A downside of New York City’s rise to Ceramic Gotham is that the plethora of shows of ceramics also includes the most painfully inept work. This is mainly made by visitors from other media who may be competent in their primary field (though I have checked and some are almost as bad in their specialty), but not in ceramics. They may have taken a few classes at Greenwich House Pottery and believe they are ready to exhibit. This isn’t Greenwich House Pottery’s fault; they just offer the how-to classes (except, of course, for their first Little Clay Shop event that we reviewed). They have no control over hobbyists who rush the public showing with their various bits of kiln detritus.
Again, I repeat myself: not all extremely casual craft is bad. Loose is an aesthetic and if you don’t get it, tough, a lot of discerning people in the arts do. It’s about energy release. But the line between the good (extremely rare) and the bad (copious) is very fine, so the junk (above and below) predominates.
Leah James, Untitled, 2015, glazed ceramic, 3 x 3 x 4 inches
Blackston Gallery’s show Vessels (an insult to the word and its 15,000 year tradition, the pot above being a perfectly imperfect example) has offered us the most recent horror show. We will continue to point these out so that these lax standards don’t become acceptable. The fine art world is new to ceramics (i.e they are too often profoundly ignorant) and its judgment calls have been frighteningly uneven and lacking sensitivity.
Betty Woodman, The Kitchen Table (installation view), 2014; glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas and wood; 63 x 60 x 12.5 inches
Three of the artists are worthy. Betty Woodman (who must be wondering how on earth she arrived on this event) once said to me, “my work is too well made to be taken seriously in the fine arts.” She made it anyway. Matthias Merkel Hess is an excellent artist, although the gas cans are growing old.
(Left) Matthias Merkel Hess, Wedco Diesel Can, 5 Gallon Yellow, 2012, porcelain, 8 x 14 x 20 inches. (Right) Matthias Merkel Hess, 2 Gallon Corn Oil Jug (green marbleized), 2013, porcelain with glaze, 13 x 8 x 5.5 inches
JJ PEET, Desk_Set_2, 2014, porcelain and aluminum, 16 x 8 x 6 inches
Also added to this list is JJ PEET. You may wonder why? His work looks as formless as the rest. Not so, he is one of the few who can dance on this edge, his missteps and mishaps are those of a cunning choreography, a kind of Charlie Chaplin making pratfalls in clay but achieving a moving pathos in the process. See our review of his work and others on Satan Ceramics (and conservative fundamentalist potters beware, the devil does lurk there). Also see the article on PEET’s art in this issue.
(Left) Joanne Greenbaum, Untitled, 2014, ink and glaze on porcelain, 12 x 10 x 10 inches. (Right) Joanne Greenbaum, Untitled, 2014, oil on porcelain, 7 x 9 x 9 inches
When I reviewed the aforementioned Jane Hartsook Gallery show at Greenwich House Joanne Greenbaum was singled out for her wonderful palette that she painted on her ceramic works. She is currently one of the “it” girls in New York art, but I am finding her forms tiresomely hit or miss.
Polly Apfelbaum, Adair, 2015, red clay, 9 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches
Polly Apfelbaum seems to be on the edge of something, what that is I am not sure but her hilariously satiric rendering of a ceramic plaque by Lucio Fontana on the NADA fair bodes well.
For the rest there is no hope beyond another year or two at Greenwich House. Rarely has the great vessel tradition of pottery been treated with less respect, skill or intelligence (which is saying something). And as for the installation? View and weep!
Garth Clark is the Chief Editor of CFile.
Any thoughts about this post? Share yours in the comment box below.
Blackston Gallery, Vessels. Installation views.
Wow, the reviewer is a total a-hole with no respect for freedom.
My first reaction upon seeing the first photo was that this was a holding area for the show set up. I have seen garage sales with more appealing displays. If the gallery has so little respect for the work it is showing, why would any one wish to view it? Please! Get rid of the back room recycled furniture and try for a more professional look.
I find most of the work amateurish, (Notice that I did write most!) Working with clay does not mean that self criticism has to go out the window. “But It’s mine. I made it. I love it” does not have to include sharing with the rest of the world.
Question: Does the gallery have something on Betty Woodman That would make her agree to participate in this show?
Wow. Thanks for this slash and burn review. I am so irritated at the trend of New York ceramics. I can’t tell if the exposure for clay outweighs the amount of crap being promoted or not. I agree with Don Thomas, the installation is so horrible it hurts. And I don’t care if you went to the show or not if that is that really a shot of the actual installation??@
I have to agree with don thomas–this installation looks more like an inventory in progress. I can imagine curators and registrars saying “Did you finish the condition report? Okay, put it on desk with the others.”
In my humble opinion, writing a critic of an artwork based on good images is acceptable but not ideal. Writing a critic of an exhibit without moving through it and viewing the works in relationship to each other and the space, not so acceptable. It’s what we call a “limiting condition” in the appraisal world.
This is the same garth Clark who reviewed but did not see the show at jane hartsook gallery nor did he even see this show. These reviews are written from press releases. He obviously has an agenda that the commenters agree with. It is ridiculous to take him seriously when he has not seen both shows he speaks about. The artists should feel flattered that the work is so despised. It certainly gets an old guy garth clark sitting on his chair all worked up.
One’s network is more important than their actual work when it comes to being successful. That goes for any dang profession.
Brilliant review. Finally someone speaks the truth about ceramics! Skill is the basis for all good art. Without skill there is only concept.
So glad for this “bad” review!
The installation is far more inept than most of the work.