Tag Archives: Hauser & Wirth

Ceramicists Celebrated!

Ken Price: A Survey of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006, Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row, London W1, until 4th February 2017

Installation view, 'Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006', Hauser & Wirth London Photo: Alex Delfanne

Installation view, ‘Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006’, Hauser & Wirth London
Photo: Alex Delfanne

Spread over both gallery spaces this exhibition provides an extensive survey of Ken Price’s ceramic output.  Through drawings and sculptures we see how this innovative artist changed the way in which ceramics were regarded by transferring the concept of them being practical pieces into the idea of their being artworks in their own right.  Drawing on many influences and inspirations he achieved this spectacularly.

Installation view, 'Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006', Hauser & Wirth London Photo: Alex Delfanne

Installation view, ‘Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006’, Hauser & Wirth London
Photo: Alex Delfanne

http://www.hauserwirth.com/

Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal, Jewish Museum London, Raymond Burton House, 129 – 131 Albert Street, London NW1, until 26th February 2017

Antonia Salmon, Wind Rush, 2016 Height 32cm, Courtesy of Antonia Salmon

Antonia Salmon, Wind Rush, 2016 Height 32cm, Courtesy of Antonia Salmon

This is a marvellous opportunity to see the work of gifted potters and the exhibition starts with the Jewish émigrés who brought the ideas and styles of central Europe to a Britain where ceramicists were following the Anglo-Oriental fusion practiced by Bernard Leach. Lucy Rie, Hans Coper and Ruth Duckworth were promoted by Henry Rothschild, a refugee himself, through his London-based store Primavera.

Lucie Rie, Buttons, Courtesy of The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Lucie Rie, Buttons, Courtesy of The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

From more recent times one sees the work of the celebrated Edmund de Waal and other of his generation, including those who express their Jewish identity through their work. It is a great celebration of ceramic art – I was particularly pleased to see a selection of the buttons created by Lucy Rie as I had first heard about them from Paul Atterbury many years ago.

Ray Silverman, Thrown Stoneware Form, around 1983 Photo Tal Silverman

Ray Silverman, Thrown Stoneware Form, around 1983 Photo Tal Silverman

I shall leave the final words to the Museum’s director Abigail Morris who has said ““This exhibition offers a new perspective on ceramics as well as an opportunity to see some beautiful artwork. It is the first time these ceramicists have been grouped and exhibited together in this way and we hope that our visitors will enjoy discovering how Jewish ceramicists changed the face of British studio pottery”

Edmund de Waal, Arcady, P489, 2007. Photo Heini Schneebeli, courtesy of the Crafts Council

Edmund de Waal, Arcady, P489, 2007. Photo Heini Schneebeli, courtesy of the Crafts Council

jewishmuseum.org.uk

Hauser & Wirth

Mark Wallinger ID, Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row, London W1, until 7th May 2016

Mark Wallinger id Painting 37 2015 Acrylic on canvas 360 x 180 cm / 141 3/4 x 70 7/8 in Photo: Alex Delfanne

Mark Wallinger
id Painting 37
2015
Acrylic on canvas
360 x 180 cm / 141 3/4 x 70 7/8 in
Photo: Alex Delfanne

This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and indeed it takes place in both their North and South galleries as there is much to capture our attention and I shall give a taste of it here.  As its title might suggest the artist has used Freud’s terms id, ego and superego as a basis for his works.  The large Id paintings involve the viewer as they become involved with what feelings the artist is portraying.

Superego 2016 Stainless steel, glass mirror, motor 350 x 160 x 160 cm / 137 3/4 x 63 x 63 in Photo: Alex Delfanne

Superego
2016
Stainless steel, glass mirror, motor
350 x 160 x 160 cm /
137 3/4 x 63 x 63 in
Photo: Alex Delfanne

The mirrored sculpture Superego – inspired by the Scotland Yard sign – dominates us and impedes us because despite the reflective nature of its material we are unable to see ourselves in it. His new video work is Orrery.  An orrery is of course a model that shows the solar system and for his video Wallinger depicts the New Fairlop Oak which sits in the centre of the Fulwell Cross roundabout in Barkingside taken from a car.  The revolving world around the tree is both representational of Britain and also our planet’s orbit around the sun and thus our place in the universe.

