Claire Lindner: Still Motion is on view at Théodore Deck Museum, Guebwiller
June 17 – September 3, 2023
Running until September 3rd, the exhibition “Still Motion” showcases the works of artist Claire Lindner created during her residency at the European Institute of Ceramic Arts in France.
During her residency, Claire Lindner reinterpreted the work of the famous 19th-century Alsatian ceramist Théodore Deck, creator of the famous “Bleu de Deck” glaze, who saw Nature as a vital source of inspiration and celebrated it in his detailed ornamentation and decoration.
For Claire Lindner, Nature is not just a backdrop, “it is the subject.” Bridging between different organic worlds, her work interweaves and combines elements of the animal, the vegetal, and the mineral realms. “For me, it’s an attempt to connect these worlds as though everything was made of the same substance.”
The exhibition opens onto a fantastical world, blossoming with expressive curves, dynamic shapes, and vibrant colors. The show guides us through four stages that subtly question our relationship with Nature and the bonds that unite living beings.
But what is the meaning behind the title, “Still Motion”? Two opposing forces inhabit the exhibition: on the one hand, a static energy frozen in space and time, and on the other, a vital force of motion in perpetual transformation. Claire Lindner’s challenge was to create a real sense of movement using the inert material that is clay. In her biomorphic sculptures, Lindner managed to capture the intensity of movement and the moment of transformation.
As we begin the visit, we immediately come face to face with Terramovere. This strange, hybrid creature grows and spreads like a large root across the museum’s floor. It is made of raw clay that dries over time, and is therefore changing and ephemeral, showcasing a real process of material transformation. This piece thus draws us into an experience not only of space but also time, much like a ceramic version of Urs Fischer’s wax installation presented in the Rotunda of the Bourse du Commerce in Paris in 2021. Claire Lindner underscores the vulnerability of living things and ecosystems by spotlighting this transformation of the clay, which becomes discolored, crackles, and dries. An environmentally conscious work through and through, the raw clay used for this installation will be recycled at the end of the exhibition for future projects. For this work, Claire Lindner collaborated with students from the IEAC’s professional training program in Ceramic Arts.
As the visit continues, we enter the room entitled “Les métamorphoses de Tanagra” (“Tanagra’s Metamorphoses”). Here, the artworks set a very different tone, as they all appear eerily weighed down and oppressed. Shrouded in muffled tones, cold blues and greys, the works bring to mind a decaying underwater abyss. The “Tanagra” series provided Claire Lindner with an opportunity to connect her palette of powdery, matte glazes with the translucent, water-like qualities of Theodore Deck’s glazes. On these strange figures, the glazing effects produce an even stronger sense of decomposing matter.
In the “Florescences” section, the series entitled “In Bloom” surges with unexpected and unpredictable twists, curves and germinations. The works here cast poetic visions of momentum and growth. Lindner sought to “free Nature from its ornamental constraints, letting it take over and inhabit the museum space.”
Here, color serves motion. Through subtle color gradations, Claire Lindner conjures warm and vibrant tones – reds, ochres, saffrons, and blues – that heighten the sense of movement in the pieces. “The gradients play into the perception of movement: color is not static, it is itself a flow, a metamorphosis.”
The last room of the exhibition, titled “élans immobiles” (“static momentums”) showcases numerous works, including the series “Envol” (“Flight”) on the theme of birds. The figure of the bird is a recurring motif in T. Deck’s decorations, symbolising lightness, freedom, and movement. After also drawing inspiration from Jules-Etienne Marey’s photographic work on the decomposition of movement, Claire worked with woodcock and snipe wings, which she reproduced by imprinting them in fresh clay. Once deformed, these clay wings were assembled into the wondrous sculptures on display, ready to soar into the air and fly out the museum doors.
In collaboration with the talented glass artists of the Cerfav’s Atelier du Verre Gallery, Claire Lindner created pieces that combine ceramics with the medium of glass. Marking the end of the exhibition’s course, these unique works feature a masterful interplay between opacity and transparency that pushes her exploration of material metamorphosis even further. Presented publicly for the first time, they are the culmination of an unprecedented artistic exploration.
Text by Ned Darlington and Jacques Zwickert
Translation by Ned Darlington
Théodore Deck Museum
1, Rue du 4 Février
68500 Guebwiller
France
Contact: musee.deck@ville-guebwiller.fr
Institut Européen des Arts Céramiques
Pôle culturel de la Neuenbourg
3, Rue du 4 Février
68500 Guebwiller
France
Contact: contact@ieac.fr
