Superhouse Showcased Historical ‘American Art Furniture: 1980 - 1990’ Exhibition at Design Miami

Summary

• Superhouse presented the American Art Furniture: 1980–1990 exhibition during Design Miami 2025
• The show features 12 key figures and a booth designed by Studio AHEAD and Farrow & Ball
• Highlights include Alex Locadia’s Batman Chair and Dan Friedman’s LM Screen

During Design Miami 2025, Superhouse presented the American Art Furniture: 1980–1990 exhibition, marking the New York-based gallery’s third appearance at the fair and its first booth devoted entirely to historical work.

The exhibition showcases works by twelve key figures of the era, offering a rare chance for visitors to encounter landmark examples of American art furniture, many for the first time. This presentation underscores the growing recognition of figures long overlooked in design history and the importance of material seldom available outside institutional collections. As Stephen Markos, founder and director of Superhouse, notes, the 1980s were the decade when American designers began to treat furniture as deeply personal, political art, capturing a period when the boundaries between art, craft, and design simply didn’t matter.

The presentation features several important works, including pieces unseen for decades and others making their public debut. Highlights include Alex Locadia’s Batman Chair (1989), a theatrical, muscular seat channeling pop culture, and Elizabeth Browning Jackson’s Re/Fold chair (1981). Pieces debuting on public view include Dan Friedman‘s LM Screen (1982), which captures his exuberant leap from graphic design into three-dimensional form, and Michele Oka Doner’s Burning Bush (1990), a branching bronze that translates natural forms into luminous objects. Also featured are Richard Snyder’s Round the World (1990) cabinet, described as a “walking layer cake,” and Tom Loeser’s Folding Chair (1989), a witty and ingeniously engineered piece.

The scenography for the booth, designed by Studio AHEAD in collaboration with Farrow & Ball, is an integral part of the experience, recalling the postmodernist tendencies of Bay Area artist Garry Knox Bennett. The design features cast-iron columns, referencing downtown New York galleries, but rendered with a “Northern California attitude” – painted, unpretentious, playful and “80’s funky” – to bring together East and West Coast design realities.

The entire booth is painted in Graupel from the Farrow & Ball palette and introduces the debut of Flat Eggshell, the British heritage brand’s latest innovation, a revolutionary matte finish that extends seamlessly from walls to floors. The exhibition ultimately reasserts the energy and innovation of this movement, which collapsed the boundaries between sculpture and utility, craft and concept.