1954 -
A graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art and native of Indiana; Main has said that he owes his interest in organic forms to his rural boyhood. The biomorphic elements of his work recall the fossilized remains of ancient creatures and vegetation; and taken as a whole his pieces often have the look and feel of natural phenomena rather than crafted objects. With their mottled and patinaed surfaces Main’s pieces might have come down to us through the ages, exposed to the elements and worn by time. One of his sinuous benches suggests a forgotten path or the spine of extinct animal; the ambiguity of its place in the natural order augmenting the sense of desuetude and revealing the patterns in which this natural order is manifested. Like many of his works, it seems to live within the generative and destructive cycles of nature. Main’s fascination with the past extends as well to ancient cultures. Looking outside the boundaries of classicism Main responds to the rich material of primitive art with furniture that intimates the power of animist belief throughout human culture. Terence Main’s work is now in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, among others, and has been featured in numerous publications and exhibits worldwide, including: Modern Furniture, The Metropolitan Museum (1994); Art and Application, Turbulence NY (1993); and Guerillas, Art et Industrie NY (1997).