By: Nghi Nguyen, Makani Falkin, Marissa Ishii

The Sculpture:

Top view

The Two-part Chairs, Right Angle Version (a Pair), a sculpture created by Scott Burton, is located at front of the Biology building, in Western Washington University. The sculptor – Scott Burton was famous for his sculptural furniture. His collection of “chairs” challenges the distinction between furniture and sculpture. This sculpture is a pair of chairs made of polished granite and was carved into perfect right angles. This artwork was designed in 1983 and was fabricated in 1987.

African Juparana granite

The chairs give the scenery an aesthetically pleasing feeling. Despite of their functional quality, they are overshadowed by the Biology building and can easily go unnoticed. Despite of being hardly carved and polished, the patterns on the sculpture tending to reminiscent of nature, especially textures on the surface of grinded woods: smooth and covered with various patterns that are placed together. The material of the sculpture brings relaxing feelings, not only by looking at the fine patterns, but also by touching it, the smoothness and the cool feelings on the fingertips were strangely pleasant.

The Artist:

Scott Burton was an American sculptor who worked with art and simple furniture. He usually used bronze or granite his work, many were public sculptures. He was Born June 23, 1939 and Died December 29, 1989. After being born in Greensboro, Alabama he moved to Washington, DC with his mother after his parents separated. He went to different colleges their in Washington while chasing his art passion.

Throughout his career, Burton created many different pieces one is his Rock chair, 1982 it’s literally a chair made from a rock. Another is the Tripod table, 1979-1981, a very cool public sculpture. Pair of steel chairs, 1987-1989, it’s exactly how it sounds. Also the Schist furniture group, 1983-1984. We can’t forget two chairs, 1979 and Pair of rock chairs, 1980.

“Pair of rock chairs” by Scott Burton

Burton gained credibility through critical theory and art criticism in New York. Then later in his life made an entrance into the art world through performance and installation work that he became known for. As seen in his display of furniture as sculpture which is demonstrated in his Behavioral tableaux pieces which was made from furniture that was left on streets and creating sculptures that would expand on the interaction between a person and furniture. This would help the idea of functional design into being recognized as fine art.

“Pair Behavior Tableaux” by Scott Burton

His original intent for each sculpture was to transform the idea of public art by blurring the line between function and design. Increasing the interaction between the viewer and the art by giving the participant the flexibility to choose how to engage with the sculpture while creating simple interactions between the two. Burton also strove to erase the divide between people and art by making it functional by serving the public. As he stated that an art piece should “Place itself not in front of, but around, behind, underneath, the audience in an operational capacity.”

Current events of the 1980s:

Art in the 1980s were characterized by conservative social and political events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, blockbuster movies, cocaine and MTV pop culture. Many artists have practiced and brought back various aspects of the original Expressionism movement at the beginning of the 20th century. By the 1890s, this renaissance movement had become part of an international comeback, distinguished itself from Minimalism and Conceptualism. Some artists in the United States started to change their directions to create work that expressed a variety of themes such as mythological, cultural and historical.

The Vietnam War Memorial Establishment:

The Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall, Washington D.C pays tribute to the brave soldiers of the U.S Armed Forces who fought in the Vietnam War and were killed or missing in mission. The memorial was opened for the public on November 13, 1982. The memorial walls were made up of two walls that are 246 feet and 9 inches, which contain more than 58,000 names that are listed in chronological order based on date of casualty.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall:

The fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the significant movement towards German reunification. On November 9, 1989, people gathered at the wall; they used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall, while cranes and bulldozers pulled down sections of it. After the fall of the wall, Berlin was united for the first time after years since 1945. The reunification of East and West Germany was officially made on October 3, 1990.

Black Monday of 1987:

The Black Monday is the term refers to Monday, October 19, 1987, when the stock market around the world crashes. The date marked the largest loss of global stock markets in a single day since the Great Depression. The crash was caused by programmatic trading, overvaluation, market psychology and liquid markets.

Ronald Reagan elected President:

On November 4, Ronald Reagan, a former Republican governor of California, beat Jimmy Carter and John B. Anderson and won the election of 1980. Reagan won by a landslide, taking the majority of the electoral vote and 50.7% of the popular vote.

Bibliography:

“Scott Burton.” Scott Burton | MoMA, www.moma.org/artists/889.

“Scott Burton – 7 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy.” Artsy – Discover, Research, and Collect the World’s Best Art Online, www.artsy.net/artist/scott-burton.

Visual AIDS. “Scott Burton.” Visual AIDS, visualaids.org/artists/detail/scott-burton.

“React. Research. Execute!” React Research Execute, wp.wwu.edu/wwuart109/2018/03/01/burtons-twin-chairs/.

“React. Research. Execute!” React Research Execute, wp.wwu.edu/wwuart109/2017/05/15/two-part-chairs-right-angle-version-a-pair-scott-burton-1987/.

“React. Research. Execute!” React Research Execute, wp.wwu.edu/wwuart109/2017/02/16/two-part-chairs-right-angle/.

George Philip LeBourdais, The Most Iconic Artists of the 1980s, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-the-most-iconic-artists-of-the-1980s.

Michael Brown, The Crash of ‘87, www.thestreet.com/story/14335052/1/thestreet-special-report-black-monday.

Credits:

Makani Falkin – photos, research

Nghi Nguyen – research

Marissa Ishii – research