Reassigning Van Gogh's Chair to Camden

Julia and I chose to reassign Vincent Van Gogh’s Chair from the National Gallery to Camden Market. One day when Julia was walking through Camden, she wandered into an eclectic tea-house. After strolling through a deserted hallway, she saw a chair sitting alone in a corner. She was struck by its subtle charm, and took a picture to document it. This was before we were given the assignment of reassigning an artwork, so after seeing Van Gogh’s Chair, we thought it worked perfectly.

            While Van Gogh’s Chair does not exactly fit neatly into our theme of “street art vs. institutionalized art”, we did feel that the idea of changing the place in which an artwork is viewed can also change its meaning applies equally to both our portfolio and this assignment. We wanted to move Van Gogh’s piece to Camden because viewing such a notable work by such a prominent artist in Camden, a very eclectic part of London, would not only come as a shock but perhaps even compliment the painting in unexpected ways. Similar to the way in which moving artwork from the streets of London into a gallery can change its meaning and take away some of its edge, Van Gogh’s piece can be altered by moving it to Camden.

Posted by: Maddy