Existing comment:
You are looking at a chaise lounge chair, designed and built by me (Brad Taylor). The frame was constructed of two pieces of ¾" plywood on each side, held together with 3/8" all thread steel rod. The seating surface is made of aluminum can tabs, 40,000+ of them, strung onto 1/16" galvanized steel cable. It took me about 3 years to design, collect tabs, and build the chair. The chair is for sale, but I have no idea how much. I am very interested in displaying it in galleries, museums, etc.
Artist statement:
While ‘The Can Tab Chair' does not represent all that I am capable of as an artist/designer, it is the only art that I have made in the last 3 years or so. I see myself as more of a 3D artist/designer then a 2D artist, although I have attempted to paint and draw (and I might actually be good at it).
The Can Tab Chair is very good representation of my artistic philosophy. I'm all about visual impact. I'm not generally interested in trying to get a point across or make a statement with my art. When someone sees something that I have created, I want that person to say "wow". I think there is a lot of "wow" in the chair.
Statement about The Can Tab Chair:
Having been artistic all my life, I have always spent a lot of time observing things. At one point in my childhood, I noticed that my dad always took the tabs off of the top of his cans, so I did the same. Eventually, I started collecting them with the thought, "One day I'm going to make something out of these". Over the years my family started collecting them, and before I knew it, we had collected over three thousand. At this point I thought, "Okay, now I really have to do something with these". So I started experimenting, and ended up making the small square sample you see here. After the positive reaction I received from people, I decided to make something else, a chair. At first I was just going to make a normal chair, but that is boring. I saw the potential visual impact of a large sheet of can tabs. I thought a chaise lounge chair would be the perfect way to display it. So I started sketching, eventually making a full-scale drawing.
The process of making the chair:
After I had my full-scale drawing, it was time to start making the pieces. First, I made a full-scale pattern, in order to cut out the four pieces of ¾" plywood needed for the frame. I then assembled them using 3/8" all-thread steel rod. To attach the 1/16" galvanized steel cable to the frame, I drilled holes and cut out a channel. The ends of the cable were then stapled and epoxied into the channel, on one side. After this was done, it was time to put on the 40,000+ can tabs. After that process was completed, I put the other end of the cables through the other side of the frame. The last step was to finish the edges with Bondo, and paint.
List of materials:
Plywood, all thread steel rod, spicy red paint, 1/16" galvanized steel cable, lots of epoxy, 40,000+ aluminum can tabs (from soda cans, beer cans, etc.).
Thanks to:
My dad (Ken), my mom (Karen), my brother (Colin) and a hundred or more people who have collected can tabs for me.
The above was from Brad Taylor's web site at http://www.myspace.com/thecantabchair |