John Dunnigan in Art Daily
John Dunnigan debuts solo show "Possible Necessities" at Gallery NAGA
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
BOSTON, MASS.- Gallery NAGA announced its season closing exhibition, "Possible Necessities," featuring new studio furniture by renowned artist John Dunnigan. This marks Dunnigan's first solo exhibition at Gallery NAGA. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Glenn Adamson, Curator at Large, Vitra Design Museum.
The exhibition showcases twelve new objects, encompassing Dunnigan's signature elegant chairs and intricately crafted cabinets with chair-based structures. Dunnigan's work often reflects on contemporary issues, as seen in pieces like the "Rising Water Chairs," a response to climate change, with white-painted chairs and gray-painted feet symbolizing rising water levels. Another notable piece, the "Wildfire Loveseat," contrasts classical form with upholstery reminiscent of burnt embers, a reflection on the California wildfires.
A hallmark of Dunnigan's artistry is his sensitive use of a wide range of beautifully figured woods. From the warmth of beech to the richness of walnut and the exotic tones of imbuia, Dunnigan selects woods that enhance the inherent beauty and character of each piece. Adding to their significance, each object in the exhibition is one-of-a-kind, a testament to Dunnigan's meticulous craftsmanship and artistic vision. This uniqueness underscores the value of these pieces as both functional furniture and works of art.
In his artist statement, Dunnigan explains the inspiration behind this new body of work: "A few years ago, I read about how the acceleration of climate change was affecting Walden Pond and the surrounding woods, and I was reminded of those three chairs that Thoreau had in his tiny cabin—'one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society'—which had inspired me as a philosophy of chairs in my undergraduate days. My frame of reference had expanded long ago, but I started to wonder what chairs could be in the cabin now. This question led me eventually to the idea of the stacking chairs, which are not only contingent upon one another but also express extended, more speculative contingencies about their situation and function. That was the beginning of the new body of work in this exhibition. Those contingencies are elastic in that they expand outward and upward from existing things, proposing a response to something that might occur in the future. Contingencies of that sort are speculative and therefore not confined by logical outcomes. They can be provisional, even misguided, and open to absurdity in useful ways. They have helped me to stretch into some new territory with reference to my previous work, to present conditions, and with the future in mind.”
John Dunnigan is a designer, maker, author, and educator. His fifty-year studio work has been widely exhibited and is included in prominent collections like the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A dedicated teacher, Dunnigan has been a faculty member at RISD for over forty years and was a co-founder and former head of the school’s Department of Furniture Design. He currently holds the Schiller Family Endowed Chair in Furniture Design at RISD.
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