Bonnie Seeman

"Fancy Spout Teapot with Tray", Surrealist Porcelain Sculpture with Glass Detail

2013

I love this extraordinary American surrealist piece - a collage/montage, an assembly of objects in a velvet-clad box/frame - for a number of reasons reasons. I love the fact that it depicts pipes, among the most iconic images of the surrealist movement, rooted in Magritte’s famous 1929 painting which depicts a pipe accompanied by the caption “Ceci n'est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe). Marcel Duchamp loved using pipes...

"Superbloom" is made with acrylic, oil pastel, paper, glitter, thread and clay on canvas and paper mache. This bright and vividly colored sculptural painting is a perfect example of the power of unrestrained creativity. INSPIRATION BEHIND THE WORK - What began as an experiment in creating rose petals slowly evolved into this deconstructed "Superbloom". At the center of these petals is a seemingly chaotic arrangement of color and texture. Yet, from slow observation, patterns and repetition emerge. What can be easily grouped into a "whole" is actually a balancing act of orchestrated parts - the same as every living organism we observe. There is a mystery to be savored in every act of living - as well as in viewing the traces of life left behind. "Superbloom" was made in love of the former, and leaves behind the latter. We'll never fully understand all the bits of a rose, or all the brushstrokes of a painting, but we're always welcome to bask in the sunshine that is loving without knowing. ABOUT THE ARTIST: Los Angeles based artist, Megan Dune...

"Blue Lagoon" is a saggar-fired porcelain vase by Alison Brannen. It measures 14" high by 9" wide. Inspired by her journeys sailing the Atlantic Ocean, Alison can’t get enough wind a...

"Magma" is a saggar-fired porcelain vessel by Alison Brannen. It measures 16" high by 13" wide. It's an exceptional piece, leaning into the "jolie laide" territory – compelling despi...

Midnight Blue, a ceramic relief sculpture of high-fired porcelain pigmented with oxides, paint and epoxy, is a recent work by New York artist Harold Wortsman. This sculpture is ready to be mounted to the wall. Note the artist's hand in the mark-making – cuts and radiating lines, the suggestion of maps, geometry and counting systems – it is characteristic of Wortsman's practice. Warm, contemporary, uniquely crafted, yet speaks to ancient, tribal traditions of art-making that cross cultures and histories. Highly attuned to the art of Africa, the Middle East, India and Asia, his forms are organic abstracts with masculine and feminine attributes that resonate together as a pleasing enigma. They make sense immediately, yet never give up all their secrets. Midnight Blue was recently exhibited at Harold Wortsman: Time and Space, Orange Art Foundation, New York City, February 2022. From Harold Wortsman – "With sculpture, my material of choice is high-fired clay. Pieces are first low-fired in an electric kiln. I do not use glazes. Instead, I use oxides applied to the bisqued (low-fired) clay. As with a tattoo, oxides permit the surface underneath to breathe—like naked skin. The work is then high-fired in a gas kiln with double reduction to cone 10. The final temperature is 2,300 degrees F. At a certain point, oxygen intake is reduced to the kiln. Because the fire has reached a critical mass, it needs oxygen and chemically takes it from the clay and the oxides painted on. Like a jazz improvisation, each kiln load comes out slightly different." From Jonathan Goodman – "Wortsman has increasingly moved into his own – a place in which the relations between the abstractions of volume and the intimations of very old culture are merged in a way that is new." – Essay, "Harold Wortsman: Time and Space", Orange Art Foundation, February 2022, New York City. Harold Wortsman is a sculptor and printmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. He “creates forms that bring to mind archaic cult objects and exude a quiet concentrated strength.” (Argauer Zeitung, Switzerland). His work, an edgy mix of freedom and clarity, can be found in public and private collections in the US, including The Library of Congress, Yale University, The New York Public Library Print Collection, The New York Historical Society, Smith College, Indiana University’s Lilly Library, Brandeis University, The Newark Public Library Special Collections Division, and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum Print Archive. Also in private and public collections in Europe, including the Municipal Collection of the City of Brugg, Switzerland. Harold studied at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, with sculptor George Spaventa...

"Ocean Canyon" is a saggar-fired porcelain sculpture by Alison Brannen. It measures 13" high by 9" wide by 9" deep, however the sculpture can be arrange...

"Midnight Over Mountains" is a saggar-fired porcelain wall sculpture by Alison Brannen. It measures 15" high by 15" wide by 7" deep, however the sculptu...

"Spotted Blue Moon Jar" is a saggar-fired porcelain vessel by Alison Brannen. It measures 18" high by 15" wide. Inspired by her journeys sailing the Atl...

Gentle Touch, 2013 Black clay, porcelain, grog, and graphite collage on paper

Untitled (Collage I), 2013 Black slip, porcelain, grog, oil pastel, graphite, cotton gauze and cotton thread on paper