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    From Porcelain Buttercream to Bruises, Jessica Stoller Examines the Gendered Body

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    Detail of “Seeing Red” (2024), porcelain, glaze, china paint, lustre, 9 x 92 1/4 x 92 1/4 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and P·P·O·W, shared with permission

    From Porcelain Buttercream to Bruises, Jessica Stoller Examines the Gendered Body

    March 5, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    The early 1780s produced a medical training tool that today seems unusually macabre and unsettling: the Anatomical Venus. A waxen model with real human hair and strings of pearls around her neck, the reclined figure appeared incredibly realistic, although pulling back the plate on its abdomen or chest revealed a series of internal organs and systems.

    As Ian Shank writes, modern viewers see the Anatomical Venus as discordant given the tension between the figure’s idealized beauty—and its inherent sensuality—and its function as an educational model.

    “Untitled (crown)” (2021), porcelain, glaze, china paint, wood, 24 x 16 x 2 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography

    Jessica Stoller takes this dissonance as a starting point in “Seeing Red,” a floor-based sculpture of more than 150 individual ceramic objects. Atop the square tableaux are oversized white orbs that overshadow the mottled pink base. Fragmented body parts, seashells, leaves, a bent coat hanger, snakes, pottery shards, and more spread throughout.

    Reflecting on the continued push to strip protections for bodily autonomy in the U.S., “Seeing Red” separates the female form into distinctive parts and places them at the lowest position possible. As the oppressive pearls loom over the rest of the components, the unnerving work directly challenges who has a right to self-determination and control over their body.

    The grotesque and disturbing play an important role throughout Stoller’s practice as she frequently incorporates human anatomy with porcelain and ceramic traditions. “Untitled (close up #3),” for example, features delicate pink and purple blossoms that frame what appears to be a series of large, purple bruises.

    Similarly, “Untitled (sugar still life)” comprises a sweet spread that stretches across an elaborate display. Tucked in the seemingly saccharine work, though, are unsavory elements like a skeletal hand reaching from piped ribbons and medical devices stabbed into various confections.

    “Seeing Red” (2024), porcelain, glaze, china paint, lustre, 9 x 92 1/4 x 92 1/4 inches

    Rebelling against patriarchal priorities, Stoller continually confronts romanticized notions of the body through surreal, even monstrous compositions. Instead, her works are bold and unabashed as they examine the feminine figure, rooting out stereotypes and historical injustices while emphasizing the potency of the unseemly.

    Many of the works shown here are on view in New York for Stoller’s solo show Split, which continues through April 5 at P·P·O·W. Find more from the artist on Instagram.

    Detail of “Seeing Red” (2024), porcelain, glaze, china paint, lustre, 9 x 92 1/4 x 92 1/4 inches

    “Skin to Scale” (2023), porcelain, glaze, china paint, wood, 22 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches

    “Untitled (close up #3)” (2020), porcelain, glaze, china paint, lustre, wood, 19 x 15 x 2 inches

    “Silphium” (2024), porcelain, glaze, china paint, lustre, 19 x 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches

    “Yellow Wallpaper” (2025), porcelain, glaze, china paint, wood, 23 x 17 1/2 x 3 inches

    “Untitled (sugar still life)” (2018), porcelain, glaze, china paint, lustre, enamel, and wood, 60 x 36 x 22 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography

    Detail of “Untitled (sugar still life)” (2018), porcelain, glaze, china paint, lustre, enamel, and wood, 60 x 36 x 22 inches. Photo by JSP Art Photography

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      in Art

      Clementine Keith-Roach Unearths Ancient Vessels for Her Motherly Sculptures

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      “Eternal return” (2024), terracotta vessel, plaster, wood, steel, resin clay modeling paste, and acrylic paint, 23 5/8 x 42 1/2 x 37 3/4 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      Clementine Keith-Roach Unearths Ancient Vessels for Her Motherly Sculptures

      November 17, 2024

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      From her studio in Dorset, Clementine Keith-Roach sculpts expressive, bodily forms that appear as if plucked from an ancient cavern or soot-filled cellar.

      The terracotta works feature fragments of weathered limbs that crisscross and grasp fingers around hand-built vessels. Dents, cracks, and white patina mark the surfaces of each domestic object and trace their histories and former uses.

      “I is another” (2024), terracotta vessel, plaster and resin composite, wood, steel, resin clay,modeling paste, and acrylic paint, 20 1/2 x 58 1/4 x 29 7/8 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      In a conversation with Colossal, Keith-Roach frequently references themes of nurturing and communal responsibility and the roles she sees those values playing in a world that strives more earnestly for equality and care. What if we saw mothering as a metaphor, she asks?

      The transformative nature of pregnancy, the ways bodies merge, and a mandate of care figure prominently in the artist’s practice. When she became a mother herself, she felt “broken apart,” both psychologically and physically as she responded to the needs of the baby.

