First, we wanted the multicolored writing desk with the crossbow legs. Then we had to have the bright reddish-orange workbench, to use as a coffee table. Finally, we couldn't last another minute without the black-and-white-spotted legless side chair (we wanted to put it next to our bed as a nightstand). We knew we didn't have room for all this gorgeous stuff in our house, so we started fantasizing about moving into a new house and having it decorated and painted entirely by Joe Willie Smith, and at this point we realized we were freaking out, so we just bought the legless chair and fled. But this sort of extreme reaction is pretty much how we — and anyone with a deep fondness for cool furnishings — tend to respond to the work of local artist Smith, whose fun, funky furniture can be found at Lizabel's Treasures on 16th Street.
Smith is a multimedia artist who works mostly with found objects, which he turns into well-regarded artwork that has been exhibited at eye lounge and at Bentley Galleries, among other local arty hotspots. At Lizabel's, though, Smith's art is as much about function as form: witness the low, gorgeous, rough-hewn chest he's painted a warm blue (if it were ours, we'd top it with glass and use it as an end table) and the multi-hued writing desk that would look great in our entry hall . . . Oops! There we go again, obsessing about Smith's fabulous furniture. You can, too.
