Fabian Marti, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Gabriel Meo, Prem Sahib, Betty Woodman
Shape Of Thought
December 5, 2013–January 31, 2014The Breeder Monaco, Monte Carlo
The Breeder Monaco is pleased to present “Shape of Thought” a group exhibition with ceramic works by Fabian Marti, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Gabriel Meo, Prem Sahib, Betty Woodman.
Jessica Jackson Hutchins’ (American, born 1971) orchestrated assemblages tease out notions of function and display, as when she nestles awkward glazed vessels on worn readymade armchairs, ladders and tables. The human body is referenced repeatedly, in all of its charm and joyful habits. Hutchins is consistently able to transform data from daily life into shapes and images that can yield an intimate urgency. Prem Sahib is using the same starting point to reach a very different aesthetic result, building up an exciting dialogue between their work.
Prem Sahib’s (British, born 1982) sculptures and installations explore both formalism and autobiographical themes. Sahib’s practice is being informed by what he calls a “sexed-up minimal aesthetic”, with his sculptures revealing his exploration of forms and affinity to minimalism in their simple geometry. In “Shape of Thought” Sahib will present a lone black-tiled tower entitled “Crew Cut” along with a series of YDNU tiles that further develops Sahib’s interest in using ubiquitous materials, such as ceramic bathroom tiles. At first the work might appear abstract and minimal, formally clean and precise. However each is begat from convictions regarding intimacy, sexuality, relationships and desire.
For over five decades Betty Woodman (American, born 1930) has been producing a significantly distinctive body of work, exploring the relation and the boundaries between ceramics, painting and sculpture in the most innovative and exuberant ways. “Museum View #3”and “Olga’s room” are both referencing Modernists like Bonnard and Matisse who have painted rooms and windows with a view while their colors are reminiscent of Matisse. Woodman is using the motif of the vase and the vessel repeatedly in her work, allowing it to enrich her exploration of formal and painterly traditions. The same motif is also apparent but in a malleable form in Fabian Marti’s sculptures which resemble distorted vases.
In Fabian Marti’s (Swiss, born 1979) sculptures, with their black and white palette and glazed surface, which is only interrupted by rings of bold color, any equilibrium appears precarious. The piled horizontal rings suggest a potter’s spinning wheel, a motif that occurs repeatedly in the artist’s ceramics.
Villa Arson graduate Gabriel Meo draws his influences from both history of Art and popular culture to create mixed media sculptures and wall based works that balance on the brink of saturation.
