contemporary art

New Blue and White / Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
February 20, 2013 - July 14, 2013

New Blue and White at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, showcases inventive works in blue and white by 40 international artists and designers.

Contemporary sculpture, ceramics, fashion, glass, furniture, and more offer a new twist to age-old imagery

Over the past millennium, blue-and-white ceramics have become an international phenomenon—familiar as Dutch Delftware, Ming vases, and Blue Willow china, among other forms. Today, the popular ceramic medium continues to offer inspiration, especially to the more than 40 international artists and designers whose works are presented in New Blue and White at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). On view from February 20 through July 14 in the MFA’s Henry and Lois Foster Gallery, the exhibition highlights nearly 70 objects made over the course of the past 15 years across a wide array of media. Many of these works offer a contemporary twist to traditional blue-and-white imagery using abstraction, digital manipulation, contemporary subject matter, and even trompe l’oeil to surprise and delight. They range from small porcelains to room-size installations and include never-before-seen creations by artists such as Mark Cooper, Annabeth Rosen, Pouran Jinchi, and Kurt Weiser, and recent MFA acquisitions of work by fashion label Rodarte and ceramic sculptor Chris Antemann. Also on view are ceramics by Nakashima Harumi, Robert Dawson, and Steven Lee. The exhibition is presented with generous support from The Wornick Fund for Contemporary Craft. Additional support is provided by The John and Bette Cohen Fund for Contemporary Decorative Arts, and the Joel Alvord and Lisa Schmid Alvord Fund.

“The works in New Blue and White deftly show how one remarkable set of material traditions, which have had a profound international impact, can inspire new generations of artists. They make surprising, beautiful connections across time and cultures, helping us understand our history and our present,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA.

At its simplest, blue and white refers to the application of cobalt pigment on white clay. It originated in 9th-century Mesopotamia and subsequently captured the imaginations of artists throughout Asia. Through a frenzy of trade networks and stylistic exchange, these coveted works made their way to Europe and eventually the New World. With them went multiple narratives focused on ideas as varied as wealth, power, beauty, family, exoticism, colonialism, and commerce. Inspired by this rich and varied global legacy, today’s artists create works that tell contemporary stories incorporating cultural, social, and historical references. To illustrate this, four themes will be presented to guide visitor engagement with the objects in the exhibition: Cultural Camouflage; Memory and Narrative; Abstract Interpretations; and Political Meaning.

Exhibiting artists: Ann Agee (US), Chris Antemann (US), Katsuyo Aoki (Japan), Felicity Aylieff (England), Robin Best (Australia), Stephen Bowers (Australia), Boym Partners [Constantin Boym (Russian) and Laurene Boym (American)], Caroline Cheng (England), Mark Cooper (US), Claire Curneen (Ireland), Robert Dawson (England), Barbara Diduk (US), Michelle Erickson (US), Front Design (Sofia Lagerkvist, Anna Lindren, Katja S’vstr’m, Charlotte von der Lancken) (Sweden), Gésine Hackenberg (Germany), Molly Hatch (US), Giselle Hicks (US), Sin Ying Ho (China), Pouran Jinchi (Iran), Hella Jongerius (Netherlands), Charles Krafft (US), Steven Lee (US), Li Lihong (China), Beth Lo (US), Livia Marin (Chile), Harumi Nakashima (Japan), Rodarte (Kate and Laura Mulleavy) (US), Annabeth Rosen (US), Richard Saja (US), Eduardo Sarabia (US), Paul Scott (England), Richard Shaw (US), Tommy Simpson (US), Caroline Slotte (Finland), Min-Jeong Song (Korea), Vipoo Srivilasa (Thailand), Kondô Takahiro (Japan), Brendan Tang (Canada), Studio Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe (Neils Van Eijk, Mirian Van der Lubbe) (Netherlands), Peter Walker (US), Kurt Weiser (US), Ah Xian (China).

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Vincent Leroy exhibition / Galerie NeC nilsson et chilglien, Hong Kong
March 15 - April 27, 2013

Opening reception with the artist: March 14, 2013, from 6 pm.

Moving under the influence of Japanese pop culture and New Realism. Kinetic artist Vincent Leroy forms poetry with his technology. Movement and repetition redefine natural order and commanded creation. Electric Flowers absorbs a haunting and fascinating rhythm that reinforces the endless repetition of motifs. Thus this field of mechanical flowers whose petals turn tirelessly on their rolling pins becomes an unlikely ode to the fragility of nature.

Born in 1968, into a farming family in Avranches, in France’s Normandy region, Vincent Leroy graduated from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creation Industrielle in 1995. In his work as an industrial engineer, he maintains an overall perspective on the manufacturing process slecting shapes, materials, colors and technical properties. Active on the international contemporary art scene, Vincent Leroy is among those artists who refuse to be categorized.

“Creating an object usually starts with finding the right materials, but the starting point for my work is kinetics. I play around with the speed and the way actions have casting effects. Movement was the basis for my piece I created in London for The Sketch, the restaurant and gallery space developed by Mourad Mazouz. I installed a flexible geometrical shape powered by two large motors between two mirrored walls. The material used is made to ripple, and the movement is reflected infinitely in The mirrors. Similarly, in Berlin I showed three balls made of translucent material that were made to move completely independently. I installed a tiny camera inside one of them, to give visitors a random, unimpeded perspective, with no vertical reference points, a little like astronauts in the weightlessness of space, when they’re moving around the shuttle. I wanted to let the public experience the phenomenon with just the bare minimum of technological resources.

Simple movements still remain the basis of my work. Ten years ago my sculpture was more mechanically focused, the technology was present, more visibly a subject matter. Today the movement in my work is more fluid, and natural. I’m at a happy medium with this balance of nature verses machine, or nature as machine. We must come to mix and not oppose. My creative process is driven by a natural need to experiment. To question, guess, try, play, solve, function. Even if it is as basic as a piece of cardboard, glue and a toolbox. I am always surprised with the magic that emerges from these unexpected moments.

I think my audience is primarily people who are on top of the latest trends in art and in music, who are found in major cities. It’s also companies like Arkema and Renault, Nissan and Canal+ I’ve had the opportunity to work with. In many cases it’s an audience that doesn’t judge the work on the basis of whether it’s consistent with some artistic movement. They’re people who are capable of being won over or astonished by what they see. It gives me great pleasure to be able to reach such a wide audience.” Vincent Leroy

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SPECIAL FEATURE: Romanian Contemporary Ceramics
Written review of Romanian contemporary ceramics through interviews with internationally-renowned and emerging Romanian artists.

In December 2011 we have witnessed the rebirth of Romanian contemporary ceramics through the opening of Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, the first gallery in Romania that promotes contemporary ceramics. The exhibition was titled “Ceramic rendez-vous”, poiting out the fact that it brought together fourteen artists from all over the country: Arina Ailincăi, Bianca Boeroiu, Cristina Bolborea, Adela Bonaţ, Vasile Cercel, Gherghina Costea, Georgiana Cozma, Marta Jakobovits, Romana Mateiaş, Aniela Ovadiuc, Monika Pădureţ, Cristina Popescu Russu, Ioana Şetran and Simona Tănăsescu.

With just two days ahead of the opening day of “Ceramic rendez-vous”, in December the 9th, 2011, Ceramics Now organized the opening day of the first Ceramics Now Exhibition in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The exhibition marked the launch of the magazine by exhibiting works of fifteen artists from eight countries. The third edition of Ceramics Now Exhibition is being held at Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, between 8-26th of November 2012, and presents the works of 22 world renowned contemporary ceramic artists, including three Romanian artists.

ROMANIAN CERAMIC ARTISTS - Read all the interviews:
Arina Ailincăi - by Vasi Hîrdo
Marta Jakobovits - by Ileana Surducan and Alexandra Mureşan
Romana Cucu Mateiaş - by Andra Baban
Aniela Ovadiuc - by Vasi Hîrdo
Oriana Pelladi - by Vasi Hîrdo
Eugenia Pop - by Alexandra Mureşan and Vasi Hîrdo
Cristina Popescu Russu - by Alexandra Mureşan
Bogdan Teodorescu - by Vasi Hîrdo

The feature is an ongoing project developed by Ceramics Now Association in collaboration with the Romanian Fine Arts Union, the University of Arts and Design Cluj-Napoca and the National University of Arts Bucharest.

