Art Review: Chris Schanck: Off-World at Museum of Art and Design in New York
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) presents Chris Schanck: Off-World. Guest-curated by Andrew Blauvelt, here’s a review of the show which remains on view until January 2023.
Art Review: Chris Schanck: Off-World at Museum of Art and Design in New York
Chris Schanck’s work lives in a narrow world involving foreign-looking materials consistently applied in a clever domestic context. In terms of basic structure and engineering, they are functional objects. As in, I- well, you- you could use them as objects in the house. But they're a bit profound in their practical and universal accessibility: resin-dipped and dyed plywood; aluminum foil, iron, tie-rods, wood, and so on. This refinement of found object is something a little adventurous and definitely engaging.
Shuddering Coffee Table (2021) by Chris Schanck. Image: Friedman Benda
And the scale! The scale of each object is a bit unpredictable. They're bigger than things that you might really want in the house. For example, the coffee table, Shuddering Coffee Table (2021) is a bit too tall in a playful way.
Altogether, Chris Schanck’s work are pieces of warped domesticity. They are like set pieces from the Wizard of Oz or even The Sims. If you were to be living in The Emerald City, that's the color and material of some of the objects. You might think they’d suit the pages of a Dr. Suess book, but they’re not that fantastic. There is a ratio of realistic to the fantastic, and these live closer to the realistic.
Banglatown (2018) by Chris Schanck. Image: Friedman Benda
There are some successful pieces worth noting and encountering in reality. Banglatown (2018) resembles a console or shelving unit in its most domestic (thus, in this case, abstract) sense, with working handles and drawers. It is a reference to a Detroit neighborhood where Chris lives, inspired by the vertical gardens found in the yards of many houses in the area. Bangladeshi people make up much of the neighborhood and Schanck was inspired by ad-hoc structures made by residents, especially scarecrows. Entirely dipped in gold, there's a really nice luxurious character to it, effectively celebrating and glorifying normalcy.
Sorcerous (2022) is a marvel; a true demonstration of infused taste. A chair composed of roughly cast aluminum and velvet; a single base that may swivel. The careful application of velvet makes it seem like it is dripping off and sliding off while also functionally serving as a seat, back, and arm to the chair. It feels suspended; organic; campy; just-so- even gothic. It's really sincere and perfectly balanced. There is a natural ratio to enjoy that Schanck is capable of mastering. And so I think this is probably the most successful piece here because it is so concise and Gothic, I think is the word.
Sorcerous (2022) by Chris Schanck. Image: Friedman Benda
Generally, you don’t feel invited to engage with the pieces, but you could, and Sorcerous (2022) is the most tempting of them all. If they didn’t have this engineered integrity, the work would be a failure. What is interesting is that you're not that compelled to touch everything because everything doesn't feel like you really want to engage with it, as if things are a bit haunted or contaminated.
There is a theme of fractal-based replication in play, particularly with the mirrors which have fragmented influences of Art Deco, Baroque, Gothic styles. Chris’ world is clearly inhabited by humans. Axises also exist in Schanck’s world; they’ve just been weathered and blow. Some pieces, like Grotto Console, Pomegranate (2019), and Scrying Table III (2018) feel as if they had been extracted as artifacts from the same deep cave.
Grotto Console, Pomegranate (2019) by Chris Schanck. Image: Friedman Benda
Extremely exceptional is a waxy chandelier with globe lights, like in the Paris Metro. The chandelier narrows then deflates or dissipates at the extremities, almost appearing to float inches from the ceiling. It is a demonstration of Schanck’s critical sensitivity toward the details that define “magic”. There is also a vanity table done in aluminum- a truly regal thing paired with a chair and mirror I cannot reasonable explain in a way that would arrest you like it does upon physical encounter.
Bank Street Witches (after Francisco de Goya) Photography by Clare Gatto. Courtesy of Friedman Benda
There are a few less successful works. The pieces that are not that successful lean too far into story or human morphology rather than atmosphere and place. There is table-top sculpture, almost a bust, of two witches riding off, called Bank Street Witches (after Francisco de Goya) (2021). It’s a bit autobiographical. Schanck explains that as a four year old, he and his mother would play a game where they would see the witch who lives across the street. Schanck has a special, successful relationship with his mother (particularly demonstrated with a dramatic chandelier that was a cross-country collaboration) and while this sculpture is a little interesting, it's almost like a toy- it’s too foreign and too deep in the territory of whimsy. The other, more successful works accept reality as practicality. There is Puff (2017), a chair that, though brilliant in color (a vivid, flinty pink), simply is not well produced with seams that are nearly bursting.
But altogether, there is a level of sincerity here- there's an influence of what is real, rather than the other way around. The name of the show, Off-World is definitely multimodal. There is a very nice approachability that is not necessarily obvious right away. You must spend some time with the work.
Chris Schanck: Off-World remains on-view until January 8, 2023 at Museum of Art and Design in New York City, New York. Learn more and get tickets here. Support for the exhibition and its related publication provided by Friedman Benda.