Mark Wallinger Orrery (film stills) 2016 4-channel video installation, sound 4 minutes 37 seconds looped

Mark Wallinger
Orrery (film stills)
2016
4-channel video installation, sound
4 minutes 37 seconds looped

 

http://www.hauserwirth.info

MICHAEL WERNER

Allen Jones: Maîtresse, Michael Werner Gallery, 22 Upper Brook Street, London W1, until 29th April 2016  

Allen Jones. “Maîtresse I (A film by Barbet Schroeder)”, 1978

Allen Jones. “Maîtresse I (A film by Barbet Schroeder)”, 1978

In 1975 Jones was commissioned to produce a movie poster for Barbet Schroeder’s film Maîtresse which told the story of a small-time crook (Gerard Depardieu) and his obsessive romance with a professional dominatrix (Bulle Ogier).

Jones kept the original painting and then between 2008 and 2015 he worked on a series of canvases where he explored the themes of space and colour around the original poster’s motif.  They and the original are shown here together along with works on paper which reveal his thought processes.

Allen JOnes. “London Derrière (Maîtresse II)”, 2008

Allen JOnes. “London Derrière (Maîtresse II)”, 2008

http://www.michaelwerner.com

Three Artists: Judy Chicago, Tetsumi Kudo and Anj Smith

Judy Chicago, Riflemaker, 79 Beak Street, London W1, until 31st October 2015.k St,

 

JUDY CHICAGO Ceramic Goddess #6 from The Dinner Party (1977) bisque clay, 9.5 x 7.5 x 3 in. photo © Donald Woodman

JUDY CHICAGO Ceramic Goddess #6 from The Dinner Party (1977)
bisque clay, 9.5 x 7.5 x 3 in.
photo © Donald Woodman

This new show features the work of the ground-breaking artist Judy Chicago.  She has arguably set the agenda for women artists both as an activist and through her writing and art. She helped bring the perspective of women’s’ art to the foreground and her influence continues to this day.  Some of her Car Hood sculptures are part of Tate Modern’s current “The World Goes Pop” exhibition.

 

http://www.riflemaker.org

 

Tetsumi Kudo, North Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row, London W1, until 21st November 2015

Installation view, ‘Tetsumi Kudo’, Hauser & Wirth London, 2015 © Estate of Tetsumi Kudo, ADAGP, Paris, ARS, New York and DACS, London 2015, Hiroko Kudo Courtesy Hauser & Wirth and Andrea Rosen Gallery Photo: Alex Delfanne

Installation view, ‘Tetsumi Kudo’, Hauser & Wirth London, 2015
© Estate of Tetsumi Kudo, ADAGP, Paris, ARS, New York and DACS, London 2015, Hiroko Kudo
Courtesy Hauser & Wirth and Andrea Rosen Gallery
Photo: Alex Delfanne

This main theme of Kudo’s work is a sense of disillusionment with the modern world. It is clearly reflected in these works which were created in the first ten years (1963-72) he spent in Paris.  The major piece, shown alongside works from his dome and cube series, is ‘Garden of the Metamorphosis in the Space Capsule’ (1968).

 

Anj Smith – Phosphor on the Palms, South Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row, London W1, until 21st November 2015

Installation view, ‘Anj Smith. Phosphor on the Palms’, Hauser & Wirth London, 2015 © Anj Smith. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Alex Delfanne

Installation view, ‘Anj Smith. Phosphor on the Palms’, Hauser & Wirth London, 2015
© Anj Smith. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Alex Delfanne


This exhibition, which has been three years in the making, contains paintings where elements of portrait, landscape and still life are brought together.  Smith writes of her work: ‘Difficulties in identifying and separating out phenomena aren’t artificially simplified but embraced in all their complexities. Thresholds are hard to determine; clouds in the sky are indistinguishable from the scum washed up with the surf’.

 

http://www.hauserwirth.com