Moderne Gallery

A Conoid Lounge Chair by George Nakashima featuring a single board seat of American Black Walnut along with hand shaved Hickory spindles.

The Conoid Lounge Chair was first designed for Japanese architect Yukata Saito. The lounge iteration of the Conoid Chair features a lower stance and wider seat than its dining-style predecessor.

The Conoid Lounge Chair, like the Conoid Chair, features a formed, cantilevered seat, a sculptural crest rail, sled runners, and continuous leg/stiles.

Conoid Lounge Chair, 1983
American Black Walnut, Hickory
Signed “George Nakashima Aug 1983” on underside of seat | Made for Full Circle Gallery
22 x 24 x 33 in | Seat Height 14 in

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“The New Chair was prominently featured in Nakashima’s 1955 catalogue, where it was introduced as a major addition to his gradually expanding line. Although very much in the manner of earlier designs indebted to the Windsor chair, the New Chair differed in several respects.
 
While its turned H-shaped stretcher is the most elaborate of Nakashima’s seating support systems, the overall design of the chair is among his most serene. Lacking the exuberant curvature used for the crest rail of the Armchair and Straight-Backed Chair, or the dramatic cantilever of the Conoid Chair, the New Chair became one of the firm’s most popular in the 1950s and afterward.
 
Nakashima’s respect for the inherent qualities of craftsman-made designs is evident in the New Chair. Hickory, the standard material used by Windsor chair makers of the eighteenth century, was suitable only for the spindles. They would never have used it for the shaped seats, which required a common wood, such as chestnut or sash, that would lend itself to carving. Nakashima followed the lead of these earlier woodworkers in his selection of walnut for the seat of the New Chair” (‘George Nakashima Full Circle’, Derek E. Ostergard, 1989, p.154).
 
New Chairs | Set of 8, 1980-81
American Black Walnut, Hickory
18 1/2 x 22 x 35 1/2 in (Seat Height - 17 in)
 
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Subconscious Surfaced | Opening Reception | Friday, May 1, 2026 | 5 – 7 pm | RSVP in bio

Moderne Gallery presents “Subconscious Surfaced”, a group exhibition featuring works from the 1960s through the early 2000s. The exhibition explores a shared thread of surreal, otherworldly sculptural form across a range of expressions, techniques, and contexts.

A number of works in the exhibition derive from the esteemed collection of Marc and Diane Grainer, renowned patrons, collectors, and champions of the arts, who assembled a singular collection over the course of more than forty-five years. We are proud to present these works and to serve as stewards as they find their way into new collections.

On view are works featuring figures, narratives, and compositions drawn from deep within the subconscious, emerging from a realm beyond the threshold of immediate awareness.

Through incongruous forms and psychologically charged imagery, the artists give material presence to subconscious visions, bringing into view what ordinarily remains beyond immediate perception. Situated between the imagined and the tangible, these works offer insight into psychological dimensions that exceed the limits of ordinary experience.

Featured artists:

Ralph Bacerra
Mark Burns
Nancy Carman
Michele Oka Doner
Jack Earl
Sergei Isupov
Michael Lucero
Louis Marak
Beverly Mayeri
Norma Minkowitz
Sunkoo Yuh
 

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A 1980-81 Conoid Dining Table by George Nakashima. The table features free edges along its length, four Rosewood butterflies joining the two top American Black Walnut slabs, and the iconic Conoid Table base.
 
 “The Conoid Dining Table reflects the same angle as the Chairs, with two heavy angled uprights lightened by a narrow waist, joined by a single rectangular stretcher on the floor and supported laterally by two sets of feet similar to the Conoid Chairs. Because of its sculptural simplicity, it effectively sets off the large, heavy, single-board plank table-tops that become available during this time and thereafter” (‘Nature, Form, and Spirit’, Mira Nakashima, 2003, p. 174).
 
7ft Conoid Dining Table, 1980-81
American Black Walnut
84 x 42 3/4 x 28 1/2 in
 
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American studio craft master Judy Kensley McKie’s Wagging Dog Chair is an exceptional examples of the artist’s signature zoomorphic furniture design. Carved from mahogany, the work’s form blurs the line between furniture and sculpture demonstrating a playful interpretation of a dog’s form including intricate, carved textural detailing and an extended palm-like tail, serving as the chair’s backrest and titular feature.
 
