Ladders, 2023, steel, rubber

Thorose’s series consists of a stepladder, standing ladder, and a leaning-ladder inspired chaise. Each work sits at the intersection of sculpture and a functional object while featuring a minimal and fluid form.  The works were created for There Will Be Clouds, an exhibit with French artist Guillame Linard Osario at Contemporary Cluster in Rome, Italy and courtesy of Carvalho Park Gallery. The show takes inspiration from the works of Johann Heinrich Füssli, whose figures’ dramatic poses articulate spiritual elation and despondence. That elevation and descension inspired the concept for a series of ladders. 

I ask, what becomes a ladder? What attributes combine to achieve ‘ladderness’? How can those be met along a single line? It’s a puzzle that can be solved in new ways, continually. 

The ladders were also designed with a mid-step at seat height. Sitting on steps is intuitive. Through that simple act we create personal space, and somehow the setting becomes informal and warm. It feels slightly rebellious but also somehow elegant. I wanted to create something for this kind of playfulness and intimacy through design. The ladders are engineered for climbing, but stray from convention through their form and material, which I hope inspires a sense of permission to explore and discover.

The chaise follows the figural aspect of a leaning ladder, lain and angled to suggest knees and posterior. An extended arm gestures towards the fainted and haunted forms of Füssli. 

photography by Joe Tiano