French artist Vincent Dubourg opened his first U.S. show, Vortex, at Carpenters Gallery Workshop at 693 Fifth Avenue in New York on November 2nd. For the past 15 years, Dubourg has focused on fusing metal and wood furniture that appears to fly from its tethers by taking classical furnishings and infusing them with new life and meaning.
Operating from his workshop nestled in the remote valleys of the Creuse region, Dubourg derives inspiration from his natural surroundings, transforming familiar pieces into unexpected forms. “My aim was to combine the intelligence of our future needs and the alliance we can re-establish with our planet, a nature that overpowers us, which devours come what may, but that offers us a way to live differently, sustainably,” he said. “I wanted to find the link with our existing heritage and to listen to nature by manipulating branches, restoring a form of communication. A dialogue was created, to which I grafted the recovery of objects that we have forgotten and abandoned.” For example, his Buffet Inner Vortex (pictured below) looks as though the interior sections are being pulled by some invisible magnetic force, yet the legs of the buffet remain steady and immovable.