Friedman Benda presents Far Afield, a solo exhibition by Misha Kahn during Salone del Mobile from April 7 to April, 13, 2025, in conjunction with Capsule Plaza, Piazza Risorgimento 8.
The fantastical backdrop is a sprawling grid of colorful mirrors, named Azimuth, an archaic method of celestial measurement. “What I liked about it is the viewer is at the epicenter of this cosmic challenge, and seemed to reflect our desire to measure ourselves against our abyss, here illustrated by radiating rectangular irises of color.”
Also on view is a densely entangled center table, titled Euphausiids Delight (Final Moments) inspired by the rich interplay of marine crustaceans. The console, A Long Winter’s Sleep, Kahn’s first time working in carved marble, emulates clay draped fabric. “This unlimited approach to form finding is less interested in identifying key relationships and more in exploring their entire ecosystem,” says Kahn.
These startling new works are buoyed by slightly more familiar works in an array of craft media—a mohair carpet merging “virtual reality pseudoweaving” with expert hand weaving by Stephens’ tapestries. A couch, Mole Eats Worm, and chair, Double Shuck Pea, seen for the first time in Cedar fabric, employ just one piece of hardware to lock-in their final shape each comprised of several “puzzling entangled amorphous forms.”
Show Information
Piazza Risorgimento 8, Capsule Plaza, Milano, Italy
Press Day | April 7, 10:00 – 18:00
Public Show Days | April 8 – 13, 10:00 – 20:00
About Misha Kahn
Misha Kahn has emerged as one of the leading creative voices of his generation. Through a wildly imaginative approach that embraces spontaneity and non-conformity, Kahn allows the illogical and the irreverent to take over his process. He employs an entire spectrum from lo-fi and ad hoc techniques—such as improvisational molds and collage—to virtual reality.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1989, Kahn graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Furniture Design. Early in his career, he gained recognition when he was featured in the Museum of Arts and Design Biennial (2014).
Unafraid to push boundaries, Kahn is driven to self-invent, adapt, and further processes in a myriad of mediums including metalwork, glass, wood, textiles, ceramic, casting, fiberglass, resin, and cement. Embracing an unorthodox result, he seeks the opportunity to learn from masters in their respective crafts. For example, Kahn’s acclaimed woven Scrappy series (since 2015) is the result of a collaboration with Gone Rural, a female group of traditional weavers based in Eswatini. He has also produced several woven tapestries and rugs with Stephens Tapestry Studio of South Africa. Other meaningful practitioners whom Kahn has worked with include artist Alma Allen’s studio in Mexico, glass sculptor Deborah Czeresko in Brooklyn, and the famed late Italian jewelry designer GianCarlo Montebello.
In April 2022 Museum Villa Stuck opened Kahn’s first institutional solo show titled Under the Wobble Moon: Objects from the Capricious Age. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collection of museums such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY, Corning Museum of Glass, NY; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, KY. Kahn lives and works between Brooklyn and Hudson, NY.
