apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Makes me want to skip lunch.

So what is the comment? That fat people are useless... you know, since humans are furniture? I think this is disgusting. The last thing the world needs is a new, clever way to mock obesity.

He couldn't have picked a more appropriate chair. LOL

I am SO tired of seeing Eames chairs everywhere. I think this is funny.

Garbage bag loungers.

Hahaha, I love it!

Why?

That's actually pretty awesome. Interesting idea and well-executed. And since he apparently didn't alter the structure of the chairs, they can always be reupholstered if/when their owners tire of the artistic statement.

So what's this "potential cooperation among artists, designers, scientists and manufacturers in order to address such issues" going to be like? - and what will it accomplish?
If the obsession with looks and being skinny in this culture is not doing it - how much of an incentive is this going to be? Give me a break!

it kinda made me want to barf. and also reminded me of the second harry potter movie when harry blows up his aunt marge/the 6th [new] harry potter movie where horace slughorn has disguised himself as a giant lounge chair. so apparently these just remind me of harry potter in the long run. lol.

beth.b i don't think these chairs are meant to mock obesity. i think they're meant to call attention to a wide spread health problem was largely unseen until industrialization.

Ohhh they're really repulsive, and not because they are obese, but because they're deformed and look like tumors to me.

When does the pregnant one start popping out little eames?

Gut reaction (sorry for the pun): Beth.B nailed it. I couldn't put it better myself.

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Hotness or a hot mess. Weigh in or controversial decor: http://onegrandhome.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/hot-or-hot-mess/

Awesome!

"So what is the comment? That fat people are useless... you know, since humans are furniture? I think this is disgusting. The last thing the world needs is a new, clever way to mock obesity."- Right on, Beth.b

If he's "alluding to...consumption", then how was he able to afford expensive chairs? Someone must want to buy or invest in his trash. Now something that could have at least been used will eventually go the way of the rest of the garbage. This is the exact reason I have never been a fan of installation-type "art". It has no real purpose other than to make an overly pretentious statement, while alienating a group of people. Great job, Mark.

obesity is not healthy for people or chairs.

Overlooking the obesity overtones, I think this is hilarious. I hate to offend, but those chairs are fugly.

(in Austrian accent) "It's not a toomah!"

I think it's interesting, and I appreciate the statement about consumption- without really linking it to food or obesity in particular.

I don't like this and I think it's because too many artists focus on the negative aspects of our society instead of focusing on the positives.

The positive in this situation is being active, having fun, and feeling good about yourself. Once you do those things the obesity usually becomes less of a problem and people become healthier human beings. Both physically and psychologically.

Nice. I'm so over those chairs.

I hate how design blogs always tout them as the end-all of fashion. I imagine each of them smelling like someone's grandpa.

"It was Public Art, defined as art that is purchased by experts who are not spending their own personal money. "
~Dave Barry

Regardless of if you like/dislike Eames lounges, I don't like seeing expensive things become unusable just to 'make a statement.'

This is offensive and nothing else.

Maybe he used knock-offs.

Well, it just wouldn't be a day that ends in -y if we weren't finding new ways to mock the fat!

It would be nice if people would get off their soap boxes and worry about REAL global issues.

@revolution9, 1GH, beth.b....

I don't think this is meant to be negative or to denounce the obese, merely tongue-in-cheek, or visual wit.

Obesity is merely one facet of the concept in question -- consumption.

Obesity is a serious health problem with complicated medical and genetic roots for many people, and I, too, am offended when someone mean-spiritedly pokes fun.

However, this is a commentary on consumption -- not only the consumption of food, but the consumption of materials and money that went into the chair, and the sedentary consumption of media that occurs in the chair.

He has combined the human form with an object we consume to form a very provocative shape that serves as a visual metaphor for more than one kind of consumption.

Perhaps if he instead made anorexic chairs - to juxtapose our over-consumption with the under-consumption of the impoverished -- your reaction would be different?

I find it sometimes is necessary to focus on the negative to bring attention to something that needs attending to or it'll sit there and continue to fester and I don't always see artists focusing on the negative of society.

Truth be told, way too many people are so overweight these days that they can't even get around without assistance, and many people I see in these electric scooter thing look mighty young to be using them and yet a lot of them look quite rather obese to me. One fellow who works at a Costco near me is so overweight it's dangerous.

I know a guy who had to rescue a 700Lbs human along with his partner, but his partner could not handle and Chris ended up breaking his back in the process as a paramedic as a result of this super heavy man. So this is a statement on this issue that is a REAL issue for many as people cease to exercise and walk and yet eat lots of junk food as the bulk of their diets.

That said, I find this a bit visually repulsive in how the cushions were deformed to create this statement.

And in the end it's not about being skinny for not all of us can be skinny due to our body's build but maintaining muscle strength and some semblence of fitness and a weight that is in concert with your body's overall mass, which is largely dictated by your bone structure.

I think it's brilliant

@ akay--

right on! what you said.

