AND/BOTH at Romer Young Gallery, February 26 - April 2, 2016
Romer Young Gallery is pleased to present its third solo exhibition with artist Erik Scollon. and/both presents a new series of larger ceramic objects that suggest attitudes of engagement and embodied aesthetics. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Friday, February 26th, 6-9pm, 2016.
Conceptually the works are a continuation of his ideas about queerness and functional ceramics; materially they expand his indulgent love of glaze and color; but formally they mark a departure from his earlier representational forms. In A Moment Lasts Forever Until It’s Gone, Scollon presented a series of objects that were a physical manifestation of himself and his mid-life look at the body, hope, love, beauty, heartbreak and their insistent impermanence. For this exhibition, Scollon introduces us to a series of ceramic blocks, seductive in color but intentionally ambiguous in scale inspired by John Mason, Scott Burton, and Tony Smith. Scollon describes these colorful ceramic boxes as being “the queer babies of the three, but raised by Mary Heilmann.” Their reductive form and unexpected simplicity opens up the possibility for individualized and particularized engagements, both emotional and intellectual. Elusive and allusive, the forms evade any particular definition, thus promoting particularity and possibility. The units exist in a state of negotiation, activating the viewer’s encounter and opening up the ways in which the viewer is implicated in the work.
Scollon thinks through these minimal boxes via the logic of queer versatility and the physical relationality that underwrites them. They are a pathway to an affective and emotive experience for the viewer. Their form is austere, but their color is luscious and seductive. Their scale is intimate and direct, but their role unforeclosed. They both respond to the user and become what the user needs them to be. They invite you to be versatile and switch up your relation and engagement so that both you and the objects occupy successive states of relation, or even simultaneous capacities. They are intimate objects for the home and aesthetically distanced contemplative objects. They are not furniture as painting or painting as furniture. They will meet the viewer on the terms they approach it with. As Scollon says “I like the idea of experiences with objects having duration, beginnings and endings. If it can begin and it ends, it can be flexible and change. Always embodied and lived.” It’s a simultaneous queer obliteration and affirmation of fixed understanding. It’s and/both.
Erik Scollon, Luxury Cruiser, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
photo credit: Harold Hare
detail.... Erik Scollon, Luxury Cruiser, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Luxury Cruiser, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Standard Unit, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Standard Unit, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Standard Unit, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, The German Word Which Loosely Translates as "It's Easier to Say What It Isn't", 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 14" x 19" x 8"
Standard Unit in the background
Erik Scollon, The German Word Which Loosely Translates as "It's Easier to Say What It Isn't", 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 14" x 19" x 8"
Erik Scollon, The German Word Which Loosely Translates as "It's Easier to Say What It Isn't", 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 14" x 19" x 8"
Erik Scollon, The German Word Which Loosely Translates as "It's Easier to Say What It Isn't", 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 14" x 19" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Red Parade, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 8" x 19" x 14"
Erik Scollon, Red Parade, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 8" x 19" x 14"
Erik Scollon, Self Justifying Abstraction, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 14" x 19" x 8"
detail..... Erik Scollon, Self Justifying Abstraction, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 14" x 19" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Self Justifying Abstraction, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 14" x 19" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Queer Sculpture Park (a proposal), 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
detail..... Erik Scollon, Queer Sculpture Park (a proposal), 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Queer Sculpture Park (a proposal), 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Everybody's And, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
detail..... Erik Scollon, Everybody's And, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, Everybody's And, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 19" x 14" x 8"
Erik Scollon, All of a Sudden. All of the World, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 24" x 19" x 14"
detail.... Erik Scollon, All of a Sudden. All of the World, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 24" x 19" x 14"
Erik Scollon, All of a Sudden. All of the World, 2016, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 24" x 19" x 14"
A 2014 show at the And Pens Press gallery. “For A Moment” extends the meditation on embodied presence and its relation to memory that was begun in “A Moment Lasts Forever Until it’s Gone” at Romer Young Gallery in San Francisco. The objects in “For A Moment” are things creatively borrowed from vanitas paintings as an engine of renewal, as well as reminding us of the importance of the ephemeral lived in moment of the present. The objects simultaneously open up and close down bodily awareness and preservation of memory. The act of securing memory embodies everything you need it to, while not really holding on to any of it, returning you back to the importance of the sensorial experience of here and now.
