Make–Do
No. 5 Chatham Square
New York, NY 10038

Marta and Catalog Sale are pleased to present Make–Do, an exhibition of twenty-four historic and contemporary ad-hoc chairs, held in alignment with NYC×Design. This selection of improvised chair typologies surveys twelve works from Catalog Sale founder Avi Kovacevich’s ebullient collection, placed in dialogue with a dozen works from contemporary practices, each of whom fabricated their entries in response to the following brief: Make a Chair in Three Days.

Day 1 — Identify & Gather Material
Day 2 — Design & Plan
Day 3 — Craft & Assemble

The proposed schedule emphasizes the primary components of making-do, the verbiage of which suggests the simultaneous expression of Place, Time, and Know-How—the submission to what is at-hand. Kovacevich’s selections, originally sourced from a variety of disparate and delightful venues, revel in spontaneous necessity: a seat of tires assembled by employees at an auto body shop; a swag of worn carpet, suspended over a slatted wood frame, discovered in a rug warehouse—each represents an idiosyncratic respite of a moment off-the-clock.

The effortless intuition of these pieces, and their development from non-active sourcing, is reflected back through a seamless integration with the works produced by the artists invited to participate in this exhibition, all of whom are based in New York City. As a place that often demands ad-hoc living—spatial, financial, infrastructural—of its denizens, the essence of the ‘brief’ is particularly germane, and serves as a reminder that limitation, within reason, can be a deep well from which to draw focus and inspiration.

Shaina Tabak has fabricated her chair from the surplus wood and metal components of a variety of previously-realized projects, developing a seated work that stands with the subtle gravity and metallic brilliance of a medieval sentry. Similarly, the invitation to Chen Chen & Kai Williams to produce a make-do perch coincided with a studio move, providing ample opportunity for the duo to unearth material from past projects (some dating as far back as 2014). Their chair, a jaunty construction of wood, steel, and woven plastic bags, culminates in an asymmetrical, brightly-pigmented structure seemingly on the verge of animation. Sarah Burns—who recently opened her solo show, Prairie’s Edge, at Marta Los Angeles—continues to explore near-extinct furniture typologies with distinct references to Americana, fabricating a slipper chair that foils soft materials, such as pillows and a sheepskin, within more emphatic structures of rope and thickly-hewn slabs of pine.

Each of these twenty-four chairs, regardless of origin, represents deliberate construction. They are reclamations of the throne; vessels for the body and a mirror image of their maker; and bridges over the gap between the made and the crafted, amongst which we may wander and, ultimately, rest.

Exhibition scenography by Cat Snodgrass.

View press coverage of Make–Do via Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, Dezeen, Dwell, Interior Design, New York Magazine / Curbed, The New York Times, Sight Unseen, and Wallpaper*