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| large jade bird bowl, limited edition ceramic croc, charade drape vase, capuchine large gourd, georgia vase |
When I was in undergrad I went through an obsessive ancient
Greek sculpture and vase phase. I was so into it that I could go to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and guess the time periods of the artwork correctly without
looking at the labels. I knew which type of drapery was associated with each
artistic period and what region it was from. Besides being generally impressed
by the skill and sophistication of it all, I thought it was interesting that a
lot of the sculpture and particularly the vases were decorative objects made for
everyday and ceremonial use. Just like us today, many people then wanted to be
surrounded by beautiful objects. Many of the vases made were designed and
created by craftsmen. They were made in workshops and sold as craft. We look at
them now in the museum setting and think about how precious they are (I mean
anything that lasts +2,000 years is well-made in my book) but then they were part of
people’s everyday life and culture. There is a blurred line here between artist
and craftsman, art object and commercial object.
This leads me to Jonathan Adler. I had the pleasure of
attending his lecture (and meeting him!) on Tuesday night at the Corcoran
Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design. He spoke to a standing-room-only audience
about his professional journey. If you aren’t familiar with his brand of
decorative objects, I highly recommend you read his manifesto and bio ASAP. You
will be laughing out loud. His “irreverent luxury” and making “happy” a brand
were indeed inspiring. There were many take-aways for me but I kept coming back
to this idea of art vs. craft as Mr. Adler’s career is founded on his insatiable
passion for creating pottery.
He started his career creating pots for artistic
consumption, “one of a kind” type objects that one might find at a local art
fair. But he soon saw the value in producing his work on a grander scale, the
opportunity in changing motifs with the seasons, and the challenge of mixing the
creative with the sellable. Mr. Adler noted that his animal sculptures are best
sellers and recommends to “anyone trying to do a business - do animals. People
love them” :).
Throughout the lecture, Mr. Adler kept mentioning that during
the course of his career he has dealt with the same aesthetic concerns of silhouette
and proportion in his pottery (which he still does daily, literally hands on in
the design process). He wants to liberate each pot from its raw form; to be
“uncovered rather than created” as if it had always existed. He wants each sculpture
to be perfect. Each new motif- inspired by everything from nature, shop mannequins,
drapes, to precious pups-enlivens his passion to pull the perfect form from the
mud. These concerns are those of an artist, no?
However, he creates decorative objects that we can use in
our everyday life. Instead of plain ol’ salt and pepper shakers, how about one
with a moustache? Instead of a glass vase, how about a porcelain one with a
perfect geometric design? His designs are mass produced in workshops worldwide
(mostly in Peru through Aid to Artisans), so are they still artistically
valuable? I ask myself, would one of his Georgia vases one day end up in a
museum representing our time and culture? Is a craftsman a purveyor of artistic
aesthetic? Is a commercially successful potter speaking about his work in a
historical museum ironic? Can there be a blurred line to art and craft in the
contemporary world or is it something left in the past? What do you think? Tell
me in the comments below…
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