Terence Main

TERENCE MAIN (b. 1954)

Terence Main's work redefines the boundaries between art and design. The biomorphic elements of his works recall the fossilized remains of ancient creatures and vegetation. Overall, they often have the look and feel of natural phenomena rather than crafted objects. Looking outside the boundaries of classicism, Main responds to the rich material of primitive art with furniture that intimates the power of animist belief throughout human culture. One of his sinuous benches suggests a forgotten path or the spine of an extinct animal; the ambiguity of its place in the natural order augmenting the sense of desuetude and revealing the patterns in which this natural order is manifested. Main's work seems to exist within the generative and destructive cycles of nature.

Main's work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, among others, and has been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions worldwide, including: Modern Furniture, The Metropolitan Museum; Art and Application, Turbulence, NY.

"My objects have always been about redefining the boundaries between art and design. The process is a personal idea history oriented "gut and soul" exploration in a territory that I have created for myself. I've married form and function, fact and fiction and art history with design history. My new objects have evolved to become more sculptural and texture based.

Outsider: The idea of redrawing on the pattern remains in this cast white bronze table and chair. The lingering iconic drawings were first carved in and than carved out. One is meant to be drawn in by light flickering off the shiny texture as opposed to the signs and symbols."
Terence Main