Attractions

THE ORIGINAL

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When he designs furniture, Robert Rabinovitz
makes his own statement.

'Meditation Table and
Chairs'; steel, glass, leather
and sand; 1992. This piece
examines furniture as an
exploration into the human
condition of sensorial
phenomena and is given life
by the human touch," says
Rabinovitz.

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HENTIC
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7 DAYS
WEEK

RD LAKE RD.
INDS PLAZA

WEST BLOOMFIELD

D LAKE & LONE PINE

9/24
1999

92 Detroit Jewish News

6000

SUZANNE CHESSLER

Special to the Jewish News

R

obert Rabinovitz designs
and builds furniture --
some to be used and some
to be viewed — but all of
which urges us to re-evaluate the way
we look at everyday objects.
Rabinovitz, an associate professor of
industrial design and interim depart-
ment chair at the Center for Creative
Studies (CCS), is showcasing one of his
artistic works in "Dysfunctional
Sculpture," the first exhibit of the
1999-2000 season at Center Galleries.

"I try to create what's in my soul
and blend the artistry of design and
sculpture," says Rabinovitz, 39, a
member of the CCS faculty for one
year. Rabinovitz's teaching covers a
number of studio design subjects and
explores theories and methods.
In the current group exhibit, which
will be up through Oct. 9, Rabinovitz
is represented by The Drawing of a
Chair, a three-dimensional work that
has vertical steel rods suspended from
the ceiling by silk threads, which are
repeated in a horizontal plane. The
piece exaggerates the lines found in
chairs to give some fresh insight into

the aesthetics of this everyday
object.
"It's quite dreamy because
it's suspended in air,"
Rabinovitz says. It helps
point out the gap between
thoughts and what's physical.
I think a lot of my work is
about helping people ques-
tion and re-evaluate the obvi-
ous. At first glance, people
can tell this is a chair,
although it has no sub-
),
stance.
"Dysfunctional
Sculpture" features the
works of 15 artists from
around the country. It pre-
sents sculptural objects that
allude to function and are
at once elusive and allusive.
Together, they make a lively play on
the Surrealist recipe of accurately
replicating familiar forms in incon-
gruous materials that contradict and
expand their meanings.
Among the forms being shown are
Yoko Ono's bronze baseball bat, Tom
Sachs' duct tape guns, Dan Devine's
inside-out television set, Joe
Avedisian's unridable bicycle, Robert
Levine's unusable pencil sharpener and
George Stoll's sponge sculptures.
"I've always felt closer to the
artist than the engineer, perhaps
because my roots are in figure draw-