Wonderers: 45 at 45, LA Louver
Oct. 20 - Jan. 21
L.A. Louver is pleased to present the group exhibition 45 at 45, which includes works by 45 artists, timed to celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the gallery located at 45 North Venice Boulevard in Venice, California.
As the global pandemic has required we distance from one another and engage through screens, 45 at 45 celebrates L.A. Louver’s reopening of our gallery, and physical connection expressed through the materiality of the artworks on view. The largest group exhibition in L.A. Louver’s history, over half of the participating artists are based in Los Angeles, and reflects the gallery’s founding principle: To champion L.A. artists within an international program. 45 at 45 features long represented L.A. Louver artists such as David Hockney, Ed and Nancy Kienholz, Alison Saar; those from L.A. Louver’s Rogue Wave program of emerging L.A.-based artists: Matthew Brandt, Tia Pulitzer, Eduardo Sarabia; well-established artists for whom the gallery has high regard: Nick Cave, Tacita Dean, Elliot Hundley, Liza Lou; and rising stars: Carmen Argote, Daniel Crews-Chubb, Gabriella Sanchez.
45 at 45 draws upon many thematic strands, from the body and sensuality, to personal narrative and magical thinking, among other connections we will highlight in curated, contextual online presentations. Artists also include Sarah Awad, Rina Banerjee, Wallace Berman, Deborah Butterfield, Rebecca Campbell, Gisela Colon, Richard Deacon, Marcel Duchamp, Jimmie Durham, Kohshin Finley, Gajin Fujita, Sherin Guirguis, Frederick Hammersley, Tim Hawkinson, Ben Jackel, Leon Kossoff, Tony Marsh, Heather Gwen Martin, Jason Martin, Patrick Martinez, Dave McDermott, Michael C. McMillen, Jiha Moon, Alice Neel, Christopher Pate, Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin, Analia Saban, Sui Jianguo, Juan Uslé, Matt Wedel, Flora Yukhnovich and John Zane Zappas.
The exhibition will encompass all areas of L.A. Louver, including a newly remodeled showroom that adds additional exhibition space on the second floor of the gallery. On view for an extended period of time through early 2021, 45 at 45 will allow for a singular in-person viewing experience, ensuring our visitors can enjoy our renovated gallery in optimum safety and comfort.
L.A. Louver will host a series of virtual programs throughout the duration of 45 at 45, including exclusive artist conversations, studio visits and special online features. For more details, please visit lalouver.com/45.
On the Verge: New work by Matt Wedel
Oct. 24 - Feb. 15
Wichita Falls Museum of Art is pleased to present this exhibition of recent ceramic works by Matt Wedel. Support for this exhibition is provided by The Winifred and Kevin P. Reilly Jr. Fund and generous donors to the Annual Exhibition Fund. Matt Wedel: On the Verge is a collaboration between LSU College of Art & Design, LSU School of Art, and LSU Museum of Art. This second stop of the exhibition will be on view at WFMA from October 24th- February 15th, 2020. Conversation with the artist will take place during the opening reception from 5-8 on Thursday, October 24th. A public lecture will take place in February 2020. Check back for details.
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Matt Wedel’s sculpture collapses artificial boundaries between painting, sculpture, drawing, and ceramics. His work highlights the permeability of these mediums, and by extension, the permeability of nature and culture.
Small sculptural forms oscillate between tightly articulated flowers and loose impasto petals. They shift from vessel-like pedestal objects to canvas-like wall sculptures. His gestural use of pigment-saturated porcelain parallels the primacy of mark-making and color associated with painting. Often the imprint of Wedel’s hand or fingers remains present to reveal his gesture.
In the larger works, Wedel introduces plinth structures as an abstract reference to culture. The flat plane of the plinth enables him to build forms with a speed and looseness similar to drawing. The back becomes a canvas for glaze. Pendulous flower and fruit forms emerge from and overtake the plinth to suggest the clash of nature and culture. Elongated, drooping vine-like forms almost become symbols of mourning. Burdened by scale and color yet bright and ripe, the forms suggest both the threat and potential of nature and culture.
Wedel grapples with his own material practice amid environmental collapse. Fragility, complexity, and scale are central to his practice. Pushing concepts and materials to the verge of collapse, Wedel seeks acceptance through loss. Together these works form a “poetic narration of collapse,” a kind of elegy to environmental loss.
Particle & Wave: PaperClay Illuminated
Oct. 12 - Dec. 15
Exhibition organized by The International Paper Clay Exhibition Project, and curated by Peter Held.
Particle & Wave: PaperClay Illuminated is a groundbreaking exhibition featuring 45 artists from across the globe who incorporate paper pulp and organic fibers into their clay. The artists choose paperclay for its adaptability, tensile strength, translucency, and ecological and sustainable characteristics. The medium also increases freedom of expression for the artists, who reveal a breadth of technique, concept, and form. The works divide between figural and structural abstraction, with a few flirting with ceramics’ utilitarian traditions. The participating artists address issues of sustainability, social engagement, environmental concerns, and issues facing a global contemporary culture. The artists include some of the best-known early paper clay innovators as well members of subsequent generations, and come from ten countries on five continents. Through its embrace of new materials and new inspirations, Particle & Wave opens a conversation that encompasses innovation, creativity, and connection.
Folk / Funk
Ongoing
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Canada
Curator: Sandra Alfoldy
Folk/Funk is a whimsical exhibition that looks at the connections between professional clay artists who use the medium to create social and political statements, and folk artists who enjoy clay for the same purposes. On the one hand, ceramists like David Gilhooly are trained artists who purposefully create clay objects that are fun, satirical takes on contemporary life. Their works either contain purposeful imperfections, like Gilhooly’s Victoria. Bathing with the Beavers, whose heavy clay and quickly applied glaze mimic hobbyist work, or they are carefully created masterworks like Jim Smith’s Titanic Dish which highlight his skill through its sleek form and arresting ornamentation. On the other hand, for folk artists who engage with clay, such as Edouard Jasmin, it is their lack of technical sophistication that is part of their charm. In his series of ceramic platters recently acquired by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Jasmin captures iconic moments in recent Quebec history ranging from the Pope’s visit to celebrations of St. Jean Baptiste Day. Whether professional or folk ceramists, every artist on display in Folk/Funk places storytelling front and centre, capturing the essence of their geographical location, historical moment, or political position.
Ceramic Momentum - Staging the Object
11 May – 3 November 2019
What is happening internationally in the world of ceramics right now? CLAY offers some answers in this exhibition that displays around 100 striking works by 23 ceramists from the United States, Canada, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
In sculptures, jars, objects and tableaux the ceramicists, in their various ways, clarify how contemporary ceramics is positioning itself in an online, digital world and it examines the relation between the prevalent visual culture and the material-based ceramic object.
The exhibition title and its spectacular scenography is inspired by this exchange and staging of images and objects that take place on social media today. For the exhibition, a catalog has been published which can be purchased by visiting CLAY or by sending an email to info@claymuseum.dk. The introductory price of the catalog is DKK 250, –
The participated artists are:
Anders Ruhwald (DK), Turi Heisselberg Pedersen (DK), Carl Emil Jacobsen (DK), Mia E. Göransson (SE), Ole Jensen (DK), Takuro Kuwata (JP), Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen (DK), Matt Wedel (US), Christina Schou Christensen (DK), Bente Skjøttgaard (DK), Linda Sormin (CA/TH), Morten Løbner Espersen (DK), Gitte Jungersen (DK), Karen Bennicke (DK), Steen Ipsen (DK) Anne Tophøj (DK), Marianne Krumbach (DK), Marianne Nielsen (DK), Marit Tingleff (NO), Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl (DK), Nils Erichsen Martin (NO), Anton Alvarez (SE/CH) og Michael Geertsen (DK)
The exhibition is curated by Copenhagen Ceramics, the exhibition platform run by Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl, Bente Skjøttgaard and Steen Ipsen.
Exhibition architect: Johan Carlson, JAC Studios.
Graphic identity & typeface design: A2/SW/HK
The exhibition is generous supported by
ANNIE & OTTO JOHS> DETLEFS FOUNDATION, OJD