They hold weeds, and an artist's sublime vision
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Saturday, November 23, 2024


They hold weeds, and an artist's sublime vision
The show has been organized by Australian-born, LA-based sculptor Ricky Swallow, who discovered Lane’s pots in an antiques mall in Pasadena, California, in 2010.

by Roberta Smith



NEW YORK, NY.- The David Kordansky Gallery has mounted a wonderful wormhole of an exhibition, “Doyle Lane: Weed Pots.” Its point of access is the small, unassuming “weed pot,” a frequent accent in modern California interiors starting in the late 1950s. Thrown on a wheel, Lane’s pots were rarely more than 3 or 4 inches high, spherical or elliptical in volume and usually topped by a short, narrow neck, small mouth and turned lip, designed to hold a dried sprig of weed.

From this seemingly modest beginning, Lane (1923-2002), who was African American, created a dazzling universe of color, shape, texture and proportion. He also made ceramic tile, pendant jewelry, paintings and murals, but the “weed pot" is his signature. Kordansky’s generous display of 100 pots is Lane’s first solo show in New York. It is also a refresher course in close looking and a reminder of the power of form.

Lane didn’t invent the “weed pot,” but as this exhibition proves, he perfected it. It was his stage. From its confines, he unfurled his miraculous glazes, working alone with two small kilns in his studio in El Sereno in East Los Angeles. One of the greatest here has an almost timeless quality; it could be archaic, just unearthed in Peru or China, but it is also contemporary. It features a double glaze: a light matte green underglaze, and on top, a brittle yellow glaze, almost translucent, that blisters during the firing process, creating holes that expose the green.

The show has been organized by Australian-born, LA-based sculptor Ricky Swallow, who discovered Lane’s pots in an antiques mall in Pasadena, California, in 2010. Swallow curated a smaller, similarly installed iteration for Kordansky’s LA home base in 2020. The installation is luxurious: The pots are lined up in single rows of 14 in each of seven vitrines in plenty of space. Walk along both sides of the vitrines, and you’ll see every piece fully in the round. And although the accompanying catalog may not be the monograph the artist deserves, it is the biggest yet and contains a great deal of information about him and his milieu.

Lane was born in New Orleans and came to LA in 1946. He studied ceramics at East Los Angeles City College and the University of Southern California, and to his great fortune, he got a coveted job as a glaze technician for industrial chemical company L.H. Butcher, where he worked for eight years. There, Lane formulated and tested hundreds of different glazes, gaining experience and a body of knowledge that few other postwar artist-potters possessed.

In this show, two areas of special interest are evident: One is a passion for red and orange glazes, which are used on nearly one-third of the pots here. The other is an expert cultivation of chance in the glaze firing to encourage the imperfections of either cracking, originally pursued most intently by Chinese and Korean potters, or the less-familiar effects of crawling. This occurs when a thick glaze contracts during firing into separate little islands on the exposed clay, which Lane often stained with yellow or ocher for greater contrast.

In some pots, it appears that cracking and crawling might converge, as with an orange glaze on an ocher-stained pot. The glaze contracted without exposing much clay, bunching up into a kind of dense-packed low relief and a pattern that suggests entrails.

His glazes feel experimental, yet he always seemed to know what he was doing. Swallow said in a phone call that Lane used his kiln like an instrument, understanding how placement in a kiln could affect the outcome and knowing when to interrupt a firing that was getting ahead of itself.

The small size of these vessels fulfilled several needs; foremost was the desire to live off his work, which he did. They used his small kilns efficiently and were easy to transport. Lane had only a few gallery shows in LA — and none anywhere else. He sold his pots from showrooms he built adjacent to his studio, at craft fairs and occasionally door to door. (Lane was determined to, and largely successful at, living off his work.)

But the primary function of small size was aesthetic: Lane excelled at compression, making something small seem big. Small size meant that encounters with his pieces were up close and in full, granular. After Lane’s glazes, the most interesting aspect of this coming together of so many of the “weed pots” is the way they reveal his sensitivity to shape, weight and volume. Pots with round silhouettes are sometimes as round as softballs. But usually, their volumes have gentle swells either above or below, which communicates a quietly animating balance.

Lane once said that many of his colors did not exist until he figured out how to make them. Their originality is just one way that his weed pots surpassed craft to become art. They form a historical high point that reaches across mediums and cultures. They are period pieces that have outlived their period.



‘Doyle Lane: Weed Pots’

Through Aug. 4, David Kordansky Gallery, 520 W. 20th St., Manhattan, New York; davidkordanskygallery.com; 212-390-0079.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

July 9, 2023

Rijksmuseum to return Colonial objects from its collection for the first time

Paper magazine, the oral history: 'They were wide open'

They hold weeds, and an artist's sublime vision

The List Center galleries present works by Sung Tieu and Lex Brown

Coeur d'Alene Art Auction to hold 38th annual Western art auction

Christie's to host the largest exhibition of Arab art in London

The Newport Art Museum announces new Executive Director

Baltimore Museum of Art and Saint Louis Art Museum to donate Hip Hop digital interactive archive

Daniel Handal's exhibition 'Engaños' now on view at Clamp

Themes of displacement, migration, and absence on view in 'How A Home Is Made' at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

'Urban explorers' and accused spies chafe in legal limbo in Albania

Abraham Lincoln letter from early Civil War era sells for $85,000

British Library announces a new interactive exhibition showcasing how technology is transforming storytelling

Lawrence Turman, producer who spotted a winner in 'The Graduate,' dies at 96

When the street moves to the opera house (and subverts it)

Ravi Zupa Typewriter Gun installation on view at Shepard Fairey's art gallery

'Uncle Vanya' review: Confidences by candlelight

Director of new Women's History Museum withdraws, citing family issues

ROTATIONS featuring a variety of works in glass now on view at Heller Gallery

When Animals Become Art: Leiko Ikemura at The Feuerle Collection

Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham announces site-specific exhibition with new works by Phoebe Boswell

'The Verbal Visual' abstractions of language now on view at Shin Gallery

'Twenty-Five Treasures' is now on view at Paul Thiebaud Gallery

What's the story with Colleen Hoover?

Album Review: "An Evening in Greenwich Village" by Orian Rose

Why Prefer to Neat Nelly's and What is Neat Nelly's process for addressing customer complaints

Why Tufting Guns Have Become Popular

Album Review: "An Evening in Greenwich Village" by Orian Rose




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Houston Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful