Nico Yektai

Each component within these pieces of functional art furniture has its own identity. Sometimes they push away from their neighbors in a way that calls attention to themselves while other pieces subtly shift to balance the composition. The energy that this sort of construction captures helps make these functional pieces of contemporary custom furniture seductive from afar and more engaging the closer you get. These modern pieces of furniture are sculpture and have been on view in numerous art galleries and museums such as Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton, New York and the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York. The numbered series of Modern Benches illustrates the nature of this pursuit of unique furniture design. Each bench is a unique expression of handmade modern furniture- a work of art in its own right. The body of work charts the continuing development of the Artist. An example would the be the introduction of the massive cast concrete legs that can be seen in Outdoor Bench #2 on view at the Longhouse Reserve. The inclusion of this non traditional material is borrowed from the modernist movement and its quest to diverge from the past. That said, the way that it is incorporated into the composition has little to do with the tradition of modern furniture and more to do with the tradition of modern sculpture. This is an exploration of form, material and creativity through the subject of functional furniture. The resulting furniture is modern, functional, sculptural and individually unique. This is only possible because of the combination of artist with furniture maker and the best ambitions of both.