Of Museum & Gallery Benches (San Jose State University)

Artist's book featuring an essay on the gallery / museum bench as a functional viewing and sitting device, and a ready-made work of art. The essay muses on the ambivalence of a familiar object whose role, meaning and status are reassigned. It follows the bench's journey from institutional apparel, to a symbol of the act of contemplating - embodying the notion of "being with art" dear to Gilbert and George in "To Be With Art Is All We Ask" (1970). Christophe Cherix asks (in Hans-Ulrich Obrist's "A Brief History Of Curating", JRP/Ringier, 2009): "How can one be fully with art? Can art be experienced directly in a society that has produced so much discourse and built so many structures to guide the spectator?".

Daly exhibited both the gallery bench along with the artist's book at the 2014 Masters of Fine Arts showcase, San Jose State University. The work is titled "To Be With Art (Is All I Ask)".

To preserve the original form of the artist's book, digital versions are not available.