Tag: ceramic

Mary Carlson at Kerry Schuss Gallery

Modeled after El Greco’s ‘The Penitent Mary Magdalene,’ Mary Carlson’s small-scale sculpture of one of Christ’s most devoted followers is both delicate in her tiny features and monumental in her seated, robed body. Now on view at Kerry Schuss Gallery, displayed on wall-mounted wooden shelves amid scrolling copper piping, Carlson’s new sculptures evoke the figures and decorative designs on the pages of medieval manuscripts.  Characterized by world-weariness vs El Greco’s doe-eyed young woman, Carlson’s saint is pictured in the process of receiving a revelation and puts a hand to her bare chest.  Less erotic than El Greco’s version, Carlson’s Mary is a substantial woman engaged with the life of the mind and spirit.  (On view in Tribeca through April 27th).

Mary Carlson, Mary Magdalene (after El Greco), glazed porcelain, wood, copper, 29 x 36 x 8.75 inches, 2024.
Mary Carlson, Mary Magdalene (after El Greco), glazed porcelain, wood, copper, 29 x 36 x 8.75 inches, 2024.

Apollinaria Broche at Marianne Boesky Gallery

To a soundtrack featuring readings from Charles Baudelaire’s ‘Flowers of Evil,’ Apollinaria Broche’s ceramic and bronze flowers strike gangly poses in her solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, exuding both wonky charm and maleficence.  Like an insect to nectar, viewers are drawn into the center of colorful ceramic flowers that feature tiny bronze sculptures – a winged horse, a contented-looking cat – of cavorting magical creatures.  More ominous figures – snakes, flies – appear as well, suggesting that the flowers inhabit a garden less welcoming than it first appears.  In this detail image of ‘I hid my tracks Spit out all my hair,’ skulls and daggers mingle with the seeds of this lush blossoming plant, summoning a specter of death and violence where it might least be expected.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 24th.)

Apollinaria Broche, (detail) I hid my tracks Spit out all my air, glazed ceramic, bronze, 63 x 21 x 18 inches, 2023.

Gabriel Chaile on the High Line

Inspired by pre-Columbian ceramics in his native country of Argentina, Gabriel Chaile’s High Line sculpture ‘The Wind Blows Where it Wishes’ turns a vessel-shape into a living form with a delicate face positioned both front and back on the neck.  Made from steel and adobe, the sculpture recalls ancient handcrafting processes while being protected and animated by an undulating ribbon of dark metal which ends at the front in two small hands holding a tube-like instrument.  Towering yet humble, an object yet miraculously living, Chaile’s enchanting sculpture uniquely engages the park’s visitors.  (On view on the High Line over 24th Street through April ’24).

Gabriel Chaile, The Wind Blows Where it Wishes, adobe and steel, 2023.

Patti Warashina in ‘Funk You, Too’ at the Museum of Art and Design

University of Washington art professor emerita Patti Warashina created this comical collision in 1971 as a commentary on the way in which male ceramic students were challenged to build kilns while the female students were encouraged to practice decorative techniques.  Now a standout in the Museum of Art and Design’s excellent ‘Funk You, Too,’ exhibition, Warashina’s ‘car kiln’ (in which a ‘car’ or ‘deck’ can be directed into a kiln) pioneers a new variety of kiln, one capable of being magically reshaped by the artwork put into it.   As her red car drives into the kiln (complete with an interior full of flames), the kiln itself morphs into Warashina’s vision.  (On view through Aug 27th).

Patti Warashina, Metamorphosis of a Car Kiln, earthenware, glaze and luster, 1971.

Sam Falls at 303 Gallery

Known for making paintings by leaving canvases outside to weather under careful arrangements of plants and scattered, colorful pigments, Sam Falls’ ceramics at 303 Gallery offer a more direct appreciation of the flora he depicts.  While the canvas works feature silhouettes of plants (created as the natural material blocks the pigments from reaching the canvas), the ceramics include plant life which has been rolled into the clay and burnt out in the kiln.  Falls then applies glazes which flow and fade to suggest memories of the original natural material.  At the center of this piece is a photo taken on instant film (a technology that, like its subject, enjoyed a limited lifespan) of flowers in Central Park, which he returned to and harvested once dead to include in the ceramic form.  (On view in Chelsea through July 28th).

Sam Falls, The Pool, Central Park, NYC, Fujifilm FP-100C45 instant film, glazed ceramic and glass, 14 3/8 x 13 ¼ x 2 1/8 inches, 2023.