EP 006: SAM STEWART

Image Culture

On the show today is the artist Sam Stewart. Sam’s sculptural work resembles household furniture and domestic objects. Drawing on his observations of everyday design ranging from subway seating to exercise equipment, he creates works that play with the condition of design itself, often subverting the intended use of the items the work references. For his current solo show Cryptid at Fort Gansevoort, the artist has installed a new body of work in an apartment leased by the gallery. Zoned for residential use, the space is required by the Department of Buildings to include a shower, a sleeping surface, and a working kitchen among other prerequisites for daily living. Reflecting on these codes and their distinctions from commercial space, Stewart has created a series of objects that imagine the personal affects of a mythical occupant. Through his synthesis of disparate aesthetic tropes, accidental uses of household objects, and their psychological associations, Stewart considers how, through successive rationalizations, mythologies gain momentum and permanence.