Elizabeth Levine’s exhibition of works at ILLE Arts, Amagansett, New York (June 7 – 24, 2014) came from a series of pieces entitled Kabloom! It suggests explosions and that is what the artist delivers. But they’re not the kind of detonation that requires dynamite, rather they harness nature’s eruptive fecundity. The forms are powerful, plants blossom vigorously but with a little violence and with the vivid color one usually finds in poisonous plants and snakes. You will not find a shrinking violet in the group.
The forms divide into wall-mounted reliefs and self-standing sculpture.
I was most fascinated by the framed wall pieces for several reasons. One was the symbiotic relationship between frame and ceramic. They mirror each other in surface, (one paint, the other clay) but they contradict form-wise which creates an elegant tension. The frame is urban, regular, geometric, standardized and provides an objective arena in which the ceramic component–rural, irregular and organic–can writhe thirstily and thrust.
The combination of the protruding form, scale, color and the demanding Pop sensibility reaches out intrusively from the wall into one’s private space and demands attention, which is just a little too aggressive and disturbing in a Little Shop of Horrors context. And this sense of polychromatic danger, of toxic, tropical beauty is important because it takes away the risk of the work seeming too decorative, or worse, cute.
In looking at the spacious installation on light wood tables it occurred to me that the the self-standing work has greater potency within a cluster. There is a looseness to the form that enjoys company. While I am the last one to suggest grouping (it’s become the tiredest cliche in ceramics), it benefits the obvious garden metaphor. It has vigor and supports the sculpture’s dialogue in a way that suggests growth and, yes, little explosions.
Garth Clark is the Chief Editor of CFile.
Above image: Elizabeth Levine, Kabloom VIII, 2011, earthenware, glaze, wood, milkpaint, acrylic
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Elizabeth Levine, Kabloom III, 2011
Elizabeth Levine, Kabloom V, 2011
Elizabeth Levine, Kabloom IV, 2011
Elizabeth Levine, Kabloom V, 2011
Elizabeth Levine, Kabloom XV, 2014
Elizabeth Levine, Kabloom XX, 2014
Installation view of Elizabeth Levine’s Kabloom series.
Dear Garth, wonderful work by Levine and spot on review. You really get Kablooms.
Thank you. Elena
Excellent work Elizabeth. Editor’s review has given viewers a deeper understanding of your work.
Garth thanks for the excellent review of Elizabeth Levine’s work. What a fresh and exciting show. I love the surprising and at times shocking use of color. The shapes are filled with conflicting emotions. I love the flora shapes emerging from the frames.
What a wonderful review and I agree with your understanding of the art form