Rough Edges, An Exploration of Ceramics Forms," curated by Mindy Solomon Gallery, is a curvilinear presentation of ceramic works in glass vitrines that explores the visual language of clay through the lens of texture, color, and form. The exhibition is a stark paradigm of intimate and ethereal hand-made objects to the modern architecture of storefront windows in the Miami Design District. Each piece is dimly lit from above, accentuating relics' surface design arrangements on warm wooden tables and encased displays.
California-based artist Jay Kvapil’s elemental pieces are visually striking; the vase surfaces are covered in a menagerie of gritty glaze textures. His work's surface treatment is grotesque yet eloquent, drawing reference to the natural world and raw materials such as burnt amber, lava rocks, and sulfur deposits.
David Hicks’ pieces are reminiscent of marine flora in the oceans; works are embellished with teal and turquoise colors, making parallels to a fossilized or frozen garden. His forms bend and twist in various directions as the glaze glistens and coats each petal in white starchy foam.
Virginia Leonard's work is voluminous and tactile; her piece "Even Though I'm Ugly I Throw A Good Party (2018)" bubbles and oozes with ceramic textures and various glaze combinations. Her vases are visceral, sensual, and gummy to the eye; a pink syrupy glaze is drenched across the surface of her work––it's alluring.
The exhibition is an analogy of surface orgasm; each piece masterfully uses a metaphorical potency of play, chance, and experimentation. Clay holds memory; it never loses its history; each mark-making is a diary of the artist's hand. By combining experience and ceramics knowledge, each artist is pushing the visual language of clay as a medium.
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About the writer, Morel Doucet (b. 1990, Pilate, Haiti) is a Miami-based multidisciplinary artist and arts educator. His work portrays a contemporary depiction of the Black experience, cataloging a powerful record of environmental decay at the intersection of economic inequity, the commodification of industry, personal labor, and race.
