Reflections — From There to Here

Volume Gallery, Chicago, IL

Photography: Steve Hall / Hall + Merrick

Video: John Zacherle

Volume Gallery's first solo exhibition with Ron Krueck and Mark Sexton.

Soon after completing their first project, The Steel and Glass House (Chicago, 1979), Krueck and Sexton began a series of commissions for prominent Chicago tastemakers, including Beverly/Barry Crown and Joan Weinstein — the owner of Ultimo, an infamous fashion boutique known for bringing Giorgio Armani and Sonia Rykiel to Chicago.

Reflections focuses on works — specifically, chairs — from these 1980s commissions. Although the furniture was designed for specific residences, their classic form and materials allow them to work outside the original space.

Each organically inspired piece of furniture in Reflections is an elegant expression of form, proportion, and sensuous materials, which appear to be a celebration of industrial design. In reality, they are all meticulously handmade.

Central to Reflections is the Lounge Chair. Originally designed for the Weinstein commission, this piece is being realized for the first time.

Fabricated by the same metal craftsmen responsible for the production of all of the furniture from the 1980s, the Lounge Chair is a beautiful example of Krueck and Sexton’s unique approach to juxtaposing a cool material like polished stainless steel with the bronze metallic leather.

The mohair and cotton velvet fabric is a natural material, visually soft, with multidimensional hues created by how the light hits it and is used in all of the chairs.

The connections are all about expressing how materials are put together. They are often highly articulated to support the visual delight, rhythm, and scale of the object.