CHAPTER XI : VASES, INSTALLATION IMAGES

Thanks to all who came to the closing reception of Chapter XI : Vases last Thursday (considering the sweltering temperature conditions).  If you didn't make it, below you'll find pictures from the performance and resulting installation  Vases and photo prints are available, if you are interested in them please contact us.  

Made in the last year, these seven off-white porcelain vases are minimal in colour yet dynamic in form.  Standing roughly 7”x7”x15”, each vase bears the maker's hand in its pinched base.  The vases differ in their forms, some precariously balancing, and are glazed in a variety of matte neutral tones; splashes of crème, light grey, and oatmeal.  These neutral glazes highlight the lines created by Naomi Yasui’s fingers when shaped on the potter’s wheel. 

Combining her pottery with botanical watercolour painting and floral arrangement, Yasui will work with Heather Goodchild to activate the exhibition.  Each day of the installation Yasui will create a floral arrangement in one of her vases that will become the basis for a still life watercolour painting. These arrangements and paintings lend insight into an ongoing process and practice. The watercolours and their still life subjects will remain on display during the run of the exhibition.

For the artist, the staging of these vases is intentionally provocative, taking what can be culturally perceived as feminine or leisure pursuits and questioning their place in a contemporary art setting. Inspired by early 20th century floral designer Constance Spry and her 1934 opus Flower Decoration, Yasui’s work seeks to fulfill Spry’s invective “to open your mind to every form of beauty.”

“I explore romance and ritual in my working methods and I am fascinated with the intimate bond between maker and object,” says Yasui.  “This performance and installation enforces the notion of an aesthetic pursuit rather than a concrete objective, blurring the lines between professional and amateur.”

The performance component of this exhibition conceived in collaborative with Heather Goodchild was originally presented in Berlin, Germany at Sur la Montagne Gallery in 2012.