Gallery LVS

View All Artworks

STATEMENT

KR / EN

제니퍼 리는 현대의 도예에 대해 이야기 할 때 반드시 언급되는 중요한 도예가이다. 영국의 스코틀랜드 출신으로, 앞선 세대의 도예작가 루시 리(Licie Rie 1902-1995) 이후에 오브제로써의 도자를 연구하고 창작해온, 공예와 예술의 경계를 초월한 도자예술의 가능성을 제시했다 평가되는 작가이다.

제니퍼 리의 작업은, 흙을 비롯하여 자연에서 수집한 오랜 역사의 한 조각인 원시적 물질과의 융합으로 이루어진다. 그 결과물은 특정한 어떤 시대의 지층을 잘 떼어낸 단면 혹은 사막의 모래바람과 같은 자연의 움직임을 연상시키며 생동하는 자연의 보고(寶庫)와 마주하는 순간을 선사한다. 자연의 시간 속에서 산화되어가는 물질, 풍화가 일어난 모래결정, 미생물의 발견이 이루어질 듯한 압축된 대지를 담고 있는 작업은 미적 체험을 넘어, 자연관찰의 영역으로 확장해간다.

그리고 이러한 영역의 확장은, 작업의 제목에서도 드러난다. 올리브컬러의 후광, 갈색의 띠, 반점의 자취와 같은 표현들은 작품에 드러나는 미적요소인 동시에 자연의 무수한 모습에 대해 이야기 할 때 언급될 수 있는 것이기에, 우리는 작업의 제목을 읽는 것만으로도 눈앞에 풍경이 그려지는 순간을 경험할 수 있다.

작품이 이와 같이 자연에서 건져 올려진 듯한 경이로움을 지니게 된 데에는, 오랜 세월에 걸친 작가의 경험이 바탕이 되었다. 그 중에서도 다양한 장소, 예를 들어 그녀의 고향인 에딘버러의 끝없이 펼쳐진 해안선, 뉴멕시코 타오스마을의 벽돌 건축양식, 이집트 시나이 반도의 사막과 같은 자연을 여행하고 관찰한 경험의 영향이 크다고 할 수 있다. 작가는 그곳에서 오는 수많은 자연의 모습과 시간의 흐름에 의해 아스라히 사라져가고 퇴색된, 유기적 과정에 있는 것들을 수집한다. 이 재료들은 수집된 장소에서 받은 영감과 함께 천천히 작가 내부에 축적되고 면밀한 관찰과 변화를 거듭하여 온전히 작가의 것이 된 뒤 기(器)로써 태어난다. 그렇기에 작가가 머물러있던 장소의 성격에 따라 작업은 조금씩 영향 받고 진화해 간다. 이러한 작업의 과정은 사라져가는 것들이 속해 있는 시간에 물리적 형태를 만들어 주는 창조행위라 할 수 있을 것이다.

제니퍼 리는 광활한 자연으로부터 영향을 받아왔고 작업은 그에 따라 조금씩 변화해가지만, 제작 방식에서만큼은 변함이 없다. 그녀는 오랜 세월 동안 흙을 반죽하고 어떠한 기계의 사용 없이, 오로지 두 손을 이용해 작업을 끌어올려왔다. 손의 움직임에 따라 흙은 흐르는 듯 곡선을 이루고, 유약을 바르지 않고 물질의 산화로 변화된 표면은 시각의 촉각화를 이뤄냄으로써 변화무쌍한 자연을 표현해낸다. 작품에서 또 하나 주목할 점은 작은 기물의 공간을 광활하게 만드는 안팎의 공간감이다. 타원의 기(器)입구 부분에서 시작된 선을 따라 달라지는 모습은, 비스듬히 기울여진 작업의 각도와 차분한 색의 균형을 통해 20cm남짓의 작업이 실로 하나의 큰 풍경 파노라마라는 것을 깨닫게 된다. 이와 같은 제니퍼리의 작업은 자연에 대한 통찰력, 공예가 갖는 정직한 손의 노동, 작가의 사유와 의지가 결합된 완벽한 창작물로써 예술역사의 한 획을 긋는다.

Jennifer Lee is accepted as one of the most important contemporary ceramists living today. Lee is recognized as a ceramist who has researched and creation of ceramics that presents the potential of transcending the border between art and craft, after earlier generations of ceramist Lucie Rie (1902-1995).

Lee’s work is a mix of clay and oxides, a primitive element with a long history collected from nature. It reminds a moment of natural repository that associates the movement of nature like the sandstorm in a desert, the cross-section of a geological stratum. Natural oxidation of elements due to the time, weathering by the sandstorm, an abstract form of a landscape, all in Lee’s work allows to experience beyond aesthetics and expands to the level of nature observation.

