• Magazine
  • About us
  • Submissions
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
No Result
View All Result
Ceramics Now
Magazine
  • News
  • Exhibitions
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Interviews
  • Articles
  • Magazine
Ceramics Now
  • News
  • Exhibitions
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Interviews
  • Articles
  • Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Ceramics Now

Malcolm Mobutu Smith: Mutations / Luise Ross Gallery, New York

January 31, 2020
in Exhibitions, Uncategorized
Malcolm Mobutu Smith: Mutations / Luise Ross Gallery, New York
image

Malcolm Mobutu Smith: Mutations at Luise Ross Gallery, New York
April 18 – May 30, 2015

From an early interest in art and continuing with obtaining an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Malcolm Mobutu Smith’s passion for sculpture has a distinct mixture of elegance and whimsy, turning the utilitarian into the sublime.

In Smith’s first exhibition at Luise Ross Gallery in New York, the vessel form is a starting point to create the sculpture, and at the same time transcends its functional uses. A ceramic rope nearly strangles the neck of a bulbous bottomed bottle form entitled Gmirr. Moonshore Cloud and Blackcloud Cup are inspired by cloud transformations. These sculptures with precise yet fluid forms and multiple glazes illustrate Smith’s technical mastery while presenting an artistic vision beyond that of creating a beautiful vessel.

Smith’s seventeen ceramic sculptures in the exhibition are imbued with an undulating high energy. Their sensual fluidity takes on a figural quality as if a person is about to unfold and walk out of the sculpture. This can best be seen in works like Turvin. Rich earth tones curl and snake up the vessel form, culminating in a brilliant gold lip. As in all the work the figure is strongly hinted at in the sculptural curves and folds, but never fully delineated. The implication is that the figure would appear clearly if the viewer could just find the right angle. Ambiguity and playfulness are two of Smith’s great strengths.

Inspired by the energy of jazz, graffiti, and popular culture, Smith’s sculptures retain a feeling of improvisation and the ephemeral. As in Candeed, he combines an elegant mint green glaze with three-dimensional stylized glyphs, mimicking the ebb and flow of language and music. Perhaps given the influence of graffiti art in his practice it is not surprising that an artistic interest is the appropriation of territory, in this case, that claimed by craft, being reclaimed for art.

Orko from 2008, the earliest sculpture in the exhibition, combines many of Smith’s fascinations. He considers this a vessel form, nonfunctional though it may be. It contains the figural quality prominent throughout his work. Its base seems human, with an arm stretching out. It also embodies more graphic influences as seen in the vivid color and gold arrow that might be at home on a spray-painted wall.

Integrating a myriad of textural qualities, an unconventionally beautiful color palette, with undulating vessel forms, Smith plays with the relationship between two and three-dimensional space. He draws on the rich history of the ceramic craft while perpetually looking for ways to transcend its limits. In this, Smith’s first exhibition at Luise Ross Gallery, he succeeds.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm.

Contact
212 343 2161
lrossgallery@earthlink.net

Luise Ross Gallery
547 West 27 Street #504
New York, NY 10001
United States

Above: Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Turvin, 2013, Stoneware, slip and glaze, 10 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches. Courtesy of Luise Ross Gallery, New York.

Read more news on contemporary ceramics

Tags: CeramicsContemporary ceramicsCraftCraftsExhibitionsLuise Ross GalleryMalcolm Mobutu SmithNew YorkNews

Related Posts

Brigitte Marionneau at Modern Shapes, Antwerp, 2020
Exhibitions

Solo exhibition by Brigitte Marionneau at Modern Shapes, Antwerp

December 8, 2020
JOY at The Ceramic House, Brighton, 2020
Exhibitions

JOY is on view at The Ceramic House in Brighton

December 5, 2020

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join the discussion

Special Exhibition by Kuroda Taizo at The Museum o Special Exhibition by Kuroda Taizo at The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka

📍 Read more and view the photo gallery on www.CeramicsNow.org

@moco_press

#ceramicsnow #ceramics #ceramicart #ceramic #contemporaryceramics #exhibition #artexhibition #ceramicexhibition #osaka #japaneseceramics #contemporaryart #artgram #ceramicsofinstagram
Ashwini Bhat is today's featured artist on Ceramic Ashwini Bhat is today's featured artist on Ceramics Now.

📍 View the artist's works on www.CeramicsNow.org

Follow the artist @ashwinibhat

Bhat's work explores the entangled relationship between the human and non-human, between the constructed and the inherent. She often introduces radical but somehow familiar forms to suggest the complex interplay between landscape, human, and non-human forms.

#ceramicsnow #ceramics #ceramicart #ceramic #contemporaryceramics #art #artist #artistprofile #ceramicartist #contemporaryart #artgram #ceramicsofinstagram
Anne Gibbs is today's featured artist on Ceramics Anne Gibbs is today's featured artist on Ceramics Now.

📍 View the artist's works on www.CeramicsNow.org

Follow the artist @annegibbs48

"Experimenting with materials is of great interest to me. [...] I enjoy creating ambiguous gatherings and conversations and playing with unlikely mixes of surfaces, color and compositions."

#ceramicsnow #ceramics #ceramicart #ceramic #contemporaryceramics #art #artist #ceramicartist #britishceramics #britishartist #contemporaryart #artgram #ceramicsofinstagram
Eiji Uematsu: Shooting Stars Found in the Garden i Eiji Uematsu: Shooting Stars Found in the Garden is on view at ARTCOURT Gallery, Osaka

📍 Read more and view the photo gallery on www.CeramicsNow.org

@artcourtgallery

#ceramicsnow #ceramics #ceramicart #ceramic #contemporaryceramics #exhibition #artexhibition #ceramicexhibition #osaka #artcourtgallery #japaneseceramics #contemporaryart #artgram #ceramicsofinstagram
Sofia Beça is today's featured artist on Ceramics Sofia Beça is today's featured artist on Ceramics Now.

📍 View the artist's works on www.CeramicsNow.org

Follow the artist @sofia.beca

#ceramicsnow #ceramics #ceramicart #ceramic #contemporaryceramics #art #artist #ceramicartist #purtugueseceramics #portugueseartist #contemporaryart #artgram #ceramicsofinstagram
Marsden Woo presents an exhibition by Philip Eglin Marsden Woo presents an exhibition by Philip Eglin

📍 Read more and view the photo gallery on www.CeramicsNow.org

@marsden_woo

#ceramicsnow #ceramics #ceramicart #ceramic #contemporaryceramics #exhibition #artexhibition #ceramicexhibition #london #marsdenwoo #contemporaryart #artgram #ceramicsofinstagram
Follow Ceramics Now on Instagram
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
 
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest LinkedIn RSS

Ceramics Now Magazine

Ceramics Now is an independent art publication and magazine specialized in contemporary ceramics. We are a small organization established to promote and document contemporary ceramic art and empower artists working with ceramics.

  • Magazine
  • About us
  • Submissions
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Subscribe to Ceramics Now Weekly

Join over 6,900 readers who receive our weekly newsletter dedicated to contemporary ceramic art.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE

© 2020 Ceramics Now.

  • News
  • Exhibitions
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Interviews
  • Articles
  • Magazine
  • About us
  • Submissions
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Sign up for our newsletter
No Result
View All Result

© 2020 Ceramics Now.