125 Newberry’s jam-packed ‘Chair Show’ offers an abundance of resting spots, but just for the eyes; over three dozen artworks in a variety of media imagine familiar furniture in a wild variety of ways. Donald Judd’s boxy aluminum and wood benches and chairs on the floor and hung at angles from the ceiling turn otherwise static forms into a lively display while Kiki Smith’s papier-mache seat hovers mysteriously above the floor, affixed to a central column. Hugh Hayden’s clever Swiss-army-knife wooden school desk with attached garden implements compliments the eclectic quality of Louise Nevelson’s assemblage of once-useful found objects nearby. An excellent contrast to David Byrne’s apparently light-weight macaroni-covered chair is Alicja Kwade’s ‘Mono Matter,’ a garden chair (actually made of cast bronze) that appears to magically support the enormous weight of a boulder. (On view in Tribeca through May 23rd).
