Chair

Chair | Seattle, WA | 2016

Viewing objects from odd angles reveals details that the eye-brain partnership might initially ignore. Sure, the eye accurately records the shape and construction of, say, an Adirondack chair. But seeking efficiency, the brain provides a rough sketch using points of dimension and contour, and then hastily fills in the rest. “I’ll be darned,” says the brain. “It’s a chair.” Seeing the same chair upside down forces the brain to concentrate and construct using more detail, like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Beginning artists know this technique. To sketch a vase, they’ll turn it on its head to trick the brain into seeing in a new way. A yoga teacher I knew swore the headstand pose put all of mankind’s problems in a different perspective. Me? I just got a headache.