Erik Scollon, detail- Still Life with Flowers (revisited), 2014, Stoneware, porcelain and glaze, 14 x 10.5 x 2.5 inches
Erik Scollon, Still Life with Flowers (revisited), 2014, Stoneware, porcelain and glaze, 14 x 10.5 x 2.5 inches
Erik Scollon, Daffodils (like at the old house) , Stoneware, Porcelain, underglaze and glaze, 9.5 x 9 x 7 inches
Erik Scollon, New Shirt, 2014, Stoneware, underglazes and glaze, 12 x 15 x 1.7 inches
Erik Scollon, His Collected Poems (T.G.), 2014, Stoneware and underglaze, 5.5 x 8.5 x 1.25 inches
Erik Scollon, His Collected Poems (T.G.), 2014, Stoneware and underglaze, 5.5 x 8.5 x 1.25 inches
Erik Scollon, His Collected Poems (T.G.), 2014, Stoneware and underglaze, 5.5 x 8.5 x 1.25 inches
Erik Scollon, Still Life with Oranges, 2014, Stoneware, underglaze, glazes, 8 x 5 x 4 inches
Erik Scollon, Still Life with Oranges, 2014, Stoneware, underglaze, glazes, 8 x 5 x 4 inches
Erik Scollon, Peonies (H.C.), 2014, Stoneware, Porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 7.5 x 9 x 5.5 inches
Erik Scollon, Peonies (H.C.), 2014, Stoneware, Porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 7.5 x 9 x 5.5 inches
For a Moment, at &Pens Gallery in Los Angeles, February 15th through March 11th
For a Moment installation shot at &Pens Gallery
For a Moment installation shot at &Pens Gallery
A Moment Lasts Forever Until It’s Gone (Romer Young Gallery, 2013) presents a new series of ceramic objects that explores our desire for the continual renewal of presentness and our very human attempts to hold on to that state.
"This present, so fleeting and elusive, this present and this place, like no other place, impossible to be like any other place... We should remember how, once, we were in the present of this wonderful place. To more intensively lived present, to an overwhelming place." – Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Scollon’s first exhibition with the gallery, The URGE, playfully satirized a quote from Adolf Loos’ essay Ornament and Crime. The essay became the conceptual underpinning for the show, inspiring a series of pieces that questioned and re-contextualized our relationship to vessels and anti-vessels. For this new exhibition, A Moment Lasts Forever Until it's Gone, Scollon approaches the work from a much more personal perspective and presents us with a series of objects that are a physical manifestation of himself and his mid-life look at the body, hope, love, beauty, heartbreak and their insistent impermanence.
At the heart of this exploration is the idea of time as an instrument and arbiter. We all share in this universal presence and impermanence, but through the art of creation Scollon finds for himself, as well as for others, the possibility of transcendence. The artist uses a series of porcelain photographs, ceramic flowers, and other things creatively borrowed from vanitas painting to use as an engine of renewal. "The works give permanence, through ceramic, to our bodies, to the things that are here, now, but not forever… Our bodies are insistently here, sometimes, and then at other times, so easy to ignore. Ceramics can carry on a permanent unchanging life if cared for. Or can be shattered beyond repair just as easily." In this exhibition fleeting objects are built in a way that puts a premium upon physical presence. The porcelain photograph and flowers series - strong, beautiful, hopeful representations of things that ultimately will change - are invested with meaning and memories about people, places, events that are at once personal and collective.
