Curator's Gallery Talk
Seduction is a term with very compelling energy. From the French, to lead away or to persuade (to perhaps, wrong doing, to victimize, to prey). But here, I am drawn to the positive, charismatic connotations of beguile, lure and entice.
These artfully seductive objects are visual temptations which attract and hold our attention, imaginations and appreciation. By their incomparable, personal commitment and exploration, often daring experimentation and focus on singular, perhaps provocative, ideas, artists add unexpected breadth and dimension to our material culture. These works are gathered to celebrate the sensual nature of crafted objects—aspects of the handmade, the tactile, the material mastery, ideas of personal consequence and exquisite, unique forms.
The breadth of possibilities is influenced by subjective interpretation: what is seductive? What is memorable? Who makes riveting work which is stimulating and unforgettable? What engages each of us? At its most inclusive, I perceive that the topic is entwined indelibly in "the personal"...for maker and viewer, alike. And, further enriched by a seemingly, unlimited wealth of choices.
What is seductive? The subtle and implied. The blatant and bold. The public and the intimate. The grandiose and the miniature. Excess and minimalism. Classic beauty and fluid grace and new, personal, even quirky, definitions. The enigmatic and the clear. Narrative and not. The latest, newest, hottest and nostalgia and memento. Sleek perfection and finger marks of the maker. Mystery and clarity. Come hither and stay away. The humorous and the somber. The explicit and the suggestive. The universal and the specifically individual. The known and the new.
What is initially appealing and arresting may then become most personally memorable...the content and the context. The juxtaposition of unlikely contrasts and combinations. The intention and the resolve and the "je ne sais quoi."
These unique, contemporary, handmade forms offer generous enticements: tactilely in seductive material palettes and processes, emotionally by the intuitive nature of the frames of reference and intellectually by the power and context of the artists' potent stories. In clay, fibers, glass, jewelry, metals, wood and mixed media palettes, these tempting objects introduce the work of exceptional makers.
It may be figurative, recalling shared association and experience. It may harken to and hold aspects of the natural world. The narratives may offer complex storytelling and pithy commentary, diverse moods, unexpected fantasy, piercing wit and unrelenting observations. The material palette may enhance the voluptuous, sensual nature of the form. Handmade objects attract, hold and make lasting memories.
What is seduction.... the inability to look away! ....returning to an object overtly or covertly and to recurring thoughts of it. What draws, entices, seduces you? The tactile magnetism of these rare, exceptionally well crafted works of imagination and unique vocabulary attracts, beguiles and offers the promise of untold visual adventures. There are so many exquisitely conceived and crafted temptations.
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