Chairs have been the subject of paintings throughout history. Van Gogh painted one, so did John Singer Sargent, Henri Matisse and David Hockney. Edward Hopper chose a train car filled with mostly empty dark green chairs, focusing on a blonde female figure for his painting “Chair Car.” An exhibit currently open at Shy Rabbit Contemporary Art in Pagosa Springs, called “The Chair” hearkens back to these traditions. But the subject of the work is not just the brown leather chair from the artist’s home that sits in the middle of the gallery.
