“Functional + Extraordinary,”

Review, “Functional + Extraordinary,” Brenau University, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and accessatlanta.com 11/4/07
VISUAL ARTS & ARCHITECTURE: Curvaceous contours
Stylish seating shines at show in Gainesville
By Debra Wolf
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/04/2007
Three furniture artists make waves in "Functional + Extraordinary," an exhibition of works by Vivian Beer,
Erik Wolken and Paul Freundt on view at Brenau University in Gainesville.
Fine art furnishings draw significantly from 20th century
modernism. From Bauhaus to post-war to Pop, architectdesigners
like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Isamu
Noguchi and Vernon Panton relied on architectural,
geometric and freeform shapes in creating interiors for their
residential and commercial settings. Utilizing both industrial
and natural materials, these masters and others paved the
way for the clean, curvaceous contours on view in this
show.
Vivian Beer's chairs are delightful interpretations of rounded
shapes executed in stainless steel and wood. She creates
a sense of continuous movement out of materials that are
seemingly unbending.
"Current," for example, is an indoor-outdoor steel chair with
a weave of rippling slats of blue. "Red Letter" is playful in
fire-engine red, with a semi-circular spine connected to a
wavy seat-back. Resembling a tipped letter "G," it echoes
the 1940s "Molded Plywood Chair," still in wide usage.
Erik Wolken offers graceful outlines in contrasting woods.
His long bench of Baltic birch plywood, "Chairform 3," is
stylish and whimsical with its lean, rectangular seat. It is
supported by sassy legs that resemble futuristic lightning
bolts.
Wolken's pair of elegant hanging cabinets takes female
form. Both are lusciously rounded with a satiny finish.
"Torso 3" is executed in vertically grained cherry and
mahogany, while "Torso 4" is a soft wash of white ash and
birch, horizontally grained. Each female torso mirrors the
other in shape and opens to reveal stacked glass shelves
against a subtle backing of digital imagery.
While every object in the exhibition is worthy of praise, Paul
Freundt's sexy, sculptural works are particularly
accomplished.
His "Swept Back Chair" in stainless steel exploits the
pleasure of an asymmetrical curvy back, a nearly triangular
seat, light-catching surface patterning and sleek, tubular
legs. His patinated steel "Attica" chaise lounge is equally
seductive, with its undulating profile, single arm rest, open
back and warm, bronze tone.
Vivian Beer manages to create movement
from material that is fundamentally stiff and
seemingly unbending.
Erik Wolken's sassy 5-foot bench
'Chairform 3' is an elegant illustration of his
enjoyment of wavy, pointed form and
inverted symmetry.
REVIEW
Functional + Extraordinary: Contemporary
Art Furniture Through Dec. 9. Noon-4 p.m.
Tuesdays — Fridays; 2-5 p.m. Sundays.
Prices: $950-$6,800. Brenau University,
Leo Castelli Art Gallery, 429 Academy St.,
Gainesville. 770-534-6263;
www.brenau.edu Bottom line: A fine
example of art furniture makes for
pleasurable viewing.
Review, “Functional + Extraordinary,” Brenau University, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and accessatlanta.com 11/4/07
Freundt's work offers irresistible tension — curves and lines, volume and space, sophistication and
approachability. His seating also appears remarkably comfortable, molded to human contours. With
allusions to Isamu Noguchi (in biomorphic shapes) and Stefan Wewerka (in combinations of three-sided,
three-legged and four-legged forms), Freundt's pieces are intelligent as well as enticing, in a show that
illustrates that functional can indeed be extraordinary.

Paul Freundt - Function + Art

An Atlanta sculptor for 20 years, I moved to the North Georgia mountains in 1995. My metal sculpture and art furniture in corporate and private collections nationally, including: the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and Elton John's permanent collection at his London estate.

The early part of my career was devoted almost exclusively to large sculptural works and commissions, the 300 foot catwalk and environmental sculpture with integrated lighting and waiting benches for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Civic Center Station being the prime example. In 1985 I was given a special award by the Atlanta Chapter of the AIA for my integration of sculpture with architecture. But it is my recent interest and exploration in the area of art furniture that is gaining me national recognition.

In the late 80's, I began to focus my sculptural talents on furniture design, utilizing various metals including patinated steel, stainless steel, oxidized steel, aluminum and bronze. In 1992, a chair from this new body of work was included in one of only 20 spots in the "Furniture of the 90's" Competition, sponsored by the ASOFA in Houston and Parson's School of Design in New York and traveled to both locations. I also received the "Best Chair" award at "Table, Lamp + Chair 1993" in Portland. In 1999, one of my chairs was featured in a review in the "Los-Angeles Times Magazine", and received a NICHE Award for my bronze chair, "Troas", which was also juried into "The Chair Show 3" at the Folk Art Center in Asheville, N.C. In the late summer of 2000 "Troas" was acquired by the Renwick Gallery for its permanent collection.

