Ann Agee’s residency at the Kohler factory in Sheybogan, Wisconsin in 1992 inspired a life-sized china replica of a bathroom. Here, she has recreated ‘Lake Michigan Bathroom’ in porcelain, presenting the taboo topic of bodily functions with meticulous craft. (At Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery through April 18th).
Ann Agee, Lake Michigan Bathroom (II), porcelain and stoneware, 98 ¾ x 121 ½ x 22 inches, 2014.
Once called ‘radically slight’ by an admiring critic, New Zealand artist Kate Newby’s work looks deceptively simple. Here, she presents a selection of skipping stones crafted of porcelain, which she’s been known to present to friends with the request that they launch them across the water. (At Tracy Williams, Ltd. in Chelsea through Sept 3rd).
Kate Newby, Skimming stones formed by clapping hands, stoneware, porcelain, glaze, sand, cardboard, 15 x 15 inches, 2014.
LA based artist Ry Rocklen takes self-branding into actual product marketing with a tongue-in-cheek installation of the clothing in his wardrobe, cast in porcelain or copper plated. A graffiti-covered door is also preserved for the ages with copper, silver and gold leaf infill turning the banal into the beautiful. (At Untitled Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 15th).
Ry Rocklen, installation view at Untitled, foreground: To be Titled (Tagged Door), wood door, hardware, copper leaf, silver leaf and gold leaf, 2014. Shoes: copper plating, 2013-14. Wall: Porcelain casts of clothing, 2008-14.
Tempting and repulsive at the same time, this table loaded with cakes, fruit, petits fours and other delectables crafted from porcelain by young Brooklyn-based artist Jessica Stoller equate the female body with excess via eye-popping abundance. (At PPOW Gallery through Feb 8th).
Jessica Stoller, Still Life, porcelain, china paint, luster, mixed-media, 65 x 47 x 23 ½,” 2013.
Like British YouTube phenomena The Slow Mo Guys, German artist Martin Klimas recognizes the power of slowing down a dramatic event to stimulate our curiosity. Both have recently captured paint flying up from the surface of a speaker (the subject of Klimas’ show at Foley Gallery). But selections from Klimas’ previous body of work – depicting smashing figurines, on view in the back room – steal the show by adding the suggestion of accident and the happy intervention of chance. (At Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Nov 3rd).
Martin Klimas, Untitled (Pink and Green), pigment print, 2006.
