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Art Craft History

Discarded Ceramic Shards Are Celebrated in Multi-Part Assemblages by Conservator and Artist Bouke de Vries

Bouke de Vries works with ceramic assemblage to reinterpret historical pottery in multi-part sculptures. The Dutch artist studied at the prestigious Central St. Martin’s in London and worked in high fashion before pivoting to ceramics conservation and restoration in the early 1990’s, which he learned at West Dean College. Confronting the moral dilemmas around valuation of imperfect artifacts in his vocational practice, de Vries challenges the value of imperfection, damage, and cultural history in his exploded artworks.

Broken blue willow plates amalgamate into a map of China, a shattered turquoise vase finds a new function as the contents of a clear glass vessel, and small shards of porcelain become the thorns on a blossoming rose. In a statement on his website, the artist explains:

Instead of hiding the evidence of this most dramatic episode in the life of a ceramic object, he emphasizes their new status, instilling new virtues, new values, and moving their stories forward… Where even an almost invisible hairline crack, a tiny rim chip or a broken finger render a once-valuable object practically worthless, literally not worth the cost of restoring. There’s something incongruous about the fact that such an object, although still imbued with all the skills it took to make it – be it first-period Worcester, Kang-xi or Sevres – can so easily be consigned to the dustbin of history.

De Vries’s work has clearly struck a chord with viewers: he exhibits widely and in 2019 alone has shown work at Hillwood House in Washington, Mesher Gallery in Instanbul, The Museum of Fine Art in Montgomery, Alabama, the Kuntsi Museum in Vaasa, Finland, the Museum of Royal Worcester, and at the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale in Yingge, Taiwan. The artist is represented by galleries in The Netherlands, U.S., and U.K. Explore more of de Vries’s work and stay up-to-date on his latest exhibitions via Instagram. (via The Jealous Curator)

Art Food

Moldy Fruit Sculptures Formed From Precious Gemstones Challenge Perceptions of Decoration and Decay

“Bad Lemon (Creep)” (2019). All images courtesy the artist and Josh Lilley, London. Photographs by Lance Brewer.

Artist Kathleen Ryan creates a conversation between the beautiful and the grotesque in her oversized sculptures of mold-covered fruit. The New York-based artist uses precious and semi-precious stones like malachite, opal, and smoky quartz to form the simulacrum of common green rot on each fruit. Working at a larger-than-life scale, Ryan creates a foam base, rudimentarily painted to map out the fresh and rotten areas on the surface. She then individually places each gemstone, with varied shapes, sizes, and colors that emulate the shift from desirable to disgusting. Lemons are a particular favorite, but Ryan also works with oranges and pears, with each work scaling 6 to 29 inches. “The sculptures are beautiful and pleasurable, but there’s an ugliness and unease that comes with them,” Ryan told The New York Times.

Ryan is represented by London-based gallery Josh Lilley, where she had a solo show in 2018, as well as François Ghebaly in Los Angeles, where her fruit was the namesake for the recent group show Bad Peach. This year, Ryan exhibited her work in solo shows at The New Art Gallery in Walsall, U.K. and at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as part of Desert X in Coachella, CA. Two of Ryan’s lemons are also on view through October 20, 2019 with François Ghebaly at FIAC international art fair. The artist studied Studio Art and Anthropology at Pitzer College and received a Master’s of Fine Arts from U.C.L.A. See more from Ryan’s wide-ranging artistic practice on Instagram, and explore more of her work on the gallery websites of Josh Lilley and François Ghebaly.

“Soft Spot” (2019), amber, amethyst, rhodonite, rose quartz, serpentine, tree agate, jungle jasper, smokey quartz, garnet, agate, turquoise, olive jade, bone, pink lepidonite, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, 6 x 8 x 6 in

“Emerald City” (2019), amazonite, onyx, quartz, rose quartz, turquoise, emerald, jasper, serpentine, smokey quartz, olive jade, fluorite, amethyst, tree agate, Ching Hai jade, lapis lazuli, agate, Russian serpentine, marble, ruby in zoisite, abalone shell, bone, coral, freshwater pearl, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, 18 x 29 x 20 in

“Emerald City” (2019), alt. view

“Emerald City” (2019), detail

 

