Photo By Gail
In Buddhism, the Lotus symbolizes transcendence, as the flower emerges from stagnant water to bloom in bright colors. Here, the ceramicist Kawase Shinobu uses the clear blue celadon glaze known as seihakuji to capture the spiritual importance of a lotus bud. This vessel is designed to support burning incense sticks, with a lily-pad-shaped saucer to catch the falling ash.
Photographed in The Brooklyn Museum
All Photos By Gail
Patti Warashina’s Kilns series subversively undermined the macho “cult of the kiln:” a phrase used to coin the sexist culture that surrounded kiln-building during the mid-twentieth century. As a ceramics student at the University of Washington, Warashina observed that kiln-building lessons were directed towards men, while surface decoration was the jurisdiction of women. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Patti Warashina, Gold Finger
Photo By Gail
Kandler’s brilliantly composed figural group, The Judgement of Paris (1762) was intended as a table centerpiece that would appear with dessert. It depicts the story of the shepherd Paris awarding the golden apple to Venus, whose charms he preferred to those of Minerva and Juno. The splashes of color add a frivolous note, in tune with the frothy rococo spirit of the sculpture. Moreover, hints of naturalistic coloring deny these goddesses the timelessness of idealizing sculpture, making them instead into modern beauties who perform a titillating after-dinner entertainment.
Photographed in The Met Breuer (Now Closed) as Part of the 2018 Exhibit, Like Life: Sculpture, Color and The Body.
Photos By Gail
In imagining Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009) as a contemporary god of pop culture, Jeff Koons draws on long histories of representing mythic figures in sculpture. In Michael Jackson and and Bubbles (1988), the singer cradles his pet chimpanzee, mimicking a Pieta as perhaps a poignant evolutionary take on the composition of a mother and her child. Koons uses the techniques and conventions of traditional Meissen porcelain —Â a medium often associated with kitsch — on a grand scale, to underscore the mass appeal of his subject. Similarly, the pronounced use of gold signals excess to the point of banality, even as it reflects the brilliance of the megastar in the manner of an Egyptian pharaoh.
Photographed as Part of the Exhibit Like Life: Sculpture, Color and The Body, at The Met Breuer, NYC.
All Photos By Gail
Oh, how I love a modern product whose design riffs on a retro look! I spotted this adorable (and practical!) Melitta Heritage Series Pour-Over Coffeemaker at the recent IHA Show, and was instantly smitten: not only with its millennial Pink color, but also by the vintage glazed porcelain design! Wow!
Continue reading Pink Thing of The Day: Pink Melitta Heritage Series Coffeemaker