Lauren Kalman: Until…, 2024
Until… is an installation produced by throwing pots and blowing glass vessels and while still soft holding them against my body (or for glass a casting of my body). These pots became proxies for other bodies, a stand in for another person, and they also became a record of my absent body, through the imprint of the negative space of my hands, torso, and limbs in the clay. Once the vessels are formed, they are not altered, tension cracks, folds, and textures are all fired in place. Once fired or cooled they solidify that moment, much like a fossil or the void of a victim of Pompeii left in the ash.
Until… uses a black glass and black clay body that has a coal-like charred appearance. Coal is organic substance partially combusted; it is a record of the destruction of the original organic life form, but it is also a preservation method, locking final form in place. These black vessels to me carry similar connotations, a moment locked in time through fire. The clay literally goes through a state transformation and can never be reconstituted once fired, but the firing process also makes it strong, memorializing the final shape it took while it was still pliable and alive.
In Until… sets of vessels that are pressed together as they are held in tandem. They hold the imprint of the body but also the imprint of each other, like the complex social structures that make up and support our relationships.