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“Serpentine Flurry” (2019), serpentine, onyx, quartz, rose quartz, rhodonite, jasper, unakite, smokey quartz, amazonite, sesame jasper, olive jade, fluorite, lodolite, amethyst, tree agate, Ching Hai jade, lapis lazuli, agate, Russian serpentine, marble, ruby in zoisite, abalone shell, bone, coral, freshwater pearl, petrified wood, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, 23 x 25 x 25 in

“Bad Lemon (Sour Sparkle)” (2019), serpentine, aventurine, labradorite, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, pink aventurine, rose quartz, black onyx, citrine, unakite, tektite, smoky quartz, quartz, carnelian, limestone, pink lepidolite, tree agate, red agate, grey agate, black agate, breccicated jasper, hematite, mother of pearl, bone, freshwater pearl, 19 3/4 x 20 x 29 in

“Bad Lemon (Sour Sparkle)” (2019), detail

“Bad Peach” (2019), rose quartz, agate, carnelian, pink opal, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, calcite, amber, quartz, fluorite, tree agate, magnesite, turquoise, serpentine, bone, coral, jasper, tiger eye, labradorite, red malachite, mother of pearl, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, 15.5 x 16.5 x 16 inches

“Bad Lemon (Creep)” (2019), amazonite, aventurine, black onyx, Italian onyx, turquoise, labradorite, carnelian, ocean jasper, sesame jasper, serpentine, fluorite, Ching Hai jade, snow quartz, magnesite, agate, breccicated jasper, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, red agate, garnet, tree agate, rose quartz, amethyst, lilac stone, limestone, marble, mother of pearl, bone, freshwater pearl, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, 20 x 20 x 28 1/2 in

“Bad Lemon (Creep)” (2019), detail

Art

Human Anatomy and Oozing Black Glazes Cover Ceramics by Canopic Studio

All images courtesy of Canopic Studio

Los Angeles-based ceramic artist Curran Wedner of Canopic Studio creates sculptures and tableware inspired by nature and the human body. Disembodied fingers, toes, and faces wrap around the outside of glazed porcelain cups and bowls to form unique and functional works of art.

After studying Illustration at ArtCenter College of Design in California, Wedner spent nine years fabricating art for other artists. He opened Canopic Studio in 2017 and decided to focus on ceramics as his full-time practice. “Clay has always been a friendly medium to me since I have worked with it my whole life,”the artist tells Colossal. Detailing his process, Wedner says that each sculpture begins with throwing and trimming on a wheel. He then makes castings and applies them to the leather-hard clay before bisque firing the work. Each sculpture is then glazed and fired a second time. “From start to finish this process takes weeks,” the artist says. “Each individual piece has at least a dozen hours in it before it’s up for sale.”

Wedner credits his drawing and painting experience for informing his sculptural compositions and his focus on human anatomy. He also cites life cycles in nature and ancient history as influences, namely the bog bodies of northwest Europe and Bell-Beaker culture.

Wedner’s unusual creations will be exhibited for the first time as a part of the upcoming Blood & Fire II show at The Raven & The Wolves gallery in Long Beach, CA. Those hoping to take home one of the pieces should check out the Canopic Studio Etsy shop and fans of ceramics can follow @canopicstudio on Instagram.

Art

Kehinde Wiley’s Contemporary Counterpoint to Old Confederate Monuments Unveiled in Times Square

Kehinde Wiley, Rumors of War, 2019. © 2019 Kehinde Wiley. Presented by Times Square Arts in partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Art and Sean Kelly, New York. Photographer: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

New York-based visual artist Kehinde Wiley (previously) recently unveiled a bronze sculpture of an African American man riding a horse in the center of Times Square at Broadway Plaza between 46th and 47th streets. Titled “Rumors of War,” the statue references controversial Confederate War monuments that still stand in Richmond, Virginia over a century after they were erected.

Commissioned by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Wiley’s first public artwork will be relocated to a spot near the museum’s entrance. Just over a mile away is the statue of General J.E.B. Stuart that inspired “Rumors of War”. The artist first saw the monument during a trip to Virginia in 2016. He said in an interview with the Washington Post that he chose it as a reference because of the “gestural feel of the horse.” Standing over 27 feet tall, Wiley’s sculpture mimics Stuart’s half-turned pose and the stride of the horse, but his figure is a Black man with locked hair and contemporary apparel, including a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers.

