STAGGER into the night...

November 17, 2011 / In The Cube

The newest artwork to grace the Studio is Toronto artist Thrush Holmes' Stagger, produced as part of the Textile Museum of Canada's fall fundraiser ReDesign 2011. Stagger is a combination of a severed Louis XVI chair, black spray paint, hot pink neon squares positioned under the park bench and at the back of the chair, a park bench and etched graffiti text carved into the wood. It is positioned just as you enter the office and packs quite the visual impact, especially on those days when the sun is hiding. At night, it transforms the office reception area into a sort of Pink Light District. It sits among our reception chairs and while one can sit on it, it may prove a bit uncomfortable, for the wood is hard and distressed and the neon unprotected.

We were initially attracted to the artwork because of the integration of neon and it's practical utility - it could easily be integrated into our reception area. When we saw the piece up close and read the text, we were sold. Here follow a few samples of the text: CURSE MY BLACK STARS; FATE OR WAVE OR WIND; EMPIRE; CALM RETREAT; SPARKLING THROUGH ALL; LOVE?; FATE, Too; FREE ME, END OF NIGHT and FINISH LINE. Enigmatic and beautiful, a glowing pink artwork to behold. 

Artist Statement

The process of redesigning this chair turned so frustrating that I was compelled to abuse it. I hacked the chair in half and reorganized and staggered its components on a park bench. I then etched into the bench portion with text - typical stuff - the random sort that you can expect on a park bench. Finally, I turned to pink neon for the "ultra tag". It enlivens the back of the chair in a somewhat cautionary way while it throws a euphoric, segmented glow from the base.