Chris Schanck

Chris Schanck: A Surreality, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI, November - February 2025

Chris Schanck is a Detroit-based designer whose work occupies a distinctive space between fine art and functional design. Born in 1975, Schanck gained recognition for his innovative approach to materials and form, creating pieces that challenge conventional notions of furniture and sculpture. His work emerges from Detroit's industrial landscape, drawing inspiration from the city's history of manufacturing and material innovation.

The `Alufoil' series represents Schanck's most celebrated body of work, demonstrating his signature technique of combining industrial materials, sculpted and foiled by hand, that speaks to both mass production and individual craftsmanship.  

Schanck developed his `Alufoil' series by layering aluminum foil over sculpted foam armatures in a slow process honed by him and made in collaboration with a group of local artisans he had trained over a decade. This technique results in furniture pieces that feel simultaneously molten and crystalline, industrial, and organic, appearing to emerge from a futuristic yet somehow ancient world. The `Flora' console exemplifies these qualities, presenting a form that suggests both technological precision and natural growth patterns, making it a standout piece within this important body of work.