Rock Settee 1988

Curator: Scott Burton's "Rock Settee," created in 1988, immediately strikes me with its peculiar juxtaposition of the natural and the functional. What's your initial take? Editor: Austere, solid. There's a primeval feeling. Like something unearthed, barely touched, but already formed into an object for human use. Curator: Precisely. Burton, often associated with conceptual art, transforms these raw materials into pieces that challenge traditional sculptural forms. Notice how the lines, particularly on the left piece, seem to mimic a rugged landscape. Editor: The visible tooling and joining also underscore the work—both manual and industrial—involved. This is not nature untouched; it's nature mediated by human effort. Think about the quarries where this stone was likely sourced, the labor involved in extraction... Curator: Indeed. We have two seemingly disparate objects brought together through form. One is irregular, monumental in its initial appearance, but through its modification, a minimalist dialogue emerges. What do you make of that bronze piece set in the darker rock? Editor: The bronze insert feels almost surgical—an insertion of industry within the rawness of the stone. This challenges our notion of purity or naturalness in materials. It highlights the manipulation inherent in creating what is meant to feel effortless. Curator: I agree. The rough-hewn nature of the stone, contrasted with the clean lines of the seating surface, invites contemplation on form and utility. They exist simultaneously. It questions functionality; could they simply exist as two rocks in the gallery, devoid of intervention? Editor: That brings us to consumption—this piece invites the viewer to consider function in art, asking, "Can I sit on it?". So the viewer becomes an agent in a cycle of making and consumption, both social and material. Curator: Ultimately, these “Rock Settees” offer a fascinating interplay between the untouched beauty of natural materials and the intervention of human design. Editor: Exactly. We are left contemplating not just the object itself, but the processes and choices that brought it into being, questioning conventional hierarchies and the blurred boundary between the "natural" and the manufactured.