By Jennifer Zwilling
The three solo exhibitions currently on view at The Clay Studio present work by current and recent Resident Artists. The aesthetics of the three exhibitions are quite disparate. Josephine Mette Larsen’s work is precise, nearly monochromatic, and meditative. Yinsik Yoo’s figural procession across a large pedestal evokes a feeling of evolution of a human being over time, with color and firing techniques attracting attention along the way. Liisa Nelson’s Dreams exhibition gives us pop culture and video game objects busily floating on a cheerful blue sky with puffy clouds. Despite the varied moods evoked, each show holds ideas of memory, valuing that which has been lost or left behind. Larsen holds her beloved grandparents in the light, Yoo celebrates a tradition of honoring his ancestors, and Nelson explores the dreams of her youth.
Josephine Mette Larsen’s exhibition, Doesn’t It Feel Warmer Just Knowing the Sun Will Be Out, illustrates the rigid dichotomy of grief alongside immense joy and hope that has been ever-present in her life these past few years. The artist reflects on the idea that “important members of my family have left our physical world and two new lives have also been born into the family. ‘Doesn’t it feel warmer just knowing the sun will be out’ is the mindset which has been imperative for me to keep as I work through these major life changes. Those who have left us, I will always carry with me. Those who have joined us bring life full circle. The show revolves itself around the deep emotions, reflections and questions of this time period of my life.”
Jinsik Yoo’s exhibition Palimpsest adapts traditional funerary rituals into a personal mythology to think about complexities of lineage, memory, and belonging. “In Korea, 제사 (jesa) is a ceremony in which we care for the spirits of our ancestors, offering prayers and food on an altar and burning incense into smoke. In every family line, the oldest son must perform these rituals. I am the only son in my family, and will perform these rituals eventually. But I am queer. I am not expected to have a son in a traditional family. My ancestors die with me.” says Yoo.
“The figures in this show are messengers between me and my ancestors, between this world and the one beyond. I envision the action of making these sculptures as performing another kind of ritual with fundamental elements. Shaping clay (earth and water), then firing it (air and flame). This method of creation is an intentional part of the ritual: the temporary smoke of the incense in jesa acts as a timer, opening the door for the ancestors’ ghosts, and closing it when the smoke burns out. Permanently marked by smoke through the firing process, these messengers are able to hold the door open.
Formed from clay, these figures could outlast us all. With this series, I want to create the possibility for ceramic’s long life to carry on a kind of jesa. This work neighbors tradition while imagining new ways to care for and communicate with the next world. Though tradition would say I am bound to lose my ancestors, these messengers carry on a new kind of legacy, acting as the palimpsest of the title: writing my messengers over old lines that still shine through.“
Through the Dreams exhibition, Liisa Nelson reflects on human longing; this exhibition of ceramic sculpture, furniture, and tile wall pieces draws on notions of heavens and otherworldly realms, myths and spiritualities of the past, merging these themes with familiar motifs of the digital age & late capitalism. What are the hopes and dreams closest to us and how do we make sense of them in this era of consumption and global unrest? How can we tap into our own super stories to reckon with the power structures that try to capitalize on and monetize our dearest longings?
References to myths, legends, video games, commercial packaging, advertisements, and media raise questions about the ways in which we are searching for and finding our dreams amidst the chaos and excess of our time.
Gameplay and storytelling are pastimes that hold many personal memories for us. Game worlds are spaces where we get invested, allowing the player an escapist diversion. Yet there is something revealed in this suspension of one world for another that reminds us how we’d like to see ourselves as players in a great epic story.
The artworks in Dreams echo the rich imagery of these games that, in turn, reflect a global exchange of cultural aesthetics, internalized colonialism, and the marketing of one’s own culture as a product. These have all been prevalent in trade and exchange throughout history and are now moving at super speeds in the digital age. In this time of an American presidential transition, power, control, hierarchy, and questions of longing, greed, and the ethics (or lack thereof) of colonial capitalism are floating in the atmosphere, just as my sculptures are floating on a wall of clouds in the gallery space.
Captions
Photos by Alexander Mansour, courtesy of The Clay Studio
Jennifer Zwilling is The Clay Studio’s Curator and Director of Artistic Programs. She earned her BA in History from Ursinus College and MA in Art History from Temple University, Tyler School of Art. Previously, she was Assistant Curator of American Decorative Arts and Contemporary Craft at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Jennifer developed and taught History of Modern Craft at Tyler School of Art for ten years and has taught and lectured around the world.
Josephine Mette Larsen: Doesn’t It Feel Warmer Just Knowing the Sun Will Be Out, Jinsik Yoo: Palimpsest, and Liisa Nelson: Dreams are on view at The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, between January 15 and March 30, 2025.
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