Change
has a way of happening in incremental stages that are so small that
we find ourselves accepting and adapting to them without noticing or,
more importantly, without examining their importance and meaning. When
a period of time, however, separates us from circumstances, we are able,
upon retuning to those circumstances, to see the changes that have taken
place much more clearly than we would have had we been constantly present
while they were occurring. That is what happened to me when I visited
SOFA 2006 in New York. It had been fifteen years since I had attended
a SOFA fair and I was interested in seeing what the high-end galleries
were betting would be the next commercially successful trend in the
ceramics field.
Some in the field may wince at my use of the term “commercial”. I have
had over the years countless conversations with both potters and ceramic
sculptors who complain about how commercial galleries and SOFA represented
the worst aspect of the marketplace. Potters, who rely primarily on
high volume sales of their work to the general public, voice their disdain
by adopting a quasi moralistic stance that that basically says that
SOFA and the commercial galleries that attend, promote high priced objects
that common, ordinary people cannot afford. The work exhibited at SOFA
therefore is seen, by them as being elitist and serving only as social
signifiers to the wealthy. On the other hand, ceramic sculptors who,
for the most part, derive their income from their positions in academe,
find nothing wrong with the high prices, their complaint centers around
the argument that SOFA and commercial galleries are not showing work
that is cutting edge and experimental, for example, their own. There
is probably an element of truth in both of these arguments. However,
I would argue that SOFA, like say, the publications in the ceramics
field, gives us an unvarnished picture of what is taking place in the
field at the moment. One may not like what one sees but that does not
change the reality
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Takashi
Hinoda—AMORAL JOURNEY, 2003
H 41 x W 25 x L 16 inches
Presented with permission from Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. |
SOFA
2006 in New York had 59 galleries exhibiting, of those galleries approximately
13 were devoted to ceramics. Glass with 16 galleries was, as always,
the predominant medium. There were 12 galleries that showed a cross
section of medium, ranging from syrupy painting and sculpture to the
other “crafts” mediums. Nine galleries exhibited jewelry and 4 were
devoted to furniture. This is not a scientific statistical analysis,
just an approximate breakdown to try and give the reader a sense of
what was there. I struggled, as I looked at the offerings in ceramics,
to find some kind of emerging trend, something “new” and “hot” that
would occupy the ceramics field’s publications, galleries and collectors
until the next trend has come along. That is, at least, how the ceramics
field in the United States has evolved over the past 40 years and that
is what one has come to expect.
It seems, though, that this tendency—this constant obsession with the
“new”—has run its course. The ceramics field has broken all the boundaries
it has been able to locate, save the ultimate one of abandoning material.
We are left with the same categories, which, I would argue are the ones
that we have always historically had—the sculptural vessel, abstract
and figurative sculpture and the pot. All of these genres were represented
at SOFA, even the lowly pot. There were, however, a number of significant
differences from my previous visits to SOFA. Before I write about those
differences, I have to say that the overall tone or sensibility of SOFA
has not changed much. Glass, which has always had the largest presence,
was just as saccharine and gaudy as it ever was. I was part of a number
of conversations with ceramics collectors and dealers who wondered out
loud if the attraction to this kind of superficial beauty could be explained
by some yet unfound chromosome. Ceramics was not entirely immune to
this tendency. The pervasiveness of kitsch masquerading as social commentary
assaulted you from time to time. It was hard to take this work seriously
when even the fig leaf of social commentary could not hide its seemingly
wanton desire to appeal to the audience.
There were however some interesting changes in ceramics and I have chosen
to write about them rather than spending time on the status quo just
mentioned which continues to be a source of frustration to some and
apparently a fount of unending joy to others. One of the most heartening
aspects to this SOFA was that none of the genres in the ceramics field
held a pre-eminent position; they all seemed to be represented to the
point that it made it impossible to declare that one of them held a
more important place in culture at the moment than any of the others.
Perhaps the most interesting development though, was that approximately
half of the galleries that exhibited ceramics exclusively were from
outside the United States or were exhibiting work that was not American.
The obvious inference one can draw from this is that the American ceramics
market is still strong; the more subtle point would be that American
collectors are, for whatever reasons, starting to look beyond their
own shores for work that engages them.