Such expansion continues in the titles of the works. Olive haloes, umber ring, bronze spots are the aesthetic components and explanation of infinite nature. This able the viewer to experience drawing natural view by reading the title.

Based on the artist’s experience over many years, her works carry the miraculous effect of nature within. Lee is highly influenced by her observation of nature during the journey. From the opened coastline from her hometown Edinburgh, architectural forms of bricks from Taos in New Mexico and the desert from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Faded and discolored materials due to the organic process and passage of time are collected. Collected materials and inspirations from the journey slowly file up within the artist. Through continuous development and meticulous observation, these become the artist pure it permeates into her and results as a vessel. Therefore, the artists experience at various places gradually influence the works. The working process could be defined as the act of creation as it transforms obsolescent things into physical forms.

Lee has always been inspired by the vast nature. There are small changes are made as time passes. But her working process always stays the same. She has kneaded clay for many years using no other materials, only by her both hands to finish up her works. Following her gestural movements, the clay forms its curve with no touch of enamel, plus, Lee articulates the vast nature through the changes developed from substance oxidation on the surface. Another point to focus on Lee’s works is the inside and outside sense of space that brings this small vessel massive. As we move along from the mouth of the vessel that changes its form, running through the color balance and the angle of the tilted work with over 20cm left, we realize that the work is actually a big panorama of a landscape. Such as Lee’s work involves the observation of nature, the handmade labor of art and craft, the passion and strong will from the artist, makes this perfect creation that leaves a new mark in art history.

BIOGRAPHY

Collections

UK
Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums.
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
British Museum.
Buckinghamshire County Museum.
Contemporary Art Society, London.
Crafts Council Collection, London.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Glasgow Museum and Art Galleries.
Hepworth Museum, Wakefield.
Hove Museum and Art Gallery.
Leeds City Art Gallery.
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art.
National Museum Wales.
Norwich Castle Museum.
Peters Foundation, London.
Royal Museum, Edinburgh.
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia.
Scottish Collection, SDA, Edinburgh.
Thamesdown Collection, Museum and Art Gallery, Swindon.
Trustees Savings Bank Collection, London.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Sweden
CellMark, Göteborg.
National Museum, Stockholm.
Röhsska Museet, Göteborg.

Germany
Europäisches Kunst Handwerk Landesgerwerbeamt, Stuttgart.
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg.
Leipzig Museum of Applied Arts.
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg.
Peter Siemssen Foundation for Ceramic Art.

Switzerland
Musée Bellerive, Zurich.
Musée Ariana, Geneva.

New Zealand
Hawkes Bay Art Gallery and Museum, Napier, New Zealand.

North America
‏Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, New York,
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento.
Long Beach Museum of Art.
Long House Reserve Collection, New York.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Scripps College, Claremont, California.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Canada
Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto.

South Korea
Amorepacific Museum, Seoul.

Japan
The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo.
Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts.
Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Mashiko.
The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki.
Verkehr Museum, Shizuoka.

Award
2018 LOEWE Craft Prize, Winner
2009 Bronze Prize ‘Our Beautiful Ceramics’, World Ceramic Biennale, Yeoju, Korea
2008 Honorable mention; the 8th International Ceramics Competition MINO, Japan
2008 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Taiwan
2007 Grand prize; ‘New Generation’, World Ceramic Exposition Foundation, Yeoju, Korea

Solo Exhibitions
2017 JENNIFER LEE, Gallery LVS&CRAFT, Seoul
2016 Erskine, Hall & Coe, London.
2015 Jennifer Lee – Ceramics made in Shigaraki and London, Sokyo Gallery, Kyoto
2015 Jennifer Lee, Tada no yume deshou ka, The Institute of Ceramic Studies Gallery Shigaraki
2013 Erskine, Hall & Coe, London
2012 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles
2010 Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney
2009 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles
2008 Galerie Besson, London
2006 Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney
2005 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles
2003 Galerie Besson, London
2002 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles
2000 Galerie Besson, London
1999 James Graham & Sons, New York
1998 Focus, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
1997 Galerie Besson, London
1996 James Graham & Sons, New York
1995 Galerie Besson, London
1994 Jennifer Lee – Handbuilt Ceramics 1979-1994, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum
1994 Osiris, Brussels
1993 Galleri Lejonet, Stockholm.
1993 Jennifer Lee – Handbyggda Stengodskärl 1979-1993, Röhsska Museet, Göteborg
1992 Galerie Besson, London
1991 Graham Gallery, New York
1990 Galerie Besson, London
1987 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Crafts Council
1987 Beaux Arts, Bath
1986 Craft Centre, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.
1985 Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Crafts Council Side-show
1985 Rosenthal Studio-Haus, London
1984 Anatol Orient, London
1981 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

