Tag: ceramic art

Marianne Huotari in Summer Group Show at HB381

Inspired by a Scandinavian rug-weaving tradition that produces thickly textured textiles, Finnish artist Marianne Huotari creates sculptures made of many small ceramic elements that she hand-sews together onto a metal frame with wire.  Now on view in HB381 Gallery’s summer group show, this piece resembles a standing figure.  On closer inspection, the variety of shapes that make up the piece’s surface recall leaves, fruits and other natural forms; titled ‘Summer Night’s Oasis,’ the sculpture seems to invent a new kind of fruitfulness and visual pleasure.  (On view in Tribeca through Aug 19th).

Marianne Huotari, Kesayon Keidas (Summer Night’s Oasis), glazed stoneware, hand-sewn, 55 h. x 25.5 inches dia., 2020.

Toshiko Takaezu at James Cohan Gallery

Hawaii-born master ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu’s sculptural forms from the 90s, on view at James Cohan Gallery, synthesize Abstract Expressionism and Japanese art tradition with understated beauty.  Working in a palette of colors inspired by nature in her home state, Takaezu ventured beyond earthly inspiration to create ‘moon pots’ like this one from two half-spheres.  (On view in Tribeca through May 7th).

Toshiko Takaezu, Untitled, glazed stoneware, 16 x 21 x 21 inches, ca 1990s.

Bertozzi & Casoni at Sperone Westwater

Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s ‘Four Seasons’ series from 1563 continues to inspire artists and capture the imagination as it displays the abundance of the seasons.  In this polychrome ceramic sculpture at Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side, Italian sculptors Bertozzi & Casoni recreate Spring in vibrant color, manifesting a creature that represents the abundance and promise of new life.  (On view through Oct 30th.  Masks required.)

Bertozzi & Casoni, Primavera, polychrome ceramic, 25 ½ x 26 x 14 ½ inches, 2021.

Daniel Rozin at Bitforms

Ceramic fragments resembling cracked mud ripple like water in response to visitors’ movements at Bitforms on the Lower East Side, creating a surprising and delightful effect, despite the worrying allusion to a parched environment. Part of Rozin’s new series of mechanical mirrors – interactive artworks that respond via motion sensor to a visitor’s movements which Rozin has created since the late 90s – the new mirrors inhabit a darkened gallery, creating a theatrical feeling that heightens the senses. (On view through March 17th).

Daniel Rozin, Cracked Mud, ceramic fragments, custom software, motors, control electronics, motion sensors, light fixture, 4 x 132 x 132 inches, 2019.

Betty Woodman at Salon94 Freemans

To her repertoire of vessel shapes and flat ceramic wall pieces, Betty Woodman adds carpets created from ceramic off-cuts she calls ‘bones’ in her latest solo show at Salon94 Freemans on the Lower East Side. She uses every available piece of gallery real estate (ceiling next?) to immerse visitors in colorful exuberance in both 2-D and 3-D space.  (Through June 14th).  

Betty Woodman, installation view at Salon94 Freemans of ‘Windows, Carpets and Other Paintings,’ May 2013.