“Today we say yes to something that looks like us,” Wiley said at the unveiling event last month. “We say yes to inclusivity. We say yes to broader notions of what it means to be an American.” For a closer look at more of Kehinde Wiley’s important work, follow the artist on Instagram.

Update: The sculpture is now permanently in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Photographer: Walter Wlodarczyk for Times Square Arts.

Photographer: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

Photographer: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

Photographer: Ian Douglas for Times Square Arts.

Photographer: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

Photographer: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

Photographer: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

Art

A Swedish Art Collective Handcrafts 17,000 Unique Sculptures Signifying Refugee Youth at Risk of Deportation

Photography: Felix Gerlach and Martin Spencer

Seventeen thousand unique sculptures are displayed in a new installation by Swedish artist collective Skaparkollektivet Forma. The group sought to draw attention to the individuality of 17,000 Afghan refugee youth whom the Swedish government plans to deport. The unaccompanied minors came to Sweden in 2015, totaling 23,500 in that year, and were fully integrated into their adoptive communities. However, the government seems to have shifted gears and has reversed its opinions on a majority of the young people.

Working with 1,500 volunteers, Skaparkollektivet Forma created petite sculptural works of art to represent each individual impacted by the planned governmental uprooting. The works are glued to 34 frames in groups of 500, which allows the installation to be easily transported and installed in different configurations.

Since the collective started working on this project, attention has been drawn to the issue, and some of the youth have been allowed to stay, but apparently the majority of the planned deportations are still set to happen. “In the debate on migration, living human beings tend to be transformed into anonymous volumes,” said Skaparkollektivet Forma told dezeen. “But we wanted to understand what this five-figure number actually represented. The installation makes the number 17,000 visible and above all shows that behind every number there is a person,” they explained. “Behind each figure there is a personality, a story, a work of art.”

The work was initially displayed at Liljevalchs art gallery, which is an independent, public gallery in Stockholm. Follow the collective on Instagram and Facebook for updates. (via dezeen)

Members of Skaparkollektivet Forma

Art Craft

Hand-Built Paper Birds by Niharika Rajput Draw Attention to Endangered Avians

A detailed structural plan, hundreds of hand-fringed feathers, a custom-built wire armature: these are just some of the components artist Niharika Rajput uses to create her life-like paper birds. Rajput directly ties her art practice to conservation efforts by running campaigns to spread awareness of endangered species around the world.

To create her intricate sculptures, Rajput studies the anatomy of each bird, from its wing and tail structures to different types of feathers and facial features. The artist tells Colossal that she initially experimented with fiber and wire mesh, but found that paper best replicated the structure and texture of feathers. After creating a sketch of all the component body parts, Rajput begins the labor-intensive assembly process, which is complete once she has added finishing touches with acrylic paint.

The artist explains that she has had a lifelong affinity for wildlife and birds in particular, cemented by her family moving around a lot; nature was a steady presence even as Rajput’s built surroundings changed. As an adult, a visit to the Himalayas reconnected the artist to her passion for birds.

“As an artist I find it almost impossible to compete with nature’s sophisticated mechanisms and designs,” Rajput shares with Colossal. “I have taken this project on, to reach that level of perfection which can be applauded with a great sense of wonder by my audience and also acts as a reminder of what’s out there and needs to be protected.”

See more of Rajput’s sculptures on Instagram and Twitter. Original works are also available for purchase on Etsy. (via Colossal Submissions)

Art

The U.K.’s Iconic Red Post Box Gets a Twisted Makeover in Alex Chinneck’s Surreal Urban Interventions

Master of distortion Alex Chinneck flips parking lots upside down, unzips buildings, and most recently has tied post boxes in knots. Chinneck traffics in everyday structures that are universally recognizable, which serves to unite passersby in reacting to the bizarre interventions. The post box series, which the artist calls ‘Alphabetti Spaghetti‘ has made appearances over the past week across the U.K., in  London, Margate, and Tinsley, adding three bespoke boxes to the more than 115,500 traditional ones that exist across the kingdom. No word yet on whether postmarked letters placed in Chinneck’s sculptures will be delivered. You can see more of the artist’s mind-bending work on Instagram. (via It’s Nice That)