Show poster for Erik Scollon, A Moment Lasts Forever Until it's Gone at Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco, April 5th through May 11th, 2013
Erik Scollon, Bouquet, 2013, glaze on stoneware, 15" x 15 1/2" x 9 1/2"
Erik Scollon, Here, Now, 2013, silver luster on porcelain, 5 1/4" x 3 1/2" x 1/16"
Erik Scollon, Flowers From His Garden, 2013, gold and silver luster on porcelain, 9 3/4" x 7 3/4" x 1/16"
Erik Scollon, A Shirt (Worn, Washed & Pressed), 2013, majiolica on stoneware,14 1/4" x 10 3/4" x 2"
Erik Scollon, A Shirt (Worn, Washed & Pressed), 2013, majiolica on stoneware,14 1/4" x 10 3/4" x 2"
Erik Scollon, The Bald Spot, 2013, silver luster on porcelain, 9 3/4" x 7 1/2" x 1/16"
Erik Scollon, The Leg, 2013, majiolica on stoneware, 40 1/2" x 10 1/2" x 12 1/2"
Erik Scollon, Empty Boots, 2013, glaze on stoneware, 9" x 11 1/2" x 4" (each)
Erik Scollon, Elegy for the Room by the Magnolia, 2013, glaze and underglaze on stoneware, 17 1/2" x 7" x 4" (each)
Erik Scollon, Elegy for the Room by the Magnolia (installation shot), 2013, glaze and underglaze on stoneware, 17 1/2" x 7" x 4" (each)
Erik Scollon, A Theory of Love, 2013, Stoneware, glaze, underglaze, gold luster on porcelain, 3" x 15" x 5.5"
Erik Scollon, A Theory of Love (alternate view/installation shot), 2013, gold luster on porcelain, 1 1/2" circumference (each)
Erik Scollon, Flowers from The Oakland (Stay the Way You Are), 2013, gold luster on porcelain, 8 1/4" x 6" x 1/16"
Erik Scollon, Roses, 2013, glaze and underglaze on stoneware, 7" x 10" x 8"
Various flowers and flower studies made in preparation for A Moment Lasts Forever Until it's Gone (2013) andFor a Moment (2014).
Erik Scollon, Pile of Roses, 2012-2015, Stoneware and glazes, 5" x 6" x 6"
Erik Scollon, Pile of Roses (detail), 2012-2015, Stoneware and glazes, 5" x 6" x 6"
Erik Scollon, Flower Tower, 2012-2014, Stoneware, underglaze and glazes, 12' x 6" x 6"
Erik Scollon, Flower Tower (detail), 2012-2014, Stoneware, underglaze and glazes, 12' x 6" x 6"
Erik Scollon, Double Leolas, 2012-2013, Stoneware, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, each 11" x 6" x 5"
Erik Scollon, Double Leolas (details), 2012-2013, Stoneware, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, each 11" x 6" x 5"
Erik Scollon, Tiny Daffodil Bunch, 2013, Stoneware, porcelain, glazes, underglazes, 6" x 4" x 4"
Erik Scollon, Green Carnation Pile, 2013-2015, Porcelain and glazes, 3.5" x 5" x 3"
Erik Scollon, Green Carnation Pile, 2013-2015, Porcelain and glazes, 3.5" x 5" x 3"
Erik Scollon, Five Flower Studies, 2013-2015, Stoneware, porcelain, underglazes, glazes, various sizes, tallest is 6 inches high
Erik Scollon, Study for Red Carnation Bud, 2013-2015, Stoneware, porcelain, glazes and underglazes, 5" x 3.5" x 3.5"
Erik Scollon, Flower Study, 2013-2015, Stoneware, underglazes, glazes, 4.5" x 3.25" x 3.25"
Erik Scollon, Stolen Tulips, 2014, Stoneware, porcelain, glazes and underglazes, 9" x 4" x 3.75"
Erik Scollon, Stolen Tulips, 2014, Stoneware, porcelain, glazes and underglazes, 9" x 4" x 3.75"
Erik Scollon, Flowers Flowers, 2013, Stoneware, glazes and the glass vase the flowers were delivered in, 15" x 7" x 7"
Erik Scollon, Tuberose and Lime Blossom for Arpad Miklos, 2013, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 2.5" x 11" x 9"
A piece specially made for Ivan Lozano's Image File Press issue dedicated to the memory of Arpad Miklos.
Erik Scollon, Tuberose and Lime Blossom for Arpad Miklos,(detail), 2013, Stoneware, underglaze and glaze, 2.5" x 11" x 9"
A piece specially made for Ivan Lozano's Image File Press issue dedicated to the memory of Arpad Miklos.
Erik Scollon, Fuck This Flower Tower, 2012-2014, Stoneware, underglaze, glazes, 12" x 8" x 9"
Erik Scollon, Fuck This Flower Tower, 2012-2014, Stoneware, underglaze, glazes, 12" x 8" x 9"
THE URGE presents a new series of porcelain objects that explores the 'complicit relationship between identity, commodity, kitsch, taste and display. By making use of a variety of interpretations on the word fetish, the artist links the impulses and desires of the dining room and the curio cabinet with that of the bedroom, the dungeon and the dance floor, indicating that the tastes and sensibilities that inform one, are not so separate from the others.'
