Grab a Chair

At Nina Johnson gallery, Atlanta-based artist Robell Awake explores Black craft, one seat at a time

- By HANNAH MARTIN

In the 19th century, brothers John and Hugh Finlay pioneered the Baltimore Fancy Chair, modeling its klismos back not after firsthand encounters with the ancient Greek perches but after representations on Grecian urns. “It’s a copy of a copy,” says Robell Awake, an Atlanta-based artist who is now continuing in that grand American tradition, sampling and remixing forms from the past. His reinterpretation of that Maryland muse incorporates payphone keys as embellishments and pictures the Egyptian deity Neith, who many call the blueprint for the goddess Athena. It’s the first of a new series that will star in his show this month at Nina Johnson gallery’s new Manhat