Artist Chris Schanck Crafts a Modern Take on a Lavish Parisian Relic

Inside the Dallas Native's New "Curbed Vanity," on View at the DMA

BY Billy Fong // 03.30.21

Chris Schanck’s "Curbed Vanity," 2020, mixed media, aluminum foil and resin

Objects found on daily walks from artist Chris Schanck’s home to his Banglatown studio during the COVID-19 lockdown resulted in a breathtaking new work commissioned by the Dallas Museum of Art, Curbed Vanity: A Contemporary Foil. Inspired by an iconic work in the DMA’s permanent collection — the Martelé dressing table and stool fashioned from silver, glass, ivory, and fabric by Gorham Manufacturing— Schanck coated his work with resin and aluminum foil, referencing his father’s work at a Dallas aluminum factory and how his mother wrapped Christmas gifts in foil.

039 Curbed Vanity-A Contemporary Foil by Chris Schanck_Courtesy of Dallas Museum of Art_1 2 — Chris Schank’s *Curbed Vanity* juxtaposed with its antique inspiration, a late-19th century *Martelé* dressing table, originally presented at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris.

Schanck, who now resides in Detroit, attended Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High. Brobdingnagian descriptions suit this decorative-arts masterpiece: Baroque, enchanting, Tim Burton-esque … and, given that it was designed as a response to another work of art, thoughtful. The two works eloquently face off in an intimate, scarlet gallery of the museum.

Curbed Vanity: A Contemporary Foil by Chris Schanck, on view through August 29 at the Dallas Museum of Art. Learn more at dma.org.