Sculptures in ceramic...
1:39 p.m.
Simone Leigh (1967) is an American artist with Jamaican parents who uses her artworks to explore issues related to the diaspora and racial resistance, specially by women. She uses ceramics, a material usually reserved to craftwork, but from which Leigh obtains an overwhelming force.
The Luhring Augustine gallery, in Chelsea, New York, exhibits 10 of her sculputes, 8 of which are made in ceramics.
101 (Face Jug Series), by Simone Leigh (2018)
salt-fired stoneware / Measures: 46.4 x 15.2 x 20 cm
A woman's head, with an inverted jug as a torso, feels rather antique, as if it were a ceremonial object from Africa. Here we see her mouth, lips and chin, but she has no hair, ears or eyes. However she does not feel blind or absent. On the contrary, she looks like a woman of profound knowledge and inner vision.
No Face (Bronze), by Simone Leigh (2018)
Material: bronze / Measures: 44.5 x 17.8 x 17 cm
Here's another fascinating head, with a long neck. The shape is almost architectonic. There's something of Henry Moore in Leigh's work. In "Woman with T-Shirt", from the Face Jug Series, the head is covered with a handkerchief. The face is delicate and, once again, has no eyes. All the pieces in this series alter our perception: as rational observers we tend to "close" the faces and create the woman that lies hidden in the pieces. All of them seem to have been slaves.
Woman with T-Shirt (Face Jug Series), by Simone Leigh (2018)
Material: Bronze / Measures: 63.2 x 20 x 25.1 cm
100 (Face Jug Series), by Simone Leigh (2018)
salt-fired stoneware / Measures: 69.8 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm
However, it's the eccentric figures with bold raffia skirts the ones that lead the exhibition. Two of them have en embroidered torso and all of them have the jug face. The reference to Africa is perceived at first sight: they look like a feminine deity of maternity or fertility. Those with no faces are not empty or anonymous, but deeply powerful.
No Face (Pannier), by Simone Leigh (2018)
Materials: Terracota, graphite, porcelain, raffia, epoxi / Measures: 184,5 x 190,5 cm
Cupboard VIII, by Simone Leigh (2018)
Materials: stoneware, Steel, rafia / Measures: 317.5 x 304.8 cm
Simone Leigh, Luhring Augustine Gallery, Chelsea, New York
Simone Leigh's sculptures are defying and exasperating, but their magnetism invades the gallery. They look extremely fragile and walking around them is a challenge. According to the curators, their fragility was as problematic as if they were real human beings.
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