News

The Big Chair retires from Parrish Beach

Jake Beckman ’04, architect of the Big Chair, discusses its history and the possibility of designing a durable replacement

In print | May 1, 2008

As Jake Beckman ’04 wheeled out his most recent art piece under the cover of darkness in the spring of 2003, he had no idea that the piece would become an integral part of Swarthmore’s landscape. Although Beckman has showcased many pieces on campus, the one commonly known as the Big Chair has elicited the biggest response. “It’s really sweet that it holds such a place in people’s hearts right now,” Beckman said. Unfortunately, the piece was only meant to be temporary, and while facilities has made many attempts to repair it, the Big Chair had to be taken down for good. Phoenix reporter Hannah Purkey talked with Beckman to find out more about this beloved piece of Swarthmore and any future plans the artist has to replace it. Further descriptions and pictures of the Big Chair and other pieces can be found at www.jakebeckman.com:

Hannah Purkey: What inspired you to make the Big Chair?

Jake Beckman: At the time I was interested in works of “happenings,” especially Allan Kaprow’s work as well as Claus Oldenberg’s oversized sculptures. I was inspired by conversations I had with different people, and by friends throwing out ideas and brainstorming. Part of it was also this sort of mysterious place that inspiration comes from. But a lot of the experience was making it, on doing it in secret and pushing it out there in the middle of the night.

HP: Why was it made in secret?

JB: It was about the performance of putting it out. A couple of other people at school at the time and I wanted to have it be a surprise and be a delight, something that suddenly appears. I wanted it to be a secret so it would really be about the piece and people’s interactions with it, not about a big build up to it’s unveiling.

HP: Even though it was a secret, was it well received?

JB: Well it was actually meant to be temporary like a lot of other pieces I did. It was supposed to be up for a few weeks and then come down, but it lasted five years longer than intended. It took on a life of its own in a lot of ways, and it became something more than anyone could have imagined. People certainly seem to like it.

HP: Students have come to love the piece, so much so that they crawl all over it. Was it meant to be an interactive piece?

JB: It was made to be touched, sat on, jumped on, jumped off of and all the kinds of things that happen with sculptures in public space. But one of the reasons it is no longer out is that by the nature of the material used, it couldn’t last forever. It’s wood that hasn’t been pressure-treated, among other reasons, so it rotted and fell apart. Facilities did a great job of maintaining it while keeping the look it was supposed to have. They had to patch it up a lot, but it essentially rotted from the inside out.

HP: Are there any plans to repair or replace it?

JB: Fixing it is out of the question; it’s really rotting from the inside. I’m are going to try and work with the college to get something that is as close as possible to my original intent but of materials that would last much longer. We are going to contact an engineer to look at other possibilities for materials and will try to keep it as close as possible to the original.

HP: Do you have any other future plans to do pieces for the college?

JB: I don’t have anything in the works right now. I’m working on some gallery-based work. I have a solo show in Cleveland next February and was just in a group show two weeks ago also in Cleveland. I’m playing around with some ideas as well as looking for exhibition opportunities here in New York. The work with the gallery is a little different, but it still strives for the same sense of wonder as the work I made at Swat did.