The Seductive Surface 2.0

LOCATION: Plinth Gallery - 3520 Brighton Blvd

CATEGORIES: Art Events | First Fridays

PAST DATE AND TIME:

• Fri, Nov 5, 2021 - Sat, Dec 18, 2021  

For our last exhibition of 2021, Plinth Gallery is pleased to present “The Seductive Surface 2.0” This exhibition highlights work from the gallery as well as work from several new ceramic artists that exploit the unlimited possibilities of surface enhancement.

From the earliest known pottery, cultures and peoples have decorated the surfaces of their clay objects. Whether ritual, religious based, or strictly utilitarian, decorative marks are abundant on ceramics.

From patterning by impressing wet clay with coiled rope in the Jomon Culture in what is now known as Japan (c.14500 BCE-c.300 BCE) to intricate colored clay paintings in Native American Cultures, decoration offered culturally specific narratives. Sumerian civilization (c. 4500 – c. 1900 BC) developed the first written communication system by making marks on clay tablets. Greek civilization, (8th century BC) painted narratives using terra sigillata on the surfaces of their vessels. As cultures evolved, surface decoration became more decorative, and we are still able to identify inhabitants and their geographies by their ceramics and surfaces. Without village potters, food stuffs could not be preserved, water, wine, and other liquids could not be stored, seeds for future planting could not be maintained from generation to generation.

Potters and ceramic artists in current cultures exploit an unlimited number of decorative techniques, firings, materials, tools and techniques to embellish the surface of their ceramic objects. Both fired materials such as terra sigillata. ceramic decals, glaze, underglaze, China paints, lusters, as well as unfired or cold surface decoration with gold leaf, acrylic paint, raw pigment, pastels are part of the ceramic artist’s lexicon.

Jonathan Kaplan, Plinth Gallery Curator, notes that “decorative embellishments on pieces in this exhibition range from simple to the highly complex. The 3-dimensional form becomes a canvas; the surface ornamentation strengthens the form; the lushness of glaze, color, and pigment invite touch, use, or inquiry.”

The “Seductive Surface 2.0” opens November 5 from 6pm to 9pm. This exhibition will be on view until December 18.