Donald Judd demonstrates A Good Chair is a Good Chair with more than 30 pieces at Ikon

Exhibition: Donald Judd – A Good Chair is a Good Chair, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, until November 14 2010

The first major UK museum show of furniture by Donald Judd takes its title from an essay the US sculptor wrote in 1993. It's Hard to Find a Good Lamp deals with the differences between art and design. 

"We try to keep the furniture out of art galleries to avoid this confusion," states Judd. "And also to avoid the consequent inflation of the price." Ikon therefore runs the risk of bestowing the name of art on more than 30 functional objects.

But Judd's chairs, bookshelves and desks have such a clear intended purpose that we soon imagine using them in our homes, even at the risk of embarrassing that latest purchase from Ikea.

This is furniture geared towards working, reading, occasionally eating. The artist has made beds, but no sofas. His metal armchairs have hard edges and arm rests less than 2cm wide. "Comfortable to me," is how Judd described his range.

What they lack in cushions, the chairs make up for in simplicity and verve. Armchair #48, made from copper, may not be relaxing, but it does get the pulse beating faster.

Chairs #84/85, meanwhile, present 10 elegant variations on a theme. The proportions are classic, the pine beautiful, the unfussy arrangements of struts and stands pleasing in the way they appear to cover all possibilities.

At times the logic of the design compromises the use value. Bookshelf #60, in red painted aluminium, is a masculine statement with exposed screwheads whose side panels would surely get in the way of your books.

A stainless steel Coffee Table has an unergonomic ridge running more than four metres around the length of its edges. Deep inner recesses would make mopping up spilt latte a major operation. But in terms of impact, few other tables can compete.

In both table and bookshelf and to some extent the chairs, Judd uses dead space to give his pieces presence. At other times, as in Stool #95 (Style 1) or Wintergarden Bench #16/17, he will use scale to impose his furniture upon a room.

If these pieces catch the eye in a gallery space, they must surely dominate a home. The sofa would become a guilty pleasure.

Open 11am-6pm Tuesday-Sunday. Admission free.

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