Wendell Castle
Bestride, 2002
Signature: Carved ‘Castle 02’
Material: Carved Maple chair frame, carved Jelutong pillow
Featuring American studio craft master Wendell Castle’s signature trompe l’oeil work, “Bestride” features a tilted skeleton of a chair resting atop a pillow. The pillow, carved from jelutong, a Southeast Asian softwood, appears to be plush and imprinted with the weight of the chair.
The work, defying categorization, serves more as sculpture than functional furniture and poses questions regarding the very definition and use-case of a chair.
Wendell Castle (1932 – 2018) was an American furniture artist and a leading figure in the American Studio Craft Movement. He was born in Emporia, Kansas. In 1958, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in industrial design, and in 1961, he received a Master of Fine Arts, both from the University of Kansas. From 1962-1969, he taught at Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Craftsmen, in Rochester, NY, and was an Artist in Residence. In 1980, he opened the Wendell Castle School in Scottsville, NY.
| Dimensions | 24.5 × 26 × 36 in |
|---|---|
| Artist | |
| Date | 2002 |
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