Chris Schanck: Off-World at MAD

A new exhibition is opening at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) this Saturday, February 12, centered around furniture designer, Chris Schanck. During the past decade, Chris Schanck has emerged as a leading figure in the design world for his otherworldly fusion of sculpture and furniture. Skirting the line between refinement and camp, the strange, unfamiliar forms of Schanck’s chairs, sofas, lighting, mirrors, and more suggest coral reefs, extraterrestrial worlds, and artifacts from ancient civilizations, to name just a few of the designer’s inspirations. Each piece is meticulously handcrafted in Schanck’s Detroit-based studio that includes a community of artists, students, and Bangladeshi craftspeople who all make key contributions to the studio's collective practice. Deftly melding innovative material experiments with an expressive yet rigorous refinement of form, Schanck’s elaborately carved, colorfully hued, and lustrous objects are contemporary talismans of stories from the past, present, and future.

Chris Schanck: Off-World will be on display at MAD (2 Columbus Circle) through Sunday, January 8, 2023. Click here to learn more and to purchase tickets.

Photo credit: Chris Schanck (United States, b. 1975), "Banglatown", 2018. Courtesy the artist and Friedman Benda, New York. Photo: Michelle and Chris Gerard