Group Exhibitions
2018
LOEWE Craft Prize 2018, the DESIGN MUSEUM, London, UK
Collect 2018, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2017
The Dramatic Vessel, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan
Design Basel, Sokyo Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2015
Many a Slip, Marsden Woo Gallery, London, UK
Vessels: The Spirit of Modern British Ceramics, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan
2014
Toward a DESIGN MUSEUM JAPAN, 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo, Japan
British Ceramics from Bernard Leach to New Generation, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan
Small is Beautiful, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA
The Collector’s Exhibition, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Austrailia
2013
2nd International Ceramic Art Festival, Sasama, Japan
International Ceramics, Verkehr Museum, Shizuoka, Japan
From the World II, Gallery Hu, Nagoya, Japan
Classic & Contemporary, Erskine, Hall & Coe, London, UK
LSG 2013, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Austrailia
Friendship Forged in Fire: British Ceramics in America. American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California, USA
2012
FIHOC part two, Frank’s International House of Ceramics. Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Galerie Besson, Retrospective of a Lifelong Passion, Officine Saffi Ceramic Arts, Milan, Italy
the nature of things: Jennifer Lee, Hans Stofer and Laura Ellen Bacon, The New Art Centre, Roche
Court Sculpture Park, UK
Masterworks by International Artists, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011
Collect, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Contemporary Ceramics, Danese, New York, USA
Contemporary British Studio Ceramics, Mint Museum of Craft & Design, North Carolina, USA
2010
Blue Chip, The Collector’s Exhibition, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Austrailia
Group exhibition, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Collect, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2009
U-Tsu-Wa, 21_21 Design Sight, The Miyake Issey Foundation, Tokyo, Japan
Contemporary Studio Ceramics: The Dauer Collection, California State University, Sacramento, USA
The Cellmark Collection, Röhsska Museet, Göteborg, Sweden
British Studio Pottery, Monnow Valley Arts Centre, Wales, UK
2008
British Studio Ceramics – 20th Century Transformations, Buckinghamshire County Museum, UK
Twenty Years – Twenty Pots, Galerie Besson, London, UK
Beautifully Crafted, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, UK
2006
Collect, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Puur Klei, Pottenbakkers Museum, Tegelen, The Netherlands
International Post War Ceramic Art, Bonhams, London, UK
2005
Celebrating 30 Years, Crafts Council Shop at the V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Biennale Européenne de Céramiques Contemporaines, Mussée de l’Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière, Troyes, France
Modern Pots: Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and their Contemporaries, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK
A Duckworth Homage, Organic Abstraction, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, USA
One Piece – One Artist, International Ausstellung, Galerie Marianne Heller, Heidelberg, Germany
2004
European Ceramics, Westerwald Museum, Germany
2003
Constructed Clay: Modern British Handbuilding, Galerie Besson, London, UK
Selected British Ceramics, James Graham & Sons, New York, USA
Ceramic Biennale 2003, Icheon World Ceramic Centre, Korea
British Ceramics: Five Artists, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
British Studio Ceramics, Buckinghamshire County Museu
Hove Museum & Art Gallery, Hove, Sussex
2002
Vasen aus 10 Ländern, Bavarian Craft Council, Munich, Germany
Ceramic Modernism: Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and Their Legacy, The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada
2001
Poetics of Clay: An International Perspective, Philadelphia Art Alliance, USA
1st World Ceramic Biennale 2001, Icheon World Ceramic Centre, Korea
Modern Pots, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich
Bengt Julin’s Ceramics, Gustavsbergs Porslinsmuseum, Sweden
2000
Britisk Keramik.2000.dk, Keramikmuseet Grimmerhus, Denmark
Color and Fire, Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (touring), USA
1999
Current Context – New Ways of Seeing, Royal Museum, Edinburgh, UK
Clay into Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
25 Years of Contemporary Craft, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, USA
Commemorative Mugs for the Millenium, Galerie Besson, London, USA
1998
Gestaltendes Handwerk, Munich, Germany
Collecting Craft, Hove Museum & Art Gallery, Hove, UK
Contemporary Decorative Arts, Sotheby’s, London, UK
Spirit of the Times, Bowes Museum, Durham, UK
Frauen in Europa, Galerie Marianne Heller, Sandhausen, Germany
1997
English Craft, The Works Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
European Ceramic Art II, Yufuku, Tokyo, Japan
1996
Design im Wandel: Produkte, Fetische, Rituale, Übersee Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Bremen, Germany
Living Belsay, Belsay Hall, Northumberland, UK