I have exhibited at the Smithsonian Craft Show, as well as at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show 2000 and the Washington Craft Show. During the 2000 Washington Craft Show, my work was featured in articles in "The Washington Post" and "Home & Design"' Magazine.
The search for pure form is a passion for me. By that, I mean the distillation of discovered form into it's minimal essence --- what can and cannot be taken away without destroying the integrity of the form. I have sought to carry this philosophy, developed in my earlier career as a sculptor, over into furniture making. Sculptural presence, although important, must not override the functional requirements of the piece. (A case in point: an orthopedic radiologist from Johns Hopkins Hospital has collected two pieces; a chair and a chaise, not only for their aesthetic appeal, but also for their overall function as back and/or lumbar support and comfort for the whole body.)

Currently, I am studying the expression of form in both ancient and primitive cultures, abstracting those elements which I find adaptable to furniture design. While primarily a metal worker, I am presently interested in the occasional use of stone and wood.

Metal Urges

Robb Report
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
09/01/2006

Bending and welding metal into a chair that is as compelling to look at as it is comfortable to sit on is a relatively straightforward process, in Paul Freundt’s opinion, if you understand human physiology. “All you’ve got to do is support the ischium bones,” says the 55-year-old metal sculptor, illustrating his point by grasping a pen, drawing a human pelvis, and indicating an area below the hip socket. “The whole body sits on those bones. You only need the width of the seat to support them. They’re seven or eight inches apart; it doesn’t take much.” Freundt has worked with metal for more than 30 years and has made furniture with it for the last 14, but his medical illustration skills—which he once planned to practice professionally—continue to serve him.

The Azteca bench is based on the shape of a Mesoamerican corn-grinding table. (Click image to enlarge)

Freundt changed course and began sculpting metal while studying art at the University of Georgia in the 1970s, and he started focusing on creating metal furniture in 1990, after showing his first metal chair, an untitled piece, at an Atlanta gallery. “As soon as I finished it, everyone was attracted to it,” says Freundt, who priced the chair at $3,000. “I sold it off the bat.” Today, his furnishings can fetch as much as $14,000, and commissions can cost more. Although Freundt makes most of his furnishings of metal entirely and renders many in stainless steel, aluminum, or bronze, they do not appear cold or industrial, in part because they include few right angles. The lines are soft, almost sensual. From certain perspectives, some pieces appear as if they might fall apart at a touch. “A piece can be serviceable as a chair but not dynamic as a design,” says Freundt. “If it looks dynamic, is an original design, and functions successfully—if you’ve got that, you’ve got a masterpiece.”

The warm reception accorded to his furniture enabled Freundt, a lifelong resident of Georgia (excluding the summer when he studied in Italy during college), to leave Atlanta 11 years ago for a forested parcel in the town of Talking Rock in the Georgia mountains. He lives there with his wife, three children, and seven dogs, including a black dachshund named Pepe who is almost too plump for his own legs. In his 2,400-square-foot workshop, which is just steps from his house, Freundt toils at his discretion, making as many as 40 pieces a year or as few as 15. “Like anybody else at my age, I enjoy other things,” says Freundt. “I love gardening.”

However, his affection for furniture-making appears to be equally strong, because he spends much of his time in his workshop or considering what he is going to create there. A three-legged bronze chair that he has dubbed Scythia emerged from thinking about a specific form. “I was fascinated by the shape of an ax, and I wanted to make it into the back of a chair,” he says. “I repeat the shape in the outline of the seat.”

Freundt can mull over ideas for years before using them in his art. Viewing an authentic stone corn-grinding table in a 1997 exhibit of South and Central American artifacts at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, N.C., led him to make the Azteca bench six years later. The ends of the bench are uneven by design; one is 18 inches off the ground, the other 16, and its center dips to 14 inches to mimic the slope of a corn-grinding table. Although the bench, like all of his other furnishings, lacks upholstery, it is intended to be as functional as it is ornamental. “The thing I hear most often from people who come [to shows where he exhibits his furnishings] is that they are surprised at how comfortable it is,” says Freundt. “You don’t always think of metal being used for a chair.”

Paul Freundt
706.276.4726
www.geocities.com/paulfreundt/furniture.html

FORM = ESSENCE

The search for pure form is a passion for me. By that, I mean the distillation of discovered form into it’s minimal essence -what can and cannot be taken away without destroying the integrity of the form. I have sought to carry this philosophy, developed in my earlier career as a sculptor, over into furniture making. Sculptural presence, although important, must not override the functional requirements of the piece.

Currently, I am studying the expression of form in both ancient and primitive cultures, abstracting those elements which I find adaptable to furniture design. While primarily a metal worker, I am presently interested in the occasional use of stone and wood.

Paul Freundt
(706) 276.4726
paulfreundt@yahoo.com

Sculptural Metal Furniture

ARTIST STATEMENT

Metal, the stepchild of materials in the furniture world for many centuries, has crossed the threshold of new functional interpretation. Mostly reserved for royalty, weapons of war, and the industrial machine, technology and artist have unshackled its latent possibilities for contemporary exploration in furniture design. Permanence, unlimited structural expression and seductive surface appeal have given new meaning to how furniture is made, giving rise to a virtual design revolution. My work is part of this process; I want to educate to the possibilities of sculpture becoming furniture, furniture becoming sculpture. Somehow, on my small part, I desire to stretch the boundaries that determine function as related to form and material. Personally, sculptural presence, simplicity of design, and integrity of form and surface are the most important consideration.