|
Gimpel Fils: James Tower and Contemporary Ceramic Art - 26 Apr 2012 to 9 June 2012 Current Exhibition |
||||
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
James Tower and Contemporary Ceramic Art Caroline Achaintre, Gordon Baldwin, Ken Eastman, Edith Garcia, Nicholas Lees, Martin Smith26 April – 9 June 2012 Private View: Thursday 26 April, 6-8pm Uniting art, design, sculpture and craft, James Tower holds a unique position in the history of British ceramics. As an artist who consistently challenged the perceived limits of his medium, throughout his career Tower explored the sculptural and painterly potential of ceramic forms. His vessels, plates and sculptures are exhibited here alongside recent works by six contemporary artists in order to demonstrate that the questions he grappled with have yet to be resolved. This exhibition explores the continuing problem of how artists who work in ceramics are classified: ceramist; sculptor; painter; artist. The relevance of these definitions is actively tested by the artists included in this exhibition, all of whom explore their ideas in multiple mediums. At Brighton Polytechnic Tower was Head of Sculpture, and yet his ceramic works were not regarded as such. Indeed, his sculptures and drawings were overlooked during his lifetime. Displaying objects and drawings together, Nicholas Lees explores what he regards as the porous membrane between ceramics and sculpture in order to demonstrate their reciprocity. Placed side by side works by Tower, Gordon Baldwin and Ken Eastman encourage a dialogue between sculptural shape, painterly surfaces and, indeed between sculpture and vessel. Like Tower, Baldwin has utilized both sculptural form and abstract marks in his work, while Eastman’s engagement with colour, and Martin Smith’s exploration of light and surface demonstrate that to work in ceramics, is also to be a painter. The scratched designs, the striated lines and dashes over the concave or convex surfaces of Tower’s vessels and plates are indicative of his desire to create a synthesis between the form and surface. Like his contemporaries, William Scott and Peter Lanyon, Tower sought to refine an abstracted style based on natural forms. The sea and its inhabitants provided motifs and compositional models that Tower adopted and adapted according to his artistic ideals; in Snow Forest, 1982, Tower’s use of textured surface is reminiscent of a shell, mollusc or crustacean. The universality of these natural forms find commonalities in Edith Garcia’s recent body of work Absence and Presence. In a series of pressed clay forms she considers our ability to find the human form in the most minimal of shapes, objects and natural phenomena. Caroline Achaintre has also looked to Lanyon in recent work; but her interest in modern art and its legacies defy categorical boundaries and as such might be understood as uncanny hybrids of utopian ideas and human emotions. This exhibition coincides with the publication of The Ceramic Art of James Tower, by Timothy Wilcox, with a foreword by Antony Gormley. In association with the publisher Lund Humphries, Gimpel Fils is pleased to host a reception celebrating this outstanding monograph on Thursday 10 May, 6-8pm. James Tower (1919-1988) had his first solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils in 1951, having previously studied at the Royal Academy Schools and the Slade. During the 1960s and 70s, he was Head of Pottery at the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, and Head of Sculpture at Brighton Polytechnic. Work by James Tower can be found in numerous public and private collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; the Harris Museum, Preston; the South East Arts Crafts Collection, Hove and Art Institute of Chicago. The Ceramic Art of James Tower by Timothy Wilcox Book Launch Thursday 10 May 2012, 6-8pm Gimpel Fils is pleased to announce the launch of The Ceramic Art of James Tower by Timothy Wilcox, published by Lund Humphries, “James Tower was a unique figure in post war British sculpture and this is the monograph that we have been eagerly awaiting. It presents his achievements with real conviction and will introduce him to the much larger world that his oeuvre demands”. Edmund de Waal This is the first monographic study of James Tower who is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive figures in British post-war ceramics. Timothy Wilcox’s book provides an engaging and accessible narrative of Tower’s career, and demonstrates the range and quality of his artistic achievements. The book also provides a comprehensive visual document of James Tower’s work, incorporating a complete illustrated catalogue. Uniting art, design, sculpture and craft, James Tower (1919-1988) consistently challenged the perceived limits of his medium, exploring the sculptural and painterly potential of ceramic forms. Tower had his first solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils in 1951, having previously studied at the Royal Academy Schools and the Slade. During the 1960s and ‘70s, he was Head of Pottery at the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, and Head of Sculpture at Brighton Polytechnic. Work by James Tower can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; the Harris Museum, Preston; the South East Arts Crafts Collection, Hove and the Art Institute of Chicago. Timothy Wilcox is a consultant curator, lecturer and author. His previous publications include Shoji Hamada: Master Potter (ed, Lund Humphries in association with Ditchling Museum, 1998), The Art of Hilda Carline: Mrs Stanley Spencer (ed, Lund Humphries in association with Usher Gallery, Lincoln, 1999), Samuel Palmer (Tate, 2005) and Hiroshi Suzuki (Adrian Sassoon Contemporary Ceramics Glass and Silver, 2007). Notes for Editors The Ceramic Art of James Towerby Timothy Wilcox, with a Foreword by Antony Gormley 176 pages, including 60 colour and 220 b&w illustrations Published by Lund Humphries ISBN: 978-1-84822-070-6 To coincide with the launch of this highly anticipated publication, the exhibition James Tower and Contemporary Ceramic Art will be on display at Gimpel Fils, 26 April – 9 June 2012. In this exhibition, Tower’s vessels, plates and sculptures will be exhibited alongside recent works by six contemporary artists in order to explore the varied approaches to ceramic art available to artists. Artists included in the exhibition are Caroline Achaintre; Gordon Baldwin; Ken Eastman; Edith Garcia; Nicholas Lees; and Martin Smith. |
||||
|
||||
re-title.com
International contemporary art
SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
SIGN UP for ARTIST MEMBERSHIP
SIGN UP for GALLERY MEMBERSHIP
Click on the map to search the directory