Description

Functional art piece or Collectible Design by Belgian contemporary artist Benny Van Den Meulengracht Vrancx 2019. Currently on view at Everyday Gallery's In Real Life exhibition. The story of Chair begins with an exhibition. ABC Klubhuis, art space and an artist run initiative located in the city of Antwerp, was organizing a group show involving as many as 40 artists, where the idea was for each artist to create a functional object. The result would be a living room/bar setting in which events would happen over the course of the exhibition, fittingly called ABC Lounge Klub. To decide which object an artist would make, they did a raffle. One jar containing an artist’s name, one jar containing an object. As follows, Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx was given the assignment to make a chair. He started out researching what kind of chair he would like to make by first looking at other chairs, drawing them in order to understand them, before designing his own. The second step was distilling his artistic practice into a recognizable shape, which could then be applied to the chair. Many drawings and maquettes later, the first technical sketch was made, featuring a distinct shape which can be seen again in Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx’s ceramic sculptures and drawings. This is the first time since the initial commission that Chair is being shown. An artist publication has been made that interprets the design phase of the chair and the idea of a promotional portfolio, printed in riso, silk creen and offset at 100 copies signed by the artist. Short bio: Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx's work revolves around watching and being watched, the notion of our existence and his own, resulting in multi medial pieces. In the process, he created for himself a specific shape that returns in many of his works, also in his design works and functional objects, much like in Chair. Until shortly, he ran the artist run space Hole Of The Fox for nearly 7 years, works as an exhibition maker and some of the last exhibitions spaces that exhibited his work include Podium (NO), Diesel Art Space (BE) and Soyuz (IT). Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx studied at Sint Lucas Antwerp and won first prize with his graduation project for Art on Paper in 2012. He lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.