Tag: sofa

Raphael Navot at Friedman Benda Gallery

Paris-based designer Raphael Navot’s furniture, now on view at Friedman Benda Gallery, begs to be touched. The gallery explains that the soft, curving forms of this couch, titled ‘Entwined,’ demonstrate the concept of comfort as something experienced both mentally and physically.  Though velvet upholstery resembles the surface of rock, and Navot intends to harken back to what the gallery calls the first furniture, ‘a pile of rounded rocks,’ the sheer tactility of the sofa’s sweeping curves makes softness irrelevant.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 10th).

Raphael Navot, Entwined, velvet, bronze, fiberglass, 3D-milled foam, 36.75 x 56.25 inches, 2022.

Jessica Jackson Hutchins at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Jessica Jackson Hutchins’ newspaper-covered sofa scattered with rough ceramic forms was a standout of the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Here, her first show at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery opens with another couch more boldly occupied by a huge ceramic shape that the Portland, OR based artist refers to as a whale. (On view through June 6th).

Jessica Jackson Hutchins, installation view of ‘I Do Choose,’ with ‘Ultrasuede Wave,’ in foreground, sofa, oil stick, glazed ceramic, 2015.

Rosemarie Trockel at Barbara Gladstone Gallery

Placed end to end and titled ‘Copy Me,’ two identical cast steel sofas by German conceptual artist Rosemarie Trockel are oddly and improbably long.  Their oxidized patina creates a homey color but their material makes them uninviting, a fact that seems to be acknowledged by a protective plastic cover only casually placed over the sofas. (At Barbara Gladstone Gallery through Dec 21st).  

Rosemarie Trockel, Copy Me, cast steel and plastic, 31 ½ x 165 3/8 x 28 inches, 2013.