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| Kouichi
Uchida—Yamaki Art Gallery |
New
York based Dai Ichi Arts and Joan Mirviss Ltd. both exhibited ceramic
work from Japan. Dai Ichi exhibited the sculpture by Takashi Hinoda
and Tsubusa Kato while Joan Mirviss showed sculptural vessels and pots
by Mihara Gen and Kato Yasukage. Yamaki Gallery from Osaka was also
present and highlighted sculpture by Etsuko Tashima that combines clay
and glass and pottery by Kouichi Uchida. Uchida’s work was perhaps the
most compelling pottery at SOFA by a living potter. His pots were complex
and dramatic without being predictably Japanese. What was interesting
about the offerings in Japanese ceramics by these galleries was that
they were by younger artists (that of course is a relative term that
has meaning perhaps only in Japan), not the more well-known names to
which we have become accustomed. You could sense that American collectors
are outgrowing the notion that all Japanese ceramic art is made in the
Yanagi/Leach mingei mold. It was refreshing and something that I hope
will continue into the future. The Korean Craft Promotion Foundation
sponsored by the Korean government exhibited 14 artists in a variety
of media and was an unexpected treat that also challenged that same
mingei premise. Gee-Jo Lee’s architectural sculpture was done in porcelain
with a clear glaze that not only transcended both our notion about what
Korean porcelain should be, but also did not succumb to the tendency
that is often present in porcelain sculpture to appeal to collectors
by focusing on the beauty and preciousness of the materials and the
expense of conceptual density. I have heard the term “ceramic painting”
used since I first started studying ceramics in 1971. Hun-Chung Lee’s
work has come closest to that category that I have seen. It succeeded
in this, in large part because he uses kiln shelves as the canvas thereby
eliminating the handmade surface as part of the equation. The result
is that we are forced to focus on the aspects his “ceramic painting”
that separate it from conventional painting.
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Tsubusa
Kato—NO. 14 OBJECT, 2006
H 34 x W 24 inches.
Presented with permission from Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd.
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Galleries
from the European Union also presented a strong showing. Galerie b15—Renate
Wunderle from Munich exhibited the ceramic sculpture of nine European
artists. I am embarrassed to say that I had never seen the figurative
work of the late Gertaud Mohwald. Her torsos and busts were so full
of emotion and gravitas that I found it difficult to be ambivalent and
unmoved. The work of these European ceramics artists was a welcome antidote
to the frivolous tendencies demonstrated in American ceramics. Another
aspect of SOFA was the inclusion in all media of what we now have come
to think of as historical pieces of modern crafts. Joanna Bird from
London, who probably represented the pottery genre the best, exhibited
not only contemporary works by artists like Julian Stair, Svend Bayer
and Edmund de Waal, but also displayed works by Cardew, Leach and Hamada.
One particularly interesting historical piece was a small slipware covered
jar made by the young Hamada while he was residing in St. Ives in the
1920’s. Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia which primarily exhibited vintage
American craft furniture also showed early pieces by Ken Ferguson, Robert
Turner and Peter Voulkos. A piece I found extremely interesting and
unusual was a small, square Voulkos slab plate that was glazed in an
unremarkable clear glaze that covered the outside edge of the plate,
but that left the inner part of the plate raw, the sensitive handling
of the slab and the counterpoint of warmth of the raw clay with the
cool wetness of the glaze reminded me of some of the early Noguchi plates
made at Rosanjin’s studio in Kamakura. The gallery that had the strongest
of historical perspective however, was Galerie Besson from London. Besson
focused Lucie Rie and Hans Coper and exhibited their work with museum
like attention. Seeing lilies displayed in deceptively simple Lucie
Rie vase seemed to make the point that pottery can have all the abstract,
iconic and modernist elements that modern sculpture aspires to and yet
maintain its essential nature. I imagine that there were critics who
dismissed this showing of Coper’s and Rie’s work as purely historical.
Yet it did not seem to me historical at all (even though intellectually
I knew of their already existing status in the ceramics field), it seemed,
in fact, contemporary and alive. This may partially be attributable
to the visually frenetic atmosphere at SOFA where the examples of serious
and thoughtful ceramic work of a vessel oriented nature were few and
far between. Whatever the case there is no question that Coper’s and
Rie’s work will continue to be as relevant and challenging in the future
as it was when it was made.
So is there a new trend in ceramics? I would argue that there is the
beginning of one and that is that the ceramics field is becoming more
eclectic and diverse. Fifteen years ago, for example, the overwhelming
majority of galleries at SOFA were American and they exhibited the 10-15
most well-known American ceramicists at the time. SOFA then, was in
many ways very predictable, whatever was on the pages of American Craft
or American Ceramics was what we saw at SOFA. This current diversification,
however, suggests to me that American ceramics collectors are becoming
more sophisticated. They no longer rely on a few publications as arbiters
of taste—to tell them what is hot and what is not. American collectors
also are showing a curiosity that has caused them look beyond their
own shores to Europe and the Orient for work that resonates to them
personally. Perhaps the real boundaries that needed to be broken were
of the self-imposed taste and the collective desire to be alike. Whatever
the case, I came away, rather unexpectedly, feeling good to have experienced
the work I did at SOFA and hopeful that this is only the beginning of
things to come.
Author
Bio not provided
SOFA
2006
