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Point of View
by Giancarlo Biagi
Non-Art, Art
by Giancarlo Biagi
We tend to grow familiar with what surrounds us. Objects, such as a beautiful chair, lamp, comb, or table, become part of our lives, ourselves, even part of our family. Artists tend to create their surroundings out of this world of figures, shapes, and forms used for personal use, for friends, for pleasure.
In this issue we pay tribute to those who have humbly used their skills to create masterpieces of such utilitarian objects diverging from their past of fine art. Sculptors build from the ground up, creating mood, situations, and companionship. I cannot stop admiring Diego Giacometti’s tables and chairs for their simplicity and elegance, for his sensitivity. Throughout history, our homes have been adorned with decorative, utilitarian sculptures, from doorknobs to candelabras, ornaments in wood, bone, bronze, and silver.
There are numerous artifacts throughout the centuries that humans have created that are not only useful, but of exquisite rendering, from the Hittite and Egyptian periods, to the Hellenistic and Byzantine times, to today.
The creation of utilitarian furniture requires years of study, and/or years in the business, and often is passed along as a tradition from generation to generation. But oftentimes, though something, for example, a chair, appeals to us visually, when we sit on it, we find it uncomfortable, or too heavy to move. Sometimes, the excess of decoration becomes cumbersome. So a successful design, which combines aesthetics and functionality, is very rare.
Simplicity, elegance, functionality, and structurally sound elements combined with the creativity of an artist are the elements that will make one cherish a functional work of art, in my point of view.
Giancarlo Biagi
Sculpture Review Magazine
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Fax (212) - 260 - 1732
E - mail GP@SculptureReview.com
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