Scott Burton

Pair of Two-Part Chairs, Obtuse Angle
1984

Two granite chairs with modern design on a glossy black floor.

Scott Burton is best known for producing furniture-sculpture hybrids constructed of solid stone, rolled steel, brushed aluminum, or laminated wood. Burton held that art should serve the pubic, and his chairs, many of them intended for unrestricted, civic sites, are functional sculptures that can be touched, sat upon, and otherwise enjoyed by their audience. In their spare, almost impersonal elegance, the chairs express Burton’s belief that a work of art should transcend any single artist’s emotional or intellectual concerns. Likewise, these objects demonstrate Burton’s engagement with the disposition of bodies in space, since furniture accommodates and reflects the form of the human body—especially chairs, with their arms, legs, backs, and bottoms. Pair of Two-Part Chairs, Obtuse Angle is made of heavily polished granite. The ample laps, broad straight backs, and solid seats exemplify this latent anthropomorphism. The title refers to the construction of the piece, each chair being made of two parts, with the supporting part set at an obtuse angle.

Not on view

Date
1984

Classification
Sculpture

Medium
Polished granite

Dimensions
Overall (each): 33 × 24 × 33in., 5291lb. (83.8 × 61 × 83.8 cm, 2400kg)

Accession number
84.32a-d

Edition
2 pairs

Publication
Cast by Castelluci Brothers

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Lemberg Foundation, Inc.

API
artworks/5474

Audio

Scott Burton, Pair of Two-Part Chairs, Obtuse Angle, 1984

In America Is Hard to See

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Scott Burton, Pair of Two-Part Chairs, Obtuse Angle, 1984

0:00

Narrator: This sculpture is also a pair of chairs. Hard, granite chairs, but chairs you can actually sit in. Don’t worry—the artist wants you to!
Scott Burton wanted art to ''place itself not in front of, but around, behind, underneath (literally) the audience.''
Take a look at the position of these two chairs. Doesn’t it seem as if Burton is inviting you in, saying, “Come on, have a seat, let’s talk.”
Maybe he wants you to be part of the art. Come to think of it, you—just like a chair—have a back, legs, and a bottom, too.
The back of this chair is just like the seat. Both are made from the same L-shape; they fit neatly together, like a puzzle.
So, now that you’re sitting, what do you see? Who are you going to talk to? And what do you want to talk about?