Jan 21, 2014 - NY Ceramic Fair (Jan 22-26, 2014)
The New York Ceramics Fair celebrated its 15th anniversary last night at the Bohemian National Hall, and despite the snow the place was full of well-wishers and lovers of all things ceramics, glass, porcelain and pottery from the 18th-21st centuries offered by 29 American and British specialists. This beloved show is the only one of its kind in the United States and has a loyal following of collectors and interior designers. Shaking things up a bit is Leslie Ferrin's exhibition, "Bacchanalistas: Passions + Pleasures," which presents ceramics by living artists whose art draws inspiration from ceramic history. Themes of passion, eroticism, sexuality, abundance and excess of food and wine are exemplified by the objects the dealers contributed to the show. http://www.newyorkceramicsfair.com
Among the guests were Geoffrey Bradfield, Roric Tobin, Harry Heissmann, Christopher Spitzmiller , Nancy Pearson, Ralph Harvard, Stiles Colville, Meg Wendy, Liz Lees, Betsy Pochoda, Leslie Grigsby, Ron Fuchs, and Carol Sollis.
The New York Ceramics Fair provides a mini global history of a medium that has remained largely marginal in the world of Western art, and shows how highly portable ceramic objects serve as cross-pollinators of ideas, techniques and cultures. Some of the oldest objects are Persian. At the Anavian booth, a small lusterware fragment from the 12th or 13th century features a drawn noblewoman whose face shows Mongolian influences. Chinese export porcelain made exclusively to sell in Europe and North America is also on view in several booths, like Lynda Willauer’s large Chien-Lung vases from around 1770, which have little goose bumps called “chicken skin.” John Howard’s creamware from the same period, invented by the early industrialist Josiah Wedgwood, copies the designs of contemporary silver vessels. Other colonial-era ceramics include a tobacco jar from around 1760 at the Dutch dealer van Geenen, which features the image of a tobacco plant flanked by an American Indian and Mercury, the Roman god of trade. Even more striking is a small antislavery tea plate at the British dealer Martyn Edgell, an object made around 1835 that shows a shackled African slave kneeling at its center. Modern ceramics reflects an interest in aesthetics over social issues. Caren Fine Arts’ booth includes works by Beatrice Wood, an eccentric American who was part of the New York Dada circle. A thickly glazed luster vase from the early ’40s, signed “Beato,” is here, as well as a self-portrait plaque from the ’60s. The most interesting contemporary booth, however, is filled with works that are not for sale except, perhaps, to a museum. Ceramic Art of Post 1945 Germany has a display of vessels and sculptures by Beate Kuhn, Fritz Vehring, Karl Scheid, Konrad Quillmann and Dorothee Colberg-Tjadens that look like space-age constructions or models for modern buildings. The mechanized-looking abstractions of Peter Zweifel, Mr. Scheid and Antje Brüggemann also recall the sculpture of American artist Lee Bontecou.
Read MoreAmong the guests were Geoffrey Bradfield, Roric Tobin, Harry Heissmann, Christopher Spitzmiller , Nancy Pearson, Ralph Harvard, Stiles Colville, Meg Wendy, Liz Lees, Betsy Pochoda, Leslie Grigsby, Ron Fuchs, and Carol Sollis.
The New York Ceramics Fair provides a mini global history of a medium that has remained largely marginal in the world of Western art, and shows how highly portable ceramic objects serve as cross-pollinators of ideas, techniques and cultures. Some of the oldest objects are Persian. At the Anavian booth, a small lusterware fragment from the 12th or 13th century features a drawn noblewoman whose face shows Mongolian influences. Chinese export porcelain made exclusively to sell in Europe and North America is also on view in several booths, like Lynda Willauer’s large Chien-Lung vases from around 1770, which have little goose bumps called “chicken skin.” John Howard’s creamware from the same period, invented by the early industrialist Josiah Wedgwood, copies the designs of contemporary silver vessels. Other colonial-era ceramics include a tobacco jar from around 1760 at the Dutch dealer van Geenen, which features the image of a tobacco plant flanked by an American Indian and Mercury, the Roman god of trade. Even more striking is a small antislavery tea plate at the British dealer Martyn Edgell, an object made around 1835 that shows a shackled African slave kneeling at its center. Modern ceramics reflects an interest in aesthetics over social issues. Caren Fine Arts’ booth includes works by Beatrice Wood, an eccentric American who was part of the New York Dada circle. A thickly glazed luster vase from the early ’40s, signed “Beato,” is here, as well as a self-portrait plaque from the ’60s. The most interesting contemporary booth, however, is filled with works that are not for sale except, perhaps, to a museum. Ceramic Art of Post 1945 Germany has a display of vessels and sculptures by Beate Kuhn, Fritz Vehring, Karl Scheid, Konrad Quillmann and Dorothee Colberg-Tjadens that look like space-age constructions or models for modern buildings. The mechanized-looking abstractions of Peter Zweifel, Mr. Scheid and Antje Brüggemann also recall the sculpture of American artist Lee Bontecou.
