"Golden Banana" Valet Chair
Alphonse Mattia (American, 1947–2023)
This chair is part of a group of similar forms inspired by valets of the Danish designer Hans Wegner. In each valet, Alphonse Mattia preserved the basic form, including hanging supports for clothes and low seats for tying shoes, yet he used paint and carving to give each piece a distinct and comical identity. The artist makes a humorous statement about exoticism in this chair by placing tropical fruit above a tiger-skin seat.