Bjarne Melgaard (born 9 September 1967) is a Norwegian artist based in New York City.
Early in his career Melgaard created controversial installations referencing subversive subcultures such as S&M and heavy metal music.
Chair is a sculpture of a bound black woman on her back with a seat cushion on her thighs, and is a reinterpretation of a similar piece by British pop artist Allen Jones.
[6] The controversy began when Russian art socialite Dasha Zhukova was photographed sitting on the cushion for a fashion website, resulting in online accusations of racism under the Twitter hashtag #racistchair.
[7][8] Guardian critic Jonathan Jones suggested that this controversy was a misunderstanding of Melgaard's intentions, and Zhukova said that the photograph of her was "out of context"; the artwork intended to be a "commentary on gender and racial politics".