I hate this kind of statement art. That's what PSAs are for.

I also think it's brilliant.

It's not just about obesity - it's about the excessive consumption that permeates all aspects of our society. Why does anyone need a Hummer that gets 8 mpg? Something like 75% of our country's GDP comes from our consumption, which is why the whole economy plummets the second Americans start saving money or losing their jobs.

I grew up in a very middle class household, but my immigrant mother used to rinse and dry paper towels to reuse them, not because we were poor (and she didn't grow up poor either), but because she could not stand wasting paper.

Love them or hate them you have to admit that they have sparked some fairly passionate responses, which I am assuming was the point, so I would call them a success. They do make me cringe a bit though.

I find Akay's analysis about consumption in a more general sense more engaging than the analysis that these chairs are about human obesity. If the artist is making a point about human obesity, I don't understand it: who doesn't know that it exists, and that it is an epidemic? What message does rendering obesity in chair form convey? Whose mind will this change (and what change exactly is being suggested?)

Boo and yawn.

I'd rather he gave me a chair. I want one so badly. I'd be happy to explain the artist's thoughts to anyone who saw me in my sweet-ass chair.

Why is it offensive?

ERWIN WURM fat car sculpture
done first and done better

The thing is, anorexia is a disease of affluence, whereas obesity is not really a disease in its own right (sometimes it coincides with disease, sometimes it doesn't) nor is it particularly related to affluence, at least in industrialized nations. Conflating obesity with negative character traits like greed over-consumption is what is so offensive about this. I don't think it was accidental that expensive, trendy chairs were chosen for this project.

By the way, obesity is an explicitly-stated reference:

"Mark wanted to allude to the ideas of global obesity and consumption along with the potential cooperation among artists, designers, scientists and manufacturers in order to address such issues."

Wow, some of the comments on here are really depressing. It's one thing to take issue with the artist's statement, but it's another to say it shouldn't have been made in the first place. What's the point of art then? To be pretty, hang on a wall, and tie the colors of your furnishings together?

Not all art has to make you coffee in the morning. It wasn't created to keep you warm or to add zest to your salad. Take issue with the message, fine, but to gripe about the "usefulness" of art is just silly.

@jooly, the "statement" you dislike in a work of art such as this is, in fact, what makes it art in this day and age.

There was once a time when putting brush to canvas, ink to paper, or chisel to marble was the only means of recording something's form and color for posterity. People wanted beautiful records of their family's wealth and longevity.

With the advent and profusion of photography, the ability to record something for posterity was and is no longer a challenge.

Instead, artists chose make a statement, provoke thought, stir up debate, prompt meditation, incite self-analysis, induce awe, etc.

I know that many people find this conceptual aspect of contemporary art off-putting, pretentious, or inaccessible, but it's common to reject what's new in art because we don't yet understand how we're meant to approach and understand it.

Think of the Impressionists:

Monet's work -- which is now appreciated as an innovative and insightful view of the world and light -- was widely proscribed and rejected from the established art centers in Paris. The word "impression" itself was meant to be defamatory. It's no coincidence that this break with tradition in art coincided with technological breakthroughs in the period's cameras.

Haystacks was just as strange and offensive to the sensibilities of Monet's public as this work is for many here. Now, this isn't a wholesale defense of all modern and postmodern art -- more an entreaty to examine subtexts and the layers of meaning rather than recoiling from it's most obvious meaning. This artist put a lot of thought into this incisive piece and many reactions here only scratch the surface.

design.va- I totally agree.

Anna Europe- It's not, some people just look for reasons to be offended.

I see hummers all the time... I live in the city! No one in NYC needs a hummer. And no one needs a 1,000 calorie MEAL. How much food gets thrown away every day? How much water gets wasted while people brush their teeth or take an extra long shower after a long day? We're a society that revolves around mass consumption and waste.

I really like his statement and while I love the eames chair, I don't think he could have chosen a better piece of furniture for this.

"What's the point of art then? To be pretty, hang on a wall, and tie the colors of your furnishings together?"

That, and to be inspirational - Hey, it works for me!
;-)

@beth.b

Point well taken. I meant malnourished, rather than anorexic, chairs. The essence is to compare those who consume (profusely) and those who are unable to consume adequately due to their local or national cirumstances. That approach would show the inverse side of this message: how would that change your reaction to the work? The use of expensive, iconic chairs is certainly not a coincidence. Rather, it is the point.

As I mentioned, for some, obesity is a matter of genetics and other medical issues. I have a relative, for example, who can rarely exercise due to advanced narcolepsy and is limited in his healthy diet choices due to severe allergies.

However, for others with no sound medical reasoning, it's simply delusion to think being a greedy eater doesn't factor into unhealthy weight gain. Portion sizes in America are bigger than those in other countries -- heck, the size of our average dinner plate is considerably larger than it was 50 years ago. When my weight fluctuates, it is certainly not because I am a victim of genetics, but because I increase my consumption for no good reason -- out of boredom, out of stress, out of greed because that last helping was so good, I'll just have one more and then maybe more dessert, too...

