Harp chair c. 1968

This Harp chair by Jorgen Hovelskov at the Minneapolis Institute of Art makes me think about making a painting. It’s got all these lyrical lines rising up to meet at a central point—a bit like a sail. I can imagine the artist thinking, how can I make something both delicate and sturdy? The strings remind me of a harp, or maybe the rigging on a ship, so many lines creating strength and tone and harmony. Hovelskov would have been thinking about the different ways you can weave and connect materials together. What does it mean to support the body? To create something stable and comforting? The choice to use such thin string with carved wood gives it a feeling of lightness. You can see how the materials work together—one supporting the other. It’s like a collaborative dance. The wood and the string are in conversation, each playing off the other. Artists are constantly in conversation, each one answering questions that were asked by the generation before.