“I remember I would sit in the living room and look at our own furniture, which was all very straightforward. Look at it for a long time, the way you might look at clouds in the sky. As I looked I saw the armrests starting to turn into animals, or I would see that a table had a stance that was like a four-legged creature, and I would think, that would be one way of bringing this stuff to life. I started looking carefully at a lot of animal forms, looking at a lot of primitive but incorporated animal imagery. The honesty of it and aliveness in primitive forms always appealed to me, so I wanted to get something of that into my work” (‘Furniture with Soul: Master Woodworkers and Their Craft’, David Savage, 2011, p. 93).
 
Wagging Dog Chair, 2006
Carved signature/date/edition: “© JKM ‘06 1/2”
Mahogany
17 3/4 x 24 x 36 1/2 in | Seat Height 18 1/4 in
Edition 1 of 2
 
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A 1972 Headboard by legendary Studio Craft master and educator Daniel Jackson. Made from highly figured Curly Maple, the work’s sculptural form unfolds across the entire headboard encompassing numerous peaks, valleys, and curvilinear expressions.
 
Additionally, at the center point of the bottom of the headboard, a concealed hiding mechanism is incorporated. The cylindrical mechanism, which inserts vertically into a hollowed-out space in the headboard, rotates and locks in via a wooden pin.
 
Summing up his approach to design, Jackson said: “There is not a great difference between the two (sculpture and furniture). Furniture must fill a specific function. Then it can go on to be aesthetic. Sculpture is purely aesthetic from the beginning. What I am trying to do is marry the two.”
 
Headboard (Breast Shape), 1972
Curly Maple
62 1/2 x 3 x 18 1/2 in
 
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A Cross-Legged Desk by George Nakashima. This work reflects an important breakthrough in Nakashima’s design work - the Cross-Legged Base: “During the years from 1957 to 1961, in his own studio furniture Nakashima gradually modified the basic rectangular cut-edge cabinets, benches, and end tables from his early days to maximize the fluid natural tree forms. During this period, two new chair designs emerged, and a new Cross-Legged Base was used in several versions, supporting both small and large tables. The single posts of the early Shaker-like pedestal tables bases expanded into complex, multiple-post variations on the same theme.” (‘Nature, Form, and Spirit’, Mira Nakashima, 2003, p. 172).
 
The desk’s top in an expressive single board of American Black Walnut with two free edges along the front and back lengths and curved cuts along its edges. The work’s base consists of a bi-lateral cross-legged base and a horizontal stretcher to support the form and accommodate lateral stress. Additionally, a central drawer faces the desk’s user.
 
“These cross-legged bases reflect a lightness and freedom, whimsy and joy, which must have pervaded Nakashima’s life at the time” (‘Nature, Form, and Spirit’, Mira Nakashima, 2003, p. 174).
 
Cross-Legged Desk, 1962
American Black Walnut
44 1/4 x 26 x 28 1/2 in
 
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An exceptional example of a Triple Sliding Door Wall-Hung Cabinet, featuring a front sap edge, with left and right straight cut overhangs. The case is crafted from highly figured American Black Walnut, with the interior made of Oak. The interior is outfitted with open shelving on both sides, along with a central opening over a bank of drawers.
 
“Special Wall Case” Triple Sliding Door Wall-Hung Cabinet, 1963
“Skapik” written on backside
American Black Walnut, Pandanus Cloth
117 x 18 3/4 x 19 in
 
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Designed in the 1940’s the Grass-Seated Stool was intended as a companion to the Grass-Seated Chair. A successful design that now stands alone or pairs perfectly.
 
Grass-Seated Stool, 1961
American Black Walnut, Sea-Grass
16 x 18 x 12 1/2 in
 
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An early Sam Maloof Console Table dating to 1955. The work showcases Maloof’s unique sculptural approach to furniture making as well as his signature exposed, contrasting joinery. The table includes two drawers, both which are marked with “Designed Made Maloof California” in their interiors.
 
Console Table, 1955
‘Designed Made Maloof California’ branded on each drawer
Walnut
80 x 18 x 29 1/2 in
 
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Twist No. I & II, a pair of sculptural lamps/end tables by Fabien Dubrunfaut. Featuring imaginative, curving forms and dramatic free edges, the works showcases Dubrunfaut’s mastery of woodworking and his ability to create a harmony of form and function.
 
Twist No. I & II, 2025
Walnut, Steel, Patinated Copper
26 1/2 x 26 x 63 in
23 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 63 in

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A highly unique Console by American studio craft master and educator Robert Worth. Demonstrating Worth’s biomorphic, fluid vocabulary, the console presents a sweeping, curvilinear form which supports two ovular glass tops. The work highlights Worth’s mastery of stack laminate construction and sophisticated ability to bring imaginative forms to fruition through sophisticated understanding of material and structure.
 
Console, c. 1960s
Zebrawood, Glass
103 x 24 x 31 1/4 in
 
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