Steve Keister (American, born 1949)
Flight I 1987
Spandex, epoxy paint, epoxy resin, fiberglass, Bondo, found object (metal chair base)
Gift of Art Resources Transfer, Inc. 2003.120.2

In Flight I sculpture and furniture intersect to create a hybrid that is simultaneously elegant and gritty as it pushes materials to their limits. An abstract form made by the hand of the artist is combined with the “ready-made” base of a chair designed by mid 20th-century modernist Harry Bertoia. By turning the chair base upside down, tilting it and hanging it on the wall, the functional metal framework becomes an abstract line drawing supporting the stretched, “sci-fi” upper portion of the sculpture, which rises dramatically into space: assemblages of everyday objects by Marcel Duchamp and the simplified forms of Constantin Brancusi come to mind as precursors. Steve Keister earned his BFA and MFA degrees from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, and in 2000 was awarded a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.

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