Thursday, December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas! - Christmas and Holiday Art

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Enjoy this specially curated selection of Christmas and holiday art that celebrates the Season. There is art from the Medieval period to the Modern Contemporary. Enjoy and thank you for following me.  

"Adoration of the Shepherds with Saints Francis and Carlo Borromeo," Antonio d' Enrico (called Tanzio da Varallo) (Italy, Riale d'Alagna, 1575/1580-1633) Italy, circa 1628





Philippe Parreno "Fraught Times for 11 Months of the Year it's an Artwork and in December it's Christmas (September)" 2009 
Gary Hume
"Front of a Snowman" 2015
Enamel on bronze
144 x 80 inches; 366 x 203 cm
Ian Whitmore " Christmas Painting" 2005, oil on linen
Roman Signer "Untitled" 
Eames' Christmas Tree


"The Nativity," France, Ile de France or Normandy, 14th century
Sculpture, Sandstone

"Christmas Tree" Paul McCarthy
       

Keith Mayerson "New Year's Eve Empire," 2014
Oil on linen
30 x 22 inches
76.2 x 55.9 cm

Jan Staller, "Stoplight," 1984



Monday, December 21, 2015

Assemble - The 2015 Turner Prize Winners



This year the 2015 Turner Prize went to the art collective Assemble. Assemble mixes art,architecture, design and social practice to rehabilitate run down spaces. Their work embraces the DIY aesthetic to engage the community and save a neighborhood from demolition.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Ceramic Artists Reflect a New Sculptural Shift

About 5 years ago I noticed a shift in the sculptural paradigm that has dominated contemporary art for the last 100 years. The last 100 years or so, contemporary art has been dominated by the ready-made Duchampian approach to sculpture where the artists would find something and then the artists would make that object into a work of art. Artist began making ceramic sculpture. Ceramics have always been associated with utility and design.

However, artists such as Peter Voulkos, John Mason and Ken Price were creating compelling ceramic works that broke that association. Ken Price's ceramic sculpture held a prominent presence in the Los Angeles art scene. Peter Voulkos bought a new approach to ceramics by bringing to it the sensibilities of Abstract Expressionism. Curators, museums and galleries began to take notice. Outside of Los Angeles, in the City of Pomona, the American Museum of Ceramic Art opened it's doors in 2004. Ken Price's retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2012, John Mason's inclusion in the 2014 Whitney Biennial and Pacific Standard Time's focus on ceramic's LA history are examples of institutions embracing ceramics as a viable and compelling sculptural media.

Recently, 3 current shows in the month of December have highlighted a new generation of emerging artists who are engaging in ceramic art. Each artist is involved in a new dialogue that has brought about a change in the approach to sculpture. Sculpture is now returning to a hand made approach where the artist is creating objects from the raw material. The emerging artists featured in this post show that ceramics are no longer solely for utility. Instead it is a new paradigm that is emerging in the 21st Century, and the use of ceramics are leading that charge.


Highland Park Museum of Ceramic Art - Monte Vista Projects

Organized by Tyler Waxman

Inspired by shows such as the Los Angeles Museum of Ceramic Art at ACME and Dirt on Delight at ICA, the HPMCA aims to celebrate the current excitement and resurgence of artists working with ceramics. Clay, being one of the oldest known expressive and utilitarian materials, is no longer restricted by a narrow definition of craft or purpose. The exhibition is a survey of contemporary ceramics being made in Los Angeles today.

Ranging from veteran artists and professors, to mid-career professionals, through younger artists just completing or in their graduate studies, the HPMCA features a diverse and eclectic roster of artists.

Participating artists include:Peter Callas, Joe Goode, Phyllis Green, Julia Haft-Candell, Roger Herman, Anabel Juarez, Shoshi Kanokohata, Chris Miller, Brittany Mojo, Kristen Morgin, Thomas Muller, Jackie Rines, Brian Rochefort, Emily Sudd, Christian Tedeschi, and Tyler Waxman.

Ends December 6, 2015

Gallery hours are Sat and Sun from 12-5 pm or by appointment.

Monte Vista Projects is located at 5442 Monte Vista St., Los Angeles, CA 90042

Joe Goode

Tyler Waxman

 Chris Miller
Anabel Juarez

Thomas Muller

Roger Herman

Brian Rochefort

Phyllis Green

Jackie Rines

Shoshi Kanokohata(top), Peter Callas (bottom)

Christian Tedeschi

Julia Haft-Candell

Kristen Morgin

Brittany Mojo

Emily Sudd

Installation View

Installation View


Matt Wedel "Peaceable Fruit" at LA Louver

“The title Peaceable Fruit comes out of a larger interest in landscape within my work and is a kind of hopeful signifier and idealized blueprint in understanding the future of humanity.” – Matt Wedel

Matt Wedel's solo show is beautiful. Wedel's use of clay is masterful in how he straddles the line between the abstract biomorphic and the figurative. The resulting forms are an exuberant representation of an idyllic, mythological and abundant landscape that embodies the exhibition title, a direct reference to the bucolic scenes in naturalist painter Edward Hick’s The Peaceable Kingdom (1845-46).  When one enters the gallery, the viewer is met with figurative work that recalls the work of early modernist such as Edgar Degas, Matisse and Giacometti. Wedel's figurative works wants to invoke an Edenic paradise, which the artist attempts to resurrect. The abstract works are flowery and plant-like figures that are strange and beautiful at the same time. The use of ceramic addresses a lost paradise and makes a statement of both humanity's present and possible future. 


On view until December 30, 2015

L.A. Louver
45 North Venice Boulevard
Venice, California 90291 
tel: 310.822.4955












Kathy Butterly "The Weight of Color" - Shoshana Wayne Gallery

Kathy Butterly's solo show at Shoshana Wayne Gallery approaches ceramics by creating objects that invoke color, design and an air of elegance. However, by taking the utilized objects, such as cups and tea tass and vases, and bending them into the unrecognizable. Butterly still maintains the essence of the objects. The artist wants the viewer to interpret the objects themselves and find meaning within each fold, bent and curvature of the ceramic object.


On view until December 24. 2015

Shoshana Wayne Gallery is located at Bergamot Station B1. 
2525 Michigan Avenue, 
Santa Monica CA, 90404

Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10a - 5p · 
Saturday 11a - 5:30p · Closed Sunday + Monday · 
(310) 453-7535






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