Dali Chair
Location: West Dean College Chichester, West Sussex
Date: Summer 2003
Commissioning body: BBC
About the project:
To create a surrealist chair in the style of Salvador Dali with Rolf Harris for his series ‘Rolf on Art’. The founder of West Dean College; Edward James was a great patron of surrealist art and the college was going to be featured in this programme.
To design and execute a piece of 3D mosaic in the surrealist style in collaboration with Rolf and 2 other artists from the college.
To take part in brain storming sessions to arrive at a design which would be sympathetic with the Dali pieces, such as the lobster phone.
The final piece, a chair on stilt type legs boasted a plump drooping cushion, which was in fact ceramic and glass made onto a wire armature base with fabric tassels, a mobile phone embedded into a sea urchin, framed by a guilt picture
frame focused the gaze onto the landscape beyond. Very much in Dali style.
For the purpose of the programme a discussion was staged on set with Rolf illustrating how Dali’s style of ‘misinterpreting’ objects, making then appear something they are not inspired the ‘droopy cushion’.
The part at West Dean was filmed and completed in one day, proving challenging for the artists to finish the piece in such a tight time frame.
Materials:
Ceramic, Venetian Smalti, fabric, Stained glass, wire & cement armature
Dimensions:
60cmsq x25cm
Date: Summer 2003
Commissioning body: BBC
About the project:
To create a surrealist chair in the style of Salvador Dali with Rolf Harris for his series ‘Rolf on Art’. The founder of West Dean College; Edward James was a great patron of surrealist art and the college was going to be featured in this programme.
To design and execute a piece of 3D mosaic in the surrealist style in collaboration with Rolf and 2 other artists from the college.
To take part in brain storming sessions to arrive at a design which would be sympathetic with the Dali pieces, such as the lobster phone.
The final piece, a chair on stilt type legs boasted a plump drooping cushion, which was in fact ceramic and glass made onto a wire armature base with fabric tassels, a mobile phone embedded into a sea urchin, framed by a guilt picture
frame focused the gaze onto the landscape beyond. Very much in Dali style.
For the purpose of the programme a discussion was staged on set with Rolf illustrating how Dali’s style of ‘misinterpreting’ objects, making then appear something they are not inspired the ‘droopy cushion’.
The part at West Dean was filmed and completed in one day, proving challenging for the artists to finish the piece in such a tight time frame.
Materials:
Ceramic, Venetian Smalti, fabric, Stained glass, wire & cement armature
Dimensions:
60cmsq x25cm
