Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
Los Angeles
Industry Gallery presents the second solo exhibition of work by New York City-based designer Chris Rucker. For Rucker’s solo debut in Los Angeles, he has created a new series of his Quilt Slipcover Chairs–hand-sewn quilts made from packing blankets, tailored to fit over his basic chairs fabricated from oriented strand board (OSB).
Rucker’s design ethos is rooted in the use and reuse of simple and humble material. His principal medium, OSB, an engineered wood product made from fast-growing trees, is usually used for flooring, walls, ceilings and other construction purposes. OSB is a composite sheet material like plywood, but with less structural integrity.
His design aesthetic weds the asceticism of Donald Judd with the rule-based principles of Sol LeWitt, to yield what Rucker calls “a rectilinear vocabulary.” (Rucker also cites Louise Bourgeois, Richard Serra and Matthew Barney as influences). In 2007, he began making cushions and quilts from packing blankets. His construction process utilizes plywood box construction, which involves dados, miter joints and working with a table saw.
“It was in working through the limitations inherent in the material that the process morphed into something other than typical box construction,” said Rucker, adding, “I eventually evolved the process into something specific to OSB.” Referring to LeWitt,Rucker notes: “I like repeating something within an equation, tweaking the variables and pushing a piece to the point where it abstracts from its original form and becomes something new.”
Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
Chris Rucker at Industry Gallery LA
