The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

Roy McMakin's love affair with furniture began when he was child. Haunting flea markets and garage sales, he collected used chairs, tables, and other items, subsequently transforming them with paint or carpentry into new and ideal forms. For Middle, McMakin has returned to his formative influences, creating a new body of work that utilizes selected pieces from the small collection of used furniture that he purchased as a young man, as well as pieces from his family's home. The title of the exhibition refers both to the fact that McMakin is the middle of three children and to his approach to working with this group of furniture: selective sections (the "middle") of each object will be cut out, altered, and thoughtfully returned. McMakin has had one-person exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Portland Art Museum, Oregon. This is his first solo museum exhibition on the east coast.