Contemporizing classical porcelain and ceramics, Scollon’s work aims to “queer up our ideas” about what art can do and flirts the chasm between art and craft. The work explores a world where art-value and use-value are buttressed and art culture commingles with commodity culture. Through his re-purposing and remaking of objects that exist between the sculptural and the functional, and his retelling of new histories, Scollon successfully inserts art back into everyday life. Playfully satirizing a quote from Adolf Loos' essay Ornament and Crime: "The urge to ornament one's face, and everything within one's reach, is the origin of fine art. It is the babble of painting. All art is erotic," Scollon's objects are an affirmative over-stimulated celebration of ornamentation, and suggest an individualistic mode of expression that is at once decorative and conceptual
Erik Scollon, (left to right)
Dear Professor From the College of Applied Arts, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 7” x 3.5” x3”,
The Cursed Princess, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and gold luster, 7” x 3.5” x 3”,
Loose A., 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 7” x 3.5” x 3”,
Erik Scollon, The Slavery of Ornament, 2010, porcelain with cobalt and luster decoration, nylon rope, 8” x 7” x4”
Erik Scollon, The Ornament Slave, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 6” x 6” x 4.5”
Erik Scollon (left to right)
The Evolution of Culture (solo), 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 8" x 4.75" x3",
The Evolution of Culture (duo), 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 9" x 4.75" x 3"
The Evolution of Culture (ménage a trois), 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 10" x 4.75" x 3"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Gimp Shirt Gimp, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and decals, 7" x 3.5" x3"
Gimp Vase (with Inner Urge), 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and decals, 8" x 4.5" diameter,
Gimp Head Knob, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 3.5" x 3.25" diameter,
Erik Scollon (left to right)
The Prosperous Plug, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, decals and luster, 8" x 6" x 8.5"
Mini Gimp Knob, 2010, porcelainwith cobalt decoration, 2" x 2.5" diameter,
Collected Cleaned and Displayed in Ostentatious Palaces, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, decals, and luster, 12" x 3.5" x 2.75"
Trade Name: Golden Princess, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, commercial decals, and luster, 6" x 5.25" x 5.25"
Poor Taste Plug, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, and luster, 4" x 3.75" diameter
Erik Scollon, Ornament & Power, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 4" x 7 x 7.75"
Erik Scollon (leff to right)
No Parents, 2010, porcelain with decals and luster, 4" x 3", 2010
No Offspring, 2010 , porcelain with decals and luster, 4" x 3",
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Bejeweled Bear, 2010, porcelain with decals and luster, 8.5" x 4.5" x 3.25"
Porcelain Gimp King, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 7" x 3.5" x 3",
Modern Ornament, Laboriously Extracted, 2010
porcelain with cobalt decoration, nylon rope, 22" long x 3.5" diameter
Ironmonger Gimp, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 7" x 3.5" x 3" diameter
Bondage Vase (Not Red Velvet Trousers), 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and nylon rope, 7" x 5" diameter
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Dumb Disco Gimp, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 7" x 3.5" x 3"
(on the head of Dumb Disco Gimp) Abjection Hood Head Extender, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 3.5" x 2.5" diameter
Ostentatious Disco Palace Fist , 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, and luster, 12" x 3.5" x 2.75"
Gimp Hood Plug, 2010 porcelain with cobalt decoration, 3.25" x 2.5"
Tattooed Bear , 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, and luster, 8.25" x 4" x 4.5"
Gimp Mask Plug, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, and luster, 3.75" x 3" diameter
Erik Scollon, Vessel/Anti-Vessel Vessel, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 4.75" x 6" x 2.5"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Drippy Gimp, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, and china paint, 7" x 3.5" x 3"
Hobgoblin Hood, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, and luster, 2" x 2.5" diameter
Blank Gimp Awaiting Instructions, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, and luster, 7" x 3.5" x 3"
The Gimp, a Mere Decorator, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, luster and commercial decals, 7" x 3.5" x 3"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Rose Gimp, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and decals, 7" x 3.5" x 3"