      This severing between mind and body remains in Keith-Roach’s work, as nude, headless chests buttress a wide, sloping bowl in “Eternal return,” for example. Although she currently enjoys leaving the vessels empty, milk would fill the basins in some of her earlier pieces, directly invoking motherhood.

      Keith-Roach refers to her new works—which are on view at PPOW in New York—as “statues,” although she complicates the idea that monuments deify singular people, often men with imperial inclinations. Instead, her sculptures remain anonymous and contain several pairs of hands or limbs that, often literally, elevate a central object.

      “A statue boils down to a representation of an individual. Even if they’re the most extraordinary person, they’re born out of a social moment,” the artist adds. “An individual is never isolated. They’re born out of a kind of collective moment.”

      Detail of “I is another” (2024), terracotta vessel, plaster and resin composite, wood, steel, resin clay,modeling paste, and acrylic paint, 20 1/2 x 58 1/4 x 29 7/8 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      At the center of each work is an antique terracotta amphora the artist sources from second-hand shops and markets. Plaster casts of her own body and those of her friends create a series of detached limbs that, despite retaining the distinctive wrinkles and shapes of a particular person, are unidentifiable as they cradle or reach across the vessel.

      For some sculptures, Keith-Roach wanted to have the bodies merge before they were pulled from the cast. When creating “Herm,” for example, she asked her subjects to stand tightly together, allowing their skin to touch so she could create one form from two figures. In many works, she says, “a multitude of people becomes one mass.”

      Once she fuses the body parts to the anchoring amphora, Keith-Roach embarks on a deceptive trompe l’oeil process, in which she paints and conditions the new additions to mimic the patinaed surfaces of the older components. In the completed sculptures, there’s tension between the body’s inevitable decay and the timeless durability of ceramic, which the artist celebrates:

      My works have this sacred quality to them. There’s raising the domestic vessel up, transforming it into something ceremonial. It’s taking it out of the everyday and making it into an object of reflection. It’s the same with the body parts. It’s looking at these movements and gestures and things we do every day and monumentalizing them. It’s monumentalizing the everyday.

      Keith-Roach’s solo exhibition New Statue is on view through December 21. You can find more of her work on Instagram.

      “No one” (2024), terracotta vessel, plaster, wood, steel, resin clay modeling paste, and acrylic paint, 18 7/8 x 23 5/8 x 29 1/2 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      “Eternal return” (2024), terracotta vessel, plaster, wood, steel, resin clay modeling paste, and acrylic paint, 23 5/8 x 42 1/2 x 37 3/4 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      “Herm” (2024), terracotta vessel, plaster, wood, steel, resin clay modeling paste, and acrylic paint, 50 x 20 1/8 x 20 7/8 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      “works and days 2” (2024), plaster, resin clay, paint, 17 7/8 x 17 7/8 x 4 3/8 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      Detail of “works and days 2” (2024), plaster, resin clay, paint, 17 7/8 x 17 7/8 x 4 3/8 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      “works and days 1” (2024), plaster, resin clay, paint, 18 7/8 x 17 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

      Detail of “works and days 1” (2024), plaster, resin clay, paint, 18 7/8 x 17 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches. Photo by Damian Griffiths

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    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Posed Women Rendered in Vibrant Gradients by Hanna Lee Joshi Embody Loss and Acceptance

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      Art

      #body
      #colored pencil
      #gouache
      #gradients
      #self-portrait

      July 28, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Alignment of Virtue.” All images © Hanna Lee Joshi, shared with permission
      Twisting into subtle backends or hunching into a cross-legged crouch, the faceless women that find themselves at the center of Hanna Lee Joshi’s practice all personify an aspect of the artist herself. Conveyed through vibrant gradients in gouache and colored pencil, the figures shown here are companions to those the Korean-Canadian artist created last year, although they plunge deeper into themes of loss, acceptance, and inclusivity. “The magic and mystery of life can seem very fleeting when you’re in the pits of depression. I wanted to reconnect with that spark of fire within,” she says, explaining:
      I’m working on pieces that explore finding my identity and the nature of the self. Reconnecting with my Korean heritage and accepting all the things that make up who I am. In the end, I am just a piece of this earth having an experience of the self, and I’m trying to make a visual representation of some of it.
      The introspective subjects have signature features like elongated torsos and limbs, dark, glossy locks, and large hands gesturing yogic mudras that further visualize emotion and feeling. The women are subversive in color and form, deviating from the skin tones and body shapes typically associated with nude figures.
      Joshi, who’s based in Vancouver, is preparing for upcoming exhibitions at Spoke Art SF on August 7, at Thinkspace Projects in October, and later in fall at Hashimoto Contemporary. Prints are available in her shop, and you can see a few works-in-progress on Instagram.

