Schanck’s “Unhomely” Opens at Friedman Benda Gallery and Feature in Architectural Digest

Unhomely,  Cranbook Alumnus Chris Schanck’s (3D Design ’11) solo gallery exhibition at Friedman Benda Gallery, opens on March 1 through April 14, 2018. This exhibition marks a culmination of his acclaimed sculptural approach and the first time a comprehensive body of work by Schanck will be on public view and features 15 works with independent, stand-alone narratives woven into an otherworldly landscape. Synthesizing premeditation and spontaneity, Schanck’s highly individualized, low-tech, idiosyncratic technique, “Alufoil,” was conceived in 2011 while studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

In an Architectural Digest, Schanck talks about his exhibition as it relates to his home and workshop is situated in Banglatown. The neighborhood is  in Northeast Detroit where the single-family homes built in the 1920s and ’30s for automotive industry workers have been repurposed by a vibrant community of Bengali people. Seven Bengali people work in his studio as finishing experts, clocking thousands of hours masterfully applying foil to his creations.

“They have collectively invented their own tools and techniques for the process, and when a new member enters the group, they undergo an informal peer-to-peer mentorship to learn the idiosyncratic process of the work,” says Schanck, who is quick to admit that “their skill set has surpassed my own in this regard.”

According to Sight Unseen and since graduate school, “Schanck has majorly expanded the formal possibilities of his work, with perhaps the most obvious change being the explosion of his palette.”

In Dujour Magazine, “Schanck’s studio may reflect the golden age of domestic manufacturing, it is in fact a testament to the Detroit’s more inclusive next chapter as a capital of art and industry.”

The exhibition closes on April 14, 2018.