polystyrene, shibari & co

The exhibition at Galerie Loevenbruck is the result of a sojourn of Morgane Tschiember in Nove, a small town in Italy which has specialised in ceramics since the 17th century.

“Polystyrene, Shibari & Co.” brings together new pieces by Morgane Tschiember, all of them ceramics.

They are the result of a recent sojourn in Italy, where the Nuove group gives artists in residence access to the historical and technical expertise of local companies and the materials and age-old traditions of Nove, a small town in the region of Veneto which has specialised in ceramics since the 17th century.

If the series of works titled Polystyrene uses the eponymous and highly inflammable contemporary material in minimalist works that invert the relation between full and empty – not least because polystyrene is 98% air – the Shibari series uses more traditional or even archaic materials, but treated by the artist in a very distinctive way. After spinning but before firing some of these clay pieces, Tschiember literally bound them. This strange “kneading,” in which the pottery is “caged” in various kinds of rope produced surface burns and contortions, invaginations and other deformities in this exclusive material, clay, which is considered the great prima materia.

“Polystyrene, Shibari & Co.” derives from a consummate art of ellipsis that is at once historical and geographical, somatic and erotic, plastic and symbolic. With the materials at hand, Tschiember is proceeding very much in the manner of Alain Resnais in his short film Le Chant du styrène (1958), which, in a little less than fifteen minutes, goes through all the phases of production of a plastic bowl, going back from the effect (the result) to the cause (the raw material), but also conflates classical poetry and avant-garde literature.

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Morgane Tschiember, Polystyrene, 2013, Ceramic, steel; 19 11/16 in x 7 7/8 x 4 3/4 in (each). Production NUOVE//residency, Nove. Photo Isabelle Giovacchini © Adagp, Paris

On the left: Morgane Tschiember, Shibari, 2013, Ceramic enamelled in matt white and linen rope; Variable high x 22 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. Photo Fabrice Gousset © Adagp, Paris. On the right: Morgane Tschiember, Shibari, 2013, Ceramic, mint green slip, blue glass enamel and linen rope; variable high x 18 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. Photo Fabrice Gousset © Adagp, Paris

Morgane Tschiember, Polystyrene (detail), 2013, Ceramic, steel; 19 11/16 in x 7 7/8 x 4 3/4 in (each). Production NUOVE//residency, Nove. Photo Fabrice Gousset © Adagp, Paris

External view of the exhibition Morgane Tschiember, “Polystyrene, Shibari & Co.”, 2013. Courtesy galerie Loevenbruck, Paris. Photo Fabrice Gousset © Adagp, Paris

until February 8, 2014
Morgane Tschiember
Polystyrene, Shibari & Co.
Galerie Loevenbruck
6, rue Jacques Callot, Paris

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