      “Wheel of Desire”
      “Liberation”
      “Pursuit of Prosperity”
      “I’m a Little Shy But That’s Okay”
      “Sun, Moon, and Fire”

      #body
      #colored pencil
      #gouache
      #gradients
      #self-portrait

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    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Art

      Faces and Fingers Glazed in Celadon Emerge from Surreal Vessels by Canopic Studio

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      Art

      #anatomy
      #body
      #ceramics
      #clay
      #identity
      #surreal

      March 22, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Canopic Studio, shared with permission
      Disembodied faces and fingers encircle the surreal vessels created by Canopic Studio, a Los Angeles-based practice helmed by Claire and Curran Wedner. Known for their ceramics that display human anatomy in a repetitious pattern, the husband and wife recently diverged from the black-and-white works previously mentioned on Colossal to create a series entirely in celadon, a jade color with a rich history.
      The translucent glaze originated in China and was prominent throughout the country for centuries before being replaced by blue-and-white porcelain. It’s traditionally made with a bit of iron oxide—too little creates a blue color, while too much produces a darker olive or black—and then fired in a reducing kiln at a high temperature.
      Curran says he first experimented with the glaze in 2004 as part of a ceramics class and returned to it now after researching cone 10 gas firing and reduction, or the process of decreasing oxygen in the kiln. The resulting pieces shift in color with the light, a trait that dovetails with the studio’s interest in mutable identities and idiosyncrasies that shows up in the shape of their works.
      Pieces are created using the same mold to produce similar, but not identical, body parts. When attached in rows on the mug or bowl, the single face or finger becomes one of many, each defined by its slight difference. “I’m interested in identity and how it shifts when we go from being alone to being a part of a crowd,” Curran says. He explains:
      I like prodding that space in between, where identity feels almost pliable or molten, then hardens, then shifts again, and so on. When the face I’m using is pulled from a single mold, it has a surreal quality—so identical it’s almost eerie, and all the tiny flaws and differences come forward when they otherwise wouldn’t.
      Right now, Canopic Studio is in the process of creating a line of face medallions finished with 22 karat gold. The duo list new pieces bi-monthly on Etsy, and you can keep an eye out for shop updates and see works-in-progress on Instagram.

      #anatomy
      #body
      #ceramics
      #clay
      #identity
      #surreal

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    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Poetic Sculptures by Valérie Hadida Cast Composed Women with Coiffed Hair in Bronze

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      Art

      #body
      #bronze
      #hair
      #sculpture

      March 2, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Seaside,” bronze, 42 x 23 x 15 centimeters. All images © Valérie Hadida, courtesy of Galry, shared with permission
      For Valérie Hadida, the deep, protective partnerships fostered between women provide the foundation for her practice. The French artist casts bronze sculptures that are poetic and nuanced, depicting female figures wearing contemplative and composed expressions. “Coming from a large family where women reign supreme and play a key role, they have established a bond of serenity, trust, and complicity with me,” she tells Colossal. “The heroines of my works are always women because I am deeply convinced that it is they who will change and save the world.”
      Hadida begins with a sketch before building the figures that eventually are covered with green patina. In recent years, the size of the sculptures has grown from smaller works into those that stand more than a meter high, an expansion that brings the scale of the works closer to a human body. “I prefer to work on the curves, the flesh more than the muscles. These seem to me disabling because they are hard and violent,” she says. Most of the sculptures depict teenage years or middle age, a time that’s marked with transition and change.
      Generally seated, the figures’ poses and gestures appear temporary as if the woman has just shifted or is precariously settled on a stone. Although the bodies are still, their curls often swell upward to imply movement and sometimes are embedded with smaller silhouettes like in “Nocturna.” Their locks “typify each woman in her origins, in her age… The hair moves like the branches of a tree,” the artist says, noting that the plumed strands both accentuate and stabilize the figures’ supple curves, elongated fingers, and overall shape. “These women are marked by life. I do not represent perfect or idealized figures. These silhouettes are on the contrary very marked, very cut out. But their imperfections highlight their femininity,” she says.
      Hadida is represented by Galry in Paris, and you can find a larger collection of her elegantly sculpted works on Artsy.

      “La grande zénitude” (2021), bronze, 39 2/5 × 31 1/2 × 13 4/5 inches
      Detail of “Nocturna” (2017), bronze, 25 1/5 × 17 7/10 × 7 9/10 inches
      Left: “La rêveuse” (2018), bronze, 32 7/10 × 8 3/10 × 10 1/5 inches. Right: “Nouvel Amour” (2020), bronze, 29 1/2 × 11 4/5 × 11 4/5 inches
      Detail of “Trio de femmes” (2018), bronze, 21 3/10 × 15 × 7 9/10 inches
      “Trio de femmes” (2018), bronze, 21 3/10 × 15 × 7 9/10 inches
      “Nocturna” (2017), bronze, 25 1/5 × 17 7/10 × 7 9/10 inches
      Detail of “Nouvel Amour” (2018), bronze, 75 x 30 x 30 centimeters
      Detail of “Nouvel Amour” (2018), bronze, 75 x 30 x 30 centimeters

      #body
      #bronze
      #hair
      #sculpture

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