attention to craftsmanship -
deconstructing their function and purpose and the place of contemporary
craft, while Robin Winters references the handmade and the homemade with
masking tape portraits of her favorite furniture pieces. Both works
require a reinterpretation of utility.

Chris Engman photographs an empty theater of chairs in the barren landscape
of the eastern Washington desert. Charles McHale presents a closet as a
meta-narrative on cohabitation and a summer home that beckons to nature.

Jason Wood fabricates a cascading hardwood floor that celebrates the
transformative properties of his namesake material. Anne Mathern and Megan
Szczecko collaborate on a video projection of household camouflage (i.e.
wallpaper), a cryptic façade.