On the gallery scene today, it seems that the conflation of art and design is a fait accompli. Artists and designers alike create objects that, though functional, are the result of, on one end of the spectrum, imagination running wild — as in the work of Chris Schanck, for one — or artistic practice distilled — as is the case with Muller Van Severen. Franz West, the Austrian conceptual artist who made furniture a fundamental part of his practice, began creating his seminal installations of chairs and sofas in 1980. Though he could be seen as a precursor to this growing intersection of art and design, West considered his functional sculptures to be art, but with a social function: he termed them ‘adaptives for the human body at rest.’ ‘The concept that functional furniture could be art was a radical gesture’, says Elena Soboleva, director of online sales at David Zwirner Read more at Wallpaper.
Installation view, Franz West: Furniture, Paris, 2022