apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

When the owner has to sit on the armrest of a sofa, you know this is a bad idea.

This is ridiculous. The art is unviewable and the chair is unsitable.

Agree with the others, bad idea. if you dont want to put holes in the wall , I would rather see them on the floor against the wall.

Chairs are for sitting. I guess if you have an excess of floor space, chairs, and art, this might work, but how many of us are in that category?

Ridiculous.

you guys (previous comments) are kidding right? he's sitting on the armrest of the sofa for the picture! did you even bother looking at the slideshow of the place before judging? and do you even know who the man is?

i've had the pleasure of being in vicente's loft which is huge, inviting and there are plenty of comfortable places to sit (at least three or four large sofas and numerous upholstered arm and side chairs). The chairs he has the images on are art pieces themselves. he has at least one large gallery wall and several other walls with floating shelves with rotating collections on them. this (brilliant!!) man has hundreds of photographs with new pieces constantly being added to his collection.

thanks for this post, i always love seeing his space!!

Boring... if they really wanted to be avantgarde, they'd use toilet seats!

This is something stylists do for photo shoots. Copying it for every day life is silly.

this wasn't styled for a photo shoot... the man is an interior designer and has been displaying his photos like this for years...

I'm perplexed by the idea of an artist copying their neighbors decor. Seems rather "non-artist-y" to me.

I agree with jooly, this would not be functional in a small space.

Well - That's one way to keep people from sitting in your fragile antique chairs...

ive seen use chairs as mini bookcases, and im ok with that, but this..nope. im not sold on this idea. if i didnt want someone to sit on my chair i would tack it to the ceiling. ha!

This has inspired me to place plastic food amongst the real food at my next dinner party.

occasionally, an object finds its way to a spot that becomes its home - for whatever reason, it just belongs there

i don't think we have to consider this chair thing a trend, or spend too much time worrying about it

I can see this working to keep people out of your fragile antique chairs (and highlighting the fact that the chair is also a work of art), but the first picture just looks like an accident waiting to happen.

lcatt- if you love vincente so much than why don't you marry him?

I actually think this could be useful in a small space. Why not have extra seating available, but serving an artful, beautiful purpose in the meantime? I have a long thin bench at my house that could serve a similar purpose. Did everyone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Also, Amsale's dresses are amazing; I don't think riffing off of her neighbor's style impugns her artistry at all.

Oh, I wish I knew this was considered art, I always thought it was just me procrastinating...

But, really, I could see this being done once, for a larger piece in like the corner of a room where it looked intentional...maybe the dining room or bath. Otherwise, it looks like the person just hasn't hung up the art yet. And, since all my friends aren't designers and neither am I, I think they'd just assume it wasn't supposed to be there, move it and sit. I doubt that happens in his place though.

studiostarter: funny :0) i don't think i'm his type ;)

This is almost as silly as the fake book trend.

after reading the wsj article, i was left thinking "how cool - neighbors that feel more like family sharing parts of one large space."

with regard to the title of this post, no, i don't think that art on chairs will become the next big design trend, but i don't think it was intended to. i like what they did.

my chairs, even my good ones, have unfortunately been used more for clothes and bedside "stuff" more than i want them to out of necessity. i might consider it a luxury to one day use my beautiful chairs for something other than sitting (and random storage). maybe even for art - much to the dismay of may here it seems.

I love the idea. I'm always using chairs as plant and book stands, and if I have a large amount of guests, we put the plants or books on the floor and use the chairs as seating. I don't think this was intended as a small space idea, just an interesting one. And if it's an antique or delicate chair, it's a good way a deterring people from sitting in it. I love the look of art draped and stacked and overlapping everywhere. It's not necessarily meant to be displayed as if you were in an art gallery. Some people just like being surrounded by art, even if the lighting or position isn't optimal. I love it!

At first I thought this was ridiculous until I realized the chairs were part of a collection. I have a similar dilemma with a chair that was actually painted by an artist that I don't allow anyone to sit in for fear the paint might chip or scratch off. I don't entertain much, but it is always something I am concerned about when I do. Do I tell people not to sit there, that it is art? That just feels pretentious to me. I usually solve the problem by laying coats across it so people aren't tempted to sit there but then my beautiful chair can't be admired for what it is. I may just look around my home for a small painting that will compliment and not detract from it and place it there.

Enamoranda, I do the same thing...placing art on a chair in front of the wall I think it will be placed on, and then leaving it there for weeks! Am I ahead of the curve?

This is the stupidest idea yet.

there are a few instances where this would work fine:

1. you have extra chairs from your dining table that are stashed against a wall and are rarely used (might as well give them a purpose).
2. you have delicate antique chairs that shouldn't be sat in anyway, or a chair in a decorative vignette where one wouldn't usually sit.

I hardly think they're advocating that we put framed artwork in every chair in our own homes.

I don't care who he is, it's still stupid.

ditto what foodefafa said.

Great lofts. Butt-ugly interior design and furniture.

I don't think this idea is "stupid", as some have said (btw, wow: how close is AT now to playground name-calling?...), but I am surprised to see it elevated and celebrated as a great interior-design idea. I've been propping badly framed artwork on chairs, stereos, crates, boxes, etc, etc for as long as I've been renting places that don't allow tenants to install hooks. Personally, I think landlords who refuse permission to add hooks are horrible -- surely a tenant who cares enough to hang art is a tenant you'd want to hang on to? -- but there are plenty of landlords who simply refuse. So, I've often had paintings propped up on stools, chairs and what-not.

But is it especially original or aesthetically appealing? I don't think so. It's one of those less-than-ideal compromise solutions that can have its own bohemian charm, but that just becomes try-hard pretension as soon as it's adopted by mainstream designers who don't NEED such a compromise -- they could afford to hang real-life hooks!!

As an artist, I hate this idea a lot.

I can sort of understand it if the chairs are just to look at (antiques, art works) but otherwise seating should be functional. (And in my home, there is no space for non-functional seating.) Then there is the problem of art at seat level, which is far from satisfactory for viewing. And the issue of potential slippage for propped art work, which could result in the work hitting the floor with force and shattering the glass, and maybe even the art itself.

Too cute by half. I vote no.