Gimp Hood, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 2" x 2.5" diameter
And/Both (Vase with Vertical and Horizontal Aspect), 2010
porcelain with cobalt decoration and decals, 7.5" x 7.5" x 1.5"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Ornament and Vodka, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, vodka, cork, 9" x 5.5" x 5.5"
Ornament and Bourbon, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, vodka, cork, 9" x 5.5" x 5.5"
Ornament and Lube, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, vodka, cork, 9" x 5.5" x 5.5"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
The Urge Overcomes I, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, decals, luster, 6" x 4.75" x 2.25"
The Urge Overcomes II, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, decals, luster, 6" x 4.75" x 2.25"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Degenerate Power Bear, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 8.5" x 4.5" x 3.25"
Intellectual Power, 2010, porcelain with no decoration, 9.5" x 4.75" x 2.25"
Degenerate Power, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 9.25" x 4.75" x 2.25"
Intellectual Power Bear, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 8.5" x 4.5" x 3.25"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
The Dear Professor's Knob, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 4" x 3.5" diameter
Gimp Face Vase, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and decals, 8" x 8" x 1.75"
Gimp Knob with Internal Conflict, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 3.75" x 3.5" diameter
Erik Scollon (left to right)
Bear Gimp Hood, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 2" x 2"
Hairy Gimp, Stripped of Ornament, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 7" x 3.5" x 3"
Golden Ornament Bear, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration and luster, 8.5 " x 4.5" x 3.25"
Erik Scollon (left to right)
I Allow Decoration of My Own Body, If it Provides a Source of Pleasure for my Fellow Man, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 3.25" diameter
They Are Also My Pleasures, 2010, porcelain with cobalt decoration, 6" x 3.5" diameter
Erik Scollon, A Hole Has No Ornament (Work Which is Carried Out, but not Paid For), 2010, porcelain with glaze, 6" x 4.75" x 2.75"
Erik Scollon, specific objects on a table (eat it, smoke it, wear it, lube it, shove it), 2009, ceramic with gold luster, dimensions vary
and
Erik Scollon, complicated pain in the ass (modernist tumbler set), 2009, ceramic, dimensions vary
Erik Scollon, complicated pain in the ass (modernist tumbler set), 2009, ceramic, dimensions vary
Erik Scollon, specific objects on a table (eat it, smoke it, wear it, lube it, shove it), 2009, ceramic with gold luster, dimensions vary
Erik Scollon, gang bang theory (the promiscuity of objects), 2010, ceramic with woodgrain contact paper pedestal
Erik Scollon, modern dream of ceramics (the promiscuity of objects), 2010, ceramic with woodgrain contact paper pedestal
Erik Scollon, all the useless beauty (black, blue and wanting only to be looked at), 2009, ceramic with woodgrain contact paper pedestal
Erik Scollon, this story is old, i know, but it goes on…(the burden of someone else’s past), 2009, ceramic with woodgrain contact paper pedestal
Take Me Home and Use Me, 2008
TMHaUM was a commissioned for Bay Area Now 5 and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. During the run of the show, visitors were invited to take a ceramic object home with them, if in return they documented they way that they used it. The documentation information was then used to create a certificate of authenticity, establishing a collaboration between the artist an the audience. Objects that were not used and documented were not certified as official works of art.
hundreds of ceramic objects, wood pedestal, interactive website for collection of object use data, digital certificates
Erik Scollon, I am the Dogs of Lust, 2009, porcelain with decals, 12" tall
Erik Scollon, I am Rosebud, 2009, porcelain with decals
Erik Scollon, Deep Love, 2007, Porcelain with cobalt decoration
Erik Scollon, I (heart) Hardcore, 2009, porcelain with decals
Erik Scollon, I Make a Hole in Your Hole, 2009, Porcelain with cobalt decoration
Erik Scollon, China Boy (I am Precious), 2009, Porcelain with cobalt decoration
Walls of Glory was a one night art event at The Eagle SF, organized by Luke Butler. It featured eighteen artists, all with their work installed in one of the most undesirable locations the curator could think of, the bathroom at the Eagle in San Francisco. These small porcelain figurines were installed in the two trough urinals of the bar.
Erik Scollon, You’re Soaking in it, 2007, porcelain, 4.5" x 4.5"
Erik Scollon, Piss Man #2, 2007, porcelain with cobalt decoration
Erik Scollon, Piss Man #1, 2007, porcelain with cobalt decoration
Erik Scollon, Bathed in Glory, 2007, porcelain, 4" x 4" x 3.5"