Above: Oriana Pelladi, Emptiness, 2007, Ceramics, Video projection.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Keiko Gallery - Japanese artists, October 2011

In partnership with Keiko Gallery
Written review of “Keiko Gallery” through interviews with represented Japanese artists who work in ceramics, lacquer, textiles and jewelry.

Keiko Gallery is one of the most appreciated art galleries in the United States that focuses on Japanese art, from ceramics to the innovative lacquer art, textiles, jewelry and painting. Founded in 2003 in Boston, MA, the gallery organized numerous exhibitions of world-recognized Japanese artists.

The special feature includes interviews with 10 artists represented by Keiko Gallery, and lots of images with their works. We took this opportunity because we want to introduce the Japanese contemporary art and craft to a larger audience around the world. It is an excellent chance for our readers to learn more from Japanese artists, to see how they think and how they imagine their works.

KEIKO GALLERY - JAPANESE ARTISTS
View images / Read all the interviews:
Niisato Akio, Ceramics - View his works
Kawabata Kentaro, Ceramics - View his works
Takeuchi Kouzo, Ceramics - View his works
Hayashi Shigeki, Ceramics - View his works
Tanoue Shinya, Ceramics - View his works
Fujita Toshiaki, Lacquer art - View his works
Murata Yoshihiko, Lacquer art - View his works
Jorie Johnson, Textiles - View her works
Takeda Asayo, Textiles - View her works
Mariko Husain, Jewelry - View her works

The feature was presented on Ceramics Now in October 2011, and was published in Ceramics Now Magazine - Issue One. Keiko Gallery has now closed its physical space in Boston and it is relocating all the activity online. The new email address is keikogallery@gmail.com

Above: Kentaro Kawabata, SOOS: Cao-Col, 2012, Porcelain, Silver, 25 x 18 x 40 cm.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Overthrown: Clay Without Limits, July 2011

In partnership with The Denver Art Museum
Written review of “Overthrown: Clay Without Limits” exhibition at The Denver Art Museum through interviews with exhibiting artists and the curator.

The twenty-five artists in Overthrown: Clay Without Limits took on adventurous challenges to make the works in this exhibition. Most were made especially for Overthrown and many are in direct dialogue with our dynamic Daniel Libeskind-designed architecture; they move beyond the pedestal to the wall, the floor, and even the ceiling. A few extend beyond the Anschutz Gallery, across the entire museum complex. They break boundaries that are physical, technological, conceptual, and spatial.

Working in all scales, from architecturally expansive to almost impossibly small, the artists in Overthrown employ twenty-first-century technology hand-in-hand with standard modeling and molding techniques. They use digital cameras, computers, laser cutters, 3-D printers, and computer-controlled mills along with more traditional tools.

Some push the forms of functional objects. Others push the limits of fragility. They take risks that draw on material chemistry and maverick kiln techniques. Some of their works include not only clay, but also found objects such as metal, plastic, and abandoned industrial materials. Overthrowing our expectations of ceramic art—its size, its context, its methods, and its meaning—these artists show us new ways of using this versatile and timeless material.

OVERTHROWN: CLAY WITHOUT LIMITS
View images / Read all the interviews:
Gwen F. Chanzit, Curator
Katie Caron and Martha Russo
John Roloff
Clare Twomey
Paul Sacaridiz
Linda Sormin
Del Harrow
Mia Mulvey
Benjamin DeMott

The feature was presented on Ceramics Now in July 2011, and was published in Ceramics Now Magazine - Issue One. The “Overthrown: Clay Without Limits” exhibition was on view at The Denver Art Museum June 11 through September 18, 2011.

Above: Linda Sormin, Mine (i hear him unclip me / blood runs cold), 2010–11. Glazed ceramic; souvenir kitsch; and studio remnants from Tim Berg, Gerit Grimm, Nathan Craven, Robyn Gray, and Ted Yoon. Photo by Jeff Wells.