Illustrious Movements: Sandra Davolio & Merete Rasmussen
October 14-27, 2016
156 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002
Illustrious Movements is J. Lohmann Gallery’s first ever pop-up exhibition. In addition, this will be the first time that Sandra Davolio and Merete Rasmussen, two of Europe’s foremost ceramic artists, will be exhibited in a show in the United States.
“The idea for this exhibition was born out of our deep passion for ceramic design and crafts as well as a continuous conversation with the artists,” says gallerist Joern Lohmann. “They tell their stories using different approaches of perfecting the natural material clay with their hands to invent sculptural forms.”
The new works that will be featured are the result of many years of well-researched techniques that push the boundaries of clay and are a perfection of ceramic expression. Techniques such as coiling, pinching and throwing are artistically transformed into the artists’ contemporary works of art with characteristic designs and individual ornamental language.
As Rasmussen describes it, “This new collection of work builds on, and further explores, the themes of form, color, size and movement that I have been evolving over the last few years. Illustrious Movements inspired me to develop my work further.”
In addition, the creations presented offer the unique opportunity to communicate a dramatic dialogue between the contrast of Davolio’s unglazed white ceramic vessels and the colorful sculptures of Rasmussen with their signature bold-colored slip. According to Rasmussen, her new body of work is inspired by a fascination of “how continuous form, movement, and surface combine to challenge perceptions of space and volume and question what is organic or mathematical, scientific or natural.”
Sandra Davolio has positioned herself in the past eight years as an internationally renowned ceramist. J. Lohmann Gallery discovered this talented artist in Europe in 2007 and introduced Davolio’s work in the United States in 2008. The artist has developed a unique style over a course of several decades that is unparalleled. Her work conveys a deep connection to nature, and in particular to that of the sea. Davolio herself reveals that she “feels deep devotion and passion while working” and contemplates that she experiences “wonderful peaceful moments when creating something new from raw clay” with her hands.
The exhibition includes a new collection of wall sculptures by Davolio to be exhibited for the first time, and innovative designs of unglazed bisque porcelain, evocative of her earlier sculptural vessels.
The incredible movements, variety, lightness and complexity of her coral-like designs with their signature leaf-like exterior lamellas made the ceramist famous. These characteristic lamellas sometimes twist vertically outwards, can go upwards as if the sculpture is ready to ascent into the air or dramatically spiral diagonally around the entire piece. The thin, lively exterior elements of Davolio’s work, almost suggesting the illusion of being made of paper, are mesmerizing in various light situations and create shadows with an ever-changing appearance. “It is the play of light and shadows that fascinates me,” explains the artist.