Currents 32: Gord Peteran: Furniture Meets Its Maker

One of the most innovative artists working in North America today happens to be a woodworker. Toronto’s Gord Peteran has launched a boundary-crossing career, opening up the category of furniture to an unprecedented range of psychological and conceptual content. Sometimes his means are disarmingly simple: His work A Table Made of Wood is cobbled together, seemingly at random, from scraps lying on his workshop floor. At other times, he employs craftsmanship of the highest order, as in 100, a precisely machined occasional table that disassembles into a carrying case like that used for a rifle. Other works suggest specimen cabinets, seesaws, and game tables, all twisted into new relevance through subtle manipulation. In all cases, Peteran's work addresses the specific conditions of furniture even as it subverts those conditions.