Angle

I had this bench recently show as part of an exhibition at the new Edward Cella Art + Architecture Gallery in downtown Santa Barbara. Here is the press release to help you put the show in context:

"Twenty-two emergent artists from the UCSB Department of Art Spatial Studies program take on the mounting pile of our world’s accumulated post-consumer waste stream as a point of departure for new works. Avoiding the usual arts + craft supply stores, these artists engage materials that are light, cheap and readily available for their sculptural interventions.

An array of seemingly worthless matter, such as wine corks, dryer lint, used clothing, top ramen, rubber bands, Styrofoam pellets and plastic are all creatively employed as art- potentials from scrap. Materials are drawn from a range of locales - transfer stations, self-storage units, garages, closets, dumpsters, recycling bins and second-hand shops throughout California.

Through reengagement of the less used and useless for art production, these artists attempt to provide yet another waste reduction alternative for our post-Costco shopping sprees and the attendant spatial anxiety that inevitably comes in figuring out of where to put the stuff.

Artists in the exhibition include: Jenna Allensworth, Michael Bennett, Mary Bowman, Stephanie Cheung, Brooke Devenney, Rafael Diaz, Mallory Emrich, Carol Fay, Angela Fry, Julia Gibson, Charles Lee, Jennifer Miller, Heather Orozco, Tracy Patterson, Lacey Piper, Mike Rubin, Koji Tanaka, Brandon Teris, Candis Wallin-Caplener, and Jessica Warter.

Use Less is co-organized by Kim Yasuda and hosted as a public program of Edward Cella Art+Architecture."

The exhibition was a great success and most of the artists sold their pieces. I was one of the lucky ones and also sold my bench. The materials I used for my bench are used aluminum door frames and used laminated plywood. Nothing on the bench is new except for the screws used to secure the wooden slats to the metal legs.

After the show the gallery owner, Mr. Edward Cella, notified me that two other parties were highly interested in purchasing my bench and asked me if I could build 2 more for each of the respective clients. I agreed to make 2 more and also will make a 3rd one for a classmate who is also interested in one. I sold the the first one for $600, the second also for $600, and the third is pending negotiations between the Mr. Cella and the client.

I am interested in making more for purchase. I will tentatively price them at $800 apiece, for the reason that the consequent ones I make will be better executed in terms of production due to my gaining experience in having built the first one. Here is the Mr. Edward Cella's gallery's website www.edwardcella.com . The website has all of his contact information in case you want to ask him anything.

For inquiries please e-mail your pertinent information along with any questions you may have about the bench to: kojitanaka1984@gmail.com

(I have more detailed pictures of the bench in case you want to see them.)