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This February, I finished a collaboration with Chicago-based furniture maker Bladon Conner. It was a commission of eight dining room chairs for performance poet Drew Perfilio and his partner, photographer Belen Aquino. An image was created and silkscreened onto suiting fabric. The swatches were then upholstered onto Mies van der Rohe-style chairs that Bladon himself had refurbished and re-fabricated with ash wood backings. The symbol created was intended to illustrate both Drew and Belen’s cultural, political, spiritual and personal backgrounds. The final design was created to resemble a military emblem, which paid homage to Drew’s upbringing as the son of an Air Force colonel. It incorporates both universal and local Chicago iconography , as well as elements of Chicago architecture that refer to both van der Rohe and the specific neighborhoods in which they live and work. Meant to be read from the bottom up [see portfolio view], it illustrates their separate origins and convergent lives, while still illustrating their independent (and often divergent) views, interests and experiences. |
