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Figure 21: 'This Is a Lamp', 2001. Tobi Wong
A practitioner whose work consciously exploits the border area between these is
New York-based ex-artist 35 Tobi Wong. He has coined the terms
‘paraconceptual’ (of, relating to, or being conceptual) for his original
productions and ‘readydesigned’ to describe the products he creatively reworks
(after artist M. Duchamp’s term ‘readymade’ meaning art created from common
objects that are not normally considered art). The objects explore the visual
language of consumerism and they are often amusing. Such as the case of
Wong’s reworked Bubble Club Armchair (Figure 21) by Philippe Starck for
Kartell. Wong has exploited the translucent qualities of this polyethylene chair
by turning it into a lamp, titled ‘This is a Lamp’. A reference to the Surrealist
painting ‘The Treason of Images’ (Figure 22) which shows a pipe with the text
(in French) ‘this is not a pipe’ by René Magritte, 1928). Wong’s work
“…is about reconciling cultural commentary with aesthetics, so that even
those who don't want to dissect the concept can enjoy the object -
objectively… he is happy to admit that he absorbs and digests everything
around him and that his work is a byproduct of this digestive process…
Wong is using design as a vehicle for art and art as a material for design.”
(Moreno, 2005)
35 See also ‘ex-designer’ Martí Guixé.
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