Leg Chair (Jane Birkin)
Anthea Hamilton
Leg Chair (Jane Birkin)
2011
Leg Chair (Jane Birkin) by Anthea Hamilton is one of a series of 10 chairs, which she began making in 2009. It is formed of a simple stand and seat flanked by suggestively splayed Perspex legs, which are based on the artist’s own. Tucked between the layers of Perspex and into the top of a pair of knee-high socks are images of the English actress, Jane Birkin.
Of her frequent use of images from popular culture such as these images of Birkin, Hamilton has said: ‘Images complicate by their simple appearance: it is quotation, reference, collage, homage all in one’. The legs are bent at an angle with the toes poised towards the floor. Their stance is confrontational, as though they are part of a figure sitting up to face the viewer, asserting her position within the gallery space.
Image credit: Anthea Hamilton, Leg Chair (Jane Birkin), 2011. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London © the artist