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 Pelham, NY - A group show of figurine-inspired artworks by 11 international artists juxtaposed with collectible figurines owned by people in the local community opens at Pelham Art Center on Friday, September 12.
The show is part of All Fired Up! A Celebration of Clay in Westchester, the county-wide clay festival. The combination of contemporary art objects that explore themes like politics, consumerism and faith and mass-produced, personal collectibles sets up a dynamic visual conversation about taste, sentimentality, and what is valued as art.
“We are a community art center,” says Lisa Robb, the curator of Handle with Care and the Director of the Pelham Art Center. “The figurine is an art form that is in people’s lives, in their homes, and is a wonderful bridge for people to get to the Art Center, a way for us to show some really outstanding contemporary work in an accessible way.”
A community call for figurines was advertised earlier in the year, and during the Art Center’s frequent free art days, people were invited to bring in their favorite ceramic figurine. Staff photographed the figurines, captured information about their provenance, and returned the object to the owner. The work selected by Robb will be brought back to the Art Center in September, in time for the exhibition. Robb also made visits to collectors who will contribute figurines made by Staffordshire and other well-known producers, objects that resemble porcelain figurines from the 18th century that were commissioned by royal courts and crafted with exceptional detail and care. Other community pieces include figures from the Beatrix Potter series, a knock-off Hummel, and a souvenir brought home from Lourdes – no less cherished by the people who collect and display them in their homes.
If antique or high-end figurines reflect discerning taste on the part of the collector, and mass-produced figurines are dismissed as kitsch, sitting squarely at the center of this is the figurine-inspired work by the contemporary artists. As works of art, they differ from functional ceramics and pottery, such as teapots and bowls, instead exploring the painterly and sculptural potential of clay – often through the aesthetic of kitsch. The term kitsch stems from the 19th century and usually describes artworks possessing exaggerated sentimentality or vulgarity; it is this definition of kitsch, and its connection to popular culture that give the exhibition its context. Many of the artists play with the figurative in an expressionistic style, working with color, texture and form to give pieces their character. Humor and subtle meanings referencing political, religious, or consumer-culture subjects are abundant. For example, in Brooklyn-based Rachel Ann Mason’s “Capitalists and Communists in Flesh Tones,” six porcelain busts of Cold War titans are presented as a collector’s box set, giving these otherwise notorious individuals appear somewhat ambiguous.
Virginia-based artist Michelle Erikson’s work rediscovers early ceramic techniques and includes a broad range of clay bodies, earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. “I connect to the ancient origins of the use of clay to animate the inanimate,” says Erikson, whose piece, “China Junk Teapot” can be seen in the show. “Much of my work draws specifically on the history of the ceramic figure and interpretations of various characters from the past and present, whether iconographical, allegorical, whimsical or literal. My recognition of how these figures reflect the past informs the choices I make for my work in a modern context.”
Not all the work is made of clay or even three-dimensional. German-born artist Martin Klimas destroys clay to make his art, by breaking objects so they become something else. Klimas drops the figurine and photographs it when it hits the ground – a process more complex than it sounds. The height the object drops from and the light affect the outcome, which according to the artist, is the one that best expresses a transformation of the figurine into a new form, captured magnificently in photographic detail.
Beth Katleman’s four-foot high ceramic installation, “Blue Plate Special” and Wendy Walgate’s mixed-media basket of animal figures, “White Is Absence” sift through the all-at-once vulgar and beautiful pop iconography, forging the ready-made and the refined to produce new objects of desire.
Participating artists: Chris Antemann, Reina Mia Brill, Michelle Erikson, Kristen Grey, Yoko Inoue, Beth Katleman, Heins Kim, Martin Klimas, Rachel Mason, Margaret Murphy and Wendy Walgate.
For higher resolution images, to schedule an interview with an artist or curator, or schedule a guided tour of the exhibit, contact us at 914-738-2525.
Location: 155 Fifth Avenue, Pelham, NY 10803
Gallery and office hours are Monday – Friday 10AM – 5PM and Saturday 10AM – 4PM.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
CLAY FEST!
Saturday, October 25, 12:30-3:30pm
Docented tours of Handle with Care; trios and quartets from the Music Conservatory of Westchester perform selections from Baroque and Romantic periods of classical music; and demonstrations of wheel-throwing, the press and extruder. There will also be two ceramics art-making workshops. Part of day-long events of live music, open studios, and gallery tours related to All Fired Up! A Celebration of Clay in Westchester.
Pelham Art Center receives funding from New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; Westchester Arts Council, through county government; Westchester Jewish Community Services; Strypemonde Foundation; Nurse’s Network; Comer Family Fund, The Chicago Community Trust; Town of Pelham; Legislative Grant from New York State Department of Education through State Senator Jeff Klein; YellowBook USA, Inc.; Target; Junior League of Pelham; Robin’s Art+Giving; Members; and Annual Fund Donors.
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