The Living Room “Art needs to be lived with,” says Kenny Schachter. “Every day, something gets moved around.” The works on the walls are his, other than the green painting above the blue couch by his son, Adrian. The center sofa is Ole Wanscher, the yellow sofa is Zaha Hadid, and the blue sofa and chairs are Franco Albini.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
I used to say I would never live north of 14th Street,” Kenny Schachter says. Then, several years ago, he found a four-and-a-half-story townhouse in what he calls the “Lower Upper East Side.” It was decrepit, and its windows were covered in 3-D dirt. But it had natural light, outdoor space, and a garage, and Schachter has a thing for cars.
“That is what really excited me.” Schachter, an artist, writer, and lecturer, set about cleaning up the space. Except for a wall in the kitchen that was torn down to create a dining area, he preserved the historic integrity of the building.
“My taste is wildly inconsistent, and the design of this house is absurd,” he says. “It has a modern façade, then antique French parquet floors on two levels, and the kitchen could be in the Museum of Natural History because it has St. Charles ancient wood cabinets, and the bathrooms fit a person who is 12 years old.” The oven can’t be used because of a technical malfunction, and the buildingwide built-in stereo system turned on by itself one time.
The home’s eccentricities are in keeping with Schachter’s own. He studied law but didn’t practice long and lectures about art but skipped art school. When he moved back to New York after 15 years in London, he realized he’d lost his taste for Soho, the West Village, and the East Village, where he’d spent most of his youth.
“I am the only one who dresses age inappropriately in my neighborhood,” he says. On a tour of the house, I found it not surprising to learn from him that he has three warehouses filled with art and furniture. (In July, he’s doing his sixth “hoarder” auction, this time at Phillips.)
The Office Schachter sits at a desk by Sergio Rodrigues. The books are ones he’s written or contributed to. The orange prototype chair is by Tom Dixon; pff. is by Ricci Albenda. The sculpture made from wooden planks is by Jessica Stockholder.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Dining Room The table is from an auction in Chicago, and Schachter commissioned Martino Gamper to design the chairs. Schachter made the cutout of Trudl Bruckner (seated) as well as the sculptures of the Nigerian artist Osinachi, Paris Hilton, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Yayoi Kusama. The chandelier is by Arik Levy.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The living room, filled with furnishings designed by friends, including the late Zaha Hadid, overlooks an untended back garden and a large-scale dinosaur-skeleton sculpture of Schachter’s own making. The dining room holds his life-size cast and aluminum sculptures of pop-culture personalities. Things are often not what they appear, as I discovered in the foyer when I almost greeted Schachter’s hyperrealistic rendition of his Germany-based art dealer Saskia Draxler.
Upstairs, in the dining room he uses as a studio and lecture space, another figure appears seated at the table with outstretched arms. She is the late Art Basel co-founder Trudl Bruckner, whom Schachter painted on canvas and then stretched onto a wooden cutout.
“I’m very into a nonhierarchical approach to fine art and furniture,” he says. “A spoon, a chair, a car, a Picasso—anything done with passion is great, like my intercom system.”
The Garden Schachter’s dinosaur skeleton sculpture is topped with a model of his own head.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Pièce de Résistance Schachter’s Selfie Man (2021) in his dining room.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Foyer The cement works are by Stefan Rinck. The pedestal is by Catharine Czudej. The art works to the left of the stairs are by Paz de la Huerta and Marcelle Hanselaar. Schachter made the life-size painting of his Germany-based art dealer Saskia Draxler.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Kitchen The St. Charles wood cabinets are all original, including its paper-towel holder and can opener. The small sculptures on the counter are by Mil Imeraj.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Dining Nook Schachter takes his meals in a converted bedroom. The table and chairs are by Gamper. The blue and white painting, My Dog, is by Daniel Champion, and the pink fuzzy-framed piece is by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova. The pink sofa is by Kristen Wentrcek and Andrew Zebulon.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Office Close-up on a sculpture made from wooden planks by Jessica Stockholder.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Book Sculpture A reproduction by Richard Prince of the first edition of Catcher in the Rye, in Schachter’s bedroom.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
The Bedroom Gamper designed the bed. The work above, Happy,is by Schachter. The chair is by Humberto and Fernando Campana, the metal cube is by Maria Pergay, and the rug is by Jemima Jasmine Rugs.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
