What: Beyond Function
When: Saturday, May 4th – Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
Reception: Thursday, May 9th, 6-8pm; juror talk with Novie Trump at 7pm, FREE
Target Gallery presents Beyond Function. From precariously stacked bowls to “inflatable” dinosaur sculptures, the exhibition features ceramic works that go beyond utility, seeking to be valued for their aesthetic quality over their usefulness. In addition, juror Novie Trump and Laurel Lukaszewski will create a site-specific ceramic installation outside of the gallery. Join us for a reception on Thursday, May 9th from 6-8pm to meet some of the artists and hear a juror talk at 7pm.
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(Alexandria, VA) The Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Target Gallery presents Beyond Function, which opens on May 4th and runs through June 2nd, 2013. Throughout time ceramics has been an important part of our daily lives. When one hears the word ceramics, their first thought often goes to items such as tableware, tiles, vases, etc. While it can be appreciated for its aesthetics, this work is most likely regarded first for functional quality over artistic merit. This exhibition examines how artists today are using this ancient medium and going beyond utilitarian connotations, creating work that seeks to be valued as pure form.
Beyond Function will feature a wide range of work by thirteen artists from across the United States, and one from Turin, Italy. Artist David Bogus, from Laredo Texas, will show his piece Optimist Luggage 1. Bogus uses the slip-cast method, which is traditionally used in the mass-production of pottery, using molds made from both found and rendered objects to achieve a sense of scale and repetition. He applies principles of graphic design and color to achieve a superficial attractiveness while their contents have purposely been obscured offering both psychological and nostalgic metaphors.
Brooklyn-based artist Phoenix Lindsey-Hall presents Extinguish, part of the larger body of work After Kempf, an exploration into lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender hate crimes. Using mixed media, including ceramic, concrete, and found materials, Lindsey-Hall transforms everyday objects that have been used as weapons in specific hate crime cases. “Clay becomes skin as I press into the surface, leaving the trace of my hand and simultaneously representing the act of violence. Here the twisting, mutilation and ultimate undoing of the body is transferred to the objects. The disturbance of everyday objects calls into question the very system in which they exist.”
Selected artists include: David Bogus (TX), Jackie Brown (PA), Angela Carbone (TX), Mary K Cloonan (MD), Stephen Gian Mangione (CA), Clara Graziolino (Italy), Anita Holt (VA), Brett Kern (WV), Phoenix Lindsey-Hall (NY), Shalya Marsh (PA), Lori Mills (NY), Tybre Newcomer (MI), Amanda Small (NC), Mary Sweeney (NY)
Juror Information – About Novie Trump
Novie Trump is a sculptor and installation artist working primarily in ceramic and mixed media. Formally trained in classical archaeology at the University of North Carolina, her work has been selected for juried and invitational exhibitions in the US and Europe and has been featured in numerous publications. Winner of the 2009 Strauss Fellowship, she has been awarded grants and commissions for several public art works, the most recent at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC. Trump is the founder and director of Flux Studios, a contemporary art space in Mt. Rainier, MD.
