F LOY D G O M P FTA B L E A U X O F D E C AY A N D R E N E WA L

L I L L ST R E E T A RT C E N T E R

© 2012 Lillstreet Art Center4401 N. Ravenswood Ave.Chicago, IL 60640

Artwork © Floyd GompfText © Paul SmirlPhotographs © Joe Tighe Photography and © David Velasco

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic or mechanical means, without permission in writing from Lillstreet Art Center.

F LOY D G O M P FTA B L E A U X O F D E C AY A N D R E N E WA L

E s s a y by Pa u l S m i r lP h o to g ra p h s by J o e T i g h e a n d D a v i d Ve l a s co

F L O Y D G O M P F makes art out

of forgotten objects. He scrounges

back-alleys, scours flee markets, surfs

eBay and creates furniture out of the

things you’ve thrown away. Turning the

aged and overlooked into the bright and

whimsical, Gompf reclaims the essence of

discarded objects, honoring their history

while creating entirely new uses for their

materials. On October 18, Lillstreet’s staff

had the privilege of visiting Gompf’s home

studio in scenic Union Pier, MI and found

a man entrenched in a signature style of

work in a space saturated with art.

Floyd in his Michigan Studio

With a BFA in Design and an MFA in

Sculpture, Gompf has the pedigree of

a ceramicist: for years he focused on

producing black and white abstract

sculptures and endured a decade-long

run of American Craft Enterprise shows.

Yet, unsatisfied with the direction of his

production line, Gompf left clay behind

in 1985 and went searching for art in

dumpsters. Drawing from his experience as

a sculptor and taking on the new process

Floyd’s showroom doubles as artist retrat avialble for rent

of woodworking, Gompf has since spent

the last twenty-seven years gathering,

collecting and transforming found objects

in a self-taught fashion, combining tossed-

out wood pieces to create rustically

colorful tables, cabinets, cupboards and

figurines.

Examining Gompf’s pieces, it’s easy to

meditate on the transience of man-made

objects and the endurance of nature.

Through the amalgamation of wheels,

frames, banisters and wooden scraps,

Floyd’s portfolio exhibits tableaux of

decay and renewal as man-made forms

are deconstructed and added together

to create new and useful items. Forming

a beautiful, patchwork aesthetic, Gompf

shows that materials can continually

be repurposed until they eventually

decompose.

Jewelry Box, Cart with Wheels, Buffet Table, and Dining Table with reclaimed oak top.

Jewelry Box, Cart with Wheels, Buffet Table, and Dining Table with reclaimed oak top.

As a multi-disciplinary art center and

gallery space, Lillstreet is proud to

display Gompf’s work and hopes to aptly

represent its historical and ecological

lineages. Taken from Gompf’s richly

adorned home in the crests of Michigan’s

lakeside landscape, Floyd’s pieces have

been transported out of the artist’s

natural, creative environment and now

inhabit a differently imaginative space.

Inside the home of Floyd and his wife, artist Linda Hoffhines.

Various side tables

Yet, just as Floyd’s salvaged materials take

on new lives as he intuitively puzzles them

together, Lillstreet hopes to give Gompf’s

art new homes and users.

Looking at Lillstreet’s newly acquired

Gompf pieces, one sees a set of

multipurpose furniture: there’s a rolling

stage coach that doubles as a table, a

jukebox-shaped bookcase with shelves

Tall red cupboard (detail)Egg cart (detail)

White side table (detail)

and a hinged cupboard, and a cooper’s tri-

table formed from an actual barrel maker’s

bench. With a widget- framed mirror,

a miniature metallic robot and a Lake

Michigan-shaped coffee table anchoring

Lillstreet’s Gompf arsenal, patrons have

the opportunity to view Floyd’s signature

crafts in a variety of shapes and sizes.

White side table; mirror in backgroundTall red cupboard (detail)

Floyd’s furniture in use at his Michigan showroom/artists’ retreat.

Whether you need decoration, storage

space or overall liveliness in your home,

Gompf’s pieces do the job. Marked by

the artist’s instinctive assemblage and his

materials’ mysterious histories, Gompf’s

work can’t help but transform a room.

Bringing us closer to nature with his

sustainable furniture, Floyd makes us

wonder what gems we’ve all thrown away.

Floyd’s playful clay creations atop one of his wooden tables.

Playful clay pieces made by Floyd sit atop one of his tables.

PA U L S M I R L is a writer and artist from Waukesha, Wisconsin and currently a senior at Lawrence University. He is interning at Lillstreet this semester as a part of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s Chicago Program.

J O E T I G H E is a Photographer and Solutionist from Chicago, IL working for Lillstreet Art Center. In his own work, he consistently seeks interesting processes of creation to document and understand.

D AV I D V E L A S C O is a photographer and printmaker from the northern suburbs of Chicago. He is a recent graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, and is interning at Lillstreet working primarily with photography and video.