Post Lamp #05 of 40

Post Lamp, #05 of 40 
One of one; signed by Curtis Bullock

Why I made this: 
I love shopping at Ikea, and when I found this lamp, I knew it was something I wanted to work with. I started with a little run of two just to make a test, and then I decided to make an edition of 40. 

I especially love that these lamps invite touch and interaction, and through that interaction, you get to decide what role you want a piece of art to play in your life. At night when the room is dark, tilting the dome of the lamp or sliding it up or down on the post changes the way the lamp casts its light. During the day, the position or angle of the dome can affect the way natural light interacts with the curves and angles and colors on the lamp. 

I really like that the lamp is a piece of art that invites you to touch it. In fact, it really won't be able to achieve its ultimate purpose of being a lamp if you don't at least touch it a little bit to turn it on and off. 

From a technical standpoint, these lamps are quite an interesting challenge to paint. Protecting the frosted plastic under the dome, the threads in the post, the switch, and other elements each required very particular solutions, and those solutions needed to be reliable enough to be used at scale. I learned so much as I found my way through each of those challenges, and, ultimately, I hope that the solutions were so gracefully applied that you wouldn't even know there had been a challenge to begin with. 

There are a lot of 'Ikea hacks' out there where someone paints something a single color. That can be cool, but you won't learn a lot by doing that - especially if you only do it once. If you like what I do and you want to learn a lot, give something like this a try. Find a challenging form, and paint it over and over and over. It's cheaper than art school, and I promise you, you'll come out a better painter on the other side. Plus, your friends will love being able to adopt your failed pieces. 

Tremendous appreciation to Bruno Adrien Aguirre, the in-house designer at Ikea who created the original piece. 

Living with this piece: 
The smooth, matte clear coat feels really good under the fingers, but the texture of the paint still stands out just a little bit. If you've always wanted to touch the art in a museum, you're really going to love this feature of my work. 

Technical details & care: 
Stainless steel 
Battery powered; USB-C rechargeable 
Batteries included; USB-C cable not included 
Individually painted and sealed with a matte clear coat 
IP44 rated - can be used outdoors 
Cleaning with dampened cloth, using simple hand or dish soap if necessary will  provide the longest lasting finish