John Procario, Standing Freeform V, USA

About the Item

Todd Merrill Studio has represented artist John Procario since 2016.“I would describe my work as having a heartbeat,” says John Procario of his custom-made bent-wood luminaires. “Each one has so much personality and as you move around them, the forms look like they are changing.” It’s not surprising for Procario to anthropomorphize his work; it is something the Cold Spring native has been doing since studying sculpture at State University of New York at Purchase, where he began to conceptually think of wood as a metaphor for the human body. “Just as we push the limits of our bones and muscles, I enjoy pushing the limits of wood to create a sense of strain in the material’s gesture,” he explains. Procario pushes the limit of breakage to create a sense of strain in the otherwise fluid gestures of his wooden works. Conceptually, this allows beauty to be the product of stress. Procario’s sculptural lighting is composed of micro-laminated wood fused with LEDs. With a rough sketch in his mind, Procario freeform bends the wood into one of his signature undulating shapes. After months spent intentionally breaking wood—whether with a hydraulic press or simply his own strength—the designer gained a deep understanding of its structure and learned where to draw the line before hitting that breaking point. The process is a delicate one,“wood doesn’t always want to work with you when you are freeform bending so you have to work with it,” he says. “But I really enjoy that. Sometimes it takes you in new directions that would never have happened if everything was planned out. In this way, the artistic process becomes a collaboration between the artist and the wood’s respective personalities. The outcome is an organic, fluid design with a distinct sense of motion.

Creator:
John Procario (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 93 in (236.22 cm)Width: 37 in (93.98 cm)Depth: 16 in (40.64 cm)
Style:
Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Ash,Hand-Carved
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
2010-
Date of Manufacture:
2021
Production Type:
New & Custom(One of a Kind)
Estimated Production Time:
Available Now
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU905326974582
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