RayChi.com
Ray Chi is an eclectic Milwaukee artist who has channeled his education as an architect into an approach to sculpture that blends beauty and functionality. A perusal of his portfolio shows Chi inventing hybrid furniture such as desks that seamlessly incorporate wine racks and rock gardens, new styles of tandem bicycles and an adult-friendly indoor seesaw. Chi’s art can also be found outside of galleries; for instance, Chi designed the serpentine grass walkway and undulating bike rack that grace the exterior of the Milwaukee Public Library’s renovated East Branch. Off the Cuff caught up with Chi to discuss his role in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Collaboratory.
What is the Collaboratory?
The Collaboratory is an interactive space located in MAM’s Richard and Suzanne Pieper Family Education Gallery. Unusual and exotic objects from the 17th and 18th century have been displayed in a manner that recalls an 18th-century cabinet of curiosities, which was all the rage among collectors of the day.
I’d like to add that the idea of the Collaboratory is not my own. Those key players are Brigid Globensky, MAM’s director of education, Tanya Paul, curator of European art and David Russick, who designed the Pieper Gallery.
What is your role in the Collaboratory?
I was working with a group of teenagers who were studying the objects, interpreting them through the lens of a 17- or 18-year-old Milwaukeean and bridging the gap between the 18th and 21st centuries. Sometimes older works of art just don’t resonate with museumgoers, especially youth. The idea was that these students could be ambassadors of the works.
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How does one serve as an ambassador for an antiquity such as a suit of armor or an ancient Greek vase?
The students started by identifying themes in the exhibition like the idea of ornamentation being used as an expression of one’s social status. Really fancy gilded ceramics and things like that. The students found that we still do this through ways we dress and the objects we own. They noticed that among their peers, certain objects and fashions were meant to announce to the world that you belonged to a particular group of people: for example, those headphones, Beats by Dre. The students then designed new objects that were a hybrid of these contemporary objects and the 17th-century style. One thing curious visitors will discover in the drawers of the Collaboratory is an ornate pair of porcelain headphones.
How does your part in the Collaboratory relate to your other artistic activities?
Recently my research and work has dealt with the notion of “play.” Not just how kids play but also the need adults have to play. My recent work has been interactive, meant for people to play with. So participating in the creation of these drawer installations intended to be explored by visitors was right up my alley.
My background is in architecture so I have this nagging impulse to make things that are functional for people. I think of myself as an artist and sculptor, but I often find it frustrating that people don’t get to physically interact with art. The Lynden Sculpture Garden has commissioned an interactive playscape, which I’m currently working on. Humans have an innate desire to touch and play with these things.