Great points akay

They're only overstuffed chairs until you project whatever offends you onto them.

Fat people are not useless and no one has said that. Extra fat is useless however and none of us need to store fat to survive famines any more. As a purely aesthetic comment the overstuffing has obviously ruined the design of these chairs as excess weight tends to distort and ruin a human body. We're just used to seeing it on humans and not on chairs.

I like it. I feel like I could analyze them for pages. Great idea.

I prefer art that demonstrates the true, the noble, and the beautiful. I'm not saying that all art needs to about rainbows and ponies and poorly executed landscapes. Great art can challenge us. It doesn't have to be "pretty;" it can instead have a terrible beauty. But stuff like this makes me roll my eyes and think "whatever." Yeah, I get what he's trying to say, and I'll even concede that it's a clever way to do it. I just don't consider this art.

What I love about this post is that some people are offended! They are chairs! That's it! Lighten up people! Get a sense of humor.
I think they are rather clever.

Ew.

Brilliant. For beth.b and those of her ilk: Just stick with Thomas Kinkade.

Beth B, anorexia is not always a "disease of influence" although it often is.

This is disrepectful in the extreme. To the work of the Eames Office and to large people.

So brilliant. Seriously. Brilliant.

akay and tarsengreen, well said.

Brandyjane, you speak about art demonstrating truth, but not all truth is noble or beautiful. Such a definition really puts a damper on art, in fact. Besides, who in the world is qualified to decide what demonstrates "truth" and what doesn't?

All it is, really, is an expression of one person's notion of the truth. Sometimes there's just no nice way to illustrate it... even if there is, why should "nice" be a requirement?

For example, take two different genres of written art - poetry and journalism. Journalism doesn't aim to be pleasing to the eye or ear, especially if the whole point is to show the ugliness in the world - but you would never say that there is no such thing as the art of journalsim. And indeed, many of the most important works of journalism ever created are that important because they enable people to bear witness to terrible atrocity.

Of course there's still "good" art and "bad" art... a piece might be very poorly executed, but as long as it was created with the purpose of expressing an idea, it's still art. IMO, these chairs are very well done.

I love how people can so flippantly say they don't consider this art. Take a philosophy of art class, please.

I'm with Beth B. What's insulting here is the assumption that overweight people are the ones overconsuming. How is the fat person who consumes 1,500 calories a day any more consumerist than the body builder who spends hours at the gym and consumes 4,000 calories a day? The overweight person is greener when it comes down to it. The artist plays on societal revulsion toward the overweight. A smarter artist might have challenged this bias rather than play into it.

http://www.gadgetking.com/2009/01/05/fat-cars-by-erwin-wurm/

AGAIN, ERWIN WURM: done before and done better.

Again,
ERWIN WURM done first, done better
http://davidwmsims.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/erwin-wurms-fat-cars/

Fat people aren't skinny people with extra flesh, like this chair is a 'normal' chair made ridiculous. They are real people who happen to be fat. Overeating actually has very little to do with obesity. Check out some science, guys - or maybe try somewhere like Shapely Prose: http://kateharding.net/

Calories in = calories out is not true at all. And I object to the way this chair is saying that fat people are abnormal and poorly made. And if you are a design freak, also a travesty!

hmm very thought provoking...

"The artist plays on societal revulsion toward the overweight. A smarter artist might have challenged this bias rather than play into it."

This is exactly what is offensive to me. It's clever but that's all it is. The Thomas Kinkade comment made me laugh because the thing that annoys me about these chairs is not that the art is too challenging, it's that it's not challenging enough. Anyone can come up with something visually shocking that plays into prejudices that are culturally accepted. More difficult and also more powerful is the subtly unnerving effect that truly innovative art often has.

I am with beth.b.

I do not find this offensive, exactly, just off the mark. Obesity is strongly correlated with poverty, at least in the United States, and plenty of people can be obese despite consuming fewer calories than the thin. The biology is much more complicated than people often realize.

It would be great if people could go about their lives without biblical judgments (Sloth! Gluttony!) being made about their character by complete strangers.

@beth.b: Yes!

Oh, and the viewer definitely can determine what is 'art' and what isn't. The postmoderns exploded the notion that the artist's intentions are all that count when interpreting a work of art.

I agree with others that this is just another example of lazy conceptual art. It's more obnoxious than shocking or offensive, I think.

My beloved Eames got elephantitis!!

Actually, I think this is pretty hilarious. Art with a sense of humor.

"They're only overstuffed chairs until you project whatever offends you onto them."

@tarsengreen: Did you bother to read the post? It was the artist's intent to allude to issues concerning obesity and consumption.

They look like they have massive tumors.

"It's more obnoxious than shocking or offensive, I think."

Agreed, obnoxious is a better word.

good taste's nose should be tweaked as often as possible

SUMO MATCH~~!!!