Captain's Chair, 2013, Stained Ash, 29 x 54.5 x 43 inches. Courtesy of Wendell Castle and Friedman Benda. Photography: Adam Reich.

Wendell Castle is a living legend. Widely considered the father of the American studio furniture  movement, Castle has spent more than five decades exploring the boundaries between fine art and craft, form and function. Astonishingly prolific and ceaselessly experimental, Castle’s sculptural designs have profoundly affected how we view furniture today.

Born in Kansas in 1932, Castle earned a  BFA in Industrial Design and a MFA in Sculpture from the University of Kansas. After graduating in 1961, he moved to Rochester, New York, where he established a permanent studio and began teaching at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) School for American Craftsmen. Along with iconic designers and furnituremakers, including  George Nakashima, Sam Maloof, Wharton Esherick, and Arthur Espenet Carpenter, Castle helped shape the studio furniture movement throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

But there was something different about Castle. His designs often teetered on the edge of functionality and he readily worked with a swathe of unconventional materials, including plastics, metals, and exotic veneers. He developed new techniques, including his singular approach to shaping solid, stack-laminated wood into voluminous forms, and  gel-coating fiberglass to create brightly colored, anthropomorphic works -- a clear departure from the woodworking often associated with the studio craft tradition. “I love to experiment,” says Castle.  “For me, the excitement of the work in the studio comes close to the ideal fulfillment we all hope to get out of life.  I do not want to become a prisoner of familiarity, so I enjoy the risk of new work.“

Crossroads, 2014, Stained Ash, 38.125 x 83 x 41.125 inches. Courtesy of Wendell Castle and Friedman Benda. Photography: Bill Orcutt.
Crossroads, 2014, Stained Ash, 38.125 x 83 x 41.125 inches. Courtesy of Wendell Castle and Friedman Benda. Photography: Bill Orcutt.

This constant devotion to experimentation is apparent in Castle’s new show, Gathering Momentum, at the New York City gallery Friedman Benda. According to Castle, the inspirations behind the works are not so much specific as they are “organic, and coming from nature.” He explains, “Some are like a seed, which is similar in shape to an ellipsoid.  Some are more like a growing form.  What makes them interesting to me is how they connect to one another to form legs or bases; the table or chair will then cantilever in mid-air.”

Deep in the Woods, 2014, Stained Ash, 53.5 x 74.75 x 38 inches. Courtesy of Wendell Castle and Friedman Benda. Photography: Bill Orcutt.

The exhibition features three new series of works in wood and bronze, including Misfits, a collection of chairs that rely on a bit of technological magic. To create a misfit, Castle sketches two disparate chairs and models them by hand. Then, he combines them into a dynamic hybrid. “We take a scan from a chair and then slice the chair down the middle of the seat and save only half, say the left side,” says Castle. “We then take a scan from a completely different chair and slice it down the middle of the seat and use the right half.  When put together, only the seat will match, all the other parts do not.” The result is more sculptural than Frankensteinian, with a functional seat perched atop ellipsoidal and volumetric forms.

With Tree Forms, Castle seamlessly merges organic wood elements to create cantilevered seats that arise from a bed of thickened cone-like forms. At first glance the piece  looks purely sculptural, but as you move around it, the cantilevered seat is revealed, engaging the viewer and raising questions about perception. Gathering Momentum will also include a series of limited edition outdoor seating in textured cast bronze. This debut marks the beginning of a new endeavor for Castle, who will be creating around ten bronze works to be revealed over the course of the next year at various venues.

Veiled in a Dream, 2014, Bronze, 69.25 x 78 x 43 inches. Courtesy of Wendell Castle and Friedman Benda. Photography: Adrien Millot.

When Gathering Momentum opens at Friedman Benda on April 1, Castle will be present to sign copies of Wendell Castle: Catalogue Raisonné (1958-2012) -- a comprehensive overview of his incredibly creative and varied career. “I am really looking forward to the publication of my Catalogue Raisonné,” says Castle. “I have seen a mock-up, but I’ve yet to hold the book in my hands and feel the weight of what I’ve been doing for the last 50 years.”

Castle is currently Artist-in-Residence at RIT and maintains a studio in nearby Scottsville, New York. “I am fortunate to have had the three things in life that tend to make work meaningful and satisfying: autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward,” says Castle. “ It’s not about the money, it’s about whether the work is fulfilling.”

Gathering Momentum will remain on view at Friedman Benda through May 30.