Chair Transformation Number 20B

1996

Lucas Samaras

Sculptor, American, born Greece, 1936 - 2024

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Since the 1960s, Lucas Samaras has made series of obsessional, sometimes hallucinatory objects. Prominent among his motifs is the chair, which Samaras has executed in a variety of materials such as fabric, wire mesh, and mirrored glass, thereby turning a utilitarian object into a fantastic one, the product of a dreamlike metamorphosis. Here, Samaras explores the dual meaning of "flight," referring to both the stairlike form created by the stacked chairs, and to the locomotion of a single chair moving diagonally through space. From different viewpoints, the sculpture appears to be upright, leaning back, or springing forward. From the side, it even appears as a two-dimensional, zigzagging line.
Sculpture Garden, Southeast Quadrant
On View

Sculpture Garden, Southeast Quadrant


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    patinated bronze

  • Credit Line

    The Nancy Lee and Perry Bass Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 360.7 x 67.3 x 223.5 cm (142 x 26 1/2 x 88 in.) gross weight: 1100 lb.

  • Accession

    1998.99.1


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(PaceWildenstein, New York); purchased 20 November 1998 by NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

2013

  • Cigola, Francesca. Art Parks: A Tour of America’s Sculpture Parks and Gardens. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2013: 101.

Wikidata ID

Q63861939


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