Scott Burton

An American sculptor (1939-1989) who reinterprets the traditional boundaries between the “Fine Arts” and design as a “minor” art. By treating pieces of household furniture as though they were sculptures, in his early works he frequently uses chairs as actors, actions arising partly from his performances. From 1975 onwards, he begins to make his own furniture-sculptures, often using existing pieces, such as his Bronze Chair (!972-75), a timber Queen Anne style chair turned into bronze. Then he starts to develop furniture-monuments for public spaces using traditional sculpture materials, like his Benches for Ten installed in buildings and parks. His pieces could be presented as sculptures arising from Minimalist vocabulary and used as furniture, where the functional features and the beauty of the materials used can be appreciated: granite, wood, bronze, plastic, steel, stone… Whereas many artists apply principles of mass production to their work, Burton endows ordinary objects with the qualities of an artwork. The exhibition at the IVAM affords a retrospective view of all his work, presenting over twenty-five pieces belonging to several European and American collections, including Bronze Chair, the first work he made, Concrete Tables (1980-81) or Slat Chair (1985), among others. The exhibition begins with the showing of videos of his performances and ends with his works for public spaces.