All Photos By Gail

Commissioned by the Dallas Museum of Art in 2020, Curbed Vanity is artist Chris Schanck’s response to a work in the museum’s collection: an ornately-crafted 19th century dressing table and stool made of solid silver. Schanck made this 21st century version utilizing his signature, Alu-foil process, which combines aluminum foil and resin, alluding to the aluminum factory in his hometown of Dallas, where the young artist and his father once worked.

The title references the curbside refuse, and other found objects that Shanck collected around his Detroit neighborhood and incorporated into the work. Curbed Vanity with its matching Garden Chair is thus a skewed reflection of its historic muse, one that substitutes resourcefulness and inexpensive, common place materials for the rarity an luxury of sterling silver.

Photographed in the Museum of Arts and Design as part of the Exhibit, Chris Schanck: Off World, Which Has Closed.