Johnny Swing's Nickel Couch, 2008
I recently renewed my membership to the Society of North American Goldsmiths, and I was patiently waiting for my subscription to SNAG’s Metalsmith magazine to kick in when it hit me: why wait for the magazine when I can stroll down to the bookstore and score a magazine? Instant gratification is the American way after all. I scored my magazine, and I can honestly say that this was one time when impatience paid off.
First let me thank the folks at Barnes and Noble for placing Metalsmith in the art section rather than the crafts section. Because I feel that while metalsmithing and it’s related arts (particularly jewelry making) are situated firmly between the realm of fine art and fine craft, if you read Metalsmith, it reads like an art magazine and many of the artists featured approach the craft of metalsmithing with the same conceptual process as artists. Maybe it’s me, but one of the things I love about metal work is its ambiguity: is it art, craft, or design?
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw Johnny Swing’s Nickle Couch. My first reaction when I saw the couch was swift and visceral. I thought, damn, that is one sexy couch. It undulates and curves sinuously like a sleek tongue darting flirtatiously. Solidly constructed of nearly 7,000 nickles held together with 35,000 welds on a steel truss, it weighs in at a hefty 125 pounds but it ups the cool factor of your domicile immeasurably. But I think the true genius of the Nickel Couch is its elevation of the simple nickel coin to an art form. Who else but an artist would look at a jar of nickels and think, I can make art from that?
