EXCLUSIVELY FOR STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN
ON VIEW AT STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN NEW YORK GALLERY
WE GOTTA GET BACK TO THE CRIB COLLECTION
YEAR 2023
TRAVERTINE
| IN | H | 16.8 | W | 60 | D | 13.3 | ||||
| CM | H | 42.7 | W | 152.4 | D | 33.8 |
MADE IN AMERICA
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STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN
MICHAEL BENNETT
Born Louisiana, USA, 1985
An interdisciplinary artist, Bennett creates works that engender empathy, harmony, congregation, and connection. guided by his ancestral roots, the objects and spaces he creates are deeply embedded in the experiences and traditions of the African diaspora. Inspired by a sense of community and the senegalese and Haitian customs of oral storytelling, Bennett’s works are rich with narrative, living repositories that invite cultural dialogue and intimate conversation. In this celebration of history, storytelling, and craftsmanship, He explores form and language across various spatial scales, utilizing sculpture, architecture, and furniture design to communicate through space
By Integrating contemporary and historical elements while balancing an understanding of blackness in America with a global diasporic perspective, Bennett explores themes of race, identity, politics, and intersectionality. His work is rooted in the ideas of place and community through references to historically Black cultural motifs and object-histories, and consciously challenges dominant Western domestic codes
A former NFL Player and a super bowl champion, Bennett studied at the Heritage School of Design in Seattle and the University of Hawaii’s School of Architecture, where he focused on the reclamation of public space through the study of spatial theory and architectural typologies. Based in Hawaii, He founded his atelier, studio Kër, in 2024. An Activist and bestselling author, Bennett is an advocate for numerous causes and organizations across the globe, including an endowment for students from low-income homes at Rhode Island School of Design
STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN
We Gotta Get Back to the Crib
Michael Bennett
DRAWING ON BLACK AMERICAN VERNACULAR FOR A SENSE OF HOME, BENNETT’S COLLECTION IS EXPLORES HOW WE RETURN TO CORE PRINCIPLES OF IDENTITY, CULTURE, AND FAMILY WHEN WE ENCOUNTER MOMENTS OF DOUBT, FEAR, AND LOSS. EACH OF THE WORKS INVITES US TO RETURN TO OURSELVES, TO FIND STRENGTH AND RESILIENCE IN THE tranquil SPACE OF HOME.
FOR BENNETT, THE COLLECTION BECOMES A CRADLE FOR CONNECTION WITH BLACK CULTURAL HISTORY AND ANCESTRY, PAYING HOMAGE TO A RICH LINEAGE OF EXCELLENCE IN CRAFTSMANSHIP AND STORYTELLING. DRAWING ON FORMS and geometries found in west African design, motifs in Caribbean art, and Bennett’s upbringing in the coastal American south, the sculptural collection is rooted in ideas of intersectionality, place, and community within the African diaspora
Working with fine American artisans to craft each work, Bennett reimagines domestic mainstays, such as tables and seating, while imbuing them with poignant references to Black history and art. Bennett Names his works after family members and cultural touchstones to connect the material and ancestral history with the people and settings most important to him
The Surface series presents primordial forms found throughout Earth’s natural landscape that instructed the first people’s stations for sitting, working, eating and storing. The travertine and onyx block tables are sculpturally refined but dense as if chiseled recently from the quarry
STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN