Elisabeth Kley Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
The ceramics are handbuilt from coils scraped smooth, low-fired with homemade underglazes, scraffito, and wax resist, and then refired with homemade glazes. The dripping reaction of certain oxides with glazes, including a turquoise made from copper carbonate and a blue from cobalt, corresponds to the interpenetration of watercolors touching each other when wet. What occurs instantly on paintings takes hours on ceramics, but moments of transformation are frozen in both.
Designed to theatrically accessorize the domestic interiors of a flamboyant world, my ceramics are made for fantasized homes that could belong to the aging dandies I’ve also been drawing for years, including Salvador Dali, Erte, Coco Chanel, Elsie de Wolfe, Jack Smith and Ethyl Eichelberger. I often use decorative faces on bottles because I like it when things look at you, as if they are ready to come alive and change – like a drag performer putting on makeup. Many of my visual references – garish Russian textiles, Renaissance and Baroque grotesque ornamentation, and Islamic art – come second and third generation as found in paintings and set designs by artists including Matisse, Van Dongen and Natalia Goncharova. In my work, I filter these fine art and decorative elements back onto actual quasi-utilitarian objects.
I am now working on ceramic birdhouses that will be hung from the trees in Le Petit Versailles, an East Village community garden where I will be having a show next fall. I also finished several glazed ceramic sculptures of peacocks in 2009, and I spent the first part of 2010 working on a series of peacock prints, an ongoing project.
The ceramics are handbuilt from coils scraped smooth, low-fired with homemade underglazes, scraffito, and wax resist, and then refired with homemade glazes. The dripping reaction of certain oxides with glazes, including a turquoise made from copper carbonate and a blue from cobalt, corresponds to the interpenetration of watercolors touching each other when wet. What occurs instantly on paintings takes hours on ceramics, but moments of transformation are frozen in both.
Designed to theatrically accessorize the domestic interiors of a flamboyant world, my ceramics are made for fantasized homes that could belong to the aging dandies I’ve also been drawing for years, including Salvador Dali, Erte, Coco Chanel, Elsie de Wolfe, Jack Smith and Ethyl Eichelberger. I often use decorative faces on bottles because I like it when things look at you, as if they are ready to come alive and change – like a drag performer putting on makeup. Many of my visual references – garish Russian textiles, Renaissance and Baroque grotesque ornamentation, and Islamic art – come second and third generation as found in paintings and set designs by artists including Matisse, Van Dongen and Natalia Goncharova. In my work, I filter these fine art and decorative elements back onto actual quasi-utilitarian objects.
I am now working on ceramic birdhouses that will be hung from the trees in Le Petit Versailles, an East Village community garden where I will be having a show next fall. I also finished several glazed ceramic sculptures of peacocks in 2009, and I spent the first part of 2010 working on a series of peacock prints, an ongoing project.
CV
Elisabeth Kley
Born in New York, NY
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
1998
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010
Birdhouse installation (upcoming one person exhibition)
Le Petit Versailles, New York, NY
The Visible Vagina
Francis M. Naumann Fine Art & David Nolan Gallery
New York, NY
2009
Modern & Contemporary Ceramics
A.M. Richard Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
Bazvalon (one person exhibition)
Rose Burlingham Living Room Gallery
New York, NY
A Contemporary Bestiary
A.M. Richard Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
Mutineers
installation on ship Lilac, Pier 40, New York
2007
Momenta Art (one person exhibition)
Brooklyn, NY
French Kiss
organized by Rob Wynne, JGM Galerie, Paris
The Demoiselles Revisited
Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York, NY
NADA Art Fair
Miami, FL (Momenta Art booth)
2006
He Said She Said
Tastes Like Chicken Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
The Studio Visit
Exit Art, New York, NY
2005
Picture Window
(site specific, city organized), Baltimore, Maryland
2004
Hall of Portraits
Pinkard Gallery,Maryland College Institute of Art,
Baltimore, MD
2003
The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost
Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York, NY
Sleight of Hand
Salena Gallery, Brooklyn Campus,
Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
2002
Kismet
The Work Space, New York, NY
2001
Bad Touch
Lump gallery/projects, Raleigh, NC
(also traveled to Keith Talent Gallery, London, Rose Museum, Brandeis University, Boston, Space 1026, Philadelphia; & UIMA, Chicago)
Beautiful You
curated by Larry Krone
Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, NY
Your Humble Servant the Genius
(two person exhibition with Rob Wynne)
Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, New York, NY
Nijinsky
Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, New York, NY
1999
The Fin-de-Siécle Salon
curated by J. A. Poisson
P.S. 122, New York, NY
1998
Re: Duchamp
organized by Mike Bidlo
Abraham Lubelski Gallery, New York, NY
Bowie
Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, New York, NY
1997
Galerie du Tableau, Marseille, France (one person exhibition)
The Whole World in a Small Painting
Trans Hudson Gallery, New York, NY
1996
Cadmium Cathode
Sauce, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2010
S. Schmerler, “Modern and Contemporary Ceramics”
Art in America, May 2010, p 161-2
2007
R. Smith, “Elisabeth Kley”
The New York Times, February 16, 2007
W. Robinson, “Weekend Update”
Artnet Magazine, March 9, 2004 (illus.)
B. Pollock, “Elisabeth Kley”
ARTnews, April 2007, p. 136-7 (illus.)
“French Kiss”
Paris Capitale, June/July 2007, (illus.)
2006
R. Smith, “The Studio Visit”
The New York Times, February 24, 2006
2002
L. Wei, “Kismet”
ARTnews, November 2002, p. 275-6
K. Johnson, “Kismet”
The New York Times, September 6, 2002
2001
W. Robinson, “Weekend Update”
Artnet Magazine, February 20, 2001 (illus.)
PUBLICATIONS
2008
Cover drawing: alLuPiNiT
edited by Rafael Sanchez & Kathleen White
1996 - 2010
Reviews and features published in PAJ (A Journal of Performance and Art), ARTnews, Art & Auction, TimeOut NY, New York Press, Art in America, Parkett, Eyemazing and online in Artnet Magazine
Elisabeth Kley
Born in New York, NY
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
1998
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010
Birdhouse installation (upcoming one person exhibition)
Le Petit Versailles, New York, NY
The Visible Vagina
Francis M. Naumann Fine Art & David Nolan Gallery
New York, NY
2009
Modern & Contemporary Ceramics
A.M. Richard Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
Bazvalon (one person exhibition)
Rose Burlingham Living Room Gallery
New York, NY
A Contemporary Bestiary
A.M. Richard Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
Mutineers
installation on ship Lilac, Pier 40, New York
2007
Momenta Art (one person exhibition)
Brooklyn, NY
French Kiss
organized by Rob Wynne, JGM Galerie, Paris
The Demoiselles Revisited
Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York, NY
NADA Art Fair
Miami, FL (Momenta Art booth)
2006
He Said She Said
Tastes Like Chicken Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
The Studio Visit
Exit Art, New York, NY
2005
Picture Window
(site specific, city organized), Baltimore, Maryland
2004
Hall of Portraits
Pinkard Gallery,Maryland College Institute of Art,
Baltimore, MD
2003
The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost
Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York, NY
Sleight of Hand
Salena Gallery, Brooklyn Campus,
Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
2002
Kismet
The Work Space, New York, NY
2001
Bad Touch
Lump gallery/projects, Raleigh, NC
(also traveled to Keith Talent Gallery, London, Rose Museum, Brandeis University, Boston, Space 1026, Philadelphia; & UIMA, Chicago)
Beautiful You
curated by Larry Krone
Mark Pasek Gallery, New York, NY
Your Humble Servant the Genius
(two person exhibition with Rob Wynne)
Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, New York, NY
Nijinsky
Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, New York, NY
1999
The Fin-de-Siécle Salon
curated by J. A. Poisson
P.S. 122, New York, NY
1998
Re: Duchamp
organized by Mike Bidlo
Abraham Lubelski Gallery, New York, NY
Bowie
Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, New York, NY
1997
Galerie du Tableau, Marseille, France (one person exhibition)
The Whole World in a Small Painting
Trans Hudson Gallery, New York, NY
1996
Cadmium Cathode
Sauce, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2010
S. Schmerler, “Modern and Contemporary Ceramics”
Art in America, May 2010, p 161-2
2007
R. Smith, “Elisabeth Kley”
The New York Times, February 16, 2007
W. Robinson, “Weekend Update”
Artnet Magazine, March 9, 2004 (illus.)
B. Pollock, “Elisabeth Kley”
ARTnews, April 2007, p. 136-7 (illus.)
“French Kiss”
Paris Capitale, June/July 2007, (illus.)
2006
R. Smith, “The Studio Visit”
The New York Times, February 24, 2006
2002
L. Wei, “Kismet”
ARTnews, November 2002, p. 275-6
K. Johnson, “Kismet”
The New York Times, September 6, 2002
2001
W. Robinson, “Weekend Update”
Artnet Magazine, February 20, 2001 (illus.)
PUBLICATIONS
2008
Cover drawing: alLuPiNiT
edited by Rafael Sanchez & Kathleen White
1996 - 2010
Reviews and features published in PAJ (A Journal of Performance and Art), ARTnews, Art & Auction, TimeOut NY, New York Press, Art in America, Parkett, Eyemazing and online in Artnet Magazine
Large Turquoise, Yellow & Pale Green Flower Bottle2009
glazed earthenware
approx. 21” tall
Large Orange & Gold Flower Bottle2009
glazed earthenware
approx. 22” tall
Large Gold & Lime Leaf Face Bottle2009
glazed earthenware
approx. 22” tall
Large Yellow, Red & Turquoise Face Bottle2009
glazed earthenware
approx. 22” tall
Lime Triple Flower Bottle2009
glazed earthenware
approx. 16” tall
Turquoise Face Bottle2009
glazed earthenware
approx. 16” tall
Lime Leaf Face Bottle2009
glazed earthenware
approx. 15” tall
Red Flower Bottle Study2009
pencil & watercolor on paper
40” x 25”
Blue & Yellow Flower Bottle Study2009
pencil & watercolor on paper
40” x 25”
Gold & Lime Leaf Face Bottle Study2009
pencil & watercolor on paper
40” x 25”
LIme & Turquoise Single Flower Bottle Study2009
pencil & watercolor on paper
30” x 22”
Turquoise & Gold Face Bottle Study2009
pencil & watercolor on paper
30” x 22”