Walking through International Objects, a new gallery on the raw fifth and sixth floors of a soon-to-be-finished Bushwick building, I saw wood chairs carved to look as though they had plush upholstery, a cabinet composed of melted milk-jug and plastic-bag panels, and flayed tree bark framed and hung like a canvas. This was just a sliver of the surprising textures, shapes, colors, and materials at “Local Objects,” the gallery’s first exhibition. As two of its co-founders — Matt Taber, an artist, and Trang Tran, a director at Salon 94 Design (who are also married) — explained to me, there’s a reason for this: Fabrication has become more accessible and more important to New York’s artists, regardless of their style or medium. “Everyone’s making things themselves,” Taber says.
“Local Objects” feels like PS1’s “Greater New York” survey except it’s for those who work in the blurry zone between fine art and design. Some of the pieces look like furniture or familiar household items, but everyday functionality isn’t the point; figuring out new ways to create objects is. Most of the pieces on view — and there are a lot of them, over 85 items spread across two floors and two outdoor terraces — were made within one and a half miles of the gallery. Taber, Tran, and fellow co-founders Annaka Olsen, a graphic designer, and Nate Heiges, an artist, noticed their friends were experimenting with new techniques over the past several years, supercharged by the reset (and enhanced unemployment) of the pandemic. Some artists changed their medium completely, like Chang Sujung, a video artist, who made a miniature replica of her apartment in alabaster for the show. Looking at Zachary Besner’s Four Inflated Aluminum Chairs, I was impressed by his creative application of the puffed-up metal bags typically used to separate marble slabs in stone quarries as the structure of the piece. Artists even invented their own materials: Gerardo Ismael Madera slathered a mixture of ground-up mahogany pods and yucca flowers over cockfighting chairs arranged in a circle. You can’t really sit on the gritty finish, but it’s oddly satisfying just to look at them and imagine what it feels like.
Gerardo Ismael Madera’s Walled Garden Model 1 (Errant Root, Unpolished), 2022, made from yucca flour, mahogany-pod powder, shellac, brick powder, wood filler, paper pulp, and chicken wire.
Chen Chen & Kai Williams’s “Thank You” Cabinet, 2023, made from aluminum, HDPE plastic bags and gallon water jugs, Budweiser cans, and plaster.
Trevor Ninos’s Manifestation of a Subconscious Desire, undated, made from glass, metal, and faux fur.
Jumbo’s Snow Fence Chair, 2023, made of powder-coated steel.
Chang Sujung’s Mattress, Pillows, and Comforter; Gooseneck Lamp; and Full and Empty Sterilite, 2019–20, made of alabaster.
Simone Bodmer-Turner’s Chair II, 2022, made of ceramic.
Hugh Hayden’s Untitled, 2023, made from cast iron and urine.
Raul de Lara’s Soft Chair, 2022, made from Siberian elm, cedar, and lacquer.
From left: A Barnett Cohen canvas composed of stickers and resin; a Bryce Kroll sculpture made from PVC, polyethylene foam, Tyvek, valve, and butyl rubber; a Daniel Boccato sculpture made from cast concrete and a water cooler; a foam sculpture by Wentrcek & Zebulon; and a wood table by Shaina Tabak.
Gerardo Ismael Madera’s Walled Garden Model 1 (Errant Root, Unpolished), 2022, made from yucca flour, mahogany-pod powder, shellac, brick powder, wood filler, paper pulp, and chicken wire.
Chen Chen & Kai Williams’s “Thank You” Cabinet, 2023, made from aluminum, HDPE plastic bags and gallon water jugs, Budweiser cans, and plaster.
Trevor Ninos’s Manifestation of a Subconscious Desire, undated, made from glass, metal, and faux fur.
Jumbo’s Snow Fence Chair, 2023, made of powder-coated steel.
Chang Sujung’s Mattress, Pillows, and Comforter; Gooseneck Lamp; and Full and Empty Sterilite, 2019–20, made of alabaster.
Simone Bodmer-Turner’s Chair II, 2022, made of ceramic.
Hugh Hayden’s Untitled, 2023, made from cast iron and urine.
Raul de Lara’s Soft Chair, 2022, made from Siberian elm, cedar, and lacquer.
From left: A Barnett Cohen canvas composed of stickers and resin; a Bryce Kroll sculpture made from PVC, polyethylene foam, Tyvek, valve, and butyl rubber; a Daniel Boccato sculpture made from cast concrete and a water cooler; a foam sculpture by Wentrcek & Zebulon; and a wood table by Shaina Tabak.
“Local Objects” is on view at International Objects (53 Scott Ave., Bushwick) through May 28.
