Acquired directly from the artist Private Collection, New York
Catalogue Essay
There are many functional objects made from canvas: sails, beach chairs, tents, tarps, tote bags. Often, however, a designer will use canvas not as a construction material, but more as one would a painting surface – that is, as a ‘canvas’ upon which to convey abstract ideas, impressions, etc., through various techniques. I paired this Jules Olitski acrylic painting with Alessandro Ciffo’s silicone chair, aptly named ‘Jason’ (in tribute to Jason Martin, another artist who makes paintings about paint. Both chair and canvas, through different techniques, effectively demonstrate the impasto technique, where paint is laid very thickly on the canvas so that the painter’s knife strokes are visible. In both chair and canvas, paint appears to be coming out of the surface.