Art as Furniture
Memorial Art Gallery (Wendell Castle, Benny Lamp, 1969)
A six-fingered hand, a chair standing on its "head" on a pillow, a bubbly neon lamp-the pieces in the long-term exhibition "Wendell Castle in Rochester," which opened at the Memorial Art Gallery last fall, showcased the Rochester artist's work from the four decades of his career. During that time, the artist and sculptor changed styles as often as Picasso, moving from laminated "organic" wood pieces to large fiberglass sculptures, from trompe l'oeil furniture to monumental public commissions, from classically derived works to whimsical clocks. Along the way, Castle built an international reputation and has been labeled a "trailblazer," "American phenomenon," and "major catalyst in the emergence of the art furniture movement." Castle's lecture at the gallery last January sold out, prompting an encore presentation last May.
