Uneasy Chairs

At home we generally like to be surrounded by comfort. Cushy chairs. Cozy sofas. Nothing hard or glaring. But SFMOMA Artists Gallery's "Furniture as Art"show envisions a different kind of household, one filled with spikes and angles and strange objects that don't exactly make you want to put your feet up and chill out.

Marc D'Estout

Go ahead – take a seat on Conga.

Details

Opens with a reception on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 5:30 p.m. (and runs through Dec. 23)

Admission is free

441-4777

www.sfmo ma.org

The SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Fort Mason, Bldg. A, Marina & Buchanan, S.F.

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More About

• Danielle Giudici
• Marc D'Estout
• Megan DeArmond

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Though fascinating to look at, many of the pieces are entirely nonfunctional. Some, to be quite frank, are even a bit threatening. Take Marc D'Estout's chair, Conga. With its spindly-looking curved steel legs and a pair of minuscule, leopard-spotted circles as a seat, it invites inspection but hardly relaxation. Only the tiniest of ass cheeks could be supported on such a contraption; surely those with any heft would tumble over in a painful heap. Danielle Giudici's Bed With Nipples and Cradle are also creepily compelling. Whereas typical baby furniture is padded, rounded, and friendly, Giudici's bed and cradle are stark steel, with no-nonsense resting places cruelly spiked with plaster or lead baby-bottle nipples. To rest a kid on these beds would be to beg for a dented head, a fact that couldn't have escaped Giudici, the mother of two small children.

Of course, not all of the pieces are as menacing. Artist David Friedheim, perhaps best known for his monster-shaped barbecue grills, contributes an untitled chair that, though it has limbs constructed of tortured and twisted steel, boasts a mahogany seat for a relatively comfy rest. And Megan DeArmond's square, comfortingly solid dresser, Armoir, displays an Alice in Wonderland-type whimsy, with sturdy steel legs that descend into lifelike feet clad in clunky, cast-iron shoes. Of course, when you open up the dresser's drawers and cabinet, you'll find disconcerting metal sculptures of skeletons, body parts, and a small, helpless figure trapped inside. Just the thing for a cozy, serene bedroom.