Charmed, 2019, by Thomas Barger. Courtesy of Salon 94 Design

Few artists have a story like Thomas Barger. Raised on a cattle ranch farm in Illinois – about as rural as it gets in the Midwest – as a young gay man, he struggled to find his place in the conservative, religious community. He went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study architecture and landscape architecture, which lead the 20-something artist to eventually move to New York.

很少有艺术家有像托马斯·巴格这样的故事。作为一个年轻的同性恋男子，他在伊利诺伊州的一个养牛场长大-几乎和中西部的农村一样-他很难在保守的宗教团体中找到自己的位置。他去了伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳香槟分校学习建筑和景观设计，这使得这位20多岁的艺术家最终搬到了纽约。

It was in New York that Barger was able to free himself in order to see himself, both as an artist and a man. His sculptural, object-oriented works have always been tactile explorations of his younger years, a way to process the emotional and spiritual journey, and look back at how the rural environment shaped his queerness.

正是在纽约，巴格才能解放自己，才能看到自己，无论是作为一个艺术家还是一个男人。他的雕塑作品，面向对象的作品，一直是他年轻时的触觉探索，是一种处理情感和精神旅程的方式，也是回顾乡村环境如何塑造他的怪癖的一种方式。

‘It’s a little funny what I thought was glam,’ Barger says, speaking of the inspiration for a series of new works that grapple with luxury and the domestic, part of an offsite exhibition staged by Salon 94 Design in collaboration with Supply Seoul. ‘As a child and even as a young adult in the Midwest, my understanding of luxury differs so much more to what I see as luxury nowadays, as an adult in New York,’ Barger, who now lives in Brooklyn, says. ‘My rural childhood memories of what luxury was seems frivolous and cute.’ But Barger’s perspective on luxury and materialism isn’t one of straight critique. He also locates the ‘richness in these found objects were the memories and relationships’.

巴格说：“这有点好笑，我认为这是一场华丽的展览。”他谈到了一系列新作品的灵感，这些作品与奢侈品和国内作品格格不入，这是94设计沙龙(Salon 94 Design)与首尔供货商合作举办的一场外展览的一部分。现在住在布鲁克林的巴格说：“作为一个孩子，即使是在中西部地区，我对奢侈品的理解也与我现在所看到的奢侈品有很大的不同，纽约的成年人也是如此。”“我小时候对奢侈的回忆似乎是轻浮而可爱的。”但巴格对奢侈品和物质主义的看法并不是一种直截了当的批判。他还指出，“这些发现的物品中有丰富的记忆和关系”。

Collaboration With Cousin, 2019, by Thomas Barger, paper pulp, plywood, wooden frame, polyurethane, and paint. Courtesy of Salon 94 Design

由ThomasBarer、纸浆、胶合板、木框架、聚氨酯和油漆组成。沙龙94设计礼貌设计

The show with Salon 94 Design (the artist’s second solo outing at the gallery) is called ‘Sugar Dish’, which to Barger means ‘confronting my relationship participating in a commercial market and reflecting on what luxury used to mean to me’. That is conveyed first in the materials Barger chooses, that create tension between ‘campy drag high and low, transforming paper from NYC streets and rocks from my creek into something desirable. It is this funny feeling of feeling like a fraud in this luxury market’.

与沙龙94设计(艺术家在画廊的第二次单独出游)的展览被称为“糖果大餐”，对巴格来说，这意味着“面对我参与商业市场的关系，思考奢侈品对我过去意味着什么”。这首先是在Barger选择的材料中传达的，它在“凸起的拖高和低”之间产生了张力，把纽约街道上的纸和我小溪上的石头变成了理想的东西。这是一种奇怪的感觉，感觉就像在这个奢侈品市场欺诈‘。

The paper pulp sculptures he’s produced reference to specific items: Longaberger baskets, chairs, daybeds and sugar dishes, items he was once surrounded with and considered to be the pinnacle of high-end culture. Ornately and unashamedly decorative – Barger likes romantic details, art historical tropes like flowers, thorns, and snaked hearts – his objects are animated by their organic forms but a palette of pinks, reds, greens and black make them more like cartoon figures. Bendy, spiky and comical, Barger’s cast of former furniture items are not without humour or erotic charge either (there’s not many works that would look at home in torture garden and a kindergarten).

他制作的纸浆雕塑提到了一些特定的物品：朗格篮子、椅子、日间床和糖盘，这些东西曾被他包围，被认为是高端文化的巅峰。巴格喜欢浪漫的细节，喜欢鲜花、荆棘和蛇形心等艺术历史作品，他的物品被有机的形式生动化，但由粉红、红色、绿色和黑色组成的调色板使它们更像卡通人物。巴格的旧家具造型简陋、活泼、滑稽，但也不乏幽默或色情费用(在酷刑花园和幼儿园里，看家里的作品不多)。

Look closely and some of Barger’s childhood memories are hinted at in the artwork titles: Do You Wish I Was A Mackintosh asks one high-backed chair, painted black. Dicks Creek Hereford hints another. Each object is like a diary entry, Barger looking at the personal through the prism of design. Craft, memory and queerness are all themes Barger has touched on in the past but these new works see him ‘diving deeper’ – truth they say is, after all, sweet like sugar. §

仔细看一看，巴格的一些童年记忆在作品标题中被暗示出来：你希望我是一个麦金托什吗？一张背高的椅子，涂成黑色。迪克斯溪赫里福德暗示了另一个。每一件物品都像日记一样，巴格透过设计的棱镜看着个人。艺术、记忆和古怪都是巴格在过去接触过的主题，但这些新作品让他“潜得更深”-他们说的真相毕竟是甜得像糖。§

装饰品是一个动摇犯罪，2019年，托马斯巴格，纸浆，胶合板，木框，椅子，聚氨酯和油漆。由沙龙94设计装饰是一个动摇犯罪，2019年，由托马斯巴格，纸浆，胶合板，木框架，椅子，聚氨酯和油漆。94沙龙设计

回忆，它消失，2019年，由托马斯巴格，纸浆，胶合板，木框，聚氨酯和油漆。由沙龙94设计召回一个记忆，它消失，2019年，由托马斯巴格，纸浆，胶合板，木框架，聚氨酯和油漆。94沙龙设计

你是否希望我是2019年的麦金托什，由托马斯·巴格尔、纸浆、胶合板、木框、聚氨酯和油漆组成。通过沙龙94的设计，您希望我是2019年的麦金托什，由ThomasBarer，纸浆，胶合板，木框，聚氨酯和油漆组成。沙龙94设计礼貌设计

在2019年，托马斯·巴格尔对DodleDaniee进行背包包装。由托马斯·巴格尔在2019年在DodleDaniee对面的沙龙94设计背面包装。沙龙94设计礼貌设计

点击ThomasBarger，2019年。由ThomasBarger提供的Salon94DesignClick